Mik
12-23-2008, 03:58 PM
My hunting partners kid, Tim (13 yrs. old), got his Core, Hunter #, filled in his LEH for Bison, first time & Drew the tag. Yeehawww!
Planning this trip was a little tricky. It was the Nov. 5-19 draw and his dad was not sure if he was going to make it(work related). So the trip was to be my 13 yr old daughter, Tim and myself. Anyways as it turns out, my daughter could not make it:-(, but Tim and his dad did:smile: (which is the way it should be).
We left on the 12 Nov. and were setting up camp in the snow the next afternoon;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18011.jpg
We talked to 2 parties that evening and both were leaving empty handed.:sad:.
Next morning we headed out to explore the country and have a good look around. It was -20 outside and we were bundled up. Hit some nice areas and trails but never did see anything as the snow was coming down on and off all day;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18025.jpg
Fri Nov. 14 day 2, off we go again, lots of elk and a few sheep;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18077.jpg
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18083.jpg
It was a great day, we hunted hard but saw no Bison.
Day 3, Sat; We went even further down the trail and as we only had quads we were limited to so far off the main path. Again, counted 50 elk and 7 sheep. I'm not a Sheep hunter, but they sure were dark in color.
Day 4, Sun; feeling a little down we decide to go hunt mile 153 with the truck ( to those of you that know the area- thats where all the well heads are), we met up with a large group from the lower mainland that said they have been up there a week and haven't seen a thing. They were gearing up to go cross the river on there quads/sleds, hopefully they got something as we never saw them again.
We hit every possible trail/road that day and never saw a thing, not even a deer. We did however find some nice dry firewood.
Day 5 Mon; Still snowing, minus 25 outside this morning and we decide to trailer the quads to yet another road, further up north from our base camp;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18092.jpg
We are off to an early start 7AM, and were' plowin' snow with the quads, trying to follow the trail. 4 hrs later we find the river that we need to cross, we decide to start a fire and warm up as we are all wet, hungry and very cold. We keep haeding up the trail and now we figure its getting late and we have to start heading back. Group decision, lets keep going for another hour and thank God we did. The country starts opening up and a few clicks later we are upon a herd of Bison. The country was kinda hilly so the Bison did not even know we were there. We got off the quads and started our stalk. We moved in to within 200 yards, it was snowing very hard and was quite foggy, which worked to our advantage. Tim lined up and then a BANG followed by a WHOLLUP! and we knew it was an awesome shot. The herd took off and we could see the cow that was hit was struglling thru the snow, and a few minutes later it dropped. YYEEEHAWWWW!;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18114.jpg
The proud Hunter, and now the work begins, we could'nt even brush the snow off long enough for photos;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18117.jpg
The Gang;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18120.jpg
All happy on the trail;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18129.jpg
The ride out, thru creeks and rivers and having to retie a few times;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18133.jpg
Meanwhile back at base camp the snow kept piling up;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18148.jpg
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18152.jpg
We decided to pack up that same evening as the snow was not letting up. We were in about 18" of snow and we had a few steep hills ahead of us. It was about 7:30 Pm by the time we made it back to camp and the packing started. We loaded the trailer and truck and hit the road at 11PM.
Even with chains, we had to unload the trailer on "that steep hill" and it was still a struggle to make it up. But we made it out and hit Ft. St. John at 3AM.
Planning this trip was a little tricky. It was the Nov. 5-19 draw and his dad was not sure if he was going to make it(work related). So the trip was to be my 13 yr old daughter, Tim and myself. Anyways as it turns out, my daughter could not make it:-(, but Tim and his dad did:smile: (which is the way it should be).
We left on the 12 Nov. and were setting up camp in the snow the next afternoon;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18011.jpg
We talked to 2 parties that evening and both were leaving empty handed.:sad:.
Next morning we headed out to explore the country and have a good look around. It was -20 outside and we were bundled up. Hit some nice areas and trails but never did see anything as the snow was coming down on and off all day;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18025.jpg
Fri Nov. 14 day 2, off we go again, lots of elk and a few sheep;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18077.jpg
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18083.jpg
It was a great day, we hunted hard but saw no Bison.
Day 3, Sat; We went even further down the trail and as we only had quads we were limited to so far off the main path. Again, counted 50 elk and 7 sheep. I'm not a Sheep hunter, but they sure were dark in color.
Day 4, Sun; feeling a little down we decide to go hunt mile 153 with the truck ( to those of you that know the area- thats where all the well heads are), we met up with a large group from the lower mainland that said they have been up there a week and haven't seen a thing. They were gearing up to go cross the river on there quads/sleds, hopefully they got something as we never saw them again.
We hit every possible trail/road that day and never saw a thing, not even a deer. We did however find some nice dry firewood.
Day 5 Mon; Still snowing, minus 25 outside this morning and we decide to trailer the quads to yet another road, further up north from our base camp;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18092.jpg
We are off to an early start 7AM, and were' plowin' snow with the quads, trying to follow the trail. 4 hrs later we find the river that we need to cross, we decide to start a fire and warm up as we are all wet, hungry and very cold. We keep haeding up the trail and now we figure its getting late and we have to start heading back. Group decision, lets keep going for another hour and thank God we did. The country starts opening up and a few clicks later we are upon a herd of Bison. The country was kinda hilly so the Bison did not even know we were there. We got off the quads and started our stalk. We moved in to within 200 yards, it was snowing very hard and was quite foggy, which worked to our advantage. Tim lined up and then a BANG followed by a WHOLLUP! and we knew it was an awesome shot. The herd took off and we could see the cow that was hit was struglling thru the snow, and a few minutes later it dropped. YYEEEHAWWWW!;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18114.jpg
The proud Hunter, and now the work begins, we could'nt even brush the snow off long enough for photos;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18117.jpg
The Gang;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18120.jpg
All happy on the trail;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18129.jpg
The ride out, thru creeks and rivers and having to retie a few times;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18133.jpg
Meanwhile back at base camp the snow kept piling up;
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18148.jpg
http://i443.photobucket.com/albums/qq159/Kozynest/PinkMountainNov12-18152.jpg
We decided to pack up that same evening as the snow was not letting up. We were in about 18" of snow and we had a few steep hills ahead of us. It was about 7:30 Pm by the time we made it back to camp and the packing started. We loaded the trailer and truck and hit the road at 11PM.
Even with chains, we had to unload the trailer on "that steep hill" and it was still a struggle to make it up. But we made it out and hit Ft. St. John at 3AM.