Big Game Illustrated - Tenth Issue

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ILLUSTRATED BIG GAME

06

Volume 3 Issue 2 Summer Edition 2015

10

In This Issue...

6

Northern Giant by Garrisen Ailsby

10 Michigan Monster by Chris Evanhouse 16 The Baseball Bat Buck by Garet Comfort 22 Lucky but not ‘Lucky’ by Mitchell Payment 22

28 Big Bob 32

by Michael Harrell

The Muskrat by Jason Bleau

38 Hard Luck Buck

by Morgan Hadland

42 Rugged Country Mulies by Dana White 48 The Great Bear Buck by Troy Norman 64

52

Family of Sportsmen by Cole Blomme

56 A Gift by Charles Demeules 60

Haley’s Buck by Buddy Smith

64 Hero by Grant Farmer 74

70

Sweet Ending by Jason Lane

74

Droptine Dream Bull by Mario Vani

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Don’t miss the story of BGI’s own Lindsay Wilkinson and her four year hunt for the buck she named BowBrows, coming up in a future issue of BGI Mag!

FEATURES...

20 Journey of a Hunter

by Kaare Gunderson

37

Mineral licks are a key to early season scouting success.

68 Everything Outdoors

by Kevin Wilson

There are many opportunities every fall to hunt a variety of animals using a variety of strategies. Plan early to maximize your opportunities.

HUNTING: The Original ‘Green’ Activity

by Chad Wilkinson In this day and age, when everyone is focused on living green, hunting is the perfect fit into this lifestyle.

80

The Future of Hunting Dedicated to all the young hunters.

n r e h t r o N BY: GARRISEN AILSBY

Garrisen Ailsby poses with one of the most impressive whitetails taken by any hunter in the 2014 season. The buck carries incredible mass throughout, and has a total of 48 1/8” of mass including four measurements over 6 5/8”! Garrisen anchored the big deer after passing him numerous times in previous years, hoping he would turn into a true giant, which he did. The gross score on the northern Alberta bruiser was 203 6/8”.

T

he story of the massive 6x6 began two years ago with my first encounter. At that time I estimated him to be a 165” deer. A great deer by any standard, but one that also appeared to be quite young and I hoped had the potential to blow up. My trail cams had captured the buck and I was fairly certain that he was a four year old deer. After seeing him a couple times, I was convinced that he had more growing to do, so even though I had not filled my whitetail tag in quite a few years, I passed him up and just enjoyed watching him. He was already a cautious buck, only entering the field under the cover of darkness, and my sightings were always on his travel routes between bedding and feeding areas, and always at last light or first thing in the morning. In 2013, he was significantly better and bigger! However, I had made up my mind that I would try to leave him until he made it to six or even seven years old. I knew it was a gamble, but it was a risk I was willing to take. I knew the potential was there for him to turn into a true giant, but only if he got the chance by reaching six or seven years old. All I could do was hope that he would make it through hunting season and the winter. As a 180” deer, I didn’t hunt him at all just in case he was tempting and I was unable to hold off when I saw such a great buck walk under my stand. My trail cameras continued to capture the odd picture, but also told me the buck was developing into a very smart, mature deer that was nocturnal, moving only under the cover of darkness except in the heart of the forest near his bedding area and under thick cover. I was encouraged by this, thinking

he should have a very good chance of making it through the season, but was also worried about my chances of catching up to him.

In the spring of 2014, I hung cameras all over in order to confirm that the big deer had survived. Sure enough, I got my first picture of him at the beginning of June. I immediately knew it was him, and knew it was a really good deer. His mass was already spectacular, but then he disappeared and I did not get any pictures until the end of July. This time I knew for sure that he was going to be something special! I did my homework and hung cameras in some areas where I thought he regularly travelled and was fortunate enough to get a few pictures as he grew throughout the summer.

The season started on September 1st, and I started hunting hard. Although I wanted to hunt every day, I was also very careful not to alert the buck to my presence by hunting when the wind was not perfect. I had hung a number of different stands so that I could sneak in and out and ensure the buck never caught my scent. I hung both of them off the field, as I knew the big deer would not come out in the open during shooting light. I had one about 120 yards from the field edge, and the other a half mile back, very close to the area that I thought the buck used for bedding during the day. On September 15, I am fairly certain that I spooked him as I climbed out of the stand. I was disappointed but not devastated, because he had only heard me and had not caught my scent so I hoped he was not spooked badly.

Eventually, I had nine trail cameras covering every possible trail that I thought he could take.

They continued to capture a few pictures of him, but it was really inconsistent, making him tough if not impossible to pattern. This was not a normal whitetail that followed a routine and I knew it would take a lot of time in the stand to finally catch a break. I sat mostly evenings thinking that the hike in during the cover of darkness in the morning would be just too risky and my trail cameras showed his presence a bit more often in the evenings. There were two separate occasions when I caught a shadow moving through the timber, but both were right at the edge of legal shooting time and at a distance where I was not 100% confident that it was the buck I was after.

Finally, I convinced myself that I needed a break from hunting the buck. He had been beating me every day, and it was beginning to wear on me mentally and physically. I headed out for a moose hunt to get my mind off the whitetail. As I sat watching a big swamp, hoping for a big black king of the muskeg to come grunting my way, I checked the wind and sure enough it was perfect to sit for the big whitetail. I found myself wishing I was back in the deer stand, so the next day I was! It was a slow morning without a single deer sighting. I pulled my trail camera cards and headed home. As I flipped through the pictures I could

not believe what I saw. It was my target buck, staring off into the distance, standing in the broad daylight, 35 yards from my stand while I was away hunting moose.

That picture encouraged me but I had a problem. Rifle season started November 1st, but I had to work November 1-5.

My dad hunted the area while I was at work and I would anxiously call him to get an update but there were no sightings while I was away at work. Dad pulled a couple trail cam cards

on November 5th while I rushed home to check them! As I loaded the card from my best spot, I was disappointed to see that the card was full of pictures from previous sets so had not captured any pictures during the week I was away. Despite all the setbacks, I was ready to climb into the stand the next morning.

I made the decision to head in for a morning hunt. The wind was perfect and the season was getting late so I took the risk. I snuck in under the cover of darkness, climbing into my stand which overlooked what I thought was his bedding area. It was a half mile off field, deep in the standing timber. As the light of the morning sun began to filter through the trees, I saw him. I had absolutely no doubt that it was him. He was sneaking through the thick trees onto a cutline and it was a stunning scene as he stopped and it looked like he was going to make a scrape.

He had his head down and I took the opportunity to take the shot. As the crack of my rifle broke the early morning silence, the buck bolted into the thick brush. After about 40 minutes I made my way up to where the buck has been standing. I found a couple Garrisen’s incredible buck is proof that if younger specks of blood but there was bucks are passed and allowed to reach maturity, hardly any to be found so I sat they can turn into true giants! and waited even longer, calling my dad to come and help me with the search. A million scenarios played over in mind as I was confident on the shot, but the weak blood trail had me extremely worried.

After about 40 minutes, my dad showed up and we headed in along the trail that he took back towards his bedding area. We had barely left the cutline when I saw him! It was a sight I will never forget and I knew immediately that he was even bigger than we had estimated. His mass was nothing short of spectacular.

We gross scored him conservatively at 202”, and that was with an estimated 6” of antler broken off. With a big body and the huge blocky head, we knew he was a mature deer and truly a Northern Giant.

October 21, 2014 was a fateful day for Chris Evanhouse from Three Rivers, Michigan. He took the buck of a lifetime that day! Chris’s buck sports 35 4/8” of abnormal points, including an 8 5/8” droptine. It has a typical six point frame that has a score of 169 4/8”. Adding it all up results in a gross score of 205 2/8” and a net non-typical score of 196 2/8”.

MICHIGAN

MONSTER BY: CHRIS EVANHOUSE

F

rom the time I took my first deer with my dad at age 12, I’ve been hooked on hunting.

As I grew older, I became more patient and selective. Like every other hunter, I dreamed of taking a really big whitetail buck. 12 years ago, I made up my mind to only take a buck if it was worthy of being mounted on the wall and take does for meat. I took my first truly big deer in 2005, a 15-point that scored over 150 inches.

From that point on, I knew I would only want to take big, mature bucks.

The story of my “Michigan monster” began on August 19th, 2014 when the first trail camera pictures of this buck showed up. My friend Paul and I could not believe what we were looking at.

He was truly a buck of a lifetime. We both agreed to keep quiet about the buck so as to not draw attention. We knew he was living in the 35 acre woods that we hunted since it was surrounded in all directions with large open crop fields. In order to pin-point the buck’s main travel areas, we set up five trail cameras on different sides of the woods. We did this during the rain in order to not leave any scent. We only checked the cameras right before or during rain storms as we did not want to take any chances of spooking him.

He showed up regularly on three of our cameras on the west side, but only after dark. After a few weeks of checking and moving cameras, we figured out the main trail he was using daily.

In early September, I finally had the right day with a west wind to hang a few stands. I went in in the middle of the day during the pouring rain in hopes that he wouldn’t hear me or catch my scent. I hung one on the southwest side and one of the northwest side. Paul had one stand hanging from the year prior in between the two. We were now all set up and had to patiently wait until the first of October.

October 1 finally arrived, but unfortunately the wind was coming straight out of the east. This was the worst wind for our stand locations. We knew we couldn’t take a chance and stayed out of there. The wind finally switched on October 6 and gave us our first opportunity. It was overcast and rainy that day, which were ideal conditions that I like to hunt. Paul and I got into our hunting gear, sprayed down with scent killer and headed to our stands that evening. I took my time sneaking into the stand, being careful not to be too loud. I climbed into my stand and hung my pack up then started to pull up my bow. I got it up about half of the way when suddenly a deer took off, blowing three times and crashing away. The deer had been laying 30 yards away and definitely saw me. My heart sank because I had a bad feeling it was him. Even if it wasn’t him, he surely heard the commotion if he was nearby. I sat the next few hours until dark seeing several does, but nothing with horns.

The next night we went out again, this time Paul and I switched places. My fears were realized as we saw no bucks that evening. After the hunt, we pulled the cards from the cameras. Sure enough…we had 12 pictures of him with brush hanging from his antlers from the night before. He was the deer I had spooked, however instead of coming from his usual trail, this time he came from the north. Then he was gone.

Assuming he was on to us, we decided to give it a rest.

October 21: We decided to go back in, even though we had not seen him on camera for two weeks. It was a north wind so we decided to hunt the south side of the woods. My stand was located on the edge of a thick bedding area and the leaves were very crunchy, so I took my time. I would only take a few steps at a time, hoping to mimic the sound of a deer or squirrel.

I climbed into the stand and looked out in front of me towards the swamp. At first, I swore I saw antlers in some thick grass. I watched that spot for a minute or two, but then discounted it after seeing other movement caused by the wind.

I continued on to hang up my pack and quiver. After sitting there for about 10 minutes, all of a sudden I saw a deer stand up where I thought I saw the antlers previously. I stood up and leaned out a little to see around the tree in between us and immediately recognized it was him. I started shaking uncontrollably as all I could see was a huge rack and massive drop tine! I watched about 10 yards in front of him at a clearing in the swamp that I assumed he would travel through. After a few minutes of him not passing through there, I figured he was heading in Paul’s direction. I looked to the south and there he stood 70 yards away and walking straight towards me. He really took his time heading in my direction. When he was 20 yards away from me, he passed behind a tree and I drew my bow, anticipating him stepping into my shooting lane. Instead, he stopped one step short from giving me the perfect shot and he stayed still. He stood there and just stared motionless for

at least a minute while I held my bow in full draw. I could barely keep my bow held back for that long and thought I was going to have to let down. Finally, I noticed there was a small opening at his vitals and decided to try and make that shot. I released the arrow, but to my horror, the buck took two bounds and stopped dead in his tracks. That’s when I realized I had shot right over his back. I thought to myself, “You blew it, that was your chance and you’ll never see him again!”

After this happened, I decided to reach for another arrow in my quiver that was hanging from the tree on a bow hook. I tried to keep my eyes on him the whole time and as I started to nock the next arrow, I realized I grabbed the only target tipped arrow in my quiver! I didn’t know how I could get the arrow back in the quiver without being spotted. I knew I couldn’t drop the arrow to the ground without him noticing. Then I noticed the cup holder on my pack and was able to slowly slip it in there and balance the top of the arrow on the tree. I was then able to grab another arrow and as I nocked that arrow, I noticed that he had turned back around. This time, he walked a bit further to the south and I saw a small window in front of him. Once he got there, I grunted to stop him, concentrated and made a perfect 30 yard shot. He then ran about 40 yards and stopped, looked back, and fell over!

I was so excited! I couldn’t believe that I first missed him, then accidently grabbed the field point and ended up getting another chance at him. The Lord was definitely looking out for

me. After the shot, I was shacking so bad I thought I was going to fall out of the tree. I called Paul and he immediately came right over. When we went over to him, I stood there in shock of what had just happened. I was staring down at an 18 point non-typical “Michigan monster” with a massive drop tine. We celebrated and took pictures, waiting for my dad to arrive so he could help drag him out.

It was a dream come true. I had harvested a magnificent giant buck that grossed 205 2/8” with a final net score of 196 2/8” Boone and Crockett. I finally made it into the elite group of those who had the privilege of taking a Boone and Crockett whitetail. That was the accomplishment of a lifetime for an avid hunter like me. That made all of the smart hunting, preparation, and quality deer management that we’d been doing here for several years well worth it! Special thanks to my dad for teaching me to appreciate the skill and passion I have for hunting. Thanks to my friend and hunting partner Paul as well who supported me with a lot of class despite me scooting the buck of a lifetime on his property. This is my twentieth mature buck taken in the last 10 years. 10 of those bucks have scored over 125”. Some say I’m just a really lucky guy, and that’s partly true, but I always hunt the wind, hunt smart, and prepare carefully. These factors have led me to a few great trophies and lots of amazing memories.

me. After the shot, I was shaking so bad I thought I was going to fall out of the tree. I called Paul and he immediately came right over. When we went over to him, I stood there in shock of what had just happened. I was staring down at an 18 point non-typical “Michigan monster” with a massive drop tine. We celebrated and took pictures, waiting for my dad to arrive so he could help drag him out.

It was a dream come true. I had harvested a magnificent giant buck that grossed 205 2/8” with a final net score of 196 2/8” Boone and Crockett. I finally made it into the elite group of those who had the privilege of taking a Boone and Crockett whitetail. That was the accomplishment of a lifetime for

an avid hunter like me. That made all of the smart hunting, preparation, and quality deer management that we’d been doing here for several years well worth it! Special thanks to my dad for teaching me to appreciate the skill and passion I have for hunting. Thanks to my friend and hunting partner Paul as well who supported me with a lot of class despite me shooting the buck of a lifetime on his property. This is my twentieth mature buck taken in the last 10 years. 10 of those bucks have scored over 125”. Some say I’m just a really lucky guy, and that’s partly true, but I always hunt the wind, hunt smart, and prepare carefully. These factors have led me to a few great trophies and lots of amazing memories.

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THE

BASEBALL BAT BUCK BY: GRAHAM COMFORT

E

very hunter’s dream is to have children that enjoy the outdoor lifestyle and all that goes with it. Whether you are jigging for walleye, taking the quads out to set up a stand in the whitetail woods, or lying in wait as Canada geese set their wings over your decoys, there is nothing like sharing a love for the outdoors with your children. I am fortunate enough to have two children that love everything in nature that the outdoors has to offer. This past fall, my son and I were lucky enough to experience a truly great adventure.

Garet had just turned fourteen and was lucky enough to draw a coveted mule deer tag for south western Saskatchewan. You read about mule deer hotspots in magazines and they talk of Mexico. You see mule deer hunting on television and they show hunters in Utah. But to me, the best place on earth to shoot a trophy mule deer is in the grasslands of Saskatchewan.

Garet and I decided to head west in early October for the muzzleloader season. Garet had talked nicely to his mom and he had her convinced that if we didn’t have success in the muzzleloader season we should be able to go back in the second week of November for the rifle season. That took the pressure off. We could hunt hard and if we didn’t see the buck we wanted, we could return later when the rut was firing up.

So late on a Friday night after a volleyball tournament we made the five hour trek west.

We were lucky enough to be able to stay with good friends who allowed us to use their fifth wheel as deer camp for four days. Camp was smack dab in the middle of zone, so we could venture off in any direction depending on the wind and “gut feelings” in the morning.

I had hunted this zone several times and had a very good idea what pasture I wanted to hit on the first morning. I was drawn the previous year and saw two of the biggest mule deer of my life. My hunting crew figured one was a 230 inch non-typical and his partner was a clean 200 inch typical deer. From all accounts, no one had taken the deer the pre-

There is something special when a hunt is shared between parents and children. That was definitely the case as Graham and his son Garet experienced an amazing hunt and Garet put a massive mule deer on the ground! Graham and Garet travelled south from their home in Nipawin, Saskatchewan in order to track down a big mule deer. The mass on the backs and the dried velvet on the right side really add to the character of the buck.

vious year so we hoped they didn’t meet their demise during the tough prairie winter of 2013.

Daybreak on the first day found us sitting on a high vantage point overlooking the pasture. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of those big mature muley bucks on their way back to bed. We saw several deer, but they were only does and small bucks. We checked out some other areas nearby that I knew could hold the mature deer, but the rest of the morning proved to be uneventful with a few sightings of groups of does with fawns. We headed back to camp for lunch and a siesta.

For the afternoon hunt we headed in a completely different direction to check out a pasture where I connected on a gnarly old 200 class mule deer the season before. This chunk of land was a half mile wide and two miles long. Since it was a windy but warm autumn day, Garet and I thought we would spend the afternoon slowly walking the pasture hoping to catch a glimpse of antler before the antler’s owner spied us. We slowly walked east to west up and down the hills looking for a white face, a white butt cheek, or a flash of antler. We meandered in a zigzag fashion to try and cover as much ground as possible. We peeked over each hill and glassed, and when nothing was spotted we moved to the next hill and repeated the performance.

We were about two thirds through the pasture when we peered over a hill and stared down into a slough with a large east facing ridge that was covered with buck brush and slough grass.

Since the ridge was out of the wind Garet and I scanned the ridge very carefully. Something didn’t look right. We spotted what appeared to be a white baseball bat sticking out of the brush. Upon further inspection we could see that the bat was sticking out of a very large mule deer head!

A very large rack materialized out of the brush. The bleached white colour of the rack was in stark contrast to the red buck brush, otherwise the deer would have been invisible. Then Garet said, “There is another deer in there too.” And indeed there was. A younger buck with weird 3 x 3 antlers that looked as though they could have belonged to a whitetail lay directly behind the old fellow. It was easy to see that the baseball bat buck was a mature deer. His back left fork was almost a club, his front forks showed two identical deep

v’s, and his back right fork was draped with remnants of velvet that had yet to be shed. He was heavy, he was tall, and he was a perfect deer for the first time mule deer hunter, or any mule deer hunter for that matter.

I ranged the deer and he was at 122 yards. I’m positive that he was aware of our presence, but they liked their hiding spot too much to leave. I told Garet that he needed to shoot that deer if a chance presented itself. So Garet and I backed up a bit and set up the gun on the Bog Pod so only Garet’s head and the smoke pole were over the crest of the hill. I kept the glasses on the deer and noticed that from our vantage point, a good section of the deer’s vitals were exposed. A big slug could have been slipped into the boiler room, but with the other deer directly behind, there was no way Garet could take the shot and risk hitting the three by three buck. So the wait began.

The deer continued to stare in our direction so we hoped they would stand and try and get a better look at what we were. And that is what happened, or half happened. After fifteen minutes, the younger deer stood up and offered the perfect broadside shot. The baseball bat buck on the other hand apparently had enough of the entire scene. He jumped out of his bed and stotted straight away up and over the hill and out of sight, quickly ending the excitement of an excellent encounter.

We then headed south west out of the pasture and noticed a field of standing oats that bordered the pasture that we had just covered. I figured that we needed to be watching that field at last light to see if the two bucks made an appearance. As the day ended, we were up on a hill overlooking the field but the baseball bat buck and his friend never appeared. However, the field was full of deer by dusk, so Garet and I knew where we would be as the day broke across the prairie.

Ten hours later found us on top of the same hill. As daylight darted through the sparse clouds in the east, Garet quickly spotted several does heading out of the oat field. The does then turned to follow a fence line north to the pasture. I glanced further up the fence line and there, almost to the pasture already, was a huge bodied deer that looked like he had a 2 x 4 sticking out of the left side of his head. It was the baseball bat buck, so we watched him and his club of a horn walk slowly into the pasture with the smaller buck in tow. They were about 100 yards north of the does and from a mile away, his body dwarfed the bodies of the other six deer. We followed the buck’s movement as he headed northeast into the pasture.

When he topped the hill and disappeared, we waited about 30 minutes before we made our move. The ever present wind was again out of the west. So we headed to the far eastern edge of the pasture. We loaded up our packs with supplies for the morning and headed out, repeating the same zig zag stalk as on the previous day.

We were puzzled when our tour across the pasture produced nothing but the sighting of a two year old buck. We thought for sure deer would be somewhere in the pasture, but that hypothesis was proven wrong so we decided to head out along a trail along the north side of the pasture so we could get a lay of the land and perhaps get a clue as to where the deer had bedded for the day. The trail we were on curved to the north

because, unbeknownst to us, there was a hidden 15 acre chunk of oats on the north side of the pasture as well. A look to the north showed nothing but stubble fields so we thought the oats might be where our boys had holed up. We parked on the eastern edge and set to glassing the chunk of oats looking for a Louisville Slugger. After 20 minutes we found nothing so found a higher vantage point to try and peer into the crop.

There, about 250 yards from where I stood was the buck, but sadly we spotted each other at the same time. The buck was not that alarmed so he got up and walked west out of the oats and down into a small ravine and that led into the pasture, his young friend in tow. Luckily, the bucks dropped out of sight after walking right by an old section of rusted cultivator.

Garet and I knew exactly where we would be looking for the deer because we had a waypoint to help us start our stalk.

After about 10 minutes we made it to the old cultivator. The wind was in my face as I crawled slowly to the edge and peered down into the ravine. Not 30 yards away I saw two sets of antlers so I backed out as quickly as I could. I was sure the deer had not seen me, but they had not yet bedded down.

So we were close, almost too close actually, and now we had to decide what to do. We could back out and try sneak to a spot further south to a range of about 100 yards. But the deer weren’t bedded and I wasn’t sure they were going to bed in this ravine. So I whispered to Garet that we could back out or jump up and shoot.

Garet said, “I can make the shot if you set up the sticks.”

I asked, “Are you sure?”

Garet replied simply, “Yep!” So we did. I set up the sticks and Garet got the gun up.

When we appeared the deer were startled but unsure.

They jumped about four hops up the hill and stopped and turned to look and try to find out what we were. This time they were separated and the baseball bat buck was quartering towards us slightly. Garet found the deer in the scope

and squeezed, just as both deer turned to go. But for the Baseball Bat Buck it was too late. Garet and I watched as both deer sprinted down the ravine floor. After about 30 yards the big fellow started to lag and at about 50 yards he stopped, looked back and tipped over for good!

I have taken several great trophies over the past 25 years, but at that moment, I experienced the highlight of my hunting career. The look on my son’s face as he turned and looked at me and the scream he let out is something I will always remember.

We jumped up and down, hugged and screamed and laughed before finally realizing we should get it together.

We reloaded the muzzleloader and slowly made our way to the long grass where the buck had fallen. It was not a long search. There lay the Baseball Bat Buck taken after a great hunt, a great stalk, and a great shot. He was fabulously wide and tall and heavy and massive, with beautiful velvet hanging from his right antler. Garet was pumped. He could not believe the size of his first mule deer. As he grabbed the antlers he said simply, “Dad, look how big he is!” I told Garet that the vast majority of mule deer hunters have never taken one better than the deer that lay before us.

It was a moment that father and son will share forever. And it will be hard to top.

Finding the

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Summer Spot BY: KAARE GUNDERSON

he first time that I ever found a natural salt lick I really had no idea what I was looking at. What I had discovered in an area of young growth jack pines was simply a hole, maybe two feet deep and roughly 3 feet across the top and it was littered with animal tracks. Initially I felt it might just be a small hole in which animals liked to water but when I further pondered it, I realized that made no sense at all as a clean, cold, flowing river was meandering northwards a mere 100 yards or so to the east.

That day was almost 15 years ago and I now know far more than I knew then when it comes to the boreal forest, ecosystems and hunting forest fringe whitetails. What I had stumbled on was an area of soil with deposits that many animals, not just ungulates, were craving. In the time since that initial discovery that hole has grown to proportions large enough that one could easily assume a chunk of meteor crashed into the earth right in that location. Those days were very early on in my whitetail journey and I was consuming as much information as I could. I rapidly gathered knowledge about salt and mineral requirements and discovered that during the summer months, animals would be frequenting them with extreme regularity.

I ended up getting my first trail camera not long after that but I never did put it over that hole. Being of the film variety, I can only imagine how much money I would have tossed at the photo development counter of Extra Foods in anticipation of seeing what was present. My whopping 36 exposure roll would have been full within the first 24 hours of hanging over that hole and the best photos just may have been of a couple booner sized quack grass plants. I know this now because I always hang a camera over it each July and the animals still

pound it, though a grass whip makes the photos of the vegetative type less common. The hole is so deep now, many shots show only the back of an animal. However, new digital camera technology has made those poor shots simply ones that get deleted. With trail cameras as well as many other technologies, the ever evolving world of hunting has added much enjoyment.

Another thing I swiftly learned in those days of filling my brain with any and everything whitetail related was that I could create those mineral/salt licks that deer would be crushing in the summer, and make them I do. Presently, I have no idea how many sites I have created over the years and it is with 100% certainty, some of them I created have not been visited by myself in years. The answer to the why in regards to that is quite simple, some of them were not worth visiting after the first year or two proved to be a complete bust. Anyone who plays the game of using cameras over salt/mineral in the summer will come to the same conclusion.

Times are indeed different in the whitetail woods in 2015 than they were back around the turn of new millennium. I would bet my last dollar that the majority of guys regularly hunting whitetails at least know of the benefits to using trail cameras over mineral/salt licks. I am not saying that the majority of hunters are doing it, but I would venture a guess they at least know someone who is.

So where does a guy create his own lick if he cannot find a natural one? When does he do it? What product should a person put down? Those are all good questions and truthfully I do not confess to having all of the answers. I do however know this, in the past seven years, I have killed a grand total of one buck that I never got a photo of during the summer months on one of the licks that I had either found or created and he was a late November estrous drunk warrior on the prowl from parts unknown.

Pretty much every successful site that I have built has had a couple things in common with each other. They are always in reasonably close proximity to high quality food and water.

Now granted, in the forest fringe there seems to be much water in the form of swamps, creek, rivers, dugouts and so on, but the sites in which I have had the most action on were never more than a ½ mile from a pretty decent source. It stands to reason that salt creates a desire for a drink in big game animals as it does with us so I would suggest that if you do put out a salt/mineral blend, attempt to locate an area close enough to a local watering hole. Because food, along with water will steer

their movements during this period I almost exclusively set my sites up within 20 yards of a known food source as well.

At this time of year I do not care if the photos are taken at night because I am not hunting the deer during the summer months, I am simply trying to chronicle what bucks are alive and available in the area that I hunt. By the time the velvet comes off and the season opens the deer will have pretty much abandoned the sites for the year anyways. I have found that once a site has been established the same deer visit it year after year and it is relatively easy to ensure they wish to keep coming to it. Each spring, as the snow is melting I simply add some product to the locations while I am shed hunting. This is perfect for me as it is a scenario that allows me to kill two birds with one stone. For replenishing the sites I prefer to go with a block as opposed to loose product. I feel it leeches away more slowly giving me a longer period of time before I need to refresh the site. The opposite has seemed to work better for me when establishing a site. For me it as simply a matter of digging a small hole, pouring in a loose salt and mineral blend and hoping for a good rain.

When a guy walks into the hunting section of any sporting goods store these days it is easy to see the alteration in marketing and products available in comparison to 2000. The evolution of the industry and the marketing of it, is indeed mind boggling. I would lay a hefty wager that there are young hunters perusing social media and watching shows and videos that cannot comprehend how contrasting that aspect of hunting is now than when they were born. Comparatively, it is easy for an old fart of 39 like myself to see.

It is definitely a consumer’s buffet when it comes to selecting. There are countless mineral products claiming to be the best, to put on all kinds of “bone” in terms of antler growth.

There are the ones that are supposedly superior for drawing far more animals to the site. There are ones that absolutely cannot be resisted, even by the ridiculously big, pen raised bucks staring at the consumer from the cover of the bag sitting there on the shelf of their favorite hunting store. One thing is for certain, they all cannot be correct in what they promise to do. I don’t know which ones are the best bang for your buck simply because to date, I have not tried any of them. I am a straight Co-op brand trace mineral loose or block salt kind of guy. I’m not saying that the other types do not do what they advertise to

do. I have however read enough research to believe that there is no concrete evidence that they make any discernible difference in a wild deer herd when it comes to claims that are made regarding antler growth. With that, I make a decision to use what best fits my situation. Everyone’s situation is different and decisions can be made accordingly.

Maybe one day I will change my tune, but for now I work with what seems to be working. One thing any mineral or salt blend won’t do is hurt, so if you go with a brand name product you certainly won’t be doing any harm. If it draws deer to the site and provides you with scouting photos of bucks, then it is doing the job it was intended to do. I love getting photos of the same bucks from year to year as well as other unique images and this reason alone is enough to reinforce that the idea of building licks and using cameras was indeed a positive one for myself.

By the time this article is published, the summer will have come and went much more quickly than winter will. Maybe you too will have catalogued every buck in your hunting area via trail cameras over salt or mineral licks. If you have, then you will be able to compare your approach and results to those of mine. If the topic is one of interest to you but you have yet to tackle it, then hopefully I will have helped steer you a wee bit in the right direction or convinced you that it is indeed worthy of the minimal time and expense. If that is indeed so, don’t take the fact that I mentioned setting them up or replenishing them in the spring as the gospel although that is the time when I do the most preparation.

If you find a spot in fall that appears to be worthy of further research then get one going, as soon as possible. I rarely venture into new turf in the fall without a small 2kg block in my Badlands backpack as I never know when I am going to stumble across an area that just screams “scout me”. The 2kg size is perfect as it will not take away valuable space, nor will it make carrying the pack into a new crossfit drill. If I happen to get a new one going in the fall, I am just one step closer to being ahead of the game come spring. However, when it comes to whitetails, and hunting them, I don’t think we can ever be ahead. We can however, always remain attempting to stay one step ahead and running summer trail camera over salt licks is never a bad move.

Lucky but not

“Lucky” “

BY: MITCHELL PAYMENT

Even though I could not see his rack, the girth of his neck convinced me that it was at least an older mature buck. It took for what seemed like an eternity for him to make his way along the field edge and into our line of sight. With camera-light fading, time seemed to be standing still. Once it came into view I know both of our hearts had almost stopped. It was not Lucky but instead another amazing buck that had a huge mainframe 4 by 4 rack with a 10 inch drop tine!”

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am a 16-year-old hunter and for me it is not a hobby or even a sport but rather a passion, an obsession, even “a way of life.” An elusive majestic buck that we call, “Lucky” inspired this article, but let’s start at the beginning of my hunting pilgrimage.

I can’t really remember the first time I went out hunting or fishing with my dad, but they tell me it was as soon as I could walk. They started me off with a little BB gun, which eventually morphed into a 20 gauge, which forced my dad to forgo the majority of his Duck & Geese limit on our waterfowl hunts. All of our hunts were using firearms, so I was surprised when, at the age of 10, my parents bought me a 25pound bow for Christmas. Even though it bordered on the capability of a toy I was hooked. I honed my skills on the dog toys in the yard & any

little bird that dared to land. Many hours were spent hunkered down in the spruce tree out back hunting rabbits and other small game.

When I did connect, my arrows would bounce off and I knew I needed a more powerful bow. I talked my parents into purchasing a youth bow that would grow with me over the first few years of my hunting career. This set off the challenge of trying to get jack rabbits that seemed smarter than should ever be possible! Many local gophers also paid the ultimate price as my accuracy improved.

Mitchell Payment has taken a number of trophy whitetails with his bow already, and he is only 16 years old! He was hunting a big deer named ‘Lucky’ when the droptine buck showed up in his shooting lane. Obviously, he didn’t hesitate and slipped an arrow through the vitals.

The most striking feature of the central Alberta whitetail is the droptine that is over 10” long.

I started to read and watch everything I could about archery & bow hunting which fueled my drive to start big game hunting with a bow.

Season 1 – Getting my feet wet My first successful big game hunt with a bow was when I was 12 and able to pull back 43 pounds. It all started with some waterfowl hunts where we had multiple sightings of deer in the area. Upon further investigation, we identified a great spot and we set up a ground blind on a pinch point. The nervous anticipation of letting it sit for 10 days was almost too much for me to bare and I could not wait to finally get out there! I wasn’t just looking for my first kill, I had aspirations of getting a whitetail buck. On the very first night out, after only sitting for about an hour we spied two sets of antlers along the fence line as they made their way through the high grass. The trail they were taking would lead them right to us so while we tracked their progress, I got prepared for what I prayed was my chance to bag the big one. Unfortunately, when the bigger of the two surfaced I was not comfortable taking the shot as I had a 30 yard pin and he was 42 yards out. My excitement was growing as the smaller of the two kept coming and I knew I had to make a decision. I ranged the buck at 23 yards and drew my bow. I will never forget the feeling of seeing the arrow hit the buck and watching it fall not 60 yards from the blind! The experience of my first harvest was overwhelming and with my heart racing I was overjoyed as we celebrated the harvesting of a beautiful buck.

us out in the spring to start mapping out spots and talking to farmers hoping to get some new permission to hunt on their land. To our amazement, we found a small parcel of land that was untouched by hunters and as far as we could tell had potential. In June, we set up trail cams and then finally in July we got a picture of a mature buck, so we went back in late August to set up a tree stand. My hockey tryout schedule forced us to wait until the second week of the season before we could get out and hunt the little piece of whitetail paradise. Once we finally made it into the stand the first night was fairly uneventful due to my dad’s periodic coughing spasms from a cold he had!

With dad full of cough syrup we went in again the very next night, which worked to our favour. Just before sunset, two does entered the field to feed about 30 yards down from our stand.

Not five minutes later a mature buck followed and presented a perfect broad side, 36 yard shot so without hesitation I took it. We followed the blood trail for approximately 125 yards & there he lay in a dried up slough bed. My second buck was a 4 x 4 that scored 151 and he is currently hanging on the wall in our “Buckseum”.

Season 3 - Back in the lucky spot, with a video camera.

Season 2 – The real hunting begins The next hunting season could not come fast enough as the summer slowly passed by with me yearning to get out there and do it all over again. This deep seeded fascination drove

When scouting out our area in mid to late August we spotted two shooter bucks that were still in velvet. With the natural progression of learning the property, we were able to add two additional strategically positioned tree stands. After watching and planning, we waited until Sept 10 to head into one of our new stand setups. We watched in horror as five bucks presented themselves 10 yards from the original stand. Four of them made their way over to us in shooting light and in that group the fourth buck was a 150-inch whitetail that I chose to pass up knowing the fifth buck was much bigger! Unfortunately, he didn’t pass us until shooting light had ticked by. The next night we went out and climbed back into our original stand. To our surprise the buck we now call “Lucky” and another buck came out early and were only 23 yards out, but with no shooting lane I had to pass him up! With more bucks coming through I maneuvered to my knees to make sure I had a clear shot. With

shooting light dwindling, luck was on my side as the wide 5 by 4 shooter buck was indeed taking the same path, but was approaching with clear apprehension. Grunting several times, it finally stopped him and I was able to release the arrow that found its mark with a pass clean through. My excitement grew as I watched him stagger & drop only 80 yards away! I was now 14 years old, and I was both proud and thankful of my accomplishment. Not many can say they have been able to achieve getting three bucks in three years with archery tackle, and with each one being bigger than the last! I knew it would be tough to continue my streak.

Mitchell has taken a number of amazing whitetails already in his young career.

Season 4 – Sights set on Lucky Going into the 2014 season, I really hoped Lucky had made it through the harsh, bitter cold winter that had taken its toll on the deer population in Alberta. Starting in August we went to our scouting hill and I was ecstatic to see him appear, instantly looked forward to the challenge that lay ahead! Over the next two weeks we were careful not to disturb the area, but continued to scout from a safe distance with Lucky not making another appearance. Not being able to wait we made our first attempt on September 2nd and due to the wind direction we had no choice but to sit in the original stand. That night Lucky lived up to his name & made an appearance right under one of the other two stands! Over the next two weeks and multiple sits there was no sign of the elusive buck, which had me worried. Giving the area a break, we did not go back in but instead chose to scout the area further to try to figure out this buck. Watching his daily routine we were able to determine his pattern, which unfortunately did not bring him in to our stand each night until after shooting light. Still hoping for an earlier arrival, we made our way to the stand and patiently waited for him. Unfortunately, only two small bucks came within range and Lucky again thwarted our efforts with his late appearance.

After spending the majority of September going between the three stands with only a few sightings of Lucky, we started to gain a great respect for his intelligence. We were forced to give

the area another rest after a doe busted us, as her snorts would have surely warned the others of our presence. Fast forward to October 10th, we picked the corridor stand again and early in the sit we could see a large buck walking the bush line on the other side of the field. With the distance being so vast we could not make out if it was Lucky or not. As the sun set, two does came out into the field and off to the right I could see a patch of white drawing closer through the bush along the fence. Even though I could not see his rack, the girth of his neck convinced me that it was at least an older mature buck.

It took for what seemed like an eternity for him to make his way along the field edge and into our line of sight. With camera-light fading, time seemed to be standing still. Once it came into view I know both of our hearts had almost stopped. It was not Lucky but instead another amazing buck that had a huge mainframe 4 by 4 rack with a 10 inch drop tine! He stood there for two or three minutes swaying his head, smelling for danger for he was a cautious old deer, smart and curious. On other occasions the natural swirl of the wind in that spot would have busted us but luck was on our side, with the slightest breeze in our faces. He slowly started to walk toward us and again the dreaded decision had to be made. Do I take him or do I continue to wait for Lucky? Indecisiveness drove me to whisper to my dad, “It’s not Lucky, should I take him?” My question fell on deaf ears with my dad sitting shell shocked over the arrival of this drop tine buck! As he drew closer I asked again, “Should I take him?” and without hesitation he confirmed and whispered, “Yes.” Ranging his distance at 33 yards, I drew back to prepare for the shot just as he started to quarter away. With the slightest of grunts the buck stopped in his tracks so I let the arrow fly. I was pretty sure I had made a lethal shot just behind the shoulder, but knowing that he could have jumped the arrow, I didn’t want to celebrate prematurely. Once hit he immediately ran back down the fence line where he had come from and out of sight. Wanting nothing more than to immediately go after him, it took all of my willpower to let him go. Not knowing the bucks fate and not wanting to spook him further we headed home to watch the footage that we had taken. On the way home we called Calvin and Jason from The Bone Yard TV show and told them our story. I think they were almost as excited as my dad and I and they couldn’t wait to get the footage. Calvin asked me at least five times, “Did you get the kill shot?” After watching the footage and debating the need to retrieve the buck before the coyotes got at him, we headed out at midnight to see if we could track him. We found the blood covered arrow 150 yards from where I shot him and there was clear indications of a successful hit so now we just had to find him. We knew this wouldn’t be easy in the dead of night so we decided to pull out & come back in the morning. Neither of us slept a wink that night and before the crack of dawn, we were back out there again.

That big old buck went over 500 yards with a hole in both lungs!

The experience of harvesting this amazing buck will be something I will never forget & even though I didn’t get “Lucky” I can’t deny that I have some pretty good buck luck.

I cannot wait to head out & see if Lucky made it through another year & I look forward to seeing whose luck will run out first????

I want to thank my dad, Roger Payment for taking me hunting and teaching me everything he knows. You’re the best dad ever! I also want to thank my mom Lisa Payment for

supporting us and our outdoor lifestyle and The Bone Yard for the doors that they have opened.

Watch for this hunt on The BONE YARD season 4.

Website www.theboneyardtv.com FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/addingbones

www.saskbowhunters.ca

BIG BOB BY: MICHAEL HARRELL

Michael Harrell of Kenefic, Oklahoma took an absolute giant non-typical whitetail for that area of the USA. Michael was hunting with a good friend Adam who filmed the hunt. Adam was all setup to shoot a smaller buck when the giant showed up. Luckily for Michael, Adam quickly dropped his bow, and insisted Michael take the shot at the big deer. The buck is truly what dreams are made of with character rarely seen in big whitetails. In total the buck has 21 scorable points and scores 179 6/8�.

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he story of Big Bob starts way back in the summer of 2012. After acquiring a new property to hunt and manage, I placed a number of trail cams to get an idea of the deer that lived there. Placing a dozen cameras on 452 acres would give me a good start. In the summer, one of the places I really like to start is over a pond or water hole with a lot of deer tracks. This is usually a place where the deer go every evening. I also like to find any kind of fence crossing and hang a camera. After hanging the cameras and waiting two weeks, I headed back with excitement like a kid on Christmas morning! While checking the cameras, I was surprised to see several good bucks. In fact several were what I would call shooters!

One of the things I like to do is name all the bucks that I get pictures of, this helps me keep up with them and how they move on the property, and which feed or mineral stations they like to visit the most. So this particular buck we named Bob. He had a torn left ear and a unique rack so he was going to be easy to tell apart from the other bucks. From the pictures we were getting, he looked to be a 4 1/2 year old. He became number four on our hit list and we thought he looked to be mature and would score in the mid-140s. He wasn’t a deer that I would have shot if he walked in front of me, but he was a shooter for one of my kids or my cameraman and hunting buddy Adam. Once the season started, the bucks shed their velvet and began to mark their territory. We got fewer and fewer pictures of Bob, and after a couple weeks he just disappeared. We thought he either got shot or just run off the property by the other big boys.

The fall season of 2012 turned out to be amazing! My daughter harvested her first buck, my son harvested another great deer and I harvested one of the bucks we call DB for double beam. We continued to hunt that season and in the back of my mind I always wondered what happened to Bob? On December 21, I got an answer as he showed back up at one of our feeding locations. On January 14 I actually got to lay eyes on him for the first time, and my thought, “Wow, he is impressive, I can’t wait to see what he will look like next season.” With several of our up and comers surviving the season I began to kick it into to overdrive with the mineral, food plots, and feeding stations. My goal was to do everything I could to help the deer stay healthy and maximize their potential.

After a busy summer, we finally got all our trail cameras out again in 2013, and we got our first picture of Bob in velvet on August 8, the picture was blurry but we could tell that it is him. On August 24, we got more pictures of him and he was coming to the feeding and mineral

station every day. It was clear that he had blown up and put on 40 inches from last year! He instantly became number one on my hit list and he graduated to the name Big Bob. Our season here in Oklahoma starts October 1 and it is archery only. I couldn’t wait, and then a week before the season started I got hit with my 17th kidney stone! At this point, I didn’t know if I was going to pass this thing or have surgery to have it removed. As opening day rolled around, I couldn’t go that morning because of the pain. However, I decided to take my daughter since she had success on opening day the year before. I made it an hour into the sit, but that was it and the pain overwhelmed me. We headed back to the house, disappointed.

Another week went by, and I made the decision to have the surgery and have the stone removed. The doctors decided to do a lithotripsy where they break the stone up and make it smaller pieces so they are able to pass. Trust me this is still not a pleasant procedure and the pieces are still a nightmare to pass. On October 11, my hunting partner and cameraman

Both of Michael’s children have already had success taking big whitetails in their home state of Oklahoma.

Adam Nicholas came down to hunt and film so we headed to the stand on the morning of October 12th. My gear was a bit different than usual with a Gatorade bottle, and a strainer to catch the pieces of kidney stones I pass so the doctor can send it off to see what they are made up of, in addition to my bow.

