Our First Whitetail Bucks Ever

[Camp Cook]

This last fall after living in BC all of my 64 years I made the decision to get out of the overtaxed - overpopulated socialist covid brainwashed cesspool of the Fraser Valley of BC and move to conservative Alberta.

I gave up my BC hunting license and obtained my Alberta hunting license at the end of October 3 days later after asking a few of my new neighbours for permission to hunt on their properties I had the permission to hunt 11 quarter sections (160 acres each) of farm land.

I have shot over 120 mule + blacktail + 2 whitetail does but never shot a whitetail buck.

Son got his youth hunting license and whitetail tag November 5 he shot his buck on the right in the picture evening of Nov 6 I shot the one on the left a few weeks later.

I could have shot one the same evening as my son but I did not want to deal with gutting/hanging/skinning two deer in the same night.

I have never seen so many whitetail bucks they were everywhere and fat these deer eat barley - oats - wheat - alfalfa - etc

Here they are

https://i.postimg.cc/FRSkPhrM/November-2023-whitetail-bucks-2.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[srupp]

congradulations on the move....my wife and I are very partial to RED DEER...been treated very well by everyone we meet in many trips to visit familly and friends usually to hunt whitetail..YUMM...and pronghorn as well as CWD positive mulies ...I too have looked at crossing over to live in albeta.

As for your 2 whitetails congrads some of THE BEST EATING wild game meat available
thank you for sharing the move and the hunting success.
really takes courage to move...and to change Provinces...ADMIRE YOUR COURAGE.
thank you for sharing..
little area near RED DEER...BLACKFOLDS..that is particularly nice...and close to Marco at SUGAR CREEK TAXIDERMY
cheers
Steven

[Gateholio]

Nice looking bucks! I've bought a number of WT tags but never shot one. Most of the ones I see are hiding on private property with a barb wire force field around them. :)

[Bustercluck]

Nice bucks! And welcome to Alberta!

[stoneramhunter]

Congratulations

[Camp Cook]

congradulations on the move....my wife and I are very partial to RED DEER...been treated very well by everyone we meet in many trips to visit familly and friends usually to hunt whitetail..YUMM...and pronghorn as well as CWD positive mulies ...I too have looked at crossing over to live in albeta.

As for your 2 whitetails congrads some of THE BEST EATING wild game meat available
thank you for sharing the move and the hunting success.
really takes courage to move...and to change Provinces...ADMIRE YOUR COURAGE.
thank you for sharing..
little area near RED DEER...BLACKFOLDS..that is particularly nice...and close to Marco at SUGAR CREEK TAXIDERMY
cheers
Steven

My wife grew up in Blackfalds/Lacombe bonus is my older son his wife and my two grandsons moved to Lacombe one week before we moved here we are closer to Rocky Mtn House though.

I do nnot want to be living anywhere near the Hwy 2 corridor = far to busy I can drove from my house to Rocky on a secondary hwy and pass maybe 1- 15 vehicles tops.

I was totally surprised at how good the whitetail deer meat tastes only meat I've eaten that could be better are Sitka blacktail from the Queen Charlotte Islands.

I've also shot 9 coyotes since I got here and I'm not really even looking for them yet.

Move was super expensive to get everything here cost close to $30,000

[Camp Cook]

Nice looking bucks! I've bought a number of WT tags but never shot one. Most of the ones I see are hiding on private property with a barb wire force field around them. :)

Almost every whitetail buck I saw was on one of the quarter sections I had exclusive hunting permission on.

One morning a 5 min drive from home where we shot these bucks on that one harvested barley field had 14 whitetail does 3 bucks 5 cow moose and one bull moose

Like you I have always bought tags just never found a shootable whitetail buck in BC.

[RackStar]

Nice pair of bucks , I’m quite pleased with the hunting opportunity in Alberta.

[caddisguy]

Nicely done! Was it fairly straight forward getting the hunting license in Alberta? You just need to show them proof of completion the hunting education here in BC?

The only Whitetail bucks I ever see out in the open during GOS here in BC is in Region 2 :razz:

Congrats on getting all settled there and harvesting some fine bucks. Thanks for the share!!

Figure those Chilliwack Valley bucks must be getting out of control with you gone. If you need someone to go out there and keep the in check just send over the GPS coordinates. I promise to video it when I say "Camp Cook sent me" and squeeze the trigger LOL

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Nice bucks CC! But I thought the bodies would have been a bit bigger with all that good Alberta nutrition;-).

Congrats on your move. If we had stayed in Canada we would have picked Alberta as well.

SSS

[180grainer]

Thanks for posting that up. A couple of nice bucks for sure.

[Camp Cook]

lol they were shot 2 weeks apart = buck on right was already in the freezer

[srupp]

lol BLACkFALDS.....remember Sugar creek taxidermy...Marco...every landowner granted us access for hunting one guy even gave us the keys for the gate to retrieve our buckS...one guy gave us his camp home used during haying....never had A bad encounter ever..of course bringing a couple coho salmon never hurt either..

congradulations on the move....live long and prosper....

BUZZARD CREEK METEOR CLOSEST WITNESSES.IN ALBERTA

[Camp Cook]

I gave the last of my spring and sockeye to one neighbour earlier in the year because he had given me permission to cut wood on his property he was the first 1/4 section I was given permission to hunt on.

Since we got the bucks he has been given ground and roasts from the deer funny part is he has lived on that property for 60 + years and has never shot/eaten deer I asked why his response was "I have beef" well he doesn't now and he never realized how good the whitetail deer were.

[HarryToolips]

Indeed the whitetails are great tablefare, even the mature bucks or rutting bucks as long as you take proper care of the meat I have found..

Congratulations on 2 very nice bucks, and you really can't beat that kind of father/son time... we're they rutting hard chasing does?

[TheObserver]

Nice Bucks! Glad to hear your move has worked out well and you like it. May end up over there in the not to distant future myself, for a time anyway

[bottles]

Awesome. Congrats

[Camp Cook]

yes they were full time rutting when we drove out into the barley field to load sons buck there were three more nice bucks within 100 yards of us two were fighting.

Never saw anything like it before.

[Redthies]

every landowner granted us access for hunting one guy even gave us the keys for the gate to retrieve our buckS...one guy gave us his camp home used during haying....never had A bad encounter ever…

It’s different down south. I called a half dozen lease holders between Cardston and Milk River to ask permission to hunt birds a couple of years ago. Not one single asshat ever answered their phone or returned my message. And I was very polite and respectful in my messages. I can’t say I had a bad encounter, because I never HAD an encounter… Might have been very different if I went knocking on doors, but I was trying to secure permission ahead of time to plan our trip.

Glad it worked out for you guys. There is some great country out there!

[RackStar]

Nicely done! Was it fairly straight forward getting the hunting license in Alberta? You just need to show them proof of completion the hunting education here in BC?

The only Whitetail bucks I ever see out in the open during GOS here in BC is in Region 2 :razz:

Congrats on getting all settled there and harvesting some fine bucks. Thanks for the share!!

Figure those Chilliwack Valley bucks must be getting out of control with you gone. If you need someone to go out there and keep the in check just send over the GPS coordinates. I promise to video it when I say "Camp Cook sent me" and squeeze the trigger LOL

the moment you have a Alberta DL, you can sign up for a Alberta RELM number , walk into any vendor buy your license and tags that same day. I never had to show proof of my BC hunter number, i believe they had access to it. They just ask you if you’ve taken a course in another province. I also like the point system on draws here. It’s a great province for hunting. Though I miss some of my BC spots and opportunities, Alberta has some of the best WT , Elk and moose hunting in Canada.

[Camp Cook]

https://huntingbc.ca/forum/images/shades_of_green/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by caddisguy https://huntingbc.ca/forum/images/shades_of_green/buttons/viewpost-right.png (https://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=2433082#post2433082)
Nicely done! Was it fairly straight forward getting the hunting license in Alberta? You just need to show them proof of completion the hunting education here in BC?

The only Whitetail bucks I ever see out in the open during GOS here in BC is in Region 2 :razz:

Congrats on getting all settled there and harvesting some fine bucks. Thanks for the share!!

Figure those Chilliwack Valley bucks must be getting out of control with you gone. If you need someone to go out there and keep the in check just send over the GPS coordinates. I promise to video it when I say "Camp Cook sent me" and squeeze the trigger LOL


If you were born before a certain year and have a BC wildlife number you just have to get an Alberta wildlife number I went to the local hunting/fishing store able to just get my license immediately

My youngest son is 16 he was eligible for the youth (12 - 18 ) hunting license and his own whitetail tag without taking a course.

