7mag700
11-21-2008, 04:55 PM
I hunted alot with friends and family when I was a kid, but shot only birds myself (I love grouse hunting). Later in life I lived/worked in a guide camp on the Spatsizi Plateau. However, I never bothered to get a FAC/PAL until moving up here to FSJ.
So this year my buddies that hunt have been excited as can be about getting out with me for my first deer. My friend Ron in particular had been planning for a year to come up, since I took him out for his Muley buck last year.
Nov. 10th we hunted all day. Saw does but let them be. Had a great time.
Nov. 11th Having struck out the day before Ron took a Muley doe early in the morning, as it's been a year since he shot something and he was looking for meat for the freezer. Later that afternoon I took a whitetail doe. I really wanted to make my first deer a buck, but thought taking my first deer with my buddy was more important, and we only had one more day to hunt together. She was on the bounce at around 200 yds, so I took a kneel and shot. She dropped instantly. Waypoints in my GPS from where I took the shot to where she dropped plotted on GE later showed I had taken her at 210 meters (230 yards). I've always been a good marksman, and I shot over 70 practice rounds through my gun getting it sighted in so I know it's a shooter, but I was fairly proud of that shot. When we hung/skinned them in my garage later that night the meat on my WT was beautiful too, gonna be good eats!
Nov. 12th - Hunting the previous two days we had come across some great private land that we were drooling over. After walking some other good spots we decided to go see if we could get permission to hunt them. As luck would have it the farmer was stacking round bales in the field that day - we'd never seen anyone on the property, and there's no house on it. When asked, he told us no problem, he has a full section we can hunt, and even gave us the name of the owner of all the other sections around him!
When we drove around back of his property, we first saw 5 does browsing on/around his round bales. A closer look the the binoculars showed there were two bucks hanging out farther down. They disappeared into a little stripe of trees running down the center of his field.
We got out of the truck, and keeping individual round bales between us and the does, slowly worked our way to within about 250 yards of them. After watching/waiting for the bucks, we finally decided to cross through the trees and have a look. There they were, about 300 yards away, bedded down. So we worked out a strategy - Ron would stalk forward on the bucks' side of the trees, while I waited on the other side in case they broke cover and ran. Which they did. I managed to count the first buck at 2 x 2 on the run, then the does, and finally (after several very tense seconds) the second buck took off after them. By the time I counted to 3 twice, he was far (about 350 yards) away moving fast, so I didn't take the shot. I later found out that Ron had gotten to within 150 yards of the bucks, but wanted me to get one so bad he purposely scared them my way. Thanks Ron, I appreciate it buddy!
Dejected, we got back into the truck and found the trail taking us along the field they headed for. It dropped lower than the level of the field in one spot nicely hiding the truck, so we decided to park and try another stalk. Ron headed up the trail, while I moved to the edge of the field and worked my way up in case they broke cover again. At first they were on the right hand side of the trail in thick trees, so every look Ron had at them was no shot. Fortunately when he scared them up they crossed the trail, got out onto the field, and stopped! Just ahead of me there was a little poplar tree that had been broken off and then grown out to the right of the break, making a very convenient little gun rest. Cranked up to 14 power the 3x3 still looked pretty small in my scope, but the crosshairs were steady on him at what I figured to be around 350 yards. I was debating the shot when I saw he was about to bolt again (Ron was working up on them, but still had no shot throught the trees between the trail and the field). With the crosshairs at the level of his ears I squeezed the trigger and saw him windmill his back legs just as he took off.
When we got up to the spot he was gone. My heart sunk, as the first track I saw had blood in it. The last thing I wanted was to take a long shot, wound an animal, and then lose it. Fortunately the tracks were easy to follow - you could tell he was slipping and sliding on any kind of slope. We caught up to him about 400 yards into the bush - he had powered out trying to climb a bank on the opposite side of a little creek. I quickly snapped a shot, and he dropped and slid back towards us. I can't say there was much shrinkage when I lifted his head - already knew he wasn't sporting anything mare than a barely legal rack. The third point on his LHS is tough to see in this picture, but the other pic in my gallery shows it clear enough. GPS points showed my shot was 390 meters (427 yards)! I had held just a little too high and was only barely anticipating his move, so rather than getting the engine room the shot took him right throught the tenderloins. Ron picked on me plenty guys and gals, no more need :p
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/PB120289_small.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11474&size=big&cat=500)
Regardless of the size of him, you can see how pumped I was afterwards! Plus those antlers have already been made into a nice compact rattle to bring in the bigger one I'll shoot next year :D
On the 14th I was slated to join two other friends on a LEH buffalo draw up at Pink Mountain. I had only just finished cleaning up the aftermath of skinning/hanging 3 deer in my garage when they picked me up.
After two loooong days of solid quadding/walking (not to mention beer and rye drinking watching the UFC fight) he dropped this cow about 1.5 km off the trail. It was 3:30 in the afternoon. 4.5 hours of solid cold/hard work later, we had it back at the truck. If you're ever invited on a buff hunt, I strongly suggest Olympic-style pre-training :razz: You can see the kind of deadfall we had to get the quads through. FYI it's actually possible to get approx 600 lbs. of buffalo meat/bones plus head/hide on one quad through that kind of bush.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG_1171_small.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11476&size=big&cat=500)
It's not the end of my 2008 season, I have other friends that want to go predator hunting soon, but if I was to park my gun for the remainder of the year right now, I'd still be a very happy man :cool:
So this year my buddies that hunt have been excited as can be about getting out with me for my first deer. My friend Ron in particular had been planning for a year to come up, since I took him out for his Muley buck last year.