After a couple hours, one of shooters we call Curley showed up but the pain was getting worse and worse! I was starting to wonder how I was going to get down out of the tree, so I told Adam, “I can’t take it anymore, we have to get down and go home.” I spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch in pain and watching college football. Suddenly, at 4pm, the pain was gone! I looked at Adam and say, “Grab your gear and let’s go because we have a front moving in with a small chance of rain and the wind will be out of the north, its perfect!” We rushed to the stand to hunt Curley again. Although I wanted to try and set up on Big Bob, it was just too late. We climbed in the stand at 5 pm and at 5:15 pm the first buck stepped out at 200 yards. I had told Adam to bring his bow with him even though he was filming me because I was getting pictures of a nice cull buck that he could shoot if he came in. After looking at this deer with my binoculars, I told Adam to swing me the camera and grab his bow, because the deer is on a string headed right to us! I am filming looking straight up above my head with the LCD screen pointed straight down with one hand and the buck is approaching so fast that I still have my bow in my left hand and can’t set it down! The buck went behind a green bush and I lost him for a moment. I looked down to locate him and I see a giant 60 yards behind him headed our way and then I hear Adam say, “That’s the big one and I realize my #1 hit list buck is headed straight to us!” I tell Adam, “Take the camera and get ready.” Without hesitation Adam takes the camera and gave up shooting the biggest deer of his life so I have a chance to harvest the buck of a lifetime. So I swung the camera arm back to Adam and got myself turned into a position where I could get a

shot at Big Bob. My heart was pounding as he worked a scrape and then headed right toward us!

He stopped at 26 yards. I pulled back, settled the pin and let her rip! The arrow hit him perfectly in the shoulder and dropped him in his tracks! I followed up with a second shot to put him away and the celebration was on! The emotions that were running through me were so intense that I couldn’t stop shaking. Walking up to him was such an amazing experience.

He got bigger the closer I got, and after wrapping my hands around his antlers, all I could do was give praise to the good Lord above for blessing me with such an amazing trophy.

I am often asked why didn’t I let Adam shoot that deer? The answer is I would have been happy to, just like he was for me, but the contract we had with the owner of the property would only allow him and my kids to harvest cull bucks. For him to give up shooting the largest deer of his hunting career to let me shoot the largest one of mine means the world to me.

Muskrat The

BY: JASON BLEAU

Chad Gerard of Ponteix, Saskatchewan accomplished something few hunters get to do in their careers when he took a double droptine mule deer in 2014. The matching droptines add 23” to the final score. Long backs of 18 1/8” and 16 6/8” frame out the beautiful rack. Chad’s buck stretches the tape with a gross score of 232 4/8” and a net non-typical score of 226 4/8”!

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successful hunt seems to take good planning and preparation. For me, this includes taking the time to scout for animals and strategically place and check trail cameras. It also doesn’t hurt to have some luck on your side. In my experience, the better the planning and preparation, the better the luck. Being in the right spot at the right time is typically achieved through the good planning. Other times luck is in the form of a series of events that just work out in your favor. Sometimes that luck is just a muskrat swimming in a creek.

My hunting mentor is my younger cousin Chad. I have plenty of family who enjoy spending time together in the outdoors hunting, but I always seem to have that extra bit of luck when I am out with him. I harvested my first coyote with him which sparked my interest in hunting. After, that he was there helping me get my first whitetail deer, got me interested in archery and that led to my first mule deer taken with the bow. On that occasion, Chad was way more excited than I was. I shot down across a creek, putting a perfectly placed arrow into a bedded buck. I had only dared look at the buck for a few seconds prior to see how he was situated. Chad had spotted him, guided me in to position and wouldn’t risk letting me spend too much time watching him in case the deer noticed us. It also prevented the dreaded “Buck Fever” and I got my first good look at the bucks rack after the shot was released. This leads up to the story of his archery mule deer buck of a lifetime.

The summer and early fall was spent out in the field glassing for deer and seeing nothing extraordinary. During the week leading up to when I was able to join him, Chad had spent the days out hunting, putting on the miles in the hills and coulees where we usually hunt. There were deer around but not many that Chad had wanted to pursue. Earlier, on the day that I had arrived, Chad had put a stalk on a buck with his friend Craig.

They had been out for a couple of days but it was unsuccessful.

The day of this hunt started like they usually do; breakfast at the local coffee shop while listening to some of the regulars talk about the harvest. We took off to scout some coulees. At the first location, we happened upon a small group of

whitetails with three or four bucks finishing up their morning feed. We continued watching them for about a half hour when Chad asked if I would like to go after the biggest buck with the muzzleloader. I told him we could let them go and focus on the mule deer. There would be plenty of time to chase after whitetail later on in the season. After that group of whitetails disappeared from our sight, we started on our way to another location. On the way, we ran into Chad’s younger brother Clarke. He told us about a half dozen pheasant in a tree row in the area. I thought, “What the heck, we may as well let the dog out and put him to work. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get some birds.” We pushed the bush and were able to get one cock down. Another flushed and made his way further down.

We picked up the bird and then went 400 yards further and got out to push the creek side for the other cock. Twenty yards into the field, we reached the north side of the creek and we noticed a muskrat dive under the water. Then I happened to look across the creek at some brush.

At first there was nothing, and then I noticed a white triangular shape and some black spots. Then the shape of the face became clearer and then the horns started to appear. I called to Chad as calmly as I could and pointed in the direction of the deer.

He thought I was pointing at the muskrat until I said “Mule Buck”. I am sure at that point both of our eyes got wide when the buck moved his head up a bit and we got a good look at him. He was a huge freaking double drop tine! He was thirty yards away from us and we almost missed seeing him. We headed back for the truck hoping that he would stay put. Unfortunately, the deer had other ideas and headed south into the field towards a railway line half a kilometer away. We packed up

the dog and got moving as quick as possible to the next road heading south. On the way, Chad told me about how the year before, his girlfriend Sasha had put a stalk on a single drop tine mule deer in almost the same location.

It had busted out to the south in the same fashion and was not seen again. He had a feeling that this buck was going to try to do the same thing. When we stopped to look west down the tracks to see the where the buck was, he stopped on the railway line a kilometer away almost as if on cue. He made his way towards us for a bit and then turned back north, towards the creek. We got to a good elevated position to watch him. It was about 9:30 in the morning. For fifteen minutes we watched the buck make his way towards the creek until he disappeared from our sight.

We had a good idea where the buck was but we couldn’t see him. It was time to sit tight and just watch the area for any sign of him. Chad made a few calls to see if anyone was able to come to help us out. His buddy Craig would be by in about an hour. We took advantage of the wait to keep glassing the area, hoping to spot the buck. We were starting to worry that he had given us the slip. We knew that if he was there, one of us was going to put the buck down. We decided that Chad was going to go for him. He had helped me and many other people get their deer over the years so it seemed right for him to get this buck. When Craig arrived, he and Chad headed back to near where we first saw the buck to see if they could spot him. For fifteen minutes, there was nothing. We spotted some movement and it had antlers, just not the right antlers. A younger typical mule deer had gotten up and started making its way east along the creek.

Had the double dropper given us the slip and left us a younger

buck in his place to act as a decoy? A year earlier I watched a similar scenario unfold with another of Chad’s brothers, Curtis. He was out stalking an equally impressive buck in a wheat field. In between periods of keeping his eyes above the grain, the buck he was after had dipped his head down out of sight while a different buck busted him. Needless to say things did not work out that day.

As the young buck moved east, we were wondering if we had been outsmarted. Suddenly, he became startled and looked down at the bank of the creek. Relief poured over us as this

younger buck had rustled up the buck we were there for. The pair made their way east and bedded down. It was around noon when Chad and Craig could no longer see the pair of deer and we reunited. We waited for the deer to move and photographed the pair of deer for about a half hour when the younger buck started to get restless and moved around. The older buck got up and the pair headed back west. We had a good idea of where they were going. As 1 pm approached, the wind was starting to pick up from the west. It had been calm earlier in the day, which we knew would make for some tough stalking. The time had come for action and we laid out a plan.

Chad was going to head out towards the deer, into the field, following the edge of prairie grass that lined the banks of the creek. I would stay put in my location to keep an eye out in case he busted out to the south or east. Craig was going to head back to where they were earlier to keep a better eye on him and watch if he decided to head to the north or west.

Just after Chad started his stalk, it began to rain a little which would help by softening the dry grass. In about fifteen minutes, he had made his way into the general area of the two bucks. On the way he had left his boots in one spot and his binoculars at another. It was about this time I noticed a cow that was out of the pasture to the east of me. It was going to investigate Chad as he crawled through the grass! “This stalk is going to be blown because of a loose cow,” I thought to myself.

Almost four hours after first spotting this buck, I was watching Chad through the spotting scope. He had closed the distance and was in the spot he wanted to be. Then I started to see some antlers showing below him. Chad was lying down on the edge of the field, seven yards away from the deer. They were situated below him on a ledge above the bank of the creek.

Chad was intending on waiting until the deer got up to stretch or feed to take his shot. He noticed the cow making its way

towards him and that the younger deer was getting restless again. His plan was going to need to change if this was going to work out for him. Chad motioned to Craig who was about 250 meters away on the side of the road. Chad got Craig to try and get the pair of deer’s attention with some noise so that they would look in his direction and Chad could get set to shoot.

He drew his bow and stood up. Before he could get ready, he saw the eyes of the target buck looking his way. Chad calmly knelt back down and waited. Watching the tips of the antlers swing away towards Craig, he knew it was time to stand up and take the shot.

With the steepness of the angle down and short distance Chad didn’t make a perfect shot and the buck jumped up and dove into the creek. It quickly swam to the other side but by that time Chad had nocked another arrow and this one found its mark as soon as the buck stepped out of the creek. When I saw Chad jumping up and down & pumping his fist with bow in hand I knew it was done!

I made my way to him and we high-fived and hugged each other. As we started to make our way out of the field, he remembered he had forgotten his boots. We took a quick detour to get them and then made our way to Craig who was on the other side of the creek and headed towards where the deer was.

When we got to him the buck had slid back into the creek.

Chad had to go for a quick dip to bring it back to the shore so we could pull it up. This deer was huge and as we pulled it up the bank we joked that it must have drank its weight in water before we got there because it was so heavy. More congratulations were given and pictures were taken to capture the memories. For Chad this is a buck of a lifetime and I am so glad that I got to help my hunting mentor on the hunt. Just to think, if it wasn’t for a little muskrat swimming in a creek we may have walked right by this magnificent animal.

HUNTING:

The Original ‘Green’ Activity by: Chad Wilkinson

A

s I work through editing more and more hunting stories, I see a common thread in many of them, which is the comradery among hunters, and hunting as a ‘get away’ from everyday life. In today’s day and age where we are all bombarded with constant remote contact through social media, online feeds and texting, there is something special about getting out hunting with friends and family. It is becoming a more and more unique experience as we are all tied up in the connected world. At first glance, this could be seen as a threat to the future of hunting, but as you dig into the issue deeper, it could very well be a tremendous opportunity to expand the hunting community and ensure the future of hunting. Let me explain.

The tremendous movement to get back to nature, and to be environmentally friendly and partake in wholesome activities, away from technology represents a tremendous opportunity for the hunting community. The underlying pillars of this movement include detaching or ‘unplugging’ from the online world, getting back to nature, experiencing real and wholesome activities with friends and family, minimizing one’s environmental impact, and promotion of a healthy lifestyle.

Hunting ties in well with every one of these ideas and there is an opportunity for hunting to be positioned as an environmentally friendly, ‘green’, healthy activity.

Most parents are aware of their children’s link to technology such as TV, internet, tablets, smart phones, and video games.

Although there are obviously benefits and conveniences that these provide, there are also significant negative consequences to overuse. The most obvious one is that it leads to sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise. There is also the potential for exposure to potentially harmful content such as violence.

Just looking at these two problems, it is clear how hunting can counter these. Most forms of hunting require a significant investment of energy, in other words you have to move around!

Even if hunters employ a sit and wait strategy, they still need to walk to the spot they want to sit. Spot and stalk, rattling, still hunting, and just walking are all hunting methods that are a great source of exercise. There is tremendous debate on the impact that exposure to violence has on children, their development, and their awareness of reality. Clearly, this can also be countered when hunting. You can kill 100 enemies with no consequence in a video game, but with hunting when an animal is killed, the consequences are obvious. You have killed that animal, it is a very serious thing and that animal is gone forever. It is now your responsibility to ensure you use the animal for food, and that you respect the animal and are thankful

for the opportunities provided to you. These benefits apply equally to adults and children; in bringing us all back to reality of how the world really works.

Getting back to nature with friends and family is a huge benefit of hunting. We all remember our first hunt and our first kill, and almost certainly have a special bond with the person we shared that experience with. It is an emotional and primal experience that is difficult to describe. It is the memories that form when we are outside, and the experiences we have that keep us coming back. Not only that, but it also reconnects us with the natural world and reminds us that it exists and is operating with or without is. When we walk through a forest or along a fence line, and observe the rubs on trees or fence posts left for us to find, it serves as a draw for us to get out again.

While stuck at work, I find myself imagining the big deer that left that rub and it pulls me back out to the next hunt. In addition, I can’t wait to get back there with my family and show them what nature has created. It is all part of the puzzle that ties us with nature, and that is ‘hunting’.

Minimizing your impact, while living healthy is another tremendous benefit that we can all feel proud of as hunter, and ‘sell’ to non-hunters to either convince them to try it, or at the very least, ensure that we can count on their support to continue to hunt. It seems as though the new vegan craze uses the minimizing of their impact to the environment, and the health benefits, as a selling feature. It is incredibly obvious to anyone connected to nature and hunting, that the impact of taking a couple game animals is significantly less than buying the pre-packaged, overly branded, marketed, heavily package foods at the grocery store that have been shipped thousands of miles, and taken a huge land base to support. Production of this type of food takes away valuable wildlife habitat that we as hunters work very hard to conserve. In return, all we ask is that we are given the opportunity to take the excess animals to sustain us rather than allowing them to overpopulate and die. The benefit of eating wild meat is well documented, and available to anyone who cares to look.

Hunting is enjoying a renaissance right now, and we can all help to continue this by explaining to anyone who will listen, all the benefits of hunting. Hunting ties in perfectly with the new, green, environmental craze that seems to be so popular today. All it takes is a little bit of thought to see the obvious links. The more we can all promote these aspects of hunting, the more support we will all enjoy from the public, and the more secure the future of hunting will be.

Riley Hadland of Kindersley, Saskatchewan with the impressive mule deer he took when only 12 years old, his first year of hunting! The buck has a relatively narrow spread for a mule deer at 20 1/8”, but it quickly makes up for that with long G-2s of 14 4/8” and 15 7/8”, and 18 4/8” of abnormal points! The gross score on his buck was 192 1/8”. There is little doubt Riley has a great hunting career ahead of him.

HARD LUCK BUCK BY: MORGAN HADLAND

T

he story begins on a very cold and windy day in late October. The winter season had arrived early in Saskatchewan, and as a result we already had a thick layer of heavy snow across the landscape. Riley had his eyes on this beautiful mule deer buck. He had been following the big deer since June of 2012. The first encounter with the deer was in early summer, but the buck already carried a massive rack. Even in full velvet, it was already obvious this was a great deer and one to keep an eye on! We saw him one more time near end of August, but then the big deer disappeared and no matter what we did, we could not find him again!

Riley was excited to know he had a mule deer buck draw tag but he didn't want to get his hopes up on finding the buck again. Every time we went out we searched for him, but with the cold month of October almost gone, and still not a single sighting, we had almost given up. However, the draw tag was burning a hole in Riley’s pocket and we knew that we had to give it another shot.

Day by day went by without a single sighting, but we kept working hard at it and refused to give up. The season was winding down and we had one last day left to try and fill Riley’s tag. The early morning found us waiting out in the same area where we saw the giant mule deer throughout the summer. The morning was uneventful, and with a chilling wind freezing us to the bone, we had to cut the hunt down a bit. We packed up and decided to head back and warm up for a few minutes before heading out again. On our way back, we stumbled across a group of mule deer still out feeding. The freezing weather had them trying to fill their bellies with leftovers from the farmers. We scanned the group and could not believe it when we spotted the big deer Riley had been targeting all season! In the distance, he looked just as nice as he was in velvet!

After a long stalk, Riley was in position and got ready for the

shot. The buck finally opened up, clear of the other deer, and offered a perfect shot angle. He let the sabot fly from his muzzleloader and the buck hobbled off the field, blood pouring out. It looked like a perfect shot!

“Yes, you got him!” I said to Riley. We waited awhile, and then snuck up to the area where the buck fell. Sure enough, he was down! As Riley approached the buck, we were stunned when he quickly got up, whirled around and then he was gone.

We all stood there, stunned, but still thinking that the buck would not go far. After a long wait, we took up the trail again.

We picked up the blood trail and followed him. It was at least -30 with the wind chill as we all froze while tracking for miles, and miles, and miles! It had been a few hours and we were all frozen, toes and fingers numb and eyes watering from the biting wind. Finally, we stopped and headed back to the truck to warm up.

We were not going to give up that easy though, and round two of our search began. It was only a few minutes this time until we finally spotted the deer! Riley wasted no time and the buck was down. It was now over six hours to get him down, but it was so worth it!

Riley’s giant is one of the most beautiful bucks that graces the walls of our home and we all are reminded every day of a great hunt, and how hard work and perseverance can pay off in the long run. That day was truly one that his dad and I were full of pride. The buck was a true giant and for Riley to take him at 12 years old shows that he has a great hunting career in front of him!

R

ugged Country ulies M BY: DANA WHITE

Dana White fulfilled a lifelong dream when he took this big framed mule deer after a long grueling hunt through the badlands of Alberta. Dana and his team run Final Impact Outdoors so watch for his hunt on WildTV. The tall backs of 14 6/8” and 16 3/8” frame out the big rack. The buck has loads of character and extra points which add 14 4/8” to the final score of 190 4/8” non-typical.

2

014 was a big year for myself, and the people closest to me. Not only did our television show “Fatal Impact Outdoors” finally hit the airwaves, but I was fortunate enough to meet many new friends and acquaintances. Two of those people in particular were Jeffrey Solberg and his wife Missy. Jeff and Missy had recently joined our show as hosts, and had invited us down on an archery mule deer hunt in the badlands of Southern Alberta.

Now you have to understand that where we live, mule deer are few and far between. The ones that do exist are usually living comfortably behind the barriers of posted land. In my entire life of hunting mule deer around home, I’ve had ONE opportunity at a trophy class buck with my bow and I blew it.

So when Jeff was describing the amount of deer, and opportunities we could expect while hunting down south, he didn’t have to twist my arm very hard to get me to commit. We marked the calendar and before we knew it, my beautiful girlfriend Darcy and I were headed south for one of the greatest adventures of our lives.

Now somewhere between the stories of massive mule deer and elk running around, Jeff somehow forgot to fully describe the treacherous amount of hiking and biking that was required to access these properties. All I will say is that by the end of the trip, Darcy and her bike were no longer speaking to each other except for a few select words mumbled under her breath.

We spent the first few days stalking several 140-165 Class bucks, but being new to the spot and stalk game, our efforts were futile. The terrain was unforgiving and the steep coulee’s almost guaranteed a swirling wind at some point in our stalk. We had blown out more big bucks in the first three days of hunting than I had ever seen around home in my entire life. Being fast learners, we quickly got the hang of things and were consistently getting closer on each stalk, however we just couldn’t seal the deal. Darcy hunted for the first four days as I ran camera over her shoulder, hoping to get a shot opportunity at a buck. After four days, we decided to switch things up and reversed roles, leaving the camera in her hands and my trusty bow in mine.

The fifth day was almost a complete write off as there wasn’t even a slight breeze blowing in the wide open prairies, and any mule deer hunter understands the importance of a strong consistent wind. We had joined up with Jeff and Missy and were going to try and use all four of us as a team to work the shooters into position once we had found a good buck. With the abundance of deer in the area, it didn’t take us long to pinpoint a beautiful 4X4 bedded in a great location. We decided that the girls were going to stay on the opposite side of the coulee and would be able to see our position in relation to the bedded deer. They would use this perspective to guide us in like radar, and it would be a guaranteed hunt, or so we thought.

As soon as Jeff and I reached the other side of the coulee, both Darcy and Missy’s phones had died and we no longer had any means of communication, which left us totally blind on this stalk. As we worked our way along the coulee, I was sure the buck was bedded less than 50 yards away, we just couldn’t see

him. However, Jeff was certain that the buck was still over 200 yards away around the next bend in the coulee. After a short collaboration, I trusted Jeff and his mule deer expertise and we quickly made our way along the side of the coulee, trying to make up ground. We had only taken three quick steps when our buck busted out from under us less than 30 yards away.

Our so-called “Guaranteed Hunt” was a total bust.

By the last day of our hunt, it was very tough to get my hopes up. The lack of sleep, insane amounts of miles on our feet, and the constant rollercoaster of emotions involved with stalking mule deer had taken their toll on our bodies and minds. We tried to remain optimistic, but felt that the odds were greatly against us. Our packs felt three times heavier, we had each lost several pounds, and were severely drained from the past passed days of hunting. Not being ones to quit, we pushed through and were able to find a beautiful buck bedded in an awesome spot early in the morning. Knowing that this was going to be our very last chance, we were going to move extra slow and ensure that we didn’t screw it up. It took us nearly four hours to work our way into 70 yards from where we thought this buck was bedded, and with one swirl of the wind, our buck and our last remaining ounce of confidence erupted out of the coulee, never to be seen again.

This was where my emotions took over. We had spent the last six days hunting harder than anything I’ve ever experienced in my entire life. My body had never been so beaten up, full of cacti, and downright exhausted. Knowing that our hunt was over, I grabbed my gear and literally ran over the hill and made my way to the next coulee. This was a coulee that was so far back from the bikes, that none of us had ever made it this far. With zero disregard for my skyline, I walked directly over the edge of the coulee and stood on a small overhanging plat-

form that was likely 80-100 feet tall, and glassed the opposite side with my VORTEX binos for a full two minutes. Admitting defeat, I lowered my binos and turned to start making our way home when movement caught my eye directly beneath me.

What I saw next is a sight forever engraved in my mind. The largest mule deer that I had ever personally laid eyes on was standing up feeding directly underneath me, and I had been standing there totally exposed for over two minutes. I hit the dirt and watched this buck for a few more minutes as he made his way up the side of the coulee and found himself a nice bed for a late afternoon siesta. It was at this point that I knew we were going to kill this deer. Everything was just too perfect, and it was the kind of situation I had always read about in hunting magazines. This was my opportunity.

When I ran back to get Darcy, she wasn’t sure what to think when I tried to explain that there was a giant buck bedded and we needed to go NOW! This is where things continue to get better. We grabbed our gear and within 40 minutes we were setup behind a small bush and sitting exactly 21 yards from the largest mule deer I will ever likely have the opportunity to harvest. For the past week, we had stalked multiple deer a day, each stalk taking hours and not once were we able to even get close to their location. We had now literally run right up to 21 yards from this giant.

After waiting for the longest hour of my life, he finally stood up from his bed and stretched. From our location, I didn’t have a clean shot. And if he had taken two steps forward he would have disap-

peared from our lives forever. But I said we were lucky right?

The deer turned around and started angling toward us and was going to pass by us on his way to the top. I came to full draw and just waited as he kept feeding closer before finally offering me a shot at less than 15 yards. My PX2 broadhead blew right through his shoulder blade and had just enough penetration that he only ran 80 yards before expiring. Every minute of the past six days rushed through my mind, and I’ve never been more thankful to harvest any animal in my entire life.

It wasn’t because of his antler size. I had never worked so hard for an animal in my hunting career, and regardless of how big he was, we persevered and were successful. The fact that he was a giant was simply a bonus of the experience. The celebrations were short lived since we had a treacherous pack out on our backs, as we were roughly 12 kilometers from the truck.

I know this hunt sounds like your typical cliché magazine story where everything magically seems to work out perfectly, but let me assure you that we worked our butts off for this deer, and I’m a firm believer that every dog has his day. You just need to keep pushing through the hard times, because when you’re 100% certain that you’ve lost, that’s when your luck will take over.

I’d like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Jeff and Missy Solberg for inviting us down on this hunt. The memories we created will last a lifetime. I would also like to thank my girlfriend Darcy for sticking it out with me over the most torturous six days of hunting we’ve ever experienced. Your dedication and drive was unparalleled, and your focus never wavered even when your body begged you to quit. Not only

am I incredibly proud of you, but thankful to have been able to share this experience with you. My older brother Cory also plays a major role in the success of our show, and without his help, none of these hunts would be possible.

A huge Thank You goes out to all of our sponsors and fans for supporting us on our journey and allowing us to do what we love.

I would also like to thank Kevin Weibe at Top Notch Taxidermy for an amazing mount that truly captured the personality of this deer down to every detail.

You can catch this hunt and the entire story on WildTV. You will see the hardships, the adventures, and the true roller coaster of events that made this hunt into a memory of a lifetime.

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THE

GREAT BEAR BUCK BY: TROY NORMAN

Troy Norman with friends Mat and Bryan and the legendary whitetail Troy took in 2014 in northern Ontario. Bryan had the cagey old buck on his trail camera for years, but despite hundreds of hours hunting him, had yet to have a single sighting in the big bush country. Stories and pictures of the deer over many years had made him nothing short of a legend. Bryan’s time for hunting in 2014 was short so he invited his friends up to hunt with him. It was the right decision, as Troy finally killed the deer. The longest G-2 is 11 5/8” with brows over 6” and 7” all adding up to a gross score of 174 1/8”!

I

had spent the better part of two years listening to my hunting buddy, Bryan, rave about a big, mature 11 pointer who he had been chasing. The cagey old buck was no stranger to his trail cameras, but he was a ghost when hunting season rolled around. Bryan gave him the name the Great Bear Buck.

There was a reason he was big!

The season was well under way when I got a call from my buddy Bryan saying that his big 11 pointer was back again! He explained that various commitments meant that his hunting season was going to be very limited and he wasn’t going to have much time to chase the big deer. He went on to say to me that our buddy Mat was going to hunt a couple days for him and I should come out too because, at this point, all he wanted was to see somebody put the giant on the wall, and it didn’t matter which one of us it was!

I had looked through many trail cam pics of the deer over the past couple years and without hesitation I jumped onboard to have a chance to target the beauty buck! I scouted out the area a bit Saturday with Bryan and we went for a few hunts, passing on three different bucks. It was hard to pull the trigger knowing the Great Bear Buck was in the area. Sunday morning rolled around and I had a new plan.

The day before, we had walked through a small ash swamp in the area, and it was chalk full of fresh deer sign! There were all sorts of running tracks throughout the area, including one extremely big toed critter and smaller doe prints. I was sure that this was where I was thinking the mature whitetail was hiding. Sunday morning, Mat and Bryan setup in different ground blinds in spots he had been frequently been visiting about 1.5 kilometers away from each other. I headed into the bush with my calls and antlers in hopes of enticing the deer to come out of his hiding area. The swamp I was headed to had one high spot where I could look through a nice shooting window down into the opening. This area was trampled yesterday when we walked it and just screamed, “Big Deer”! As I made my way through the thick bush to the small high spot I noticed through the oak trees that there was a doe standing 160 yards away, right in the middle of it. A quick scan of the area revealed she was a mature doe with no fawns. “BUCK CAN-

Cabelas Pro Staff Troy Norman and his hunting partners were all smiles after downing the buck!

DY!” I thought to myself. I couldn’t have asked for a better decoy! I started scanning the area more in search of the buck that might be tending her and to my excitement I found him!

Through a small opening in the oaks in front of me I made out the deer, just in time to see him turn his antler profile straight broadside showing off every big tine! I watched him for about one minute without being presented a clean broadside shot.

I thought the doe was in the wide open and wind was good, so there was nothing here that was going to push them out and I thought eventually the deer would present a good shot.

Wrong! The buck jerked his head upward at the doe, who was about 30 yards away and she spun around and bolted out of sight behind the trees in front of me.! As I put the scope back on him he took two quick bounds and was out of sight too.

PANIC MODE! I started moving around trying to find another opening to see down into the swamp in hopes he was still in sight. As I scanned, I spotted him quartering away, walking at 170 yards, nose at the bush line. I put the gun on him and looked for the best opening I could find to get my bullet through the oak trees. Suddenly, he stopped looking back into the opening and as he turned his head to follow the doe off and out of sight, I let one go!

I grabbed my stuff and started making my way back to go get the guys to come help look for the deer. In no time, I found them and we were back at the spot. To my disappointment, the blood trail was not near what I was hoping for. No bubbles, no spray and little blood meant that I was doubting my shot.

Bryan headed up onto on a ridge top toward the direction the deer was headed in case I pushed the buck. Once he was in position, Mat and I start tracking.

After an hour of painfully slow tracking, I realized the deer was headed too far past Bryan, and I ran passed the bush and waved him down. “The deer is coming out further west, we need to setup down further!” I frantically try to get the message to him and head for the far ridge top while Bryan sets up down one more. Just as I crested the second ridge, I heard a deer crashing through the brush towards me! I dropped down to a knee and looked up too see the Great Bear Buck 60 yards away with his head down and on the dead run straight at me!

60, 40, 20, 15 yards and I am waiting for him to lift his head

so I can shoot, finally he saw me, flared his head up and took a 175grain 7mm mag bullet to the neck and crumpled at 12 yards! My heart at this point felt like it was ready to come out of my throat! I stood up to get a better look at the brute and let out nothing less than a 12-yearold girl scream! The antlers were strong with dark color, not chipped or broken, and had great mass and height. His g2 on the left side stretched out to 11 5/8� and brow tine went over 6’ inches with the one topping 7�. The three of us got a bunch of pictures, drug him out and had some celebratory beverages while the Great Bear Buck was hanging out with us in the garage! It is truly hunting experiences like this that turn this sport into a strong, lifelong passion for so many outdoors enthusiasts.

Cole Blomme of Shaunavon, Saskatchewan comes from a family of sportsmen and enjoys countless hours in the field with them. They have taken some incredible animals over the years. In 2014 Cole took a 190 4/8* opening day monster in full velvet (opposite), while his sister, Tess, took a 183 5/8� mule deer later in the season (above). Their Dad, Gord Blomme, also has taken a number of trophy animals as outlined in the following pages of BGI Mag.

BY: COLE BLOMME

S

portsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, for the game we take and a sense of fellowship with the competitors and landowners.

Hard work and determination has been the key to our success on bagging some dandy mule deer in our life time. I wouldn’t mind talking about them all but will start at 2012 the year our luck changed and when everything came together!

It was early August when my dad, Gord Blomme came across a mature mule deer and since my biggest archery mule deer was a 173 5/8”, he was kind enough to let me hunt the character buck! We watched the magnificent buck, and a few other bruisers, for a month straight, patterning his every move from a distance. It started coming down to opening day and after endless hours practising and days sitting out on the big side hill in God’s country, I knew this deer was mine. I went out on my own the night before, as Dad had another buck to watch.

I was lucky enough to get some live photos that night and was able to watch him bed down before it got too dark.

Opening day came early with the little sleep possible. I was up, and out in the hills before the sun was even thinking of getting up! As the sun lifted, the coulee started to come alive with deer, but no sign of the one I was after. It was over an hour, and then all of a sudden there he was! He rose from the creek bed right in front of me, exactly where he was the night before. I watched him slowly graze along the creek waiting to see where he was going to lay down for the day. I sat on my high vantage point, making sure he was going to bed down for the day and sure enough 45 minutes had passed and I decided to make my journey down. That’s when the hunt began!

He was only 100 yards away. I debated on how to approach him. I made a huge loop around him as I came to the creek I had to cross making sure I played the wind to my favour. I was just about to untie my boots and strip down to cross the creek when in the corner of my eye I saw another hunter hiking the other side of the ridge. I started thinking that he was going to spook something down the hill towards me. I immediately jumped into the creek. The water was up to my knees as I made

the quick journey to cross. I started crawling through the tall buck brush, glassing every 10 yards trying to find his horns.

Suddenly, I found myself 45 yards from the magnificent buck.

Without being able to move any closer, I made sure my shoot-

ing lanes were good. Suddenly, the wind shifted and he raised his nose to smell. Worried he was going to bust I made a quick decision to make a doe sound as I was sitting with my bow fully drawn. He stood half way up, turned and froze, staring right at me. That’s when I found his vitals, and the arrow made a clear path through both lungs as he ran 50 yards and laid down. I ran back to the truck to call my dad!

A few of the other animals taken by Cole and his family.

When he showed up, we walked back down to retrieve the magnificent animal I was amazed. It was bigger and better then I could have imagined with perfect velvet and a gross score of 206 5/8 non-typical!

Two weeks later on September 14th 2012, my dad anchored a great buck with unbelievable long brows that measured 4 2/8 inches. The buck ended up having gross typical score of

They must have a very impressive trophy room!

Charles Desmeules travelled into Willmore, Alberta, with his friends Shawn and Jonah in order to attempt to take his first bighorn ram. Day 4 of the hunt, after setting up camp, the group headed out for a quick scouting session and ran right into this beautiful ram. A few minutes later, Charles was notching his tag.

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GIFT

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nce the dually and horse trailer were packed, reality set in. It was time to head to the Willmore yet again to chase bighorn sheep on those beautiful grassy slopes known for their rolling and maneuverable nature. After watching my mentor Shawn take an impressive ram the year before, my friend Jonah and I were excited to return to the mountains in hopes of finding a ram of our own.

We left home with the Rock Lake staging area in our sights.

Nine hours of driving and four new horse trailer tires later we reached our first destination. With enough daylight left to feed and water our anxious horses, we also made supper and the three of us crammed up in the fifth wheel of the horse trailer for a good night’s sleep. The morning came quickly, and with a solid breakfast with hot coffee to take the chill out of our bones, we packed up the horses and hit the trail. We crossed the Wild Hay River while maintaining a good pace. After all, it’s a two day ride into reputable sheep country. Around 4:00 PM we stopped for the day and made camp. Horses were unpacked and supper made. Sleep came easily that night, as the fresh mountain air had us crawling into the sleeping bags at 9:00. The plan for the second day on the trail was to cross the Hay River hump and find a good place to make camp.

Again around 4:00PM we stopped to make camp, but this

time we were finally in sheep country. Once the horses were turned out to feed, we all reached for our spotting scopes and tripods. After about an hour of glassing, I finally spotted 12 ewes and lambs. Knowing the next morning kicked off opening day, we had high hopes of finding a ram. As the sun tucked behind the mountains, we put the spotting scopes away and got a fire going. After warming up with a hot cup of apple cider around the flames, we crawled in the tents for a good night’s sleep.

There is nothing better than waking up to the sound of horse bells on opening day. With the sun peaking over the mountains, we had breakfast, saddled up and headed into a nearby drainage. The trail took us through some of the most stunning sheep country Jonah and I had ever seen. Shawn had been an outfitter and guide in the Willmore for a long time so his appreciation for the beautiful view was less obvious. We came to an old camp near a small group of trees where we tied the horses and began to creep up the ridge. Once at the top of the ridge, we started picking apart the surrounding mountains with our spotting scopes and binos. No sheep were located, but the amount of goats observed was unreal. They were everywhere, from big groups to solo wanderers. Altogether we saw 40 goats in three hours of glassing! With the day slowly coming to a close, we decided to head back to camp.

It was a shame, the drainage had looked flawless and we were all convinced riding in there that we would see sheep. The ride back to camp had us stopping every 45 minutes and pulling out the binos to make sure we didn’t miss any sheep.

When we finally made it back to camp that evening, the horses’ saddles were pulled off and they were turned out to feed while we got supper ready, Shawn gave us the choice to either keep hunting the same drainage in hopes that rams would wander into our sights over time, or we could break camp and cover more ground. We decided to see some new country.

Day 4 in sheep country started fast as we broke camp, saddled horses and tried to eat breakfast in order to get on the trail and to the next camp with enough time to possibly go for a little hike.

We had almost reached our next camp when we came up to another pack string heading out.

“Any sheep spotted in there?” Shawn asked the tired looking hunters. “Nope”, they replied, followed by, “We’ve been in there for the past week trying to locate rams for opening day.” “That’s the way it goes,” Shawn said as we kept on down the trail until we came to the height of land. “This is where we’ll make camp,” Shawn instructed us. Once we unpacked the horses, we made an early supper and grabbed our own loaded backpacks. We headed up the mountain at 5:00 PM and as we came to our first glassing spot on the ridge, the wind began to blow. There was a storm moving in. We glassed for about half an hour,

but with no sheep spotted Shawn decided we should check the back side of the ridge that we were on. Battling the increasing wind, we finally came over the ridge being careful to stay off the skyline. Single file, Jonah and I followed Shawn. We came to a ledge and as Shawn peeked over, my heart began to pound. “Get down and get your guns out!” Shawn had whispered. Like the flicking of a switch the hunt went from us being tired and worn out, to us throwing our game faces back on and focusing on not being seen. A young ram was only 200 yards away; we had walked right into his bedroom. The ram disappeared behind a big boulder. He reappeared a little higher up the mountain but he now had another ram with him, but still neither of them were legal. Time slowly ticked by, with every five minutes feeling like an hour. “Get ready boys there’s a bigger ram!” Shawn said as he spotted a third ram coming out from behind that same boulder. “He’s legal, which one of you guys is shooting?” Shawn asked. Jonah and I probably should have decided who was going to shoot long before we ever even left home. “Rock, paper, scissors?” Jonah asked.

So with a game of rock, paper, scissors, I came out as the winner! All of a sudden my heart started pounding even harder, the rams were feeding up the ridge and if they went much further they would be out of sight. With the two young rams off to the left, and the big ram off to the right it was now or never. The ram picked his head up and stood with his body quartering away to the right and his head turned to the left facing down the mountain. I settled my crosshairs high on his shoulder, compensating for the uphill shot and the ram being 200 yards away. I slowly squeezed the

trigger and let my 30.06 bark. The ram folded in his tracks. I’d done it! I’d finally shot my first bighorn sheep!

Jonah patted me on the shoulder as I looked over at him, then the high fives and hand shaking started. Neither of us has ever been so excited about a successful hunt. As we packed up and began hiking towards where he lay, I could hardly stand because my legs were shaking so hard. With the wind pounding us and the rain beginning to fall, we made it up to the ram.

Shawn rolled the ram over to see the point of impact but as he did, a small puddle of blood became visible under his head.

I had hit him in the head! “I’ve been on 28 sheep kills, but this is the first one I’ve seen shot in the head!” Shawn giggled, as I shook my head and thankfully praised my good luck. As we finished taking pictures, the sky opened up and began to hammer down rain. We quickly threw on our rain gear and started caping and butchering the majestic bighorn. “The head shot, highly effective, but not recommended,” Shawn said with a smile. We all laughed. Once we had my prized trophy all loaded in the packs and started down the mountain towards camp, I had a chance to really appreciate the accomplishment I had just completed. Jonah said it in the perfect words. “Days like these go in the blink of an eye, great memories were made today. Lessons were learned, feet are sore from packing heavy packs. But when it all comes together, nothing compares to following your buddy down the mountain with horns in his pack.”

It’s not always about the kill, it’s about the whole hunt and appreciation for the breathtaking country we get to hunt and spending time with good friends doing what we love. Thanks for the great hunt Shawn and Jonah; it was an unreal adventure and a wonderful GIFT!

Haley’s Buck BY: BUDDY SMITH

Haley Smith of Herculaneum, Missouri with the massive whitetail she took in Kansas in 2014. The young hunter showed the patience of a veteran, passing younger bucks in hopes of seeing a mature buck. She and her Dad, Buddy, never imagined that such a giant would walk out in front of them and when it did, Haley made no mistake, putting the big deer down for good. The antlers ended up scoring 185” even with both beams going over 25”, a longest G2 just under 12” and many points coming off the bases of the antlers.

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e hunt a 640 acre farm in central Kansas owned by our friend Christopher Schroeder. We have been hunting the farm since 2008. The farm is comprised of open grassland, crops and a small amount of timber along the creek with a couple of draws coming off of the creek. We first got trail cam pictures of Haley’s buck in 2012. In total, we had about five images of him throughout the summer and fall.

We have managed the farm over the years to include leaving 37 acres of crop ground standing, adding food plots of clover and other items and adding CRP fields and buffer strips. 2012 passed without a sighting of the buck.

Haley killed her first deer that year at age seven. It was a three point buck and she also killed a doe.

The summer of 2013 brought more trail cam pictures of the deer. Youth season arrived again in September, but the buck was not sighted by anyone. Haley killed a heavy 7 point that year and again a doe. The buck remained a ghost all season and was never spotted. We were beginning to realize this was a special buck, and one that was going to be extremely challenging to harvest.

In 2014, the buck showed up on camera. It was definitely him; his racked changed a bit every year, but held the same basic shape. In 2014, he carried a few new kickers and was a great buck! Christopher Schroeder and I went to the farm in August 2014 to get the farm ready for the upcoming youth hunt. We replenished the Trophy Rocks, re-filled feeders, put up the new Redneck Hale Bale blind and checked the trail cameras. He was on camera again, but strictly at night. Youth season was only two weeks away and we did not think the buck would show. We had not seen him once in the last two years and all trail cam pictures were well after dark. Despite that, he remained in the back of my mind, and Haley was always excited to see him on the trail camera.

We arrived at camp on the evening of Sept 11th, 2014. Haley was hunting the north alfalfa field which was 15 acres, situated on the west side of the tree lined creek. Me and her younger sister, Abby, were along for the hunt. The morning hunts are generally slow that time of year and no deer were spotted.

That evening, we were back in the same location. We saw a lot of deer and about 20 minutes before dark, two 8 pointers came out to our northeast. The deer moved away from us and I slowly got Haley set up to take a shot. Haley was only 9 at the time, but she was quite the marksman for her age. The 8 pointers were about 180 yards away. When they separated, Haley settled in on the buck in the rear and squeezed the trigger. I could not tell if she had hit the buck for sure, but his reaction lead me to believe she had hit him. We looked for blood with our flashlights, but found none. We weren’t sure whether or not she had hit the deer, so Haley did not hunt the next morning. It was exceptionally foggy and visibility was only about 30-40 yards. Haley and Abby slept in at the camper and I went out to look to see if Haley had hit or missed the buck from the night before. I looked for about two hours and found no evidence that she had hit the deer. About 9:00 am the fog had lifted quite a bit and deer really started moving. I spotted a large, very wide 8 pointer exiting the alfalfa field in the southeast corner and cross the road to the neighbor’s cedar thicket. I was hopeful that buck would make his way back to the alfalfa that coming evening for Haley to get a chance at it.

The buck would be Haley's largest for sure and probably scored 140-145 inches as a big 8!

We were back in our blind by 5 PM. Early in the evening, a doe and a fawn came into the field. They came within 50 yards of the blind, but Haley wanted to shoot a buck before filling her doe tag. Four more does came into the field to our north, within range, but again Haley elected to pass.

About an hour and a half before dark, a 3 point buck came out of the southeast corner and came within 5 yards of the blind. Haley stated she wanted to shoot something bigger than that and let it walk as well. About 20 minutes later a forkhorn buck came out to our north and was feeding about 65 yards away. I asked Haley if she wanted to shoot it and after thinking about it, she said, “No”. Now it was getting down to crunch time as light was starting to fade.

Haley was beginning to regret her decision to not shoot the forkhorn, but I explained to her that it was OK and that if you don't kill a buck, it is not a big deal and she did the right thing in allowing the young deer to have a chance to

get older.

Finally, with about 5 minutes of shooting light left, the girls began to pack up their backpacks to prepare to leave. I picked up my binoculars to scan the field edge one last time and in the southeast corner, I saw long, white tines sticking up. I thought it was the big 8 pointer I had seen that morning. I told Haley there was a big shooter buck in the field and we immediately began getting her Primos tripod trigger stick into position to take a shot. While getting set up, I glanced back to see where the deer was and saw he was quickly cutting through the field and would be directly in front of us in just a few short seconds!

Haley was shooting her mom's Winchester 243 Lightweight rifle. When I looked back at Haley, she already had the rifle shoulder and was looking through the scope. She was ready, so I took the gun off of safety for her and asked her if she could see the buck in her scope. She replied, “Yes”. I turned back to look at the buck and as I did, I began to tell her that she could shoot as soon as the buck stopped. However, before I even finished my sentence, the buck had stopped and Haley had fired! As I heard the report, I turned to see the buck drop in its tracks about 65 yards away. We still believed she had shot the big 8 pointer, as we were not paying a lot of attention to the deer since we were fighting their clock and getting in position for the shot. By the time we secured the gun, got up and out of the blind, it was fairly dark and hazy. The alfalfa was about 18 inches tall at the time and we could not see the buck walking towards it.

We walked up to the buck and when I shined my flashlight onto the bucks head, I realized it was the giant from the trail cam pics! I was speechless. I told Haley it was the big one I showed her in the pictures and then she became even more

excited! At nine years old, I don't think Haley realized what a trophy she had just taken. I quickly gave Haley a big hug and a kiss and then grabbed my cell phone to call Chris who was hunting about 1/2 mile south of us on the farm. They were busy in their own right as his older son had just killed a nice 8 point buck himself. When Chris answered the phone I said, "You’re not going to believe this, but Haley just killed the monster!" He couldn't believe it and said they were heading back to the camp and would be up in a minute with the truck.

While waiting, Haley, Abby and I sat around admiring the buck and took several cell phone pics of it but the haziness kept us from getting good pics. When Chris and his two boys, Ridge and Ryder arrived, they were amazed at the size of the buck! Not only did the buck sport giant antlers, his body was enormous, especially for early September. We finally got the buck loaded and headed back to camp to pick up Ridge's 9 point. We spent the next couple hours photographing and admiring the two bucks harvested that night. Haley's deer has 21 scorable points and green grossed 185 0/8". The next morning, Chris's other son Ryder killed his first ever deer, a nice 8 pointer. It was a great weekend, made possible by great friends and three youth hunters who all filled their tags on good bucks.

The buck that Haley killed was at least six years old as the first trail pics we had was two years earlier and the deer was at least 4.5 years old then. The neighbor had trail cam pics of the deer as well, but the night Haley killed him was the first known sighting that we knew of. In the spring of 2015, while at the farm to turkey hunt, Christopher found a shed from Haley's buck from its 2013 rack 1.5 miles east of the farm. He truly was a ghost of a buck, and Haley’s patience in passing the younger deer paid off with the buck of a lifetime!

The story of a giant southern Alberta mule deer came to a close when Grant Farmer tagged the brute in early fall of 2014. Grant picked up his sheds the previous year and they are staggering. Based on photos Grant took in 2013, the estimated score of the 2013 rack was 235 2/8”, including a 40 2/8” greatest spread. The 2014 version of Hero lost some width and gained some height resulting in a non-typical score of 216 1/8”. The longest main beam is 24 4/8”, longest G-2 is 24 4/8” and the inside spread is 25 2/8”.

BY: GRANT FARMER

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hy do we do it? What is it that causes thousands upon thousands of hunters each and every year to wake up at crazy hours, put on some hunting clothes, grab a weapon and head out to our special chunk of terra firma, better known as earth? Why do we spend countless hours, days, and even weeks in search of our prey?

I think the only simple answer and explanation is, “It gets in our blood, we just plain get hooked on it!” It’s the sunrises, the sunsets, the sounds, and all the mysteries of what nature’s world will reveal, that causes us hunters to so eagerly head out the door at each and every opportunity.

It was a nice summer day in 2013 when my good friend, Dominic Leupold, and I headed north down a short obscure road allowance when the magical moment happened. We actually had already spent countless hours that summer on many trips in search of a very large non-typical mule deer we had stumbled into the previous year. We only saw him once, but his huge multi-pointed rack with down turned main beams was locked in our minds from that moment onward. Little did we know the journey this magnificent deer would take us on, for this deer would give us the greatest outdoor hunting adventure we have ever experienced and I will do my best to briefly pen it in words so as to give the proper honor and respect due to this rare animal we called, “Hero”.

As Dominic and I drove down that obscure road allowance we were honestly somewhat dejected and not really expecting much different when, “IT” happened. We stopped the truck at the end of the road allowance and as if on cue and seemingly by script, a buck mule deer crested the top of a bare prairie hill no more than 300 yards from us, feeding towards us. By no means a giant buck, but a buck just the same and in short order more deer followed. Magically, like a magician performing tricks in front of a captive audience, there he was. He was extra wide, heavy, tall and lots of points, a true giant of a deer. Yes! Total elation was the only way to describe our feelings!

In short order, I whipped my camera out and with shaking hands and adrenalin at maximum rpm, the Canon camera shutter was working overtime and what soon followed was something I had never seen in the deer world before. This gi-

ant of a deer, which we had not yet named, was being worshipped by the other deer as if he were notorious. He was obviously revered and highly respected by his peers so much so that they would rub their heads up against his neck and even lay their heads on his back. They would nuzzle up to him and were seemingly mesmerized by him. He, undoubtedly, was their “Hero” and so it was obvious that “Hero” was a name totally befitting of him.

From that point onward until opening bow season we followed Hero, taking many pictures while observing his routines and gaining a general understanding of the area he called home. We had him pegged at close to 40” wide and when Hero would look towards us or walk away from us, it was truly mind boggling! What a sight to behold! Like a sponge we absorbed any interaction with him knowing we were indeed in a highly unique situation which so many of us dream about but so few of us are afforded. We would not and could not take any en2012 counters with Hero for granted.

Though many pages could be written about the 2013 bow season of dismal attempts, failures and observations, I will only touch briefly on them. Opening day had us within 16 yards of a sleeping, velvet covered Hero but all we could see of him was from his nose up. He was facing us head on with his eyes totally closed and I will never forget his huge velvet rack, glistening in the sun, rocking back and forth from left to right as he chewed his cud with no cares to the world. To sum it up we both missed him at 16 yards as he jumped out of his bed as quick as a cat and bounded out of there unharmed while two very disappointed bow hunters were left in bewilderment and two arrows lay harmlessly where he had just stood. On another occasion we were within 25 yards of a freshly velvet shedded Hero only to have an untimely cough from one of us spook the old warrior once again.

We were unsure if anyone else really knew about Hero so when the 2013 rifle season had ended we did not know his fate, but felt a guarded optimism that he may have survived, thinking the news would have leaked quickly had someone shot such an amazingly large wide racked deer.

That being said, we started looking for him in December and

it was early January 2014 when Dominic and I were elated to find our “Hero” feeding with some other bucks on a high wind swept snow free bench. “WOW! HE SURVIVED, outsmarted all hunters and HE MADE IT!”, we thought. Call it luck or call it fate but the old boy was able to spread his genes one more season. Life is filled with irony as we were now cheering for him when only three months prior we were intensely pursuing him. I must admit to forming an attachment and developing a bond with this great animal called Hero for no longer was he only in my mind and brain but he was also getting into my heart. Yes, after all the days and hours of pursuing and observing him I now struggled with hunting him and secretly hoped he would outsmart us all. Like in Africa, where I was born, I felt that perhaps Hero deserved to be guarded and protected much like the big old tusker bull elephants in Africa’s most famous National Game Parks.

So when Hero dropped his sheds in the last week of February 2014 the hunt was on. After 16 hours of hard searching it was on March 9th that I found his left shed by accidently stepping on it. It was kind of funny how it happened. I had just stopped on a side hill littered with taller grass and in frustration I yelled across the coulee to Dominic that surely the sheds had to be in the viscinity. I then literally took one step and sensed something hard under my boot and there it was. Blind luck I guess.

After an additional 28 hours of looking, on March 16th I struck pay dirt again and found his right shed approximately a full mile away from the first. BINGO! WE HAD THEM! And the

replica project by Top Notch Taxidermy in Coaldale, Alberta, was under way. To say we were elated would be a huge understatement.

It was on July 10th, 2014, that my daughter and I got our first glimpse of the 2014 version of Hero. I’ll give her credit for being the good luck charm because prior to that Dominic and I had zero luck finding him. Hero showed the classic characteristic signs of aging with split ears, a swayed back, and a more weathered looking face. He was on the downside, but was still a mega buck and a real sight to behold far surpassing any bucks we had seen to that point. As luck would have it, in the next 4 weeks I managed to secure 4 beautiful shots of him all one week apart which so nicely shows the growth of his antlers.

He had lost his double brows and actually, to my surprise, only possessed 1 brow tine. His one main beam tip once again pointed downwards like both of them did two years prior in 2012 when we saw him for the very first time. His spread had lessened by about 8” however all in all he was still a hog of a mule deer. One puzzling feature was that his height had actually increased in 2014. Ear cuts and markings 100% positively identified him as HERO! Once again, like the previous year we patterned him and occasionally snuck in on him in an attempt to secure some beautiful photos of this spectacular animal, which only continued to develop a further heart bond by such close interaction. He was predictably in one main draw which had a couple of finger like draws shooting off of the primary one. This was his

home, his base, his safe haven if you will, far from any roads and he had picked out a well hidden secure little honey hole with plenty of food and water.

With guarded optimism, on opening day of the 2014 bow season, we cautiously worked the wind to our favor and entered his domain with bows in hand. To our shock and disbelief Hero was gone and as magically as he first appeared when we first saw him the previous year, so too had he magically disappeared on this day. We widened our search of him, but it was puzzling to us when at days end we had not found him.

We even became suspicious that perhaps someone may have caused him harm.

After days of searching there was no trace of him and this was very troubling being Hero’s pattern was so predictable the many weeks prior to opening day. Our efforts to find him in the next many days proved futile and we honestly were dejected, feeling he had met his end knowing full well that such a trophy would be the sole pursuit of any hunter fortunate enough to discover him.

Then it happened! It was September 29th and it was as if a mysterious invisible magician waved his magical wand towards two very weary and dejected bow hunters. With tired legs and near the end of the day we were back at our truck when we decided to drive down to the end of a short trail only a few hundred yards away. Our eyes readily saw a large white horned buck feeding by itself just beyond a small screen of brush at the bottom upper end of an off chute draw approximately 400 yards from us. One look with our binoculars was all it took! IT WAS HERO! TALK ABOUT ELATION AND REJUVINATION! With only about 40 minutes of legal shooting time, we quickly grabbed our bows, scampered down the main draw and to the base of the off finger he was in. Thankfully, the wind was cutting 50 km per hour plus and it was blowing perfectly straight towards us with the screen of brush between us and him. The very strong winds acted as a noise break, the brush between us acted as a screen and the fading sun’s strength pro-

vided the perfect variables to put us within 16 yards of him with 10 minutes left of shooting time.

THIS WAS IT! That one moment in time was upon us. Leading up to this was more than 350 hours of hard work and effort dedicated strictly to HERO. The spotting, the hunting, the miles and miles of hiking, the many photographs, the intense heat, the rain, the snow, the falls on slippery icy slopes, meant that THIS WAS THE MOMENT! Beyond the thin screen of leafless brush, just in front of us lay a bedded and unsuspecting HERO! His bleached white antlers seemingly appeared to be lit up in the day’s last fading light. YES, THIS WAS THE MOMENT. I whispered to Dominic that time demanded attention so the plan was to pull our bows to full draw, stand up slowly…… step to the left of the most left part of the brush while maintaining a lock on our proper pin and then releasing the arrows.

It all happened so quickly and yet it deceptively felt as if it were in slow motion. In an instant hero was up and on his way as I released my arrow and heard the unmistakable “THWACK” of a solid hit. It was then that Dominic’s arrow was on its way but his arrow struck the deep matted grass. I instantly shouted, “WE GOT HIM”! Hero was running for all his worth as he sky-lined and then disappeared over the hill about 60 yards away, but I could readily see that he was in serious trouble and it was then that I knew this was indeed the final chapter. At that moment Dominic gave me the biggest bear hug these old bones of mine could have handled, all the while shouting….”WE DID IT…..

WE DID IT…..WE DID IT!” Quickly we composed ourselves while still in disbelief. As we sat there it soon became dark and like lights with sensors the stars above started to show more and more with each passing minute. I was happy and yet deeply saddened knowing this adventure was to be no more. Choking back the

tears, I knew the hills we were on would no longer see Hero on them and no more would we be blessed to see his massive head gear silhouetted on the horizon. DEATH IS A CRUEL THING, regardless if by predator, hunter or natural causes. We only looked for him briefly in the dark with flashlights where we last saw him before deciding to abandon the search until the morning light. When we got back to the truck in the black darkness of the night, I had just pointed to the silhouetted horizon saying, “That’s where hero should be and at that exact moment a falling star streaked from the sky above to that very spot.” Perhaps coincidence and perhaps not! But to us it meant something and to this day it grabs me when I think about it.

The next morning was pretty much anti-climactic as it only took us a few minutes to find Hero! He hadn’t gone too far and I believe death was relatively quick although I am confident the decision to wait until the morning was the correct one.

Upon examination of his teeth, we determined Hero was indeed a wise old soldier who undoubtedly had eluded many a hunter and thankfully was able to produce many offspring to pass on the impressive genetics to other future little Heroes.

We had brought along his sheds from the previous year and took some field photos as best we could, although the coyotes did significant damage through the night. It was now officially over!

I want to express my deepest thanks to the landowners who gave us access and enabled us to experience such a great adventure. Also a special thanks to Kevin and Levi Wiebe of Top Notch Taxidermy for doing an absolutely superb job in making each year’s replica of HERO and the work done to perfection on the mounts. I communicated with them on a regular basis sharing with them all the pics and events as they occurred and I therefore consider them to be an important part of the whole story. Their whole family is at the top of the people chain in my

books. And Dominic, what can I say. We did it, and I know no other hunter who is as passionate about deer as you so it was an honor to share this great adventure during this incredible journey. He definitely is equally your deer! Thanks bud for the memories!

HERO, GOODBYE MY FRIEND! YOUR MEMORIES ARE ETCHED IN MY MIND FOREVER AND THE ADVENTURES YOU GAVE US WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN AS LONG AS THE GOOD LORD GIVES US BREATH. I TIP MY HAT TO YOU IN RESPECT AND HONOR, FOR YOU TOO IN THE END BECAME MY HERO!

Kevin and Levi Wiebe (left and far right) of Top Notch Taxidermy Studio in Coaldale, Alberta, did a superb job making the moulds and replicas for each year’s antlers. Dominic Leupold(second from left) and Grant Farmer (second from right) were elated with the outstanding workmanship performed by Kevin and Levi in preserving the legacy of Hero.

SWEET BY: JASON LANE

The Lane family had an absolutely amazing 2014 hunting season. Brylen Lane anchored a 170” mule deer with a 23” inside spread and followed that up with a 160 2/8” whitetail later in the season. The whitetail had long brows of 7 2/8, and long G’2s and 3’s, all of which were over 11” and 9”, respectively. Traydon Lane (next page) also harvested a big mule deer that scored 183 6/8! Needless to say, the family from Neilburg, Saskatchewan, will have to work very hard to have another season like 2014!

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he 2014 season started early for the family. Bear season kicked off and we all had a lot of fun running baits, cameras and sitting watching the bears. In the end, my Dad and stepmom Tina each shot very nice bears.

