bigbear350
01-27-2012, 09:58 PM
Hello All. I have recently moved up to Norther BC. I've never had the opportunity to hunt the mainland for mulies, but I've dreamed of hunting them and white tails since my passion for hunting was sparked around the age of 5.
After Hunting 6-7, 6-8 and 6-9 with no luck besides grouse I decided to go exploring down south in the MU 5 area. A friend informed me of an area she had checked out before seeing some deer but no luck as she had a little one with her, I took her advice and looked for a spot to camp. November 25th I found what looked like a decent area for deer and decided to drive the logging roads to see what the terrain had to offer. I was a little discouraged by the amount of traffic, hunters, who were also scrambling with the last few days of the season to find a buck. I had seen tracks in the higher elevation in the snow, but most of the tracks seemed old. I set up camp that night, and lets just say I'm glad I brought my down sleeping bag... hovering in the -3 area it was a bit brisk. The next morning I was excited to hike the timerline to see if I could catch anything moving from the open meadow areas... Nothing. The third day I was feeling like it was turning into a camping trip as I had yet to spot even a doe. Finally, by late afternoon I came across 4 does in the higher elevation. I thought, well if there are does here, then their should be a buck close by? I tried calling, sitting... but still nothing. That night it dropped to -7 and snowed probably 3 inches. That morning I awoke to light surrounding my tent, I had slept in :S. I hiked back up to where I saw the does the previous day but there were no tracks in the fresh snow. At this point I was thinking screw it... I haven't had a decent meal in 3 days and was feeling a little drained. I packed up my camp and headed down to a lower elevation. I found a spot that looked alright for camping and made my self some "cowboy coffee" and fried up some chicken. As I was cooking lunch, three vehicles drove past :(. I looked at the tree line and decided to walk a ways in then parallel the road where my new camp was. There wasn't much for sign along the timberline so I kept going in. After 400 yards or so it started getting thick, maybe 20-30 yard shooting lanes, but I started seeing more and more deer tracks and pellets. I found a really heavy trail heading down into a valley and thought, what the hell. I came upon acceptance that I wasn't going to get anything as the 3 inches of surface snow was frozen and it sounded like I was walking on bubble wrap. I also had my dog with me tethered to my backpack. I eventually came out onto a bit of a bench where I could see a lower bench 20 yards or so in front of me. My heart jumped out of my chest and a surge of adrenalin came as I jumped a doe out of her bed, and with her a buck. Instinct came over, slinged gun to shoulder, scope cover off, safety off, 1,2,3,4 points,cross hair to his shoulder as he was running quartering away 60 yards through the brush. It was all said and done within 3 or 4 seconds. He took off over the bench to the lower one. I found him piled up against a tree with his rack wedged around a tree! He had a kicker coming off the back over an inch with four on the one side and two on the other! I shed all my gear to field dress him, reached for my knife which is usually sheathed on my backpack...but I left it at camp when I had lunch :@... well I started to drag him up hill.. and that lasted about 50 yards lol. I hiked straight up, flagged the spot on the road with my dogs leash lol as I also forgot my flagging tape! On my way back I started to worry if I could find him, but I did. It took me over 3 hours to drag him out, 20 yards at a time. I tell ya, my lungs where burning after that. Next year I think I'll invest in a come-along lol... Trying to get this guy in the back of my truck was also quite the chor.. but oh so worth it! Hope you enjoyed my story!
After Hunting 6-7, 6-8 and 6-9 with no luck besides grouse I decided to go exploring down south in the MU 5 area. A friend informed me of an area she had checked out before seeing some deer but no luck as she had a little one with her, I took her advice and looked for a spot to camp. November 25th I found what looked like a decent area for deer and decided to drive the logging roads to see what the terrain had to offer. I was a little discouraged by the amount of traffic, hunters, who were also scrambling with the last few days of the season to find a buck. I had seen tracks in the higher elevation in the snow, but most of the tracks seemed old. I set up camp that night, and lets just say I'm glad I brought my down sleeping bag... hovering in the -3 area it was a bit brisk. The next morning I was excited to hike the timerline to see if I could catch anything moving from the open meadow areas... Nothing. The third day I was feeling like it was turning into a camping trip as I had yet to spot even a doe. Finally, by late afternoon I came across 4 does in the higher elevation. I thought, well if there are does here, then their should be a buck close by? I tried calling, sitting... but still nothing. That night it dropped to -7 and snowed probably 3 inches. That morning I awoke to light surrounding my tent, I had slept in :S. I hiked back up to where I saw the does the previous day but there were no tracks in the fresh snow. At this point I was thinking screw it... I haven't had a decent meal in 3 days and was feeling a little drained. I packed up my camp and headed down to a lower elevation. I found a spot that looked alright for camping and made my self some "cowboy coffee" and fried up some chicken. As I was cooking lunch, three vehicles drove past :(. I looked at the tree line and decided to walk a ways in then parallel the road where my new camp was. There wasn't much for sign along the timberline so I kept going in. After 400 yards or so it started getting thick, maybe 20-30 yard shooting lanes, but I started seeing more and more deer tracks and pellets. I found a really heavy trail heading down into a valley and thought, what the hell. I came upon acceptance that I wasn't going to get anything as the 3 inches of surface snow was frozen and it sounded like I was walking on bubble wrap. I also had my dog with me tethered to my backpack. I eventually came out onto a bit of a bench where I could see a lower bench 20 yards or so in front of me. My heart jumped out of my chest and a surge of adrenalin came as I jumped a doe out of her bed, and with her a buck. Instinct came over, slinged gun to shoulder, scope cover off, safety off, 1,2,3,4 points,cross hair to his shoulder as he was running quartering away 60 yards through the brush. It was all said and done within 3 or 4 seconds. He took off over the bench to the lower one. I found him piled up against a tree with his rack wedged around a tree! He had a kicker coming off the back over an inch with four on the one side and two on the other! I shed all my gear to field dress him, reached for my knife which is usually sheathed on my backpack...but I left it at camp when I had lunch :@... well I started to drag him up hill.. and that lasted about 50 yards lol. I hiked straight up, flagged the spot on the road with my dogs leash lol as I also forgot my flagging tape! On my way back I started to worry if I could find him, but I did. It took me over 3 hours to drag him out, 20 yards at a time. I tell ya, my lungs where burning after that. Next year I think I'll invest in a come-along lol... Trying to get this guy in the back of my truck was also quite the chor.. but oh so worth it! Hope you enjoyed my story!