Smithers Elk 6-08 A. APB!!

[264mag]

My daughter has the cow draw for the current 2 week season, we have been here for a few days and have found a small group of cows and this particular rancher won’t allow cows to be taken. We have permission from the neighbour and the elk have been hovering on the border. So far we have some amazing support from some local pals and a few ranchers that have been very generous with permission and ideas. The issue we have run into is the warm weather and lack of snowpack. The elk are just simply hard to find. We have covered all the ranches between Smithers to Hungry Hill and everywhere in between.

Just wanting to put out an APB on cow elk in the area. If you have spotted a herd, please let us know and we will do the door knocking!

Thanks to all!

Chuck

[Fireball69]

My daughter has the cow draw for the current 2 week season, we have been here for a few days and have found a small group of cows and this particular rancher won’t allow cows to be taken. We have permission from the neighbour and the elk have been hovering on the border. So far we have some amazing support from some local pals and a few ranchers that have been very generous with permission and ideas. The issue we have run into is the warm weather and lack of snowpack. The elk are just simply hard to find. We have covered all the ranches between Smithers to Hungry Hill and everywhere in between.

Just wanting to put out an APB on cow elk in the area. If you have spotted a herd, please let us know and we will do the door knocking!

Thanks to all!

Chuck

Try talking to the farmers up Woodmere Road. It leaves highway 16 just outside Telkwa towards Houston

[Fireball69]

New to this Forum
Try talking to the Farmers up Woodmere road . It leaves Highway 16 just outside Telkwa towards houston

[264mag]

We have been all over there, the cows moved down to round lake about a week ago, we found a few on land we can’t hunt. My buddy had the bull tag and got his up on a woodmere ranch. Thanks for the tip though!

[264mag]

The ranchers are all saying the wolves are chasing animals all over as well.

[CheesyLimper]

I saw a group of cows just on Round Lake road on the Telkwa side a few days ago.

[Jrax]

Did you try the deep creek area, there should be a herd that are. If your heading towards Smithers from hungry hill, drive just past where the elk crossing sign is I have seen them on the left side. There are a couple roads that head toward the Bulkley river, try a few of this doors - I don’t know the farmers.

[264mag]

We found a herd in that area yesterday. We have obtained permission and tried a hunt on them this morning. Unfortunately they were too close to the highway! We have a couple options to get in a better position tomorrow if they hold the same pattern. Getting closer!

Thanks to everyone who has offered help. I have created a list of ranchers and contact information for those that get the draw in future. This hunt has challenges and any help is crucial.

[albravo2]

Good luck Chuck!

[264mag]

Well, we got it done yesterday. This is a very interesting hunt with a unique set of challenges. This time of year the elk split into groups of bulls and groups of cows. We found the cows are in the lower country and the bulls were typically higher up. We were lucky in that we had a couple of local contacts that pointed us to several different areas and gave us a few ranchers names to check with. Realistically the best way to do this is to drive around the area right at first light and try and spot them in fields and pastures. There is no list of ranchers available so you need to be familiar with Canada 411. Reverse lookup by address,etc. Every road has a name and that usually is the name of the farmer or rancher on that road.

On day 4 we had located a herd of 25 cows on a field of standing oats. We gained permission and got there an hour before daylight. The elk started moving to the bush right at first light and we really only had one shot at 400 yards. My daughter made a nice shot and just missed over her back. The elk weren’t spooked and just walked into the timber. The next day we tried a different approach and set up in the timber. We got there an hour before shooting time and the elk came out into the exact same spot. This time they stopped at 250 yards to feed on some old bales. Now this was a perfect setup however the highway was 800-900 yards beyond the elk. We waited for them to make a move towards the timber which would have given her a clean safe shot at 150-200 yards. As they started to head that way the wind switched and blew our scent right to them. Within a few seconds they all went on full alert and the lead cow turned and started trotting away from us and took the herd and continued right across the field, over the highway and out of our lives!
My daughter was very dejected and this was a gut punch. We hiked back to the truck and decided to do a loop around a few roads we were familiar with.

About 20 minutes and 5 km away we happened to spot a couple cows out in a pasture about a km off the side road, we drove past them down the hill to turn around and park so we could try and find out who the landowner was. As we were heading down the road we spotted 6 more in a different field about 700 yards off the farm road. We went past, parked and started the detective work. Within ten minutes we had made 3 phone calls and gained permission from a very generous landowner. We parked the truck and made a stalk to within 125 yards. Last year I found my daughter a very nice tikka stainless in 6.5 cm, it had been shortened to 20 inches and was trued and bedded by Corlanes. It’s an absolute tack driver. The wind was perfect and the elk didn’t know we were there. I set Steph up on a perfect rest on shooting sticks leaning against a tree. She took her time and squeezed off a shot. She was shooting on a slight upward angle and the 143 gr eldx hit high body right behind the front shoulder crushing vertebrae and spine. The elk dropped like she was struck by lightning. We cut her tag and went back to the truck and grabbed the 2 plastic skimmers we had brought. 90 minutes later we were tobogganing down the hill with the elk in the skimmers. Quick trip back to Smithers, met the CI and did the inspection. Hit the road and drove home. Meat in my cooler at 230 am!

Here are my takeaways.
This hunt was put in place to help manage the herds and to try and minimize the impacts from overgrazing, damaging fall seeded crops, broken fences etc. The area the elk are in is quite small, I would say 20 km square. This area is all farms and acreages ranging from very small to very large operations. One thing to note is that there is no crown land buffer zone like the peace elk hunt. These animals must taken on private land. My advice to hunters that get this draw is to make sure you have at least a week booked to do this. You will put a lot of km on your truck and you really need to find them first then do the legwork. The locals and the ranchers were very accommodating and very helpful. I would also suggest that when you find them and gain permission that you also contact the neighbours to that property you let them know what you are doing. Like anywhere these people look out for each other and there property. We did exactly that and were met with thanks and had many offers of tractors, advice etc.

Whatever you do please respect the landowners and their property. This is a fantastic opportunity and we don’t want it ruined like the peace winter elk hunt.

Thanks to all that gave us advice, tips, ideas etc. That’s what this forum is all about.

Chuck

[albravo2]

That is awesome Chuck, good for you and your daughter.

I'm not surprised you found the locals friendly and helpful. I've always found respect and manners are met with similar, especially when it comes to farmers and ranchers.

[boilerroom]

Chuck, thanks so much for a post that was terrific in many ways: great tale, great advice, and a great animal. Elk is my favorite and I'm happy you and your daughter have such a wonderful memory to share.

Cheers,
Mike

[Norwestalta]

Congrats to you and your daughter. It is a fun hunt as I've done it a few times locally and the elk meat in the freezer is 2nd to none.