After bears were done we started setting mineral sites around our area to try and find some animals to get us excited for the upcoming season. It wasn't long before we started getting pictures of many different deer and moose. We monitored the cameras for the rest of the summer and narrowed it down to a couple whitetail bucks we thought we should go after.

After a few good shoots hunting waterfowl with my Dad and his friends and their kids from the US, we were ready to get down to business and start deer hunting. We found out my brother Traydon and I were drawn for mule deer, and

Tina and Traydon were also both drawn for moose. So the search was on to find both moose and mule deer. After a lot of hard work and countless miles scouting, Traydon tagged out on moose the first day of the season and Tina shot hers in the late season.

Although deer numbers were down and we hadn’t seen much while we were out scouting, we were ready to hunt hard for mule deer. Although we knew it was going to be tough to fill the mule deer tag, we were still going to give it a shot. Dad didn't have any pictures of shooter mule deer bucks on his cameras. The season started out really slow without seeing hardly anything. As the season wore on, we finally were starting to see more deer, but the majority of them were whitetails.

It was the second last day of mule deer season, my Dad and I decided to try something new rather than just sitting in the blind. We decided to walk along the river and try calling. Our game plan was in place and when Dad came and picked me up at school, we headed to the river.

When we arrived at the river we suited up and started our one kilometer walk down the river to get to where we wanted to call. Dad and I sat for a while calling and waiting for a deer to show up but we were having no luck and darkness was sneaking up on us, so we started on our way back to the truck. As we walked around a curve in the river, I looked up and there stood a 170" mule deer! I immediately crouched and grunted a couple times to see if the deer would come any closer. The grunting didn't work at all, so I quickly loaded my gun, put my cross arrows on the top of his back and pulled the trigger! I shot with the savage .243 and dropped him in his tracks at 186 yards!

The last day of mule deer season was cold and crisp, and we were glassing a coulee hoping Traydon could cut his tag at the last minute. We had been sitting for about 45 minutes when a buck walked out about 200 yards down the bank of the coulee. He walked through the brush for another 100 yards before he finally presented Traydon with a shot. One bullet from the Remington pump action 30-06 put the 183" buck down! We had to work hard to retrieve the huge bodied deer out of the coulee but it was worth it!

During mule deer season, Dad had cameras out looking for whitetail and he was getting pictures of some good looking

Jason Lane (center) has done a great job getting both his boys out hunting, and they had some incredible success in 2014.

deer that we wanted to target. Dad had a camera and a blind set up. Prior to whitetail season, we weren’t getting many pictures of big deer, but a few days after the season opened, some better bucks started showing up, including one big, heavy 5x5 that we knew was definitely a shooter. One evening, we were on our way back home and a couple big deer ran in front of us close to the area where the blind was. That was all we needed, and we had plan in place and would be in the blind the next day.

As soon as I got home from school, Dad and I headed to the blind. We were encouraged by some nice deer who made an appearance in front of us on the way to the blind, but they weren't quite big enough for me to shoot so I thought I'd let them go so they could grow and maybe we could have a chance of them in the future. Finally, we arrived, suited up so we could fight off the cold, and headed in to go sit for a few hours. The walk to the blind was going to be a long one, so I decided not to put on my winter jacket until we were in the blind. Dad and I were steadily walking through the trees when we heard a big CRACK in the bush up ahead; there was a hill in the way of our vision so we slowed down and very slowly snuck up the hill. As we came over the hill, I kept visualizing one the big deer we had on the trail camera. Then we saw the culprit, a

big whitetail doe. We slowly snuck along trying to get to the blind without spooking her too badly, when out of nowhere a buck came barreling out of the trees at full speed, chasing the doe and paying no attention to us! There was no stopping him, so I knew I'd have to make the shot and would only get one chance. I quickly found a tree to use for a rest and lined up on the big deer, trying not to look at his big rack! By the time I was ready to shoot he had made it about 100 yards. I focused, got steady and pulled the trigger. As I watched through my scope he stumbled and then fell! Instantly, the excitement overwhelmed me. I started to shake as I looked at the big deer and saw the antlers sticking up out of the snow. I knew this was the biggest deer I had ever shot, and could not believe it was all over and happened so fast.

Mario Vani fell in love with elk hunting early in life and hasn’t looked back. He has taken a number of respectable bulls in his home province of Alberta, but decided to do something out of the ordinary and in 2014 travelled to Gardiner, Montana, to try his hand at a late season elk hunt. Needless to say, the hunt was a complete success as Mario took an incredible character bull. The big bull may not have had a huge score, but he carried a very unique rack, including a split droptine on the left side!

ROPTINE D DREAM

BULL BY: MARIO VANI

W

hen I started working in construction full time, my mom suggested I start a separate bank account specifically for hunting. She noticed how fast an 18 year could burn through a pay cheque buying hunting gear so I learned to budget and started saving for a few particular trips that I wanted to get in on. A very long five years later, I had saved up enough to start planning a trip. During those years, I was lucky enough to kill three bull elk along the way. I was quickly becoming consumed by these majestic animals. So when the time came, my decision was a no brainer and I had decided on elk. Growing up watching the incredible hunts on TV, I had decided on Montana, Wyoming or Colorado. After talking with an outfitter from Montana a year later my truck was pointed south and I was headed to Gardiner. My cousin, who I easily convinced to come with, and I arrived the night prior, but poor road conditions made the travel tough and we arrived rather late. After we pulled in, we quickly unpacked, swapped a few stories and headed to a very sleepless night.

The next morning we were greeted by the other hunters in camp, including one repeat customer who had shot a 370" bull his opening morning! His story was getting everyone super pumped to start the week off.

Day 1 and 2 were pretty similar. We observed hundreds and hundreds of cows and spikes, but no good bulls. The snow was old and hard which made tracking tough, but the forecast showed fresh snow for day three which brought our spirits up.

The morning was a bust as we were dealing with hurricane winds and nothing moving, but we had a plan to try a new spot in the afternoon which was exciting. We parked the truck and started to hike up in hopes of catching a bedded bull or cutting a fresh track. After about an hour of climbing, we came across three sets of tracks and they were big tracks! We knew with the fresh snow these prints couldn't have been older than a couple hours, so we chased after them. Slowly creeping through the dark timber we investigated every sign the potential bulls had

left, eventually coming across their beds. Our guide Ron started chipping away at the beds and looked up with excitement.

"These are fresh"! He explained and went on to say, “When the elk bed down they melt the snow and when they get up the snow quickly freezes”. These had not yet frozen and so had to be very fresh! We continued on, following the tracks. As we slowly tracked the bulls, we paid attention to every detail, and were getting more and more excited with the signs left behind getting fresher and fresher. As we crested a big hill after hiking up the steep slope in the deep snow, Ron and I followed one set to the left and my cousin followed one set to the right. We were still within 50 yards of each other, but had split up and had different views of the valley. When we crested the hill, we spotted the two bulls 300 yards below us! They were unaware of us and continued feeding. A quick plan was put together and I started slowly sliding down the hill to where I could rest on a berm. Once I got to my location I lie down and immediately found the bull in my sights. However, the smaller one was too close and blocking my view so I couldn't get a shot. As they walked away, I looked back at my guide and I could see the urgency in his eyes, telling me to shoot. I checked back at the grazing bulls and luckily for me, one went right one went left. My target bull was now grazing broadside to the right. He had only his vitals and head showing as he was eating behind a small knoll. I rested my sights on his front shoulder and squeezed the trigger. After the bark of the rifle, I scanned the area and the bull was long gone! My heart sank, I thought I had missed and let everyone down.

We headed down to look for any signs of a hit.

When I turned back around I found Ron and my cousin hugging and fist pumping! I knew it must be because they knew something I didn’t and started to think that after five years of waiting, saving and dreaming with the anticipation,

a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.

As we walked up to the bull I remember telling them, “I think he had a drop tine?”

They looked at me, smiled and said, "Oh he's got a drop tine alright!" I remember saying, “What have I just done, what have I just killed!” There is no feeling like walking up to an animal you've been working so hard for and pulling those dark beams out of the snow. To say I was pleasantly surprised is an understatement. Not in a million years did I think I would lay my hands on a bull like this, and the way it all came together was perfect.

The hunt was full of memories that will last a life time. I thank God for these beautiful creatures, my ever loving and supporting family and my very understanding girlfriend for helping make my dream come true.

Hamilton Greenwood Photo

Everything Outdoors

...with Kevin Wilson

Strategize Your Season It’s go time, are you ready? Not sure why, but the older I get, the less organized my hunting becomes. For some reason I thought it would be the other way around. As life becomes more complicated, discretionary time in the woods seems less and less accessible.

If you’re in the same boat … and I’m betting you just might be, then take heed. If you like hunting every species and season you can, there are ways to maximize your time afield. Based on the fall and spring calendar, here is how to do it.

Hunt Licks Early On For a lot of us, the earliest of fall hunting seasons begin with the archery opener. Dates vary, but unless you live in Alaska, the Yukon, or Northwest Territories and have access to July sheep seasons, then chances are the late August or early September openers present your first chance of the year to fill a tag. Whether you’re hunting sheep, elk, moose, or deer, mineral licks are a natural draw for big game animals. As long as the weather is hot and dry, licks are frequented by lots of animals including bears, wolves, and cougars. Do a little homework by placing trail cameras on these licks over the summer and you’ll get a good feel for what animals are visiting the lick. Those first few days, and sometimes weeks, of the season can produce shot opportunities. As soon as the first frost sets in, licks tend to be visited less consistently.

Mineral licks like this one host a variety of big game animals in the early season, especially when the weather is warm.

Sitting on these licks in a stand or ground blind can create shot opportunities.

Start with Early Mule Deer Where seasons allow, one of the best chances to fill a tag involves archery hunting mule deer while the bucks are still in velvet. From the last week in August through to early, and sometimes even mid-September, big mule deer are still in their lackadaisi-

cal feeding, meandering, and bedding patterns. Agricultural areas with canola, barley, wheat, alfalfa, and oat fields, where mule deer habitat is abundant, often hold good numbers near protective cover. For the spot and stalk hunter, standing crops can be great places to glass especially the morning and evening. Bucks often bed in the standing grain and feel comfortable moving freely through that cover. But as soon as those crops are harvested, mule deer become much more aware. So, if you only had four days to hunt archery mule deer, my money would be on the first four days of the earliest opener. In Alberta where I do much of my hunting, that would traditionally be August 25-29.

Slide into Elk Elk have the longest pronounced breeding season. Lasting well over a month, elk can be effectively brought to a bugle or a cow call as early as late August. To be more concise, a lot of elk hunters eagerly start calling the last week in August. Ask any elk hunter in the know though, and things really heat up by mid-September. Even still, like any other rut cycle, there is a peak period; the majority of cows go into estrus between the 15th and 23rd of September. If I had only four days to hunt elk, they would be September 16-19. This is the time when bulls are most responsive to calling and, in turn most vulnerable.

Jump to Antelope If you are lucky enough to live in a province or state with an antelope season, then there may be an early archery season. In some jurisdictions hunters must draw a tag. In my home province, for instance, the archery season coincides with the pronghorn rut.

For approximately three weeks in September, calling and decoying is a great strategy for bringing bucks in close. For safety reasons, decoying is not recommended during rifle seasons, but it is a dynamite way to bring bucks running as they defend their harem.

With satellite bucks roaming all day, herd bucks work overtime to keep their does close by during the breeding season. By using a buck decoy, carefully sneaking in as close as possible, then exposing the decoy, bowhunters can effectively establish a direct challenge. Add an antelope call to the mix and the response is often explosive. I’ve had bucks come running from hundreds of yards away, right up to as close as five yards. In my experience, the rut action tends to align somewhat with that of elk. If I had only four days to hunt antelope, it would definitely be September 18-21. Unfortunately many rifle seasons only open after the rut has come and gone.

This fine pronghorn raced in to 15 yards as the author challenged him with a decoy and call.

Shift to Moose As the third week in September arrives, so does the moose rut. A good friend of mine says as soon as he sees dead porcupines on the road it’s time to go after the moose. Apparently the porcupine breeding season coincides with the start of the moose rut. So too does it coincide with the changing of the color of the leaves. As the leaves of deciduous trees turn yellow, young bulls especially begin to respond to cow calls. This is usually right around September 20. As those leaves transition over the next 10 to 14 days from yellow to orange, the rut is fast approaching its peak. In turn, the first estrus is commonly understood to take place between September 30 and October 6. If I had to pick just four days to be in the woods to hunt moose, if seasons allowed, they would be October 1-4.

Hunting with good friend Craig Temple, Heather put an arrow into this bull as it came eagerly to the call during the early stages of the 2014

Hit the Whitetail Rut Running September and October are busy months for big game hunters. I’m always thankful when the moose rut subsides and we get a couple weeks to rest up for the whitetail rut. As a bowhunter, I look forward to hunting not only the peak of the rut, but the pre-rut as well. If you study whitetails, then you know that starting around October 24th, primary scrapes begin to

show up. Bucks that have been scraping and rubbing since early September now begin to narrow down their rutting territory by communicating with resident does through those focal scrapes. Locate a primary scrape, set up a stand or ground blind nearby and you’re sure to see some action.

From late October on, the action heats up with the 48-to-72 hour first estrus generally occurring between November 9 and 16. No, the rut does not happen early or late. It is a biological process that is prompted by photophase. Factors like weather and hunting pressure can make it appear as though the rut is suppressed or delayed, but that’s not really happening. To confirm this, simply run trail cameras and check out the nighttime rut activity.

As long as hunting seasons allowed, if I had only four days to be in the field, I would not miss November 11-14. While rattling and calling can be effective from mid-October straight through to the end of the rut, it is deadly just prior to and during the peak estrus period. As soon as that first round subsides, rattling becomes less effective. That is, until the second estrus that commonly occurs between November 23 and 30. If I could only hunt four days of the second estrus, they would definitely be November 24-27.

Capitalize on the Late Spring Bear Rut With the majority of spring bear hunters focusing on bait, the action can be great from early May through to the latest of seasons in mid-June. Baits tend to cycle. The action can be really good early on. Then as the dandelions come out, there tends to be a lull. In some instances, baits become inactive. But when it comes right down to it, as most of us are looking for that special bear, something over seven feet in length with a record book skull, the black bear rut is likewise the best time to hunt them, both over bait and spot and stalk. As the rut peaks the end of May and first week of June, the odds of seeing a bigger boar on bait or feeding in open areas increases. So again, if I had just four days to dedicate to bear hunting, what would they be? If seasons allowed, I would be in the field between May 29 and June 2.

Max Berger poses with a big Alberta whitetail taken during the peak of the rut along a known scrape line in November of 2014.

The

Future of

Hunting

Ethan Weste

Ryker Kelly

Taylor Leidl

Oaklin Williams

Keith Stevor

Garrett Gorder

Jordan Parker

Morgan Lange

Landon & Miranda Farell

Kamden Turners

Lane Pulak

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