I've been doing this for a few years now so might as well carry on with it.
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1802709-Our-2018-season
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1651013-A-successful-father-son-hunt-and-my-2017-season
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1490125-A-successful-father-daughter-hunt
So this year wasn't exactly a banner year for us in terms of harvesting things but it was just as fun as any other season. I'll start with spring bear and go from there. Usually we run a bait but it's a tremendous amount of work and time that I just didn't have this spring so we decided to do something a bit different. We knew it was a low chance of success hunt but we gave it a shot and had some fun. My son and I strapped backpacks on and headed into a large fresh logging area. We set up camp and then did some glassing and calling from various locations but no luck. It was a fun overnight trip that we will probably do this spring again. Hopefully more than once though.
Hiking out along the logging road:
Home away from home:
Next up was elk season for me. I put in a lot of effort and hiked a million miles but never did connect with one. Saw a calf opening day but misjudged where it was and blew the stalk. Eventually I moved out to my quarter and the surrounding wildlife lands for the last couple days I had and jumped a big cow on my quarter but the wind was wrong and she could smell me before I saw here and she went by me at 75 yds on a full run. I'm not interested in running shots and she never stopped at my cow calls and that was that.
Whitetail are my favorite species to go after and I put in a tremendous amount of work this year again. After miles of hiking and hours and hours in a freezing cold stand I just wasn't able to connect with a mature buck. I had one on camera that I really wanted but he would never show up when I was in the stand. On my second last day I went to a spot I've taken several mature bucks from in the past and hiked in the 1/4 mile to wait for daylight. It was super foggy but as soon as it was legal time I started to rattle. I was caught off guard as I wasn't even finished the rattle sequence when a buck basically came charging in at a run. In the fog and the seconds I had to make the decision he looked a lot bigger. Oh well, he makes good jerky and it was an exciting hunt.
I had set up a ground blind bait for my son and we had lots of decent bucks coming in as well as smaller ones. He's not picky as he basically sees a big piece of jerky walking around and it didn't take him long to decide to shoot this one when it came in. We had sat for about 2hrs when this buck stepped into the small clearing about 70yds from the blind. I said "there's a buck!". My son asked if it was a big one. I said "no, about what you shot last year." He thought about it for all of two seconds then said "that's ok" and went to work getting into position for the shot. He wasn't comfortable with the position he was in and wanted to move over a bit for a better angle. We both shuffled over in our seats and the buck heard out quiet shuffling and pegged us. He stared at us for what seemed like an eternity before finally starting to feed. He was standing broad side and my son had a solid rest and he fired. BOOM! The buck didn't jump, didn't even twitch. My son looked at me with a wild look in his eyes and said "did I get him?" "NO you Missed" I said. So now we're scrambling to reload and making a lot of noise. The buck looked at us for like two seconds and then totally ignored us. Now he was quartering towards him for the second shot and this time it was a perfect one. I could hear and see the impact and when the buck took off stumbling I was pretty confident it wasn't going to be a long track job. We waited for 1/2hr then quietly snuck up and started tracking. At first there were a few drops of blood then none. I could see my son was nervous but after 20 yds I could see a white belly and some legs sticking out of some thick growth. He had went about 30yds and that was it.
My buck:
My son's buck:
Last was our annual rabbit/chicken hunt my daughter, one of my best friends and myself always do. I got a rabbit and a roughed grouse, my daughter a rabbit and my friend a rabbit and grouse as well. It was a blast with a nice hike and a wiener roast out in the bush.
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1802709-Our-2018-season
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1651013-A-successful-father-son-hunt-and-my-2017-season
https://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1490125-A-successful-father-daughter-hunt
So this year wasn't exactly a banner year for us in terms of harvesting things but it was just as fun as any other season. I'll start with spring bear and go from there. Usually we run a bait but it's a tremendous amount of work and time that I just didn't have this spring so we decided to do something a bit different. We knew it was a low chance of success hunt but we gave it a shot and had some fun. My son and I strapped backpacks on and headed into a large fresh logging area. We set up camp and then did some glassing and calling from various locations but no luck. It was a fun overnight trip that we will probably do this spring again. Hopefully more than once though.
Hiking out along the logging road:
Home away from home:
Next up was elk season for me. I put in a lot of effort and hiked a million miles but never did connect with one. Saw a calf opening day but misjudged where it was and blew the stalk. Eventually I moved out to my quarter and the surrounding wildlife lands for the last couple days I had and jumped a big cow on my quarter but the wind was wrong and she could smell me before I saw here and she went by me at 75 yds on a full run. I'm not interested in running shots and she never stopped at my cow calls and that was that.
Whitetail are my favorite species to go after and I put in a tremendous amount of work this year again. After miles of hiking and hours and hours in a freezing cold stand I just wasn't able to connect with a mature buck. I had one on camera that I really wanted but he would never show up when I was in the stand. On my second last day I went to a spot I've taken several mature bucks from in the past and hiked in the 1/4 mile to wait for daylight. It was super foggy but as soon as it was legal time I started to rattle. I was caught off guard as I wasn't even finished the rattle sequence when a buck basically came charging in at a run. In the fog and the seconds I had to make the decision he looked a lot bigger. Oh well, he makes good jerky and it was an exciting hunt.
I had set up a ground blind bait for my son and we had lots of decent bucks coming in as well as smaller ones. He's not picky as he basically sees a big piece of jerky walking around and it didn't take him long to decide to shoot this one when it came in. We had sat for about 2hrs when this buck stepped into the small clearing about 70yds from the blind. I said "there's a buck!". My son asked if it was a big one. I said "no, about what you shot last year." He thought about it for all of two seconds then said "that's ok" and went to work getting into position for the shot. He wasn't comfortable with the position he was in and wanted to move over a bit for a better angle. We both shuffled over in our seats and the buck heard out quiet shuffling and pegged us. He stared at us for what seemed like an eternity before finally starting to feed. He was standing broad side and my son had a solid rest and he fired. BOOM! The buck didn't jump, didn't even twitch. My son looked at me with a wild look in his eyes and said "did I get him?" "NO you Missed" I said. So now we're scrambling to reload and making a lot of noise. The buck looked at us for like two seconds and then totally ignored us. Now he was quartering towards him for the second shot and this time it was a perfect one. I could hear and see the impact and when the buck took off stumbling I was pretty confident it wasn't going to be a long track job. We waited for 1/2hr then quietly snuck up and started tracking. At first there were a few drops of blood then none. I could see my son was nervous but after 20 yds I could see a white belly and some legs sticking out of some thick growth. He had went about 30yds and that was it.
My buck:
My son's buck:
Last was our annual rabbit/chicken hunt my daughter, one of my best friends and myself always do. I got a rabbit and a roughed grouse, my daughter a rabbit and my friend a rabbit and grouse as well. It was a blast with a nice hike and a wiener roast out in the bush.
