whognu
10-13-2017, 05:01 PM
hi folks:
at the urging of another member (who was lamenting this morning about the lack of hunting stories)
I thought I would submit some filler, until a real hunting story shows up.......
for background, my last 35ish years of hunting I was generally able to get out with my 2 buddies for a 5-10 day deer hunt in the wall tent
we'd go all over the province, generally spending 2 - 3 years in a spot till we 'kinda' knew it; found the deer; then got bored ** and moved on
(no one accused us of being overly bright)
luckily, and with no particular talent other than effort, I have managed to get a about deer a year
probably 30 of them were actual hunting while the others were from my mobile deer blind
lately my buddies have been tied up/unavailable so I have been riding solo; which is fine, yet a hump from the big city burbs
funny thing happened last fall (2016) when out of the blue, the lovely and delightful mrs. of 34 years (who has never been, nor expressed an interest) says "lets go hunting"
"huh"
"kids are gone, I need something to do, lets go"
"fine, I was wanting to scout a new area for the 'real' hunt with the boys so lets give it a whack"
and so the 2017 'hunt' begins.................(actually the 2016 edition of the story is exactly like the 2017 edition; same time, same deer, yet different scouting location - see above notation above ** for reason)
we lit out of YVR on Saturday morning and stop on the left side of the coq between Merritt and Kamloops in 3-19. Arrive at noon, set up the tent (the cold nylon one, not the canvas wall one with the wood stove and cots and carpets and lights etc etc etc.........) Once set, I grab some guns and we go looking for a chicken dinner
no grouse, yet do see a couple does and a nice fat cow moose
back to the campsite, beautiful fall evening, have a rummer (and glass of red for the civilized one)
a roaring fire and off to the bunk
for a freezing uncomfortable night due to
a) not having enough blankets
b) not having a toque
and most importantly
c) being in cots there were no sharing of thermal benefits
wake up next day f-f-f-f-ffrrrriiikkkkkennn c-c-c-cold, build the fire to epic size (god love the pine beetle), make some coffee
and it's snowing.........we huddle under a golf umbrella, sitting in lawn chairs and drink the best coffee ever
turns out it is opening of any buck, so at the crack of 7:45 we jump in the previously heated mobile deer blind and head er into the bush.......or at least the gravel road part of the bush
about a half mile in we come in behind a fellow hunter (likely of the moose hunting variety) who is driving at 1 - 2 mph in the middle of the road and not too keen on letting me pass. I hang back for a bit then decide what the heck there is least at 50 miles and innumerous spurs ahead of him..........and I gun it
It was not a happy "please stop by our camp after your hunt for a drink" type of look we were given
we drove 2-3 miles away from this fellow and the lowlands and as we came around a corner several deer were blocking our safe passage
I see bone and jump out
the deer scatter into the timber and through the scope I see a fork muley and as I have never been too picky, down he goes
the mrs drives the truck off to the side of the road and we go up and get the deer
"nice going; but why didn't you shoot the big one...."
"huh"
" oh yeah, the one with the antlers like the ones in those magazines you get........ it ran along the timber then walked across the road in front of the truck"
hey, we're eating venison.....
so, we pack the deer into the back of the taco and look for a blow down to lynch it. A half mile away we run onto another group of 8-9 also with a couple bucks. Found the blow down, make another fire, hung him high, clean it, skin it, roast some smokies, cut a truckload of firewood and once he's cooled, headed her south once more
life is good
whognu
at the urging of another member (who was lamenting this morning about the lack of hunting stories)
I thought I would submit some filler, until a real hunting story shows up.......
for background, my last 35ish years of hunting I was generally able to get out with my 2 buddies for a 5-10 day deer hunt in the wall tent
we'd go all over the province, generally spending 2 - 3 years in a spot till we 'kinda' knew it; found the deer; then got bored ** and moved on
(no one accused us of being overly bright)
luckily, and with no particular talent other than effort, I have managed to get a about deer a year
probably 30 of them were actual hunting while the others were from my mobile deer blind
lately my buddies have been tied up/unavailable so I have been riding solo; which is fine, yet a hump from the big city burbs
funny thing happened last fall (2016) when out of the blue, the lovely and delightful mrs. of 34 years (who has never been, nor expressed an interest) says "lets go hunting"
"huh"
"kids are gone, I need something to do, lets go"
"fine, I was wanting to scout a new area for the 'real' hunt with the boys so lets give it a whack"
and so the 2017 'hunt' begins.................(actually the 2016 edition of the story is exactly like the 2017 edition; same time, same deer, yet different scouting location - see above notation above ** for reason)
we lit out of YVR on Saturday morning and stop on the left side of the coq between Merritt and Kamloops in 3-19. Arrive at noon, set up the tent (the cold nylon one, not the canvas wall one with the wood stove and cots and carpets and lights etc etc etc.........) Once set, I grab some guns and we go looking for a chicken dinner
no grouse, yet do see a couple does and a nice fat cow moose
back to the campsite, beautiful fall evening, have a rummer (and glass of red for the civilized one)
a roaring fire and off to the bunk
for a freezing uncomfortable night due to
a) not having enough blankets
b) not having a toque
and most importantly
c) being in cots there were no sharing of thermal benefits
wake up next day f-f-f-f-ffrrrriiikkkkkennn c-c-c-cold, build the fire to epic size (god love the pine beetle), make some coffee
and it's snowing.........we huddle under a golf umbrella, sitting in lawn chairs and drink the best coffee ever
turns out it is opening of any buck, so at the crack of 7:45 we jump in the previously heated mobile deer blind and head er into the bush.......or at least the gravel road part of the bush
about a half mile in we come in behind a fellow hunter (likely of the moose hunting variety) who is driving at 1 - 2 mph in the middle of the road and not too keen on letting me pass. I hang back for a bit then decide what the heck there is least at 50 miles and innumerous spurs ahead of him..........and I gun it
It was not a happy "please stop by our camp after your hunt for a drink" type of look we were given
we drove 2-3 miles away from this fellow and the lowlands and as we came around a corner several deer were blocking our safe passage
I see bone and jump out
the deer scatter into the timber and through the scope I see a fork muley and as I have never been too picky, down he goes
the mrs drives the truck off to the side of the road and we go up and get the deer
"nice going; but why didn't you shoot the big one...."
"huh"
" oh yeah, the one with the antlers like the ones in those magazines you get........ it ran along the timber then walked across the road in front of the truck"
hey, we're eating venison.....
so, we pack the deer into the back of the taco and look for a blow down to lynch it. A half mile away we run onto another group of 8-9 also with a couple bucks. Found the blow down, make another fire, hung him high, clean it, skin it, roast some smokies, cut a truckload of firewood and once he's cooled, headed her south once more
life is good
whognu