TommyGuitar
09-13-2011, 10:59 PM
Well here is my story for this year.
I'm going to school in the States, just about done getting a degree in music at Berklee, I'm a guitar picker who's picking took me to Boston. So because of going to school during the fall, I haven't really got much of a chance to really hunt except for a couple grouse.
I'm also a new trapper, who shares a trapline with my uncle. We got a good deal on it in December 2010 and has been a major project. I didn't have much time this year for hunting because of work in Calgary during the summer. As well, I just got my hunting license and my father/mother don't hunt.
Early this Sept me and my uncle were up at the line repairing the cabin. I had set up a treestand for deer and I was hoping to arrow a muley buck. Well the first night we did a lot of scouting for one. Didn't see anything but found a lot of new cool stuff on the trapline, including a ski cabin. In the morning I went in the tree stand at 4 AM.
Once I climbed to the top, I started to feel very sick. It wasn't ten minutes before I felt like I HAD to get down. But in this self climber, I wasn't just going to jump. I puked out of the stand, everything that was in my stomach. I made a hell of a racket puking. Then I kept sitting in my stand, and I fell lightly asleep for about an hour.
It was 5:30AM when I was very cold and wanted to go in the cabin. I didn't dress for 0 degree weather, with just a pair of long johns and carhartt pants it wasn't enough. When I got into the cabin, my uncle said, "What was that noise you made?" I told him that I puked. He laughed really hard, "You were that nervous for your first deer!" I laughed too, but it wasn't the reason I puked.. it was from the early breakfast. :icon_frow
So then we ate breakfast and fired up the truck to go to this big cut block 7km away, now it was about 6AM and we had the stove going in the cabin. We had received the tip about the cut block from some elk hunters from Kelowna that we ran into.
There weren't any deer at the spot that we thought. However, we ran into 4 spruce grouse and one ruffed! We had my Cooey Ranger with CB shorts. It is amazing that I can hit a pop can at 25 yards with this pretty consistently, but I can't hit a grouse at ten feet in four or five shots! We also saw a wolf run off the road when we pulled around the corner.
I don't know why it was so hard to shoot that morning. I also don't think that the CB shorts have as much killing power as other bullets do. Maybe we had a bad batch. I had a grouse that I just skimmed and then shot again once it flew into a tree. The grouse just did not seem to die as immediately. When I cleaned it, the breast had two bullet holes through it. The holes were very clean, too. I don't think I will use CB shorts anymore for grouse hunting, it's nice and quiet though. I was going to use a small game tip on my bow but I feared it would bruise the shit out of the meat. The grouse that my uncle shot in the head (or maybe neck) flew into the bush. I found it 75 feet away hiding on the other side of a small bush. I pulled his head off because I didn't want him to suffer anymore.
One of the spruce grouse did a very funny thing. My uncle missed the head shot on it. He went just above the head by an inch at most. The grouse spun in a circle, and then continued to stand there! It was like a carnival game or something. Very funny.
On our way home from the morning scout/grouse hunt my uncle dropped me off at a game trail that leads to the cabin, maybe 500m and crosses a creek. He said maybe I would see my buck there.
I stalked along the trail, very quietly and stopping often to listen and watch. Soon, I saw a flash of white behind a small pine tree in the trail ahead. I said to myself, "That's my muley's ass!" No sooner did I think that then when a huge white wolf stepped onto the trail 20 yards away. He was so big, beautiful and TALL! I looked him and he looked at me. Finally after what felt like an eternity he continued across the trail. I had my bow drawn at this point because I didn't know what to expect. A smaller grey wolf stepped onto the trail, looked at me and walked off. Then, another. When I thought that the coast was clear another one pulled the same stunt. They weren't that quiet when they were running away, either!
Well I got back to my cabin and my uncle was excited to hear the story. He had never been so close to a wolf before himself. My dad met up at the cabin and then we shot pop cans with the Cooey for fun for awhile then packed up and left.
I had three days left before I had to come to Boston but I decided not to continue hunting, just because I had a good enough time already and had a great grouse harvest. I am good enough with the bow to shoot out of the treestand at treestand distance, but no more than that to be sure. I was kind of happy because I think it would have been disrespectful to the deer to try any kind of distance shooting. You have to be so very sure. I'll need another year of bow practice before I'll be comfortable.
All in all it was good. I ate the 5 grouse, and perfected a recipe for popcorn grouse. I really like the spruce grouse the best.
I also guess I should try to trap the wolves when I get a chance. I think they might scare my deer away, or that my vomiting? :wink:
I'm going to school in the States, just about done getting a degree in music at Berklee, I'm a guitar picker who's picking took me to Boston. So because of going to school during the fall, I haven't really got much of a chance to really hunt except for a couple grouse.
I'm also a new trapper, who shares a trapline with my uncle. We got a good deal on it in December 2010 and has been a major project. I didn't have much time this year for hunting because of work in Calgary during the summer. As well, I just got my hunting license and my father/mother don't hunt.
Early this Sept me and my uncle were up at the line repairing the cabin. I had set up a treestand for deer and I was hoping to arrow a muley buck. Well the first night we did a lot of scouting for one. Didn't see anything but found a lot of new cool stuff on the trapline, including a ski cabin. In the morning I went in the tree stand at 4 AM.
Once I climbed to the top, I started to feel very sick. It wasn't ten minutes before I felt like I HAD to get down. But in this self climber, I wasn't just going to jump. I puked out of the stand, everything that was in my stomach. I made a hell of a racket puking. Then I kept sitting in my stand, and I fell lightly asleep for about an hour.
It was 5:30AM when I was very cold and wanted to go in the cabin. I didn't dress for 0 degree weather, with just a pair of long johns and carhartt pants it wasn't enough. When I got into the cabin, my uncle said, "What was that noise you made?" I told him that I puked. He laughed really hard, "You were that nervous for your first deer!" I laughed too, but it wasn't the reason I puked.. it was from the early breakfast. :icon_frow
So then we ate breakfast and fired up the truck to go to this big cut block 7km away, now it was about 6AM and we had the stove going in the cabin. We had received the tip about the cut block from some elk hunters from Kelowna that we ran into.
There weren't any deer at the spot that we thought. However, we ran into 4 spruce grouse and one ruffed! We had my Cooey Ranger with CB shorts. It is amazing that I can hit a pop can at 25 yards with this pretty consistently, but I can't hit a grouse at ten feet in four or five shots! We also saw a wolf run off the road when we pulled around the corner.
I don't know why it was so hard to shoot that morning. I also don't think that the CB shorts have as much killing power as other bullets do. Maybe we had a bad batch. I had a grouse that I just skimmed and then shot again once it flew into a tree. The grouse just did not seem to die as immediately. When I cleaned it, the breast had two bullet holes through it. The holes were very clean, too. I don't think I will use CB shorts anymore for grouse hunting, it's nice and quiet though. I was going to use a small game tip on my bow but I feared it would bruise the shit out of the meat. The grouse that my uncle shot in the head (or maybe neck) flew into the bush. I found it 75 feet away hiding on the other side of a small bush. I pulled his head off because I didn't want him to suffer anymore.
One of the spruce grouse did a very funny thing. My uncle missed the head shot on it. He went just above the head by an inch at most. The grouse spun in a circle, and then continued to stand there! It was like a carnival game or something. Very funny.
On our way home from the morning scout/grouse hunt my uncle dropped me off at a game trail that leads to the cabin, maybe 500m and crosses a creek. He said maybe I would see my buck there.
I stalked along the trail, very quietly and stopping often to listen and watch. Soon, I saw a flash of white behind a small pine tree in the trail ahead. I said to myself, "That's my muley's ass!" No sooner did I think that then when a huge white wolf stepped onto the trail 20 yards away. He was so big, beautiful and TALL! I looked him and he looked at me. Finally after what felt like an eternity he continued across the trail. I had my bow drawn at this point because I didn't know what to expect. A smaller grey wolf stepped onto the trail, looked at me and walked off. Then, another. When I thought that the coast was clear another one pulled the same stunt. They weren't that quiet when they were running away, either!
Well I got back to my cabin and my uncle was excited to hear the story. He had never been so close to a wolf before himself. My dad met up at the cabin and then we shot pop cans with the Cooey for fun for awhile then packed up and left.
I had three days left before I had to come to Boston but I decided not to continue hunting, just because I had a good enough time already and had a great grouse harvest. I am good enough with the bow to shoot out of the treestand at treestand distance, but no more than that to be sure. I was kind of happy because I think it would have been disrespectful to the deer to try any kind of distance shooting. You have to be so very sure. I'll need another year of bow practice before I'll be comfortable.
All in all it was good. I ate the 5 grouse, and perfected a recipe for popcorn grouse. I really like the spruce grouse the best.
I also guess I should try to trap the wolves when I get a chance. I think they might scare my deer away, or that my vomiting? :wink: