2007 Fly In hunt

Brambles

Brambles

Regular
Rating - 100%
50   0   1
Location
West Kootenays B.C.
I posted this on another site but for those of you who mainly stay here, hope you enjoy, been home for a while so we didn't JUST get home...


Well my brother and I just got back from our Fly-in hunt, We left south eastern B.C. on Sept 7 and started our long drive up to Watson Lake, Yukon a 2400 km trip one way. This is where we were to fly out of since Bruce @ Dease Lake was booked for Sept by the time we found out we were going. We only decided to do a fly in hunt because brother drew a Grizz tag for this area. I would have been trying to get my archery mule deer otherwise



The drive was not as bad as I feared and went by rather quickly, we pulled in to Watson Lake at around 9:00 pm on Sept 8.



On Sept 9 we find our way to the float plane base and fly out to our chosen lake.
IMG_1172.jpg


IMG_1180.jpg


After landing we start to slap up the wall tent and my brother happens to look up on the ridge above camp and see's a heard of caribou,

IMG_1189.jpg


IMG_1185.jpg


We grab the spotters and sure enough there is a legal bull and he looks to be nice, bro didn't want to be too picky for his first caribou but we watch him most of the remainder of the day (6 hour wait after flying).



Stay tuned for more
 
In the morning we are ready to go spike camp to look for a sheep for me when we spot the bull on the ridge again, we didn't think he would have hung around throughout the night. I asked him if thats a bull he'd be happy with and he said it was, so I said lets not look a gifthorse in the mouth, lets go put a bullet in that caribou.

We pack our packs with our spike camp gear and we start up the mountain, straight up the face. Now let me tell you the picture makes the mountain look a little wimpy but I assure you this is an illusion, there is over 2000 ft of purely vertical elevation.

Within 3 hours we had the caribou on the ground, and the work begins.

For all those who say a caribou is not that big, just the size of a big muledeer need to get their heads checked, I got a real reality check with the body on this one.

With the animal quartered I leave bro with the caribou to finish up fleshing the head and I go look for a Caribou or sheep for myself but to no avail.

We meet back up and load our packs and decide to head off the mountain cause the weather was looking like it was going to be disgusting, we slip into our packs and stand upno simple task in its own right, definitly no mule deer here, MY GOD, this is by far the heaviest pack I have had to do yet and we have to go straight down the face. Resting frequently to avoid accidents we make it to the timber, this is when the going gets real tough, the timber is like dog hair, tall willows, stunted spruce all densely packed in.

By the end of the day we find ourselves in camp a couple very tired hunters.

IMG_1199.jpg


IMG_1234.jpg


Stay tuned for more.
 
Now I must explain that we packed a fair bit of gear into that Plane on the way in and we talked to the pilot about how much weight(meat) we could add to the plane on the flite out. We figured for sure we were going to have to buy another flite @ $1300 to get any of our meat out but the pilot said that with all our gear if we shot 2 caribou and deboned them and still be good for weight. Of course my brother pushed the envelope and said "then you could probably take 2 caribou and a sheep", since sheep don't weight much and we would probably have eaten a fair bit of meat by the end of the trip. The pilot kind of smiled and agreed.

The day after the caribou pack my legs were very sore and stiff so it was a camp day spent glassing and taking care of the meat and played around with my coffee can moose call a bit. The sky was clear the day before and it made for a cold night, tonight would prove to be the same.

Now I must also explain that although I came into this trip prepared to look for sheep and caribou, all I really wanted was a good time and meat in the freezer.

So after playing with the moose call some more I grabbed some Toilet paper and my rifle and set out to find an appropriate bush, waving the TP at my brother I said jokingly that I was going moose hunting.

As I was doing some of my finest paperwork I hear bro do a sickly cow moose call, I think to myself "what an dork". Then I hear a distinctive "Whhuuup"
Oh crap, talk about being caught with your pants down!!!

I get things taken care of and swiftly but stealthly head back to camp, when I get there bro says "moose" ya no kidding.

We skirt around a point west of camp and there he was swimming across the lake. Range to were he'll come out of the water and to shore 300 yards.

