Dad and son
06-23-2009, 12:42 PM
My 13 year old son was fortunate to get his second LEH draw for a bison. His first was when he was 11. He got a bison that year as well. This December it was unusually cold.
We hunted for 3 days and did not see many animals. On the last day of the season we went out in the morning. Fresh tracks crossed the skidoo trail into a meadow. I decided to walk into the meadow. About 100 yards off the trail we spotted the herd. My son was calm but excited, He wanted the biggest one in the herd, I wanted the closest animal. Strangely of the herd of say 20-25 animals almost all were obscured or standing facing away from us. One average animal gave us a clear broadside shot and that is the one he took. Very few hunters have the opportunity to get a bison he now has 2. 2008 was a great year for him as he also got a 52" moose and a caribou.
I posted earlier about all the things that happened because of the cold but I did not have a photo with that story. I thought I came prepared because I grew up in Northern Alberta so I am use to -40 weather, but have never hunted in such cold weather. These are the things I learned:
First the scope froze and when we tried the zoom feature it broke. Good thing I had a back up rifle. He shot both bison with a 300 win
Second the rifle misfired. We had to put about 7 or 8 shells through the rifle to get 2 or 3 that fired. The same thing happened to other hunters the day before, but of course I said to mysefl, that won't happen to me, my rifle is differnt.
Diesel truck was frozen solid, I never thought of bringing a tiger torch to warm up the engine. Fortunately the outfitter had one I could use.
Lighters dont work in the cold, luckily I was able to find some matches to light a fire while we waited for a boost to arrive
Hydraulic jacks dont work in the extreme cold, needed to change a tire on my trailer, fortunately I had an old manual with me
We wore 4 layers of clothing and still needed hand and foot warmers, Always bring lots of hand and foot warmers.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Dec_12_068.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=14569&size=big&cat=500)
We hunted for 3 days and did not see many animals. On the last day of the season we went out in the morning. Fresh tracks crossed the skidoo trail into a meadow. I decided to walk into the meadow. About 100 yards off the trail we spotted the herd. My son was calm but excited, He wanted the biggest one in the herd, I wanted the closest animal. Strangely of the herd of say 20-25 animals almost all were obscured or standing facing away from us. One average animal gave us a clear broadside shot and that is the one he took. Very few hunters have the opportunity to get a bison he now has 2. 2008 was a great year for him as he also got a 52" moose and a caribou.
I posted earlier about all the things that happened because of the cold but I did not have a photo with that story. I thought I came prepared because I grew up in Northern Alberta so I am use to -40 weather, but have never hunted in such cold weather. These are the things I learned:
First the scope froze and when we tried the zoom feature it broke. Good thing I had a back up rifle. He shot both bison with a 300 win
Second the rifle misfired. We had to put about 7 or 8 shells through the rifle to get 2 or 3 that fired. The same thing happened to other hunters the day before, but of course I said to mysefl, that won't happen to me, my rifle is differnt.
Diesel truck was frozen solid, I never thought of bringing a tiger torch to warm up the engine. Fortunately the outfitter had one I could use.
Lighters dont work in the cold, luckily I was able to find some matches to light a fire while we waited for a boost to arrive
Hydraulic jacks dont work in the extreme cold, needed to change a tire on my trailer, fortunately I had an old manual with me
We wore 4 layers of clothing and still needed hand and foot warmers, Always bring lots of hand and foot warmers.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Dec_12_068.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=14569&size=big&cat=500)