The 2011 season, a year of many firsts

[patdel]

Well after our "Good start to the Season" in which saw my son tag his First buck and myself taking my First Non-typical Muley, I decided to try another first. Having the second week of October set for our family moose hunting trip, I decided to try and take my first turkey. Having seen turkey on a couple of occasions in the okanagan during the bow and youth season, I set up the trail cam to see if there was any pattern to their movement. The trail cam showed some consistency in their route to the feeding grounds so my partner and I set up opening morning (Oct 1). We set up about 10 yards apart and only 10 yards of the trail we hoped the turkeys would travel. After an hour and 45 minutes we actually heard them come down from the roosting trees and started coming down this small slope only 60 yards away. They made their way down to the trail we were positioned by and watched as 6 hens walk right by us and actually stop and look in our direction a few times before we had any clear shot. We both dropped our First turkey and man what a adrenaline rush it was!http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/utf-8BSU1HMDQ0ODAuanBn-1.jpghttp://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/utf-8BSU1HMDQ0ODMuanBn.jpg

So the following weekend saw my family and friends head out to Valemount for our moose trip as we had a few cow/calf draws to fill up the freezers. It was a tough hunt as the deer and moose population had taking a licking this last year mostly due to the wolf and cougar increase in the area. The locals informed us that the population of the deer and moose was cut nearly in half over the last few years. We managed to get a cow and calf opening morning and I shot my First cow at a whole distance of 11 yards.The calf was quickly dropped shortly after and believe it or not but other than a bull we saw while pulling these 2 down the road on the quad, these were the only moose we saw in 10 days. Day 8, I decided to do a "walk through" as I call it in a dense area I tried before to find some whitetails. I would travel through this section of about 500 yards of flat timber that would take me at least a couple hours to get through. Having gone only about 75 yards or so moving super slow, I spotted some movement about 100 yards ahead and slowly kneeled down. My heart skipped a beat as I saw 4 wolves making their way through the trees totally unaware of my presence. I tried to get my sights on one but they moved so swiftly that i wasnt presented a chance. Then I noticed more movement and 2 more wolves came to view. These 2 stopped a few times to look around still unaware I was even there and finally got had a chance in an opening and dropped my First Wolf! http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/IMG_0189.jpghttp://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/IMG_0187.jpghttp://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/DSCF3032.jpg

[patdel]

It was a enjoyable trip in which also saw us take 3 Muley bucks one evening and a couple whitetails during the week to help with the lack of moose.With a total of 9 of us in which 7 had cow tags, it was nice to get the meat to share among the group. http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/DSCF3021.jpg

After getting back home and getting all the meat butchered up and still wanting my wife to take her first Muley buck, we set out for a day in high country and just before dark we spotted this buck feeding on a hill side and she made a great shot on this big 2 point. Her First Buck!http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/utf-8BSU1HMDQ1NDcuanBn.jpg On Nov 1st my partner and I were looking at the conditions outside and decided early afternoon to take a drive to an area we have been wanting to check out during the rut. We reached our destination and it didnt take long before we spotted a fork buck and doe. We slowly moved on and not 100 yards after I spotted a big bodied deer in the heavy brush only about 75 yards away. Not being able to see the deers head I slowly moved to my right and soon spotted antlers on one side. I could see it was tall as I kneeled down and put the scope on him. I could only see 3 points on the one side as I thought "there's no way that buck with that long of a G2 could only be a 3 point. I waited for him to move and as he turned he head to go, I saw a sticker coming off that G2. Bang! The buck took off and I was pretty sure I hit him good. My partner comes and ask if I hit him and I said think so. So he decides to circle around the low side while I head up to where he had been standing. When I reached the spot I could not believe how badly it stunk, have never smelled a rutting buck like that before. Soon I found his trail and he went about 50 yards before piling up. Then I heard another shot and and as i was making my way back where my partner was, he comes out and said he saw the buck and dropped him. I told him awesome! but my buck is down up the hill. High fives and an couple hours later in the dark we had both bucks loaded up and on our way.http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/utf-8BSU1HMDQ1MjQuanBn.jpghttp://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/utf-8BSU1HMDQ1MTcuanBn.jpg

[coach]

Awesome, Patdel! I'm thinking I've interrupted your storytelling. Great start though..

[patdel]

It was a task getting the 2 bucks up on top of my partners Suzuki but sure made for some cool pics.http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/IMG_0196.jpghttp://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/IMG_0205.jpg

Well we still had a whitetail tag left and late november had us searching for some bucks. We had missed on a couple dandy bucks over the last 2 seasons and didnt see the one we really wanted but I still dropped this 4 point to finish the seasonhttp://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/utf-8BSU1HMDQ1OTAuanBn.jpg
It was a great season and the family had lots of fun with it as well. My oldest daughter will be getting her licence this year and we are looking forward to the next season. Here is one more pic with my two muleys I took this last seasonhttp://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc397/patdel1/utf-8BSU1HMDQ1ODMuanBn.jpg

[Brian011]

Great storys, sounds like you had quite a season! I saw your bucks at lumby, very impressive!

[Good Old Outdoors]

Jealous!
Great season and great bucks! I wanna go where you hunt mulies! I havent gotten one yet!
Great thread thanks for sharing

[guest]

What a great season for you, family and friends .... thats whats it's all about .

Congrats to U all.

CT

Cool pic's

[bowhunterbruce]

gonna have a tough time beating that season,very nice indeed.
congrats to everyone and goodluck
bhb

[Knute]

Congrats on a great season.

You and your circle of friends/family should be proud and happy with such great results!

[Young Gun]

looks like you guys had a great season congrats.

[moose2]

Great thread congrats on a great season
Mike

[wicket]

why would anyone shoot a hen turkey????? that is no trophy a real turkey hunter would have passed and waited for a tom........:) couldnt resist joining the bash a picture band wagon.....congrats on all your sucesses what a great year! hope the upcoming one is just as good.

[CanuckShooter]

And some nice bucks down too!

[Skull Hunter]

That's a beautiful wolf! Don't see them that light very often! Sounds like a great season!

[kennyj]

Awesome season you had. Great mule deer.
kenny

[patdel]

That's a beautiful wolf! Don't see them that light very often! Sounds like a great season!

2 of the 6 wolves were light color like this and 2 were jet black. It was an amazing site to see them move through the bush like they did.

[patdel]

Didnt realize till later that I put the wrong year on the title of this thread. Not sure how to change the year either? Guess I'm already thinking too much about the next season lol

[91Jason91]

Nice pics man thanks for posting them up

[markt308]

similar looking genes on your two bucks eh. both real dandies! sweet thread. congrats

[patdel]

similar looking genes on your two bucks eh. both real dandies! sweet thread. congrats

Yeah some may think that but these were not even anywhere remotely close. A few on here have figured that out. Unless the genetics travel from region 3 and 8 which I guess is not impossible

[Brambles]

Your the king of tall and narrow bucks thats for sure.

[dingdongdenny]

man nice tall racks ,going up that area this fall with my son (14yr) only hope to see something remotely like those two.

[patdel]

Your the king of tall and narrow bucks thats for sure.

Been fortunate to have taking a couple. By the looks of the Tall whitetail in your avatar I would say you've taking some dandy bucks yourself

[dana]

Patdel,
An amazing season you had there! Thanks for sharing the pics.

[fearnodeer]

I am very impressed, take me with you next time.

[bcmulie]

Congrats on a great season. Some very nice bucks.

bcmulie