Custom 280 AI roared with and a 140 gr TSX found his mark, a few more shots to ensure he went down where WE wanted him to and the fun was over.

Took us 9 hours to pack him around the lake and back to camp. Surely we could fit a deboned caribou and moose on the plane!!

IMG_1210.jpg


IMG_1227.jpg
 
IMG_1215.jpg



If you havent guessed yet, that is a RCMP plane and that is two Conservation Officers doing a game check and making sure we are playing fair.

They were nice guys and checked for hair and evidence of ### on the quarters and made sure the Caribou was legal, checked to see if we had fishing licences.

Everything was in order.

As a side note that plane was a Turbo Beaver with a variable pitch prop, this thing actually is backing up to the shore, a plane with reverse.......Too cool.

One of the C.O.'s had actually hunted the area before and gave us some info.
 
On Sept 16 my brother went for a hike while I watched camp, looking to see if he could spot some sheep and he managed to bag a

Wait for it
....

...

..

.



.

Wolverine

Sorry no pictures of him, he's going to be lifesized
 
One Sept 17 we spot 4 Grizzly bears on the hillside, only problem is they are a Sow and 3 cubs.

With Grizz so close to camp and obviously prowling for food we decided it was in our best interests to hang close to camp to keep the meat safe.

We spot a FREAKIN HUGE CARIBOU, heavy palmated with long tines and big shovels and bez, definitly pushing the 400" mark.

I watch him for a couple hours to determine where he's going and decide we might make a play on him the next day since he seems to be sticking around.

Bro, comes back to camp from skinning his Wolverine and says "are you still watching the caribou?" I said No, I hadn't looked at him for a few minutes.

He said, I think your bull just got shot, he was pretty sure he just heard some gunshots coming from that direction. We had seen another plane fly in to that area a couple days before so it was possible

I swing the spotter over to the bull and he and all his buddies were no where to be seen.


The next day Sept 18

We made a run at a mature bull caribou that was down by the lake crossing the valley but he wasn't wasting any time getting across and we couldn't get a better look at him to see if he was worth $1300

The next day wasnt fit for Man or Beast, the weather was total crap and was spent in the tent. Snow down in the valley floor

Sept 20 was the day we are to fly out, also my birthday ( this is where you all say "happy birthday")

Weather was clear enough to fly and the mountains were again white, and of course.
Guess who shows up, my big caribou was out and playing with 11 other bulls, of which he was still the largest by FAR. He didn't get shot!!!

11:30 the plane arrives and we fly out, the pilot takes our meat and one guy to a bigger lake and goes and gets the other guy and the rest of our gear. When we get all our gear and meat in the plane the back of the floats were under water, he said "We got a Hell of a lot of weight in here boys" Good headwind on the lake and a larger runway and we were airborn and headed to watson lake.

Sorry no story of Dead sheep or monster caribou down, had a hell of a trip, weather was 50/50 did have some tent time, did some fishing for fiesty rainbows and kept the meat safe and cool.

Hope you enjoyed

Brambles
 
Great pics! - I'm truly envious. Good to see our CO's out at work too. I often wonder about how many are actually out there enforcing the rules, nice to see that they are, and are being cool about it.

To repeat, I'm envious, really really envious, and repeat my message, if anyone wants a young guy to haul stuff, let me know!
 
I gotta add....

Hey....if you guys can travel (drive/fly) THOUSANDS of kilometers out to the middle of nowhere, and drag those big a$$ animals out of the woods and back...

....the very least I could do is to fly out to your place for a steak dinner.

I'll bring the wine?
 
Thanks guys, we had a great time, although shooting the animals so soon into our trip made for a long wait till the plane arrived to pick us up, the willows were over your heads in most places so you never did know what was lurking in them.

Some of the wind was incredible, thought the wall tent was going to fly away before we did, it managed to weather the storms and did a fantastic job.

Fishing was great, rainbows that fight hard and bite quick, made for a few great meals along with moose tenderloin and caribou backstraps my god they were good, we didn't starve thats for sure.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom