2007 Fly-in Hunt

[Brambles]

Well my brother and I just got back from our Fly-in hunt, We left south eastern B.C. on Sept 7 and started our long drive up to Watson Lake, Yukon a 2400 km trip one way. This is where we were to fly out of since Bruce @ Dease Lake was booked for Sept by the time we found out we were going. We only decided to do a fly in hunt because brother drew a Grizz tag for this area. I would have been trying to get my archery mule deer otherwise

The drive was not as bad as I feared and went by rather quickly, we pulled in to Watson Lake at around 9:00 pm on Sept 8.

On Sept 9 we find our way to the float plane base and fly out to our chosen lake.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1172.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1180.jpg


After landing we start to slap up the wall tent and my brother happens to look up on the ridge above camp and see's a heard of caribou,

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1189.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1185.jpg

We grab the spotters and sure enough there is a legal bull and he looks to be nice, bro didn't want to be too picky for his first caribou but we watch him most of the remainder of the day (6 hour wait after flying).

Stay tuned for more

[Brambles]

In the morning we are ready to go spike camp to look for a sheep for me when we spot the bull on the ridge again, we didn't think he would have hung around throughout the night. I asked him if thats a bull he'd be happy with and he said it was, so I said lets not look a gifthorse in the mouth, lets go put a bullet in that caribou.

We pack our packs with our spike camp gear and we start up the mountain, straight up the face. Now let me tell you the picture makes the mountain look a little wimpy but I assure you this is an illusion, there is over 2000 ft of purely vertical elevation.

Within 3 hours we had the caribou on the ground, and the work begins.

For all those who say a caribou is not that big, just the size of a big muledeer need to get their heads checked, I got a real reality check with the body on this one.

With the animal quartered I leave bro with the caribou to finish up fleshing the head and I go look for a Caribou or sheep for myself but to no avail.

We meet back up and load our packs and decide to head off the mountain cause the weather was looking like it was going to be disgusting, we slip into our packs and stand up:eek:no simple task in its own right, definitly no mule deer here, MY GOD, this is by far the heaviest pack I have had to do yet and we have to go straight down the face. Resting frequently to avoid accidents we make it to the timber, this is when the going gets real tough, the timber is like dog hair, tall willows, stunted spruce all densely packed in.

By the end of the day we find ourselves in camp a couple very tired hunters.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1199.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1234.jpg

Stay tuned for more.

[Brambles]

Now I must explain that we packed a fair bit of gear into that Plane on the way in and we talked to the pilot about how much weight(meat) we could add to the plane on the flite out. We figured for sure we were going to have to buy another flite @ $1300 to get any of our meat out but the pilot said that with all our gear if we shot 2 caribou and deboned them and still be good for weight. Of course my brother pushed the envelope and said "then you could probably take 2 caribou and a sheep", since sheep don't weight much and we would probably have eaten a fair bit of meat by the end of the trip. The pilot kind of smiled and agreed.;)

The day after the caribou pack my legs were very sore and stiff so it was a camp day spent glassing and taking care of the meat and played around with my coffee can moose call a bit. The sky was clear the day before and it made for a cold night, tonight would prove to be the same.

Now I must also explain that although I came into this trip prepared to look for sheep and caribou, all I really wanted was a good time and meat in the freezer.

So after playing with the moose call some more I grabbed some Toilet paper and my rifle and set out to find an appropriate bush, waving the TP at my brother I said jokingly that I was going moose hunting.

As I was doing some of my finest paperwork I hear bro do a sickly cow moose call, I think to myself "what an dork". Then I hear a distinctive "Whhuuup"
Oh crap, talk about being caught with your pants down!!!

I get things taken care of and swiftly but stealthly head back to camp, when I get there bro says "moose" ya no kidding.

We skirt around a point west of camp and there he was swimming across the lake. Range to were he'll come out of the water and to shore 300 yards.

Custom 280 AI roared with and a 140 gr TSX found his mark, a few more shots to ensure he went down where WE wanted him to and the fun was over.

Took us 9 hours to pack him around the lake and back to camp. Surely we could fit a deboned caribou and moose on the plane!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1210.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1227.jpg

[Brambles]

Thats enough for now, I just finished cutting up the moose hind quarters tonight and have to do the rest of the meat tomorrow, I'll finish the story after I make some sleep.

Hope you have enjoyed so far

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Just one question...........Where's my meat:roll:?????:wink:

I'll be impatiently waiting for the rest of the story. If the story doesn't get any better........it doesn't even matter......8)

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.......caribou for you? Grizz for Angry Bob? And a ram for you??? What no goat???:roll:

I'm counting on a least one extra meat flight. You may already be there with only two critters down!

You thought your caribou pack was heavy?????? Try throwing in a spike camp and add two feet of snow!!!
When I wrote that our packs were 150lbs I wasn't exaggerating!

SSS

[model88]

Keep it coming Brambles, sounds like this story is just begining.

[Bow Walker]

Yup! I've enjoyed so far..........waiting, somewhat patiently, for the rest.

[Mulies]

Never been on a fly in hunt but would sure like to. The country up there is calling me and I'm not getting any younger. A caribou and sheep tag would surely be in my pocket when I stepped off the plane.
Congradulations on what looks to have been a hunt to remember.

[WoodOx]

Looks like a ton of fun.

a fly in hunt where you hunt anything would be awesome - I say this meaning instead of concentrating on sheep which provides no extra time for shooting other game...

Brambles, your bros pants look like Cabelas outfitter fleece (burbur) is that right?

Looks like a great time man

[Marc]

I've already decided that I'm going to do a fly in for 2009 if everything works in my favor, time off, wifes approval, and funds of course. I figure I've got two years to get my ass back into top shape for something like this.

Awesome Story and I would be more then Happy to come home with a boo or a moose like that from a fly in trip. Can't wait for the rest of the story.

Marc.

[Steeleco]

Great story, looks like you needed two Beavers to move all you stuff!!!

[locdog_99]

good story so far thanks for sharing

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Come on!! Get you butt out of bed! A fireman like you shouldn't need more than two hours of shuteye:razz:! You've got some typing to do!!!

Somehow, I don't think this story is going to end with a picture of a TV:cool:.

SSS

[Alpine85]

Looks like you guys had a wicked time, good animals and pictures!!

[Gateholio]

Brambles, get on with it....SSS narrowly escaped a banning for doing stuff like this...:shock::tongue:

[newhunterette]

think I found who's brain to pick for information now for Peter's surprise fly in next year - shhhhhhh no one tell him now that marc finally got his screen name approved for on here - dang it gonna have to talk in code now

awaiting more details Sir Brambles :) - sounds amazing
Ali

[todbartell]

4 shots on a moose? shoulda went with the 30-06 AI ;)

[BCLongshot]

Absolutely radical

[eastkoot]

2 on an elk, should have gone with a 300mag??

[gameslayer]

Good stuff Brambles sounds like 2 antler starved hunters landed in a antler forest that with full clips& 2 eager bodies :biggrin:. I am liking the story nice animals I sense an army cargo plan being called in and some troops to Aid in body recovery:wink: . I betting if I ended up in a place like that I would be morgaging the house and building an air strip and buying a full sized meat locker for the back yard . Keep it coming

[Krico]

Sounds good so far! Finish the story now please...

[slopeshunter]

Great adventure Brambles. Can't wait for the rest!

[frenchbar]

Great pics of some nice animals Brambles.congrats.:cool:

[Chuck]

Definitely alright!

[Brambles]

Just one question...........Where's my meat:roll:?????:wink:

I'll be impatiently waiting for the rest of the story. If the story doesn't get any better........it doesn't even matter......8)

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.......caribou for you? Grizz for Angry Bob? And a ram for you??? What no goat???:roll:

I'm counting on a least one extra meat flight. You may already be there with only two critters down!

You thought your caribou pack was heavy?????? Try throwing in a spike camp and add two feet of snow!!!
When I wrote that our packs were 150lbs I wasn't exaggerating!

SSS

I don't know how you and your buddy managed to pack down 2 caribou bulls and and all your gear, we did have a spike camp too and I guarantee our packs were at least 150 lbs, I have packed 118 lbs last year for 12 kms and this pack was WAY heavier.



Sorry to keep everyone waiting, Slept in today and cutting meat all day, taking a break to add some more to the story,
its pretty much downhill from here, the day after we packed all the moose to camp we had a couple visitors, I managed to snapp a picture in all the confusion.

Wait for it...


...

..

.

[Brambles]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_1215.jpg

[Brambles]

If you havent guessed yet, that is a RCMP plane and that is two Conservation Officers doing a game check and making sure we are playing fair.