Oldest son did not get his Alberta license yet I understand even though he has had a BC license for years he has to take the course don't quote me on this though I could have it wrong I'm planning on him and his wife getting their licenses by this coming fall this is where srupps info will come in handy because they live right where Steve hunted.

As to were I hunted blacktail in BC I showed two very close friends and my older brother where I would go none of them even saw a buck this last season.

[browningboy]

Congrats on the bucks! All those years watching Realtree Outdoors paid off! :-) depending what happens next election here in bc there maybe more of us infiltrating you guys!

[Camp Cook]

Congrats on the bucks! All those years watching Realtree Outdoors paid off! :-) depending what happens next election here in bc there maybe more of us infiltrating you guys!

It was crazy we saw shootable bucks almost every time we went out didn't shoot them because we did not want the season to end.

[Walking Buffalo]

It’s different down south. I called a half dozen lease holders between Cardston and Milk River to ask permission to hunt birds a couple of years ago. Not one single asshat ever answered their phone or returned my message. And I was very polite and respectful in my messages. I can’t say I had a bad encounter, because I never HAD an encounter… Might have been very different if I went knocking on doors, but I was trying to secure permission ahead of time to plan our trip.

Glad it worked out for you guys. There is some great country out there!

Asshat.....
Seems like those asshat farmers had you figured out.


Nicely done Cook.
Made personal contact, established a relationship where theses asshat farmers could evaluate you, and then enjoy and shared the bounty.

[huntingfamily]

Asshat.....
Seems like those asshat farmers had you figured out.


Nicely done Cook.
Made personal contact, established a relationship where theses asshat farmers could evaluate you, and then enjoy and shared the bounty.

Agreed. I've never had a problem getting permission to hunt birds in southern Alberta. We always bring okanagan jams and jellies from Summerland Sweets, as well as bottles of bc wine to offer the farmers in exchange for permission.
Respect is a two-way street.

[caddisguy]

If you were born before a certain year and have a BC wildlife number you just have to get an Alberta wildlife number I went to the local hunting/fishing store able to just get my license immediately

My youngest son is 16 he was eligible for the youth (12 - 18 ) hunting license and his own whitetail tag without taking a course.

Oldest son did not get his Alberta license yet I understand even though he has had a BC license for years he has to take the course don't quote me on this though I could have it wrong I'm planning on him and his wife getting their licenses by this coming fall this is where srupps info will come in handy because they live right where Steve hunted.

As to were I hunted blacktail in BC I showed two very close friends and my older brother where I would go none of them even saw a buck this last season.

Thanks for the reply CC. For those who might have difficulty getting permission (if that's even a thing) is there any decent public land hunting within a few hours of your area or is private land usually the way for your area or Alberta in general? I'm guessing based on google earth there there's a fair bit of public land in the western and northern parts. Congrats again to you and your sons!

[Camp Cook]

Lots of public land north of Hwy 12 and west of Rocky Mtn House

from what I am reading on Alberta Hunting Addicts there are a lot of hunters that no matter how many people they ask do not get permission

I went out of my way to meet people even joined the local community hall coffee club they meet Monday - Wednesday - Friday mornings another fellow waved to me as I drove by his house so I backed up and had a visit he is now one of my best friends out here.

Another method that worked is local Facebook community groups people were giving away vegetables - turnips etc I would go get some free zucchinis give a 3 - 4" chunk of blacktail deer salami in exchange I scored 5 quarter sections due to doing this.

I got permission to use peoples names as character references another was just being friendly I had borrowed a rototiller from a neighbour was walking it back to his house on the paved road a lady pulled beside me laughing that it must be hard to rototill pavement we shot our bucks on her property.

[Camp Cook]

srupp we went into Lacombe yesterday bought my son a used skidoo from a fellow that lives near Lacombe lake in rural Blackfalds his shop was full of euro-mount whitetail antlers not one came from the local area.

He told me that he could not get permission to hunt anywhere in the area had to go to Gull lake to get permission.

[Norwestalta]

Congrat on the deer and the move.