My Hunting Plan

sealhunter

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A couple of days ago me and my hunting buddy were wondering what we were going to do the next day,..as we both had it off..

Cut some wood? Go Shooting?....

I suggested we go checkout the area we are planning to hunt this fall. He has never been there in the actual spot,..but in the general area.

We left In the morning and by lunchtime we were in a meadow with a brook running through, mountains on our shoulder.
400m accross and 1.5 km long.

There were rubs on trees like we had never seen in our lives...
Dirt, growth , mud and moss torn up and scuffed up like a rodeo had been through...

Two sets of G bear tracks were in the meadow.

The walk into the meadow is a bit ,...well...tight quarters.
The path is a walking path and about a 2m view to either side, then only brush and trees...if an animal came accross, you'd never see it coming and you'd only see it a second and it would be gone accross the path...

The meadow on the other hand...has a few small berms and deeper berms on the sides of the brook (which is full of trout) a birds eye view is easliy attainable.

We were lining up where we would make nightfall and good vantage points and such...

One downside is that if it rains we will not be able to get there,..and if it rains while we are in there we will have to leave immediately, or possibly not get out at all.

The area is not an area that will be forgiving if we make mistakes...

I ordered a truck canopy for this hunt so we can sleep in the back... and I needed a canopy, so why not...

Gonna take 4 weeks to get it though!!!

We will be hitting the area with a bull moose tag, cow moose tag, bull elk tag, cow elk tag, 2 mulie buck tags, 6 whitetail taqs and 3 Black Bear Tags.

We're really hoping to get a few grouse for the pot as well...

My Hunting buddy kept asking me..."how did you find this spot?" "why did you come here?"..."what ever posessed you to go here!" " We're not in BC are we?"



I'm going to document a few of our hunts this year on video....

You may not see any 300 yrd shots,...but i guarantee you will see a guitar, afew drinks at night,..a pot of beans and some damn good hunting area...and you just might see a 300 yrd shot,...or maybe even a 5 yrd shot....

I'm verey excited for this one !!!
 
So I have decided I will keep a little journal/log of how this is all going to play out ofr this hunt. Include some pics, updates, what worked what didn't, equipment and so on...

Maybe someone else will enjoy the story or get something out of it...

I'm going to start with a general equipment list:

There are two of us hunting and we have hunted together for many years.
As you may notice from future pictures, we look like brothers and are often mistaken for one another in pictures...how much so? My sister commented a picture of Jody on my facebook page thinking it was me...

I will start with my gear as I know it better.

My Boots are Irish Setter lace up snake boots. My backups are a pair of danner hikers...but I rarely wear them.

Backpack is a Eberlestock Phantom Sniper.

Knives include a Gerber Gator folder,Hibben Alaskan Pro Guide and A Grohman. Depending on the task at hand, usually 2 of these knives are on me and one left at camp.

GPS is a basic Magellan Triton. (900?) or something.

Stove is an MSR Dragonfly.

Cookware is Pinacle

Food is Backpackers Pantry ((stew with beef is a favourite) and assorted trail mix and such.

Tetley tea and Starbucks instant coffee

Sitka Jacket, Gloves and Toque...Columbia ball cap.

Rifle is a Sako Battue 7mm-08 topped with Leupold rings and Leupold 1.5 -5 with Buttler creek flip ups.

Ammo is Barnes 140 gr TSX

Binos on this trip will be Vortex that I don't mind being rough and tumble with

A first Aid kit I made myself is also in there as well as a petzl headlamp and some emergency supplies.

A change of clothes and rainwear as well.

Axe is a Fiskars hunting axe and a small gerber double side packsaw. (one stays at camp)

Scouting:

Have scouted this area 5 times this year with success in seeing elk and moose and deer and bear.

Plotted my hunting area routes on Google Earth and marked my waypoints with my GPS.

a couple of pics of the area...

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TAGS:

Between us we have Mulie Buck, Whitetail buck,Whitetail doe, Cow moose, cow elk, bull moose, bull elk and bear tags in varying numbers...we are specifically looking for moose and elk,...inceidental game will be taken on the last day unless they are too good to pass up...
 
I thought you sold the 7-08?

I was going to and return to the 30/30...

I got some real slack for this and decided rather than reject something different, I would conquer it.

I am fully enjoying it now,...even more so since i started reloading for it.
I have just began extending my range and am shooting at 200, 300 and 400m every other day.

I still can't follow up a shot very fast tough...so I'm doing my best to make sure the first one counts..

not conquered,...but giving it a fair go...

She did good when I took the bear with it this spring,...let's hope she gets a chance on an animal or two this fall..
 
I was going to and return to the 30/30...