They were nice guys and checked for hair and evidence of sex on the quarters and made sure the Caribou was legal, checked to see if we had fishing licences.

Everything was in order.

As a side note that plane was a Turbo Beaver with a variable pitch prop, this thing actually is backing up to the shore, a plane with reverse.......Too cool.

One of the C.O.'s had actually hunted the area before and gave us some info.

[Brambles]

On Sept 16 my brother went for a hike while I watched camp, looking to see if he could spot some sheep and he managed to bag a

Wait for it

...

..

.

Wolverine

Sorry no pictures of him, he's going to be lifesized

[Brambles]

One Sept 17 we spot 4 Grizzly bears on the hillside, only problem is they are a Sow and 3 cubs.

With Grizz so close to camp and obviously prowling for food we decided it was in our best interests to hang close to camp to keep the meat safe.

We spot a FREAKIN HUGE CARIBOU, heavy palmated with long tines and big shovels and bez, definitly pushing the 400" mark.

I watch him for a couple hours to determine where he's going and decide we might make a play on him the next day since he seems to be sticking around.

Bro, comes back to camp from skinning his Wolverine and says "are you still watching the caribou?" I said No, I hadn't looked at him for a few minutes.

He said, I think your bull just got shot:shock:, he was pretty sure he just heard some gunshots coming from that direction. We had seen another plane fly in to that area a couple days before so it was possible:cry:

I swing the spotter over to the bull and he and all his buddies were no where to be seen:mad:.


The next day Sept 18

We made a run at a mature bull caribou that was down by the lake crossing the valley but he wasn't wasting any time getting across and we couldn't get a better look at him to see if he was worth $1300

The next day wasnt fit for Man or Beast, the weather was total crap and was spent in the tent. Snow down in the valley floor

Sept 20 was the day we are to fly out, also my birthday ( this is where you all say "happy birthday":tongue:)

Weather was clear enough to fly and the mountains were again white, and of course.
Guess who shows up, my big caribou was out and playing with 11 other bulls, of which he was still the largest by FAR. He didn't get shot!!!

11:30 the plane arrives and we fly out, the pilot takes our meat and one guy to a bigger lake and goes and gets the other guy and the rest of our gear. When we get all our gear and meat in the plane the back of the floats were under water, he said "We got a Hell of a lot of weight in here boys" Good headwind on the lake and a larger runway and we were airborn and headed to watson lake.

Sorry no story of Dead sheep or monster caribou down, had a hell of a trip, weather was 50/50 did have some tent time, did some fishing for fiesty rainbows and kept the meat safe and cool.

I have to get back to cutting up the rest of the caribou and I'm done.

Later

Brambles

[Will]

Awesome !!!! Great trip 8)

[Rob]

Awesome story and great Pics, thanks!! Rob

[newhunterette]

very very sweet read and awesome pictures Sir Brambles - u are well deserving of much needed rest now - sigh its always great to see and hear peoples successes

Ali

[alremkin]

Good write up and pics. You guys had a good hunt. You flew in on the 9th and out on the 20th that seems like a lot of time in the bush until one considers the time to handle meat and some bad weather. Personally I like the 15 day hunt for the extra time in the bush. With 15 days you MIGHT have bagged the big cariboo.

Looks like you chose a good pilot who put you in a good area. Were you and your brother the ones who chose that lake or did you go there on the recommendation of the pilot?

I think that knid of hunt is what most of us hope for when we fly or jet boat in somewhere. Good to hear and see the results of your successful hunt.8)

[Marc]

Sounds like you two had an awesome trip out there. It's funny that most times you never see a conservation officer on the logging roads were most hunters hunt but you find them in remote locations only accessible by plane. Who would have thought.

[Rob]

What does the average pilot charge per person to fly into/out of a lake, do charge by the hour? Thanks, Rob

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Sorry Brambles. By the sound of it I thought you guys just went after that bull when you saw it and didn't spike camp. I definitely believe your packs weighed in the 150lb mark. And yes that hillside is pretty deceiving!!
We had two bulls down but after the second one was down we were able to dump half of our spike camp as we had to make two trips.
The previous trip we dumped two bulls out of the same herd but we didn't spike camp. Makes a big difference in your pack weights!!

A little birdy told me those guys were going to be cruising that country this year. I bet you were pretty surprized to see them. I bet some of the outfitter camps were even more surprized:cool:!
I would have thought that they would have tried to take off sideways on that lake just to impress you two!:lol:

How big is that moose? I'm not a good judge of moosies but I'd say 52"??? Close?

Pretty cool about the wolverine. I saw my first one ever on our sheep hunt. Did he charge after being hit??;)

If grumpy would have flown you in it would have been two flights out for sure. That was pretty nice of Bill to use the bigger lake like that.
Did you find my stove pipes??

Congrats again! You guys did that country justice!

SSS

[horshur]

I hate it when you guys post up on the northern hunts cause it sure makes me jeolous.

[elkster]

Hey Brambles,
Super story, and really good pics. The 20th is my birthday sounds like you had a much, much better one than me. Happy Birthday!!:-D

[Brambles]

Brambles, your bros pants look like Cabelas outfitter fleece (burbur) is that right?

Looks like a great time man

Thats me in those pics

Not sure which ones your referring to

The camo pants are Columbia wool, and the other ones are outdoor research

[Allen50]

to neat, very good story with pic, great looking trip,, nice to see, sometimes you only here about someone's trip. it's great you could shar with the rest of us, thanks you....

[Gateholio]

Brambles, great story, sounds awesome.

Great looking animals, sounds liek a great time!

[boonerbuck]

What a hunt. You are fueling my urge for another fly in. It's been long enough...plans have started.

Well...if you can take 2 boo and a sheep why not a bull mosse eh?:tongue:

[Brambles]

Sorry Brambles. By the sound of it I thought you guys just went after that bull when you saw it and didn't spike camp. I definitely believe your packs weighed in the 150lb mark. And yes that hillside is pretty deceiving!!
We had two bulls down but after the second one was down we were able to dump half of our spike camp as we had to make two trips.
The previous trip we dumped two bulls out of the same herd but we didn't spike camp. Makes a big difference in your pack weights!!

A little birdy told me those guys were going to be cruising that country this year. I bet you were pretty surprized to see them. I bet some of the outfitter camps were even more surprized:cool:!
I would have thought that they would have tried to take off sideways on that lake just to impress you two!:lol:

How big is that moose? I'm not a good judge of moosies but I'd say 52"??? Close?

Pretty cool about the wolverine. I saw my first one ever on our sheep hunt. Did he charge after being hit??;)

If grumpy would have flown you in it would have been two flights out for sure. That was pretty nice of Bill to use the bigger lake like that.
Did you find my stove pipes??

Congrats again! You guys did that country justice!

SSS


SSS, so you guy's took two trips to get your Caribou down AH Ha, A-Bob and I thought that you and your buddy were either pulling our legs or superhuman:shock:, that was one hell of a load. Although you told us where we could go through the timber where it wasn't as thick we decided to punch straight through to the narrow crossing instead of going on the East side of the creek, that was the worst part of the pack, seemed like someone was trying to grab your ankles and trip you up at every step, I landed on my face once but managed to get flipped over and back on my feet by myself.

The wolverine was really cool, I would like to shoot one some day, I think it will make one hell of a mount.

Found your stove pipes and a bunch of other stuff, A-Bob says your stove pipes were all rusted to hell, I didn't take a close look at them. Couple camp chairs, sleeping cots, propane bottle which was probably half full, lots of tarps, axe.

We didn't stay at your camp, we were probably 200 yards west in one of the bays were the plane dropped us, we decided that we had too much gear to pack all the way down that Disgusting horse trail, The hip waders were a godsend, I spent more time in them walking from point A to B then anything else, I avoided that horsetrail like the plague and stuck to the shoreline whenever possible, thats how we got the moose home, just walked the shoreline around the lake.

If you go back, we built a really tall meat pole, if I recall it is 12 or 13 feet high, its just behind our camp in the trees,

The moose is only 44" I always seem to shoot them in that range, oh well, I'm in it for the meat when I shoot a moose anyways.

Bill was fantastic, I highly recommend him, no crazy stunts, very safe and capable pilot. I knew we were very very close to being overweight, and in all honesty we probably were over and he didn't bitch or moan once and he volunteered to shuttle us to the larger lake at no charge.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Sounds like there's been others there since we were there last in 2003. All that got left behind were the pipes:roll:.

They don't call it "shintangle" for nothing. We ended up upside down with those heavy packs on several times. I got "turtled" a few times with my legs caught up in that crap. If we didn't have a partner we could have been stuck pretty good.

We did have to charter an extra meat flight in 2000 but we had two 'bous and a moose (small bull)down. Had just over the limit as the second flight had just a few items and my partner. Bummer, because we passed on another bull moose thinking we still had a chance to squeeze it into one flight. Should have dumped the bugger!

Only a 44" bull eh?? I think I was thrown off because of your "slight" stature:roll:........................

How was the fishing??



Your pics bring back some great memories8-).


SSS

[Thunderstix]

Awesome hunt and story complete with pics.

[bighornbob]

I thought that picture of the mountain looked familiar:mrgreen: I was just thinking its almost time to head back to that country and try for a bigger bou.

Great trip you had there, there are always a few animals that die in that valley each trip.

BHB

[Brambles]

I thought that picture of the mountain looked familiar:mrgreen: I was just thinking its almost time to head back to that country and try for a bigger bou.

Great trip you had there, there are always a few animals that die in that valley each trip.

BHB

We should make it a foursome, I wouldn't mind going back and find that big bou and I know bro wants to do it again one day. Take some Napalm and brush out that horse trail:!:


SSS the fishing was good, they fight like hell, they would hit hard for a half dozen fish or so and then they would stop biting, next time you go back fishing they would hit hard again then stop. We used spinners, didn't have fly rods, tried a muddler on a bobber but it didn't work.

A-bob tried to keep count of all the caribou we seen, he figures 120 caribou and of which 7-8 were legal, lots were close big 3's and 4's and one absolutely huge lunker. That last group of 11 bulls we didn't scope out the other bulls much, just looked at the big guy so I don;t know how many were legal in that bunch.

After he shot his bou and I shot my moose I was only going to shoot a lunker caribou, time ran out and my pocket book was wearing thin too:smile:

Thanks SSS for helping with the "destination" we both appreciate it.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

You're welcome!:smile: Glad I could help out.

There's no easy animals in that country. You have to earn them. Well, except for the moose:-D which should only be shot on the lake.

Now you the pressure is off your freezer.

GO big or go home!!!!!:-D

SSS

[dana]

Brambles,
Congrats on an AWESOME hunt! One of these days I've got to make the venture north. Figure I'll do it when the kids are in their teens. That way I won't have to pack meat by myself. :)

[Elkhound]

congrats.....thanks for the pics.....brought back some memories....I am jealous

[Blktail]

Now that is how to tell a hunting story! Felt like I was there!

[houndogger]

One heck of a trip there:cool:

[Brambles]

Brambles,
Congrats on an AWESOME hunt! One of these days I've got to make the venture north. Figure I'll do it when the kids are in their teens. That way I won't have to pack meat by myself. :)

When we were in camp I had brought Pat Fergusson's book "Gone Hunting", you probably know him cause he lives in Clearwater. I had read it before and was nice to read it again when your actually in that country walkin the walk.
The stories of him and his family flying in and bringing home the winter meat sounded like a great thing for a family to do.

It will be many years before my Boy is old enough to go up but its a trip I look forward to even now.

Thanks for all the kind remarks guys, glad you enjoyed the story.

[dana]

Yup I know Pat. I really like his book too. That one pic of his kids with the moose is priceless. That's what I want to do when I head north. Bring the whole family with a wall tent full of memories. Until then, it'll be memories of trips closer to home.

[Fisher-Dude]

Cool story and photos! Good to see ya have some meat in the house for that hungry young'un ya have!

[Brambles]

Cool story and photos! Good to see ya have some meat in the house for that hungry young'un ya have!

He's all eager to help but still too small.


Check out his hunting gear


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v437/Brambles77/IMG_0696.jpg

[fozzy]

Great story, thanks for taking the time to share with us.

[BCrams]

Great story there Brambles ! Great hunt too. That turbo beaver sure looks familiar ;) Quite the surprise wasn't it.

[Brambles]

Great story there Brambles ! Great hunt too. That turbo beaver sure looks familiar ;) Quite the surprise wasn't it.

Yeah, you were probably on the plane too and told them to give us a shocker;-)

Did they come check you out too or what???

I was surprised a little, not worried at all because I play by the rules, but definitely not something you'd expect way out in the middle of nowhere. They were nice guys and made the experience a plesent one much better than running into some power hungry little man with something to prove.

[newhunterette]

[quote=Brambles;187781]He's all eager to help but still too small.


Check out his hunting gear

absolutely priceless pic :) adorable baby and awesome gear :)