COLD Peace adventure.

[lightmag]

Well been back from the peace area for a about 10 days now, 1st time there, worth all the work and i will be going back. I'd first like to give a huge thanks to Moose2 as he gave me a ton of info and help to make this trip go smooth, thanks moose2.

left at 3AM, yes that is AM on the friday Nov 19, great driving conditions all the way. Reached our destination around 10am friday morning after a few delays in chetwynd.

Here is camp for 5 days with 5 guys and a dog.
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010003.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010004.jpg

weather was supposed to be -15-20, no wind and they had just got their first snow and cold as of 3 days before, timing seemed perfect! it was a full moon though so i had some concerns.

1st afternoon was spent exploring and getting to know the area. Went out on the quad, saw some great country and had a spot picked for the am, got back to camp and 2 of the other guys (my brother and a buddy) had seen a good muley with 2 does from the truck, but they were too busy watching the does on 1 side before they noticed the mature mulie on the other side and he bolted.

So we were pumped to have a sighting and see lots of tracks

day 2, -20, dressed and quadded to my spot, spent about 2 hors walking a pipeline towards the river, cut a decent set of tracks and spent the morning walking the tree line around a block, beautiful morning, no deer sightings for me. Back to camp at 1130 to warm up, compare notes, eat and back out.

Out of the 5 that went, 2 were willing to take a Mule doe that was open for that final day, i wasn't one that was going to:neutral: So 1st full day down, i had no sighting (tons of fresh tracks), my brother saw some whitey does, mule does and 2 2pt bucks, the 2 guys willing to take a doe, saw zero!

[lightmag]

day 3, colder?? forecast changed? getting colder with wind! I decide to take a buddy and hit the breaks to the river for mulies. So off we go, creep down to the tracks and just getting up to where i want to walk and straight down in the breaks, 2 deer boucing, 100 yards, as i'm getting off the quad i CLEARLY see the trailing buck is a big high BUCK!! I'm moving fast now...... running out of time, jacking a shell, only shot is to hopefully "burp" and get a quick look back at the tree line, so i "burp" and ..... they keep going like nothing happened!! so i bust up the tracks a Km fast! cut out onto a point that over looks the whole break to the river and glass, and glass, and glass, ?? where did they go? i can see everywhere (almost:mrgreen:), wait, glass, nothing grrrrrr.

We pull out, move up and hunt further up for the morning, nothing! back to camp and of coarse my brother in his truck is seeing deer everywhere, but does and 2x2's, no whitey buck sights yet.

That night i make a plan to "push" the area with that buck on the breaks. So i drop my buddy about 3km ahead of the sighting and i go back to the spot to "track" and hopefully get a chance, (we had radio's to talk).

Here is the new winter camo
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010001.jpg

Well it's -25 and after dropping into those steep breaks, pushing timber, climbing up steep side hill deer trails for 3 hours i was sweating pretty good, even tried to go real slow to prevent sweating, but those breaks are tough. We meet in the middle, NO DEER!!! these things are ghosts! back to camp for the night.

That night, -27 plus wind!! COLD!! fire was refilled every 2 hours!! tent stay nice and toasty though:-D

next morning i put on the pack, grabbed the gear and left on foot. Headed out and about 2 hours in my brother comes driving up behind me, says high and carry's on. Well i have just been hiking all morning in the cold, creeping along, blowing a few calls and sneaking thru this thick area for 2 hours. Well he pulls away and not 30 yards he bails out of the truck with his gun?? WTF if he shoots a cranker there i'm going to kill him!! luckily it turned out to be another 2x2!! lol, i would have killed him.

so 10 km on foot, back to camp, 1 deer sighting?? a few seen from the truck hunters:mrgreen: and nothing else? we all were seeing lots of elk and moose though, note to self for september !! by buddy also hiked about 7-8km that day, this is what he looked like when he got back (he had a truck stop and ask if he was alright, lol)
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010010.jpg

that evening , it's cold -27 plus wind chill and i'm tired from the moring walk, quad time!! the honda starts!! the suzuki... dosen't lol, he took a good ribbing.

well that was the coldest evening hunt EVER!! who drives around on a quad in -27 with wind and wind from the quad?? this dumby!! i was well dressed and prepared, but ended up about 15km from camp at dark, got turned around and got back to camp just before the boys were coming to find my frozen body!! bbrrrrrrr NO DEER!