Nov. 10th we hunted all day. Saw does but let them be. Had a great time.
Nov. 11th Having struck out the day before Ron took a Muley doe early in the morning, as it's been a year since he shot something and he was looking for meat for the freezer. Later that afternoon I took a whitetail doe. I really wanted to make my first deer a buck, but thought taking my first deer with my buddy was more important, and we only had one more day to hunt together. She was on the bounce at around 200 yds, so I took a kneel and shot. She dropped instantly. Waypoints in my GPS from where I took the shot to where she dropped plotted on GE later showed I had taken her at 210 meters (230 yards). I've always been a good marksman, and I shot over 70 practice rounds through my gun getting it sighted in so I know it's a shooter, but I was fairly proud of that shot. When we hung/skinned them in my garage later that night the meat on my WT was beautiful too, gonna be good eats!
Nov. 12th - Hunting the previous two days we had come across some great private land that we were drooling over. After walking some other good spots we decided to go see if we could get permission to hunt them. As luck would have it the farmer was stacking round bales in the field that day - we'd never seen anyone on the property, and there's no house on it. When asked, he told us no problem, he has a full section we can hunt, and even gave us the name of the owner of all the other sections around him!
When we drove around back of his property, we first saw 5 does browsing on/around his round bales. A closer look the the binoculars showed there were two bucks hanging out farther down. They disappeared into a little stripe of trees running down the center of his field.
We got out of the truck, and keeping individual round bales between us and the does, slowly worked our way to within about 250 yards of them. After watching/waiting for the bucks, we finally decided to cross through the trees and have a look. There they were, about 300 yards away, bedded down. So we worked out a strategy - Ron would stalk forward on the bucks' side of the trees, while I waited on the other side in case they broke cover and ran. Which they did. I managed to count the first buck at 2 x 2 on the run, then the does, and finally (after several very tense seconds) the second buck took off after them. By the time I counted to 3 twice, he was far (about 350 yards) away moving fast, so I didn't take the shot. I later found out that Ron had gotten to within 150 yards of the bucks, but wanted me to get one so bad he purposely scared them my way. Thanks Ron, I appreciate it buddy!
Dejected, we got back into the truck and found the trail taking us along the field they headed for. It dropped lower than the level of the field in one spot nicely hiding the truck, so we decided to park and try another stalk. Ron headed up the trail, while I moved to the edge of the field and worked my way up in case they broke cover again. At first they were on the right hand side of the trail in thick trees, so every look Ron had at them was no shot. Fortunately when he scared them up they crossed the trail, got out onto the field, and stopped! Just ahead of me there was a little poplar tree that had been broken off and then grown out to the right of the break, making a very convenient little gun rest. Cranked up to 14 power the 3x3 still looked pretty small in my scope, but the crosshairs were steady on him at what I figured to be around 350 yards. I was debating the shot when I saw he was about to bolt again (Ron was working up on them, but still had no shot throught the trees between the trail and the field). With the crosshairs at the level of his ears I squeezed the trigger and saw him windmill his back legs just as he took off.
When we got up to the spot he was gone. My heart sunk, as the first track I saw had blood in it. The last thing I wanted was to take a long shot, wound an animal, and then lose it. Fortunately the tracks were easy to follow - you could tell he was slipping and sliding on any kind of slope. We caught up to him about 400 yards into the bush - he had powered out trying to climb a bank on the opposite side of a little creek. I quickly snapped a shot, and he dropped and slid back towards us. I can't say there was much shrinkage when I lifted his head - already knew he wasn't sporting anything mare than a barely legal rack. The third point on his LHS is tough to see in this picture, but the other pic in my gallery shows it clear enough. GPS points showed my shot was 390 meters (427 yards)! I had held just a little too high and was only barely anticipating his move, so rather than getting the engine room the shot took him right throught the tenderloins. Ron picked on me plenty guys and gals, no more need :p
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/PB120289_small.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11474&size=big&cat=500)
Regardless of the size of him, you can see how pumped I was afterwards! Plus those antlers have already been made into a nice compact rattle to bring in the bigger one I'll shoot next year :D
On the 14th I was slated to join two other friends on a LEH buffalo draw up at Pink Mountain. I had only just finished cleaning up the aftermath of skinning/hanging 3 deer in my garage when they picked me up.
After two loooong days of solid quadding/walking (not to mention beer and rye drinking watching the UFC fight) he dropped this cow about 1.5 km off the trail. It was 3:30 in the afternoon. 4.5 hours of solid cold/hard work later, we had it back at the truck. If you're ever invited on a buff hunt, I strongly suggest Olympic-style pre-training :razz: You can see the kind of deadfall we had to get the quads through. FYI it's actually possible to get approx 600 lbs. of buffalo meat/bones plus head/hide on one quad through that kind of bush.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG_1171_small.JPG (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=11476&size=big&cat=500)
It's not the end of my 2008 season, I have other friends that want to go predator hunting soon, but if I was to park my gun for the remainder of the year right now, I'd still be a very happy man :cool: