mudNblood
10-11-2010, 01:01 AM
So after lots of advice from HBC er's and 1500 kms of coffee, diesel and whatever we could reach from behind the seat we made it to the 171 turnoff. My hunting partner and I were tired but a bit giddy at the thought of shooting our first bison. We headed into the airstrip to find a camp spot. Along the way we met two men who told us that the bison were all over so don't shoot the first one you see. This would take some restraint. A 1/2 mile up the road we see two and they head in the bush. This seemed like a good omen for our trip. Once we took posession of a camp spot we went to look for a couple other guys we were expecting. This young caribou looked confused and ran across the road several times. The grizz tracks we saw may have something to do with its behavior.
Later that evening we rode the quads passed the gate and did some exploring. We were quickly given some advice about a large cow by a guy on a quad. We tried going there but took a wrong turn and spotted a herd of about 14 bison. It was about 6:15 and shooting a large animal at this time weighed heavily on my mind.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/028.JPG
After looking over the relaxed herd and identifying the cows and smaller bulls and cows, a quad came rushing in and parked behind us. Then two more quads pulled up and buddy starts video taping us. To me hunting is personal and I felt like these three guys were in my space. So after discussing the situation with my partner we passed on a opportunity to take a large cow mainly because of the time and because of Mr. Youtube with the camera.
The next morning we returned early back to the same place and spotted 6 bison and three were larger bulls. As we waited for shooting light we spotted movement from the back of the gravel clearing. Out came a cow and calf elk! We were hoping a bull would present himself too. As shooting light came we also spotted a hunter walking up the road and we used a bic lighter to flash/signal our position to him and he prompltly turned around. Just then it seemed like rush our of quads began, we looked back to the bison and elk but they had vanished. Into thin air it seemed. For the next 1/2 hour we used the noise from the quads to cover our attempts to stock the bison. We did see two in the thin swampy bush and had an opportunity to take a head shot at a large bull that had bedded down but I felt it was a low percentage shot. We watched these two, until they and three others spooked for whatever reason and we lost our chance this morning. After this chance we seemed to be in all the wrong places, the rest of our group were seeing bison everywhere they went but we saw no more for two days. I felt the pressure from the others in our group because they wanted to hunt moose near pink mnt.
So sunday afternoon we decided to go toward trimble lake?? We met two elk hunters with 6x6's and we continued down the trail. Near the end of the trail we came to a feild where my partner spotted three bison together in the corner. We stocked in to get better view. At this point we decided to shoot the larger of the three even thought he wasn't very big.
One shot from my 300WM weatherby and he staggered but didn't look like he was going down so one more round and he dropped then stood back up and then dropped again. The second bull in that group began nudging him with his head as if to encourage him to get back up. But with two well place lung shots he expired fast and the two remaining bulls walked off. We then approached the downed bull and made sure he was dead.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/0563.JPG
It was at that point we saw 90 plus bison in the far back corner of the field. Moments later,some bow hunters we had met the day before pulled up so we informed them of the herd in the back. Just as we finished field dressing our bison the bow hunters had shot and killed a young bull and it was on the ground within 30 seconds of the shot. We overloaded our quads with the halves and headed back to camp. The next am we pulled out and hunted toward Pink Mountain where I was able to shoot a nice Tri palm bull which was NOT going to come out of the bush for us regardless of what calls we gave him. First the grunting game started and there sounded to be three bulls in front and to our flanks. I began chirpping some squeaky bull calls while my partner continued his cow calls. As i chirped at them i walked slowly up the hill until i saw movement above my position. This bull finally showed himself after some more cow calls but he was not a legal bull. Several more chirps later and more movement appeared above me. I thought it was the same bull coming for another look until i saw brow tines. He had two on his left but wouldn't show me his right as he was looking toward where the cow calls were coming from. So I chirped at him from 75 yards away and he looked straight at me and showed me his "three in the tree" tri-palm right side. Against my better judgement I took a head shot and reminded myself why this was a bad idea, I missed. I chambered another round as he spun around to deep six and i pulled up on him as he was broadside and pounded a nosler high in the neck spine area. He dropped on the spot.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/084.JPG
I've always felt that getting out there is what it's all about. The chase, the strategy, and the commradery around camp is what i love. This hunt was successful as far as filling the freezer,but to me there's no such thing as coming home empty handed when your out there doing what you love.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/097.JPG
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/101.JPG
Later that evening we rode the quads passed the gate and did some exploring. We were quickly given some advice about a large cow by a guy on a quad. We tried going there but took a wrong turn and spotted a herd of about 14 bison. It was about 6:15 and shooting a large animal at this time weighed heavily on my mind.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/028.JPG
After looking over the relaxed herd and identifying the cows and smaller bulls and cows, a quad came rushing in and parked behind us. Then two more quads pulled up and buddy starts video taping us. To me hunting is personal and I felt like these three guys were in my space. So after discussing the situation with my partner we passed on a opportunity to take a large cow mainly because of the time and because of Mr. Youtube with the camera.
