The Mountain Hunting Thread

[Why not?]

Now, that brings back some memories. John Witham did that kind of stuff all the time with his Wilga up here.

Ross River Air, he could get you in and out of some of the smallest holes.

I need to find some of those pictures.

Ted

 

[Ardent]

I also flew a Wilga until recently, same reasons, it’s the only machine that will do the tight alpine lakes aside from the Beaver and turbines. Both of which are too expensive to justify buying unless running an aviation business the rest of the year.

 

[Ardent]

Wilga fun times on the coast,

 

[MattW]

Now, that brings back some memories. John Witham did that kind of stuff all the time with his Wilga up here.

Ross River Air, he could get you in and out of some of the smallest holes.

I need to find some of those pictures.

Ted

Please do find some pictures. I know I'd like to see some.

 

[MattW]

Here's a few pictures of elk hunting up the Muskwa 20+ years ago. I haven't been up there in a while, I hear guys complaining that there's no elk and what a tough hunt it is, but even 20 years ago you usually had to work pretty hard for a decent bull.

 

[Ardent]

Awesome Matt

 

[MattW]

Can't find my digital files of these photos so here's some poor quality photos from caribou hunting up at the BC/Yukon border. Shot this caribou 13km from the boat as the crow flies, not sure how far I had to actually pack the darn thing and the rack is nearly 4 feet wide. Down in the lowland around the lake in the thick brush it was a lot of fun with a 4 foot wide rack strapped to my pack.

 

[MattW]

Here's a couple from grizzly hunting fall of 2017 close to to your neck of the woods, Angus. The one of me sitting on the floats waiting for the rain and cloud to clear off should be a familiar thing for you. We poked around a few spots, caught some fish, got a goat (camera battery died) but came up empty on the last season grizzly was open in BC. That hurt a bit.

 

[Ardent]

I love how small this world is, can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood beside and admired your plane Matt (and simplicity of your trailer setup). Envious. And yep, been there a lot waiting on weather, usually in a rough / sketchy spot.

Great bull too, gorgeous.

 

[MattW]

I love how small this world is, can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood beside and admired your plane Matt (and simplicity of your trailer setup). Envious. And yep, been there a lot waiting on weather, usually in a rough / sketchy spot.

Great bull too, gorgeous.

I washed the plane last week, you should see it now! Lol. The 180 is going back on floats next week, I've had it on wheels while I found some new floats. The old EDOs were corroded and I bought a set of CAPs to replace them. I always liked your Wilga, so new and well cared for, before you owned it they had it based at Fort Langley and it was one of the planes I'd admire when I snuck in there to drool on planes. The Wilga and Garys Super Stinson were my favourites. That Found Centennial was always pretty awesome too.
I was wondering the other day whether you do a spring blacky hunt now, but I'd guess the abundance of grizzlies your area has is not conducive to an abundance of blackies.

 

[LittleBoyLefty]

Awesome pics everyone. Great to see this thread hopping again. Thank you.

 

[Ardent]

I washed the plane last week, you should see it now! Lol. The 180 is going back on floats next week, I've had it on wheels while I found some new floats. The old EDOs were corroded and I bought a set of CAPs to replace them. I always liked your Wilga, so new and well cared for, before you owned it they had it based at Fort Langley and it was one of the planes I'd admire when I snuck in there to drool on planes. The Wilga and Garys Super Stinson were my favourites. That Found Centennial was always pretty awesome too.
I was wondering the other day whether you do a spring blacky hunt now, but I'd guess the abundance of grizzlies your area has is not conducive to an abundance of blackies.

You’ll really like the CAP floats, sharper entry than most so they can take a little bit more to get on step, but really really good for the rougher water we get on the coast. They run nose lower than many others which can take a little bit of getting used to, they’re a very handy tool when you’ve flown 5hrs north only to find your fuel cache landing spot whipped up into 2’ chop.

We do definitely hunt black bears, but not this year due to covid. As you know better than anyone it’s an extremely long ways out to go hunt black bear, too remote to do a lot of it as it’s not cost effective, but usually it’s an excuse for clients who just love the area to return. We took a Kiwi associate of Doglegs out for a couple bears to see the place before his upcoming goat hunt for instance. It’s a reason to be out, out here. But you’re right there’s 10:1 more grizz and makes the spots for black bear really carefully managed.

Out with a notable CGN member’s son a few years ago,

 

[hawk-i]

Wow, some awesome pics...thanks to all for sharing!

 

[MattW]

You’ll really like the CAP floats, sharper entry than most so they can take a little bit more to get on step, but really really good for the rougher water we get on the coast. They run nose lower than many others which can take a little bit of getting used to, they’re a very handy tool when you’ve flown 5hrs north only to find your fuel cache landing spot whipped up into 2’ chop.

We do definitely hunt black bears, but not this year due to covid. As you know better than anyone it’s an extremely long ways out to go hunt black bear, too remote to do a lot of it as it’s not cost effective, but usually it’s an excuse for clients who just love the area to return. We took a Kiwi associate of Doglegs out for a couple bears to see the place before his upcoming goat hunt for instance. It’s a reason to be out, out here. But you’re right there’s 10:1 more grizz and makes the spots for black bear really carefully managed.

Out with a notable CGN member’s son a few years ago,

That's a really good bear. I often pick black bear spots just because I want to look at an area. I'll fly several hours each way for a few days of beautiful black bear hunting no problem. I've certainly done more for less in my life.

 

[freddyfour]

Man....Looking at these pics is a killer, I wish my trip a few years ago didn't fall through! I need to find the time to attempt another trip.

 

[MattW]

Here's some pics from hunting bighorns in the Chilcotin. Although we were high in the mountains for all of this trip and our tent was at 7000 feet, the weather was warm the whole time, even at night. I ended up sleeping on top of my sleeping bag instead of in it and had the tent wide open. This is the only backpack trip I've ever done where I opted to leave my rain gear in the truck rather than pack it.

 

[MattW]

Some more caribou hunting pictures. I took a caribou on this trip and and after packing it out to the boat made a one day climb of the peak on the right hand side of the bottom picture here. Went up in the morning, shot a goat at lunch and carried it down in time for dinner at boat camp.

 

[Ardent]

Matt very impressive, you’ve had some serious adventures

 

[MattW]

I've had a handful of good ones, nothing compared to yourself and some others here. You really need a couple weeks at a time for a good remote hunt and it's been a while since I've been able to do that. I'm getting excited though because now my children are getting old enough to join me.

 

[Buckmastr]

Wow great pictures! Nothing beats a mountain hunt in nice weather!!