[lightmag]

Beer time!!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010009.jpg

[lightmag]

So another day of hiking, saw a nice whitey buck but he did the 100mph 2.5 jumps across the pipeline with no shot!!

That night my buddy took his first game of the year, a ...small 2x3, meat for him and better than the doe he would have taken!!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010008.jpg

[lightmag]

We hunted hard the last morning as well, no luck!! everything was moving at night, at midnight it was so bright out you could see 200 yards down the power lines!!

one of my most rewarding hunting experiences though, because of the cold weather, the wall tent, the company and how hard i hunted. I left nothing on the table, i was at camp for 1-1.5 hours a day to eat and warm up, hiked 23+km, quadded, sat and rattled, pushed timber, did it all, just wasn't in the cards! but oh well, it is my most memorable trips to date and i will be doing many, many more late november deer camps in the peace! here are a few more pics.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010006.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010005.jpg


the deer froze so solid it sounded like hollow card board, lol
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/dentonjohnson/delrio2010007.jpg

Co's stopped by camp one day too, super friendly and they were impressed we were hiking and quadding in the weather as they had seen no one else, lol..

We called the little 2x3 "18 and barely legal" lol, CO's measured him up and gave him a passing grade!!

[BCrams]

Sounds like the beginnings of many more adventures up there!! Great story and pictures!

The Peace country is awsome!!

[ydouask]

Great hunt.... what a life, eh?

[lightmag]

Great hunt.... what a life, eh?

know doubt, some people don't understand "wanting" to go live in a tent with a bunch of guys in cold weather for days on end, their lose, because it's the best!!

[knighthunter]

Great story and pic's. Thanks for sharing. Looks like a great time was had with friends. Are you warmed up yet.

[308Lover]

if you only knew how great it is to see you guys out there in a tent, together, in godawful weather, having a great time. As time goes by, these moments will be even more precious. Thanks for sharing!

[moose2]

Glad to see you guys made it out alive. You picked the coldest week of the season to camp in a tent LOL . Looks like you had a good time and hopefully the deer co-operate next year.
MIKE

[hunter1947]

I love your wright up as for the pictures ,pictures and wright up about you and your partners tell that you all had a blast ,thanks for sharing and congrats to the whole group http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif..

[west250]

Great hunting story, thanks for sharing! The frozen buck pic in hilarious!!

[BiG Boar]

unclear on the regulations, why did the CO's measure him? Point restriction there?

[lightmag]

unclear on the regulations, why did the CO's measure him? Point restriction there?


3pt or bigger, the 3rd point was barely long enough vs base width etc. i knew it would be close but also knew it was legal.

[rifleman]

It was very cold. We were there at the same time. Good on ya for stickin it out in a tent.

[muledeercrazy]

yeah, I was going to say it was smart to have the tent. We were up their as well and took a small travel trailer because we had several locations in mind to hunt. All I can say is that a small propane heater radiates a lot less heat that my wood stove for my wall tent. After a day of the cold weather the ice started forming on the inside of windows and doorframes and just got thicker!

[lightmag]

yeah, I was going to say it was smart to have the tent. We were up their as well and took a small travel trailer because we had several locations in mind to hunt. All I can say is that a small propane heater radiates a lot less heat that my wood stove for my wall tent. After a day of the cold weather the ice started forming on the inside of windows and doorframes and just got thicker!


lol, i was impressed with how warm it stayed in the tent.

[shawnwells]

Glad you had a good trip D ....man it was friggin cold that week...I was wearing like all my huntin clothes at once by the end...

[fuzzybiscuit]

Good job. Thanks for the pics and the story.

I was in Fort McMurray at the same time. Plus five when I got on the plane and minus 17 when I got off.

[moosinaround]

We were up there at that time too! I am making it a yearly trip as well!! Brett and I and our buddy ended up taking a buck each in the 3 days we were up there. We pounded the ground hard as well. Ended up with a whitie and 2 mulies. Weather was cold, but sure was nice to hunt in. Nice pics Lightmag, thanks for sharing! Moosin