cas-has-cars
12-14-2010, 01:19 AM
We started our trip from kelowna Friday Dec 3rd at 4am and drove to Pink Mountain, arriving at Verns ranch at 10:30 pm to find Vern was not there. We got our sleeping bags out and tried to sleep in the pickup as we could not get to our cabin on the other side of the locked gate. After 2 hours sleep we were awakened by a banging on the window and found Vern was trying to get our attention. He apologized and gave some excuse that we accepted and he let us in to our cabin. We fired up the wood stove to try and rid the cabin of the -25c air and soon we were warm and sleeping in our new home.
Saturday morning arrived quickly and we spent the first part of the morning unloading our gear which included 1 Quad and 2 Sleds. At 10 am we were ready to take our first tour of the Halfway river trial past the Ranch. We worked our way up the trial with the 2 sleds to find the ski's were scratching lots of lose gravel as the snow condition was very thin. We past a few hunters along the way and they seemed excited about a few fresh tracks on the this side of Horse Camp. We kept going as we did not want to inter-fear. After about 40 km we came to a open river crossing and we decided to turn around and work our way back to camp. Just than we met 3 hunters who had come form across the river and they had a nice Bull in tow and said they had taken the main bull from a herd of 14 and that was about 10 km past the river crossing. The day was running short so we moved closer to our camp and on our way we spotted a large lone Bull about 300 yards away and across the river which was frozen over at this point. Brandon my hunting partner and I Tried to get a little closer as I thought my 7mm would hit a little harder if I got to within 200 yards. The Bull sensed our advance and was gone in a shot. We learned that day that Bison are not the stupid animals that we were hoping they would be.
The next 2 days we spent regretting not taking the shot we had on the first day as we never seen a single Bison since that first day. We met up with Shawnwells and his hunting party and he informed us of a herd his Brother and Sister in law had found and taken a cow bison out of. Shawn made plans to meet early the next morning and we would go and find the herd and get a double header. We agreeded and gave the thumbs up as we parted ways. We were on our way to Pink Mountain Resort to have dinner with Jamie and pick up some fuel and oil for the sleds. Jamie informed us we were hunting the right areas as we were working the McQue Flats. He said to just keep doing what we were doing and we should have success.
We also met 2 other HBC guys there and they were working the same area as us. Good bunch of guys.
Next morning we head out to meet Shawnwells at the gate only to find he did not show. We waited 30 min and decided to move on, later we found out he ran into several issues getting his sister and laws cow out. His sled broke and his brother was near physical exhaustion and they were quit concerned. Shawn might share his story one day with you all.
As for Brandon and I we headed for McQue flats only to run into Bison tracks in the fresh snow from one side of the road to the other and they were walking straight up the road for 1.5 km and we were so sure we would run into the herd. This took place about 3 km past the ranch gate. We spent a little time checking the tracks out and found they headed into thick bush so we cared on to McQue. When we arrived in the area we wanted we parked the sleds and glassed fo a few minutes only to hear another sled coming so we talked to the new hunters and moved up the road to keep our front position. We went another 2 km and thought we were in great shape till we spotted 2 sleds coming straight at us. Now we were a little disappointed and we talked to these hunters and of course everyone is a little disappointed in the traffic. As we were talking we heard a shot from where we first met the new hunters 2 km back. We Told the hunters we had heard about a herd of 75 seen the day before and told them we were going to find the shooters and hopefully find the rest of the herd perhaps. We turned and went back and found the sled was parked where we were glassing earlier. We walked in and no sign of the hunters but we came across Shawnwells sister in laws broken horn cow and we knew we were in the right place. Plenty of fresh sign with nothing to be seen. We walked around for 1 hour and found some great areas that could not be seen unless you walked. We ended up walking into a nice meadow and as we came through the willows I spotted a Lone Bull in its prime about 240 yards away and facing away form us. I let Brandon know our bull was in the meadow as he had not cleared the willows yet. I lay down at the edge of the meadow and loaded my 7mm. Safety off and Bull in the sights I only needed him to turn and give me a shot. 5 min went by and he moved a little farther away and than he turned enough for the first shot which hit well and the bull moved sideways about 10 feet and I let him have the second shot and he stumbled a little and I gave him the third and down he went. A few High fives and our work began. The bull was down at 10:30 am and we had the animal back at camp and we were in bed 15 hours later at 1:30 am.
Mission accomplished. I Scored the bull 109 2/3
Thanks to one of the HBC guys for lending me his goggles as it sure helped in the second trip to bring the meat back to camp.
Myself to tired to hold the head up
<a href="http://s1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/?action=view&current=IMG_0319.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/IMG_0319.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/IMG_0319.jpg
Brandon holding head up<a href="http://s1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/?action=view&current=brandonandbison.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/brandonandbison.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/brandonandbison.jpg
Below is a picture of the 3.5 foot round stomach that weighed 200 pounds I'm sure
<a href="http://s1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/?action=view&current=bisonstomach.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/bisonstomach.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/bisonstomach.jpg
Saturday morning arrived quickly and we spent the first part of the morning unloading our gear which included 1 Quad and 2 Sleds. At 10 am we were ready to take our first tour of the Halfway river trial past the Ranch. We worked our way up the trial with the 2 sleds to find the ski's were scratching lots of lose gravel as the snow condition was very thin. We past a few hunters along the way and they seemed excited about a few fresh tracks on the this side of Horse Camp. We kept going as we did not want to inter-fear. After about 40 km we came to a open river crossing and we decided to turn around and work our way back to camp. Just than we met 3 hunters who had come form across the river and they had a nice Bull in tow and said they had taken the main bull from a herd of 14 and that was about 10 km past the river crossing. The day was running short so we moved closer to our camp and on our way we spotted a large lone Bull about 300 yards away and across the river which was frozen over at this point. Brandon my hunting partner and I Tried to get a little closer as I thought my 7mm would hit a little harder if I got to within 200 yards. The Bull sensed our advance and was gone in a shot. We learned that day that Bison are not the stupid animals that we were hoping they would be.
The next 2 days we spent regretting not taking the shot we had on the first day as we never seen a single Bison since that first day. We met up with Shawnwells and his hunting party and he informed us of a herd his Brother and Sister in law had found and taken a cow bison out of. Shawn made plans to meet early the next morning and we would go and find the herd and get a double header. We agreeded and gave the thumbs up as we parted ways. We were on our way to Pink Mountain Resort to have dinner with Jamie and pick up some fuel and oil for the sleds. Jamie informed us we were hunting the right areas as we were working the McQue Flats. He said to just keep doing what we were doing and we should have success.
We also met 2 other HBC guys there and they were working the same area as us. Good bunch of guys.
Next morning we head out to meet Shawnwells at the gate only to find he did not show. We waited 30 min and decided to move on, later we found out he ran into several issues getting his sister and laws cow out. His sled broke and his brother was near physical exhaustion and they were quit concerned. Shawn might share his story one day with you all.
As for Brandon and I we headed for McQue flats only to run into Bison tracks in the fresh snow from one side of the road to the other and they were walking straight up the road for 1.5 km and we were so sure we would run into the herd. This took place about 3 km past the ranch gate. We spent a little time checking the tracks out and found they headed into thick bush so we cared on to McQue. When we arrived in the area we wanted we parked the sleds and glassed fo a few minutes only to hear another sled coming so we talked to the new hunters and moved up the road to keep our front position. We went another 2 km and thought we were in great shape till we spotted 2 sleds coming straight at us. Now we were a little disappointed and we talked to these hunters and of course everyone is a little disappointed in the traffic. As we were talking we heard a shot from where we first met the new hunters 2 km back. We Told the hunters we had heard about a herd of 75 seen the day before and told them we were going to find the shooters and hopefully find the rest of the herd perhaps. We turned and went back and found the sled was parked where we were glassing earlier. We walked in and no sign of the hunters but we came across Shawnwells sister in laws broken horn cow and we knew we were in the right place. Plenty of fresh sign with nothing to be seen. We walked around for 1 hour and found some great areas that could not be seen unless you walked. We ended up walking into a nice meadow and as we came through the willows I spotted a Lone Bull in its prime about 240 yards away and facing away form us. I let Brandon know our bull was in the meadow as he had not cleared the willows yet. I lay down at the edge of the meadow and loaded my 7mm. Safety off and Bull in the sights I only needed him to turn and give me a shot. 5 min went by and he moved a little farther away and than he turned enough for the first shot which hit well and the bull moved sideways about 10 feet and I let him have the second shot and he stumbled a little and I gave him the third and down he went. A few High fives and our work began. The bull was down at 10:30 am and we had the animal back at camp and we were in bed 15 hours later at 1:30 am.
Mission accomplished. I Scored the bull 109 2/3
Thanks to one of the HBC guys for lending me his goggles as it sure helped in the second trip to bring the meat back to camp.
Myself to tired to hold the head up
<a href="http://s1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/?action=view&current=IMG_0319.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/IMG_0319.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/IMG_0319.jpg
Brandon holding head up<a href="http://s1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/?action=view&current=brandonandbison.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/brandonandbison.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/brandonandbison.jpg
Below is a picture of the 3.5 foot round stomach that weighed 200 pounds I'm sure
<a href="http://s1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/?action=view&current=bisonstomach.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/bisonstomach.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
http://i1096.photobucket.com/albums/g338/cas-has-cars/bisonstomach.jpg