I got some real slack for this and decided rather than reject something different, I would conquer it.

I am fully enjoying it now,...even more so since i started reloading for it.
I have just began extending my range and am shooting at 200, 300 and 400m every other day.

I still can't follow up a shot very fast tough...so I'm doing my best to make sure the first one counts..

not conquered,...but giving it a fair go...

She did good when I took the bear with it this spring,...let's hope she gets a chance on an animal or two this fall..

The key to a quick followup with a bolt is the same as a lever, don't take it off your shoulder. Work the bolt right away then stay down on the gun.

I practised a lot before I went to Africa, two quick ones at the 200 metre chicken gong off my shooting sticks and got real good at it. But it is an acquired skill. Good luck this fall.

Why the snake boots out of curiosity?
 
The key to a quick followup with a bolt is the same as a lever, don't take it off your shoulder. Work the bolt right away then stay down on the gun.

I practised a lot before I went to Africa, two quick ones at the 200 metre chicken gong off my shooting sticks and got real good at it. But it is an acquired skill. Good luck this fall.

Why the snake boots out of curiosity?

Thanks for the info...

The boots aren't actually snake boots... I refer to them as snake boots just because of the knee high lace ups and style... they are actually Ultra Light Trackers ...

I find they give me very good support especially with the lacing up the shin.

I have big calves and these are very comfortable for beating the bush and trails...
 
We have now decided the quad will be coming as well...
We figure it will give us a bit of a safety net if the weather goes to crap...

If weather goes to crap, we wll immediately begin hiking back to the truck. Drive out the 35 k or so to higher ground, unload the quad and head back in.
Not the most productive way, but better than leaving altogether..
 
Well, not BC, but I would say pretty close. You are looking south west into some pretty nice, read BC, moutains. How about one of the branches of Sheep Creek? Maybe Cote Creek?
 
Looks like I sure ended this thread with my last post!
I expected a large, NO, YOU ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO OUR AREA.
With parks covering so much of the BC-Alberta border, your east slope moutain hunting areas are sure limited.
 
Looks like I sure ended this thread with my last post!
I expected a large, NO, YOU ARE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO OUR AREA.
With parks covering so much of the BC-Alberta border, your east slope moutain hunting areas are sure limited.

How so?

You're not in the right area by the way...:D

I don't need much room to fill my tags...

Just have me in an area where there aren't a hudred huters every 5 feet and I'm happy....

Personally, some of my favourite areas are up Torrens Ridge,...behind Mt Torrens and back into Dinosaur Ridge...
Paddling in is nice as well....
 
we had been holding out on a undersubscribed tag for my buddy...it fell through. So now we are exactly the tags as mentioned in the O.P.

Went to the hunting area (well tried to) ...the recent rain made it impossible...
 
Earlier*

Final scouting trip is in the A.M.

Rifle is ready, boots are ready, pack is ready and so am I. :)

leaving at 5 a.m. hoping to be out before suppertime...
this will be a shorter scout, cementing where we are setting up....checking out an area about 1km west of the meadow we will be in...and such...

Cap for the truck arrived Friday and I had it installed this morning...

I'll put up some pics of the outing when I get back...

Then it's strictly waterfowl til the 23rd

Later*

So I left good and early this morning...
Parked the truck and setout with my rifle, pack and 7C...
I wanted to quickly checkout a ridge I had been curious about.
The wind was gusting at about 70 Km Over the Ridge with huge updrafts out of the valley. I took 5 minuts to enjoy the view and moved on.

I hiked down to the meadow and then took a route I had been wondering about...

I was soon following a high rocky cliffed River with Elk and Moose and Bear sign everywhere.

A couple of spots had so much coal that I could have filled truckloads with a shovel.

Now 8km into my little trek I choose to exit another route rather than walk back the way I came...

Man oh man,..it was tough going in some places...

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just over a week away....

My partner was talking with a buddy of his who has hunted this area in the past, but not since 2006.

He said the area is crawling with Wolves and Grizz and he would not go in there again just for the number of Grizzly Bears that are around in there...
said there isn't much for moose or elk either...

It kinda really set back my mood this morning...

i have seen a whole lot of sign and afew animals in my scouting of the area, so I'm not gonna put a whole lot of weight in what he says,...but he is a godd guy, and avid hunter and a reloader,...no reason to lie,,,he lives in another province now....


Guess I'll find out soon enough !!!!
 
Good luck and have fun.. one thing to remember is when you shoot an animal, replace the shell in your gun and keep it close. Not unload it and put it a safe distance away like the CORE book tells ya.

haha.. A buddy with his rifle nearby is even better. I've never had a close call but I hunt in a couple places they can happen quickly.

Looks nice there. have a great time.

Ryan
 
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