The next morning we returned early back to the same place and spotted 6 bison and three were larger bulls. As we waited for shooting light we spotted movement from the back of the gravel clearing. Out came a cow and calf elk! We were hoping a bull would present himself too. As shooting light came we also spotted a hunter walking up the road and we used a bic lighter to flash/signal our position to him and he prompltly turned around. Just then it seemed like rush our of quads began, we looked back to the bison and elk but they had vanished. Into thin air it seemed. For the next 1/2 hour we used the noise from the quads to cover our attempts to stock the bison. We did see two in the thin swampy bush and had an opportunity to take a head shot at a large bull that had bedded down but I felt it was a low percentage shot. We watched these two, until they and three others spooked for whatever reason and we lost our chance this morning. After this chance we seemed to be in all the wrong places, the rest of our group were seeing bison everywhere they went but we saw no more for two days. I felt the pressure from the others in our group because they wanted to hunt moose near pink mnt.
So sunday afternoon we decided to go toward trimble lake?? We met two elk hunters with 6x6's and we continued down the trail. Near the end of the trail we came to a feild where my partner spotted three bison together in the corner. We stocked in to get better view. At this point we decided to shoot the larger of the three even thought he wasn't very big.
One shot from my 300WM weatherby and he staggered but didn't look like he was going down so one more round and he dropped then stood back up and then dropped again. The second bull in that group began nudging him with his head as if to encourage him to get back up. But with two well place lung shots he expired fast and the two remaining bulls walked off. We then approached the downed bull and made sure he was dead.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/0563.JPG
It was at that point we saw 90 plus bison in the far back corner of the field. Moments later,some bow hunters we had met the day before pulled up so we informed them of the herd in the back. Just as we finished field dressing our bison the bow hunters had shot and killed a young bull and it was on the ground within 30 seconds of the shot. We overloaded our quads with the halves and headed back to camp. The next am we pulled out and hunted toward Pink Mountain where I was able to shoot a nice Tri palm bull which was NOT going to come out of the bush for us regardless of what calls we gave him. First the grunting game started and there sounded to be three bulls in front and to our flanks. I began chirpping some squeaky bull calls while my partner continued his cow calls. As i chirped at them i walked slowly up the hill until i saw movement above my position. This bull finally showed himself after some more cow calls but he was not a legal bull. Several more chirps later and more movement appeared above me. I thought it was the same bull coming for another look until i saw brow tines. He had two on his left but wouldn't show me his right as he was looking toward where the cow calls were coming from. So I chirped at him from 75 yards away and he looked straight at me and showed me his "three in the tree" tri-palm right side. Against my better judgement I took a head shot and reminded myself why this was a bad idea, I missed. I chambered another round as he spun around to deep six and i pulled up on him as he was broadside and pounded a nosler high in the neck spine area. He dropped on the spot.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/084.JPG
I've always felt that getting out there is what it's all about. The chase, the strategy, and the commradery around camp is what i love. This hunt was successful as far as filling the freezer,but to me there's no such thing as coming home empty handed when your out there doing what you love.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/097.JPG
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/501/medium/101.JPG