2018 started at as usual with spring bear. It was my son's second season, with the first one being unsuccessful and he was determined to get a bear. Things worked out much better this year and after only 3 or 4 evenings in the stand this young boar came in. He made a perfect shot and the bear took off, climbed a fair distance up a large spruce about 20yds away then dropped out of the tree dead. He was pretty excited. Probably one of the ugliest bears I've ever seen but it's at the taxidermist getting mounted.
Next up was my turn for elk. This one took a lot longer than the 6 minutes I hunted last year. The hunt came down to the last day I had. The night before we had some freak snowfall for Sept and to be honest I wasn't looking forward to walking in it. I could see it sticking to all the trees and knew it was going to be down my neck and all over me but I also knew that if I could get on a track, I would have a good chance and that's what happened. About an hour into the hike I cut a fresh track crossing a big slough I just finished skirting. I gave quick cow call and immediately received a bugle off in the distance. It was too deep for me to cross without filling my boots so I back tracked and hit the other edge of the slough until I picked up the tracks and starting following. The snow was melting and falling off the trees pretty quickly and the tracking became rapidly more difficult as I moved closer to him. I was spending a fair amount of time staring at the tracks while walking and I would give a quick chirp on the cow call once in a while to either get a response or make him think I was a cow coming his way. I had just finished glancing down at the tracks and looked up to see him rounding some thick willows heading straight towards me. At this point he was probably 25yds away and moving fast. I got the scope on him but right as I started to pull the trigger he stepped behind a tree. This happened 2 more times and he was beginning to fill the scope up pretty good. Finally at 14yds he stepped clear and I fired. He dropped, got up and stumbled a few yards then went down for good.
On to whitetail and muzzleloader season. I did several hunts with my daughter in an attempt to get her her first deer with the muzzle loader but we just couldn't find any good bucks. We had blast though and it was time well spent. Next was rifle season and my son was first up with his second buck. I set up a blind for him again and after several unsuccessful sits with only does coming in, this nice young 4x4 stepped into view. He made another perfect shot and dropped him on the spot.
This year I decided to try something different and run a remote bait for myself. It was about 1/2 mile by GPS from the road but by the time I weaved through the muskeg I'm pretty sure it was closer to 3/4 of a mile hike. I framed packed in everything including the stand and square bales. It was a lot of work but it paid off nicely. At first it was pretty discouraging when after spending many cold hours in the stand not a single mature buck had shown up. I split up my hunting time doing a lot of hiking as well but there was a lot of time put in the stand with only younger bucks coming in. On the second last day of my time off I decided to do another full day in the stand and finally just before 4 I spotted dark antlers moving through the bush. When he stepped clear I instantly knew he was an old buck. He had a huge body and looked like a horse compared to the youngsters I was seeing. He stopped broadside, staring at the does at the bait and I fired. He took off but quickly went down only to pop up again with a massive crown of grass in his antlers. He ran about 20 more yds then slowed down to a walk and fell over. Judging by his worn down teeth and massive head he is about a 7 1/2 year old fellow and while he doesn't score much, he has some good mass around the bases and the dual brow tines and stickers make for a very cool rack. I was super happy.
Next up was my turn for elk. This one took a lot longer than the 6 minutes I hunted last year. The hunt came down to the last day I had. The night before we had some freak snowfall for Sept and to be honest I wasn't looking forward to walking in it. I could see it sticking to all the trees and knew it was going to be down my neck and all over me but I also knew that if I could get on a track, I would have a good chance and that's what happened. About an hour into the hike I cut a fresh track crossing a big slough I just finished skirting. I gave quick cow call and immediately received a bugle off in the distance. It was too deep for me to cross without filling my boots so I back tracked and hit the other edge of the slough until I picked up the tracks and starting following. The snow was melting and falling off the trees pretty quickly and the tracking became rapidly more difficult as I moved closer to him. I was spending a fair amount of time staring at the tracks while walking and I would give a quick chirp on the cow call once in a while to either get a response or make him think I was a cow coming his way. I had just finished glancing down at the tracks and looked up to see him rounding some thick willows heading straight towards me. At this point he was probably 25yds away and moving fast. I got the scope on him but right as I started to pull the trigger he stepped behind a tree. This happened 2 more times and he was beginning to fill the scope up pretty good. Finally at 14yds he stepped clear and I fired. He dropped, got up and stumbled a few yards then went down for good.
On to whitetail and muzzleloader season. I did several hunts with my daughter in an attempt to get her her first deer with the muzzle loader but we just couldn't find any good bucks. We had blast though and it was time well spent. Next was rifle season and my son was first up with his second buck. I set up a blind for him again and after several unsuccessful sits with only does coming in, this nice young 4x4 stepped into view. He made another perfect shot and dropped him on the spot.
This year I decided to try something different and run a remote bait for myself. It was about 1/2 mile by GPS from the road but by the time I weaved through the muskeg I'm pretty sure it was closer to 3/4 of a mile hike. I framed packed in everything including the stand and square bales. It was a lot of work but it paid off nicely. At first it was pretty discouraging when after spending many cold hours in the stand not a single mature buck had shown up. I split up my hunting time doing a lot of hiking as well but there was a lot of time put in the stand with only younger bucks coming in. On the second last day of my time off I decided to do another full day in the stand and finally just before 4 I spotted dark antlers moving through the bush. When he stepped clear I instantly knew he was an old buck. He had a huge body and looked like a horse compared to the youngsters I was seeing. He stopped broadside, staring at the does at the bait and I fired. He took off but quickly went down only to pop up again with a massive crown of grass in his antlers. He ran about 20 more yds then slowed down to a walk and fell over. Judging by his worn down teeth and massive head he is about a 7 1/2 year old fellow and while he doesn't score much, he has some good mass around the bases and the dual brow tines and stickers make for a very cool rack. I was super happy.
Last edited:
