Alberta Cast & Blast

[Whitworth375]

Hey everyone,
This adventure finds me in Alberta again. Made the flight from Waterloo ON to Calgary yesterday afternoon with no problems. Had a day of fishing the Bow River with Mike Robertson of www.bowriverblog.com
Mike picked me up at my hotel at 7am, stopped to grab the boat and headed to the launch. Fished from about 8:45 til 4pm. Had absolutely great weather and a great time. Was a quality over quantity day but we still landed 20+ fish. I managed to lose a 10lb+ pike at the boat. Saw a handful of mule deer and more eagles than you could shake a stick at. Cant recommend Mike enough, great communication the whole way along and a very knowledgeable guide. The plan is to head to Brooks area tommorow in preperation for antelope season to open on Monday, im hunting with Double Diamond Outfitters and cant wait to get there. Will post more tommorow.

 

[Cam Moon]

Best of luck on your Pronghorn hunt! Have you hunted them before?

 

[Whitworth375]

Best of luck on your Pronghorn hunt! Have you hunted them before?

Nope, first time

 

[Cam Moon]

They can be a lot of fun to hunt. I hope you have a fantastic time, and I look forward to hearing all about it.

 

[Whitworth375]

So today is opening day but ill give a recap of yesterdays events.
Gordon Burton the owner of Double Diamond Outfitters picked me up at my hotel in Calgary around 11am and we made the roughly 2hr trip to Brooks. Met up with his wife Tracy, 2 other hunters from BC who have hunted with Gordon in the past and my guide Eric who is the same age as myself. This is Erics first year guiding but hes hunted all his life and seems to know what hes talking about, great guy no complaints. After a quick lunch we split up to do some scouting. We end up seeing 1 fox, 3 coyotes, 9 mule deer and about 50 pronghorn. We see one shooter buck on private land, contact the landowner and are told that his son has a tag this year so we wouldnt be allowed on the land as of now. Drive a while later and pick out another herd with a decent buck, in the distance we see another buck in the background and hes also big. We take a look with the spotting scope and determine he has tall and heavy horns but his prongs are a little on the short side but he will make a good back up plan. We meet up with Gordon a while later and compare notes for what we all saw. We then head to camp and see 3 moose along the river right behind camp, 1 small bull chasing a cow with a calf. Camp is a 2 storey ranch house, very nice. On the menu is roast beef, mashed potatos, corn, gravy, coleslaw and cherry cheesecake. So far everything is going great. Our plan for this morning is a quick breakfast, fuel the truck and go check where we saw the 1st big buck and hope he crossed the road onto the side we have permission to hunt.
Will update later!
For anyone wondering im shooting an older model Remington 700 in 243 with 100gr Winchester soft points, the rifle wears an older model 4-12 Bushnell Banner.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Good luck

 

[thi9elsp]

Looking forward to pics with your hands on him!

 

[Cam Moon]

Can't wait!

 

[Whitworth375]

Today was quite eventful, had a quick breakfast and left camp around 640. Eric wanted to go to an area that he has permission and see whats around. See a handful of pronghorn, whitetails, mule deer and 3 bull elk on the way there. We spot a group of about 6 pronghorn with what looks to be a decent buck so we get out of the truck for a closer look and decide hes a good back up plan but we want to see him from a different angle. We drive around on the lease road to the other side of the herd, by the time we get there another hunter is watching them and they run away from us. We then go drive around in the grasslands without seeing much. We get talking to another hunter and notice 2 bucks off in the distance and decide to walk in to check them out, nothing special and they head off over the hill. Just before lunch we see the first buck and his does bedded out in the open at the bottom of a hill and we decide to crawl up for a look. We loop around them out of sight and crawl up on the hill and see the herd laying about 350yd away...the wind was howling all day and made everything a hassle. A doe spots us and off the herd goes, we continue to play cat and mouse with this herd until 230 or so before we finally lose them. We drive around and eventually end up in the grasslands again and spot 1 good buck and 3 does about 700yd off the road behind a knoll. We creep up to the top of the knoll and guess them to be about 400yd...again in the howling wind. A truck comes down the lease road and sends the pronghorn on their way. We catch sight of them again and stalk in, in the time it took us to walk in only the buck and 1 doe were visible but way to far for a shot. On the way back to the truck Eric picks up a great elk shed. We decide to try and get behind the buck and his doe and come at them from a different way, we get there and they have vanished. We look way far away and theres about 20 pronghorn including a large buck. We decided not to bump them and leave them for the morning and try to be set up at first light so that is our plan. Supper tonight was pork ribs, peas, rice, salad, peach cobbler and lots of laughs!

 

[Cam Moon]

Good luck today. I bet today is the day! Looking forward to some pics.
I'm going out in a week.

 

[cls]

Better luck today, I've taken 2 prong horn in that same area, you'll need to get used to the wind it blows that way all day everyday. Hope you get some lead in the air this morning.

 

[Whitworth375]

Another eventful day today, we get up early and have a quick breakfast and leave camp by 545. Part way there we have a 140" whitetail buck cross the road in front of us and by god we didnt miss him by much! We get to the pasture we had seen the large herd the night before right at first light and spot a buck laying down right away, we get out of the truck and walk over to peek over the hill and see the buck loping away towards a large hill but dont think its the big buck. We decide to drive a couple lease roads to check for the large herd but come up empty. We eventually pick out 4 antelope on another hill but they turn out to be 3 does and a small buck, we also see another small buck chasing a doe. We decide to check the area we stalked the large herd the day before to see if they had moved back into the area. We drive around the base of the hill and spot laying near a pond to the east of us. We roll the truck ahead and spot 2 more standing to the west of us, quickly we back the truck up and decide to walk in for a look. Once we get a look over the top of a small rise we realize the antelope have moved about 80yd back to the south. We scramble up the side of the large hill and see the large buck with 6-8 does. Antelope are curious and if they see movement but arent sure what you are they will walk closer to you and check you out so as were sitting on this side hill 2 does pop over and check us out, Eric pulls his shirt over his head to show the white inside to them to get their attention while i get my bipod set up for a shot. Once i am settled there are 4 does looking at us trying to determine if we are a threat, the buck eventually joins the does to see whats is going on and presents me with a quartering shot at about 150yd. I squeeze the trigger, the buck runs about 15yd and piles up! Once we get a few pictures we meet up with Gordon to process the meat and cape. Monty, the other hunter in camp still has a tag so we are going to drive around with them tommorow and try to find a shooter for him. Supper was left over ribs, lasagna, salad, corn and saskatoon berry pie, very good!

 

[Cam Moon]

I told you today was the day!

 

[cls]

Congratulations on a successful tour of Alberta

 

[Whitworth375]

Today was a little slower pace, Eric and I left camp around 645 to check out some new country and hopefully find a buck for Monty. We find 2 small bucks and a few deer and coyotes fairly quickly. We drop down into a huge valley and as we come out the other side theres a bend in the road with a large hill on the right side, as we get to the bottom of the hill 3 mule deer bucks stand up near the top of the hill and the largest one was probably in the 160s with some kicker points a really nice buck! Later on we spot 2 smaller herds of antelope and there is a decent buck in the one group so we call Gordon and tell him whats up, they were walking in on a buck at the time. We decide to go check out a different area not far away and all we turn up is 5 antelope does and 20~ mule deer. After checking that area we go back to where the 2 small herds were and spot 2 decent bucks and a handful of does out in the same area, we call the landowner and gain permission then call Tracy, Gordons wife to let her know whats going on. She tells us that Monty and Gord were walking in on a different buck and to hang around just incase their plan doesnt work out and they come to check our bucks out. So we hang around for probably 30min or so then decide we might as well look around some more as long as were close by so we start heading down the road and drive down there about 10min or so and we decide its hardly the kind of country you would find antelope in so we turn around and drive by the bucks again, they are bedded down in a great spot for a stalk but we havent heard if Monty had shot one yet or not, so we slowly drive by as not to spook them. We come to the intersection and turn left down the laves road, after a while i point out a herd on the right side way back in a field at the base of a largs hill, with the spotting scope i counted 5 does and 1 large buck that Eric and i both agreed was a shooter for sure. We eventually hear that Monty had shot a buck nearby so we head that way to help out. We swing into the area and meet up with Tracy and Celine who is Montys wife and they give us directions to where the guys are, we find Gords truck and start walking to the north where they are supposed to be. We spot them quickly and head over to them, we skin the buck for a shoulder mount and quarter the meat off him, load up the tobaggan and head back to the trucks. Once at the truck Monty decides to skin out the head so its done while we still have daylight then we head back to camp. We have a great supper of roast chicken, roast beef, mashed potatos and gravy, carrot casserole, ambrosia salad and bread pudding with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Gordon, Eric and myself hung around after supper telling hunting stories until just 20min ago. Eric has to head back to work in the morning but there is talk of hopefully doing some bird hunting tommorow, as far as what the plan is for friday i havent heard yet but im sure we will find something to keep us entertained!

 

[Whitworth375]

This will probably be the last post until i get the mount back from the taxidermist. Yesterday morning everyone gets to sleep in, we have a good breakfast and pack our gear up figuring since we are done early we may as well head out. We get Monty and I's meat and capes out of the freezer and packed into coolers, except with the whole quarters frozen they wouldnt pack nicely into the cooler and there was no room for the horns and cape but it had been kept cold so no worries of hair slippage. Monty and Celine load up their camper and hit the road after we exchange emails to keep in touch with each other. On the way out of camp Tracy spots a pheasant and lets their 6 month old puppy Buddy out to see if he will point it as they are training him to be a hunting dog, not only does he show a quick point but he manages to flush 2 rooster pheasants out. We stopped up top above camp to check out some native sites, medicine wheels along with a handful of teepee rings, cool to see and think about how people lived here so long ago, just like stepping back in time. Tracy drove her truck while Gord and I took his, we see a few antelope on the way back to Brooks including 3 nice bucks. We stop at a local campground and have a quick lunch and also walk Gords pup Buddy along the river. We end up at Canadian Tire in Brooks where i buy a larger cooler on sale for $100, luckily it has wheels and you can never have enough coolers. I tried to get my flight moved to today but they wanted too much so Gordon dropped me off at the same hotel i had stayed at earlier in the week, the cooler is in their walk in freezer and ive been hanging out around here for the day. The weather was great for my trip, food and accomadations were great. I stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport as recommended by Gord, great rooms,food and staff. Mike Robertson was great company to fish with, good equiptment,fishing and entertainment i would suggest anyone looking to spin fish the Bow River to get ahold of Mike. Gordon and Tracy at Double Diamond Outfitters are both great people along with all the other staff around camp. Jo, the cook there sure knows how to cook thats for sure! Anyone looking to book a hunt with DDO should have zero worries about the quality of this outfit. If anyone has any questions about any part of this trip feel free to message me.

 

[Neil Molendyk]

On Sept 31 a good hunting buddy and I went on a day long road trip trying to figure out where to put in for hunting speed goats for next year. 700 km later and many dusty trails all we saw was one doe east of Jenner that damn near ran into the truck and late in the afternoon a decent buck with six does on some regrowth crop south and east of Cereal. It's been incredibly dry every where we went but they must be hanging out further south of Jenner. Man that's big and windy country. Great to hear that you had a good hunt. Congratulations

 

[Whitworth375]

It is big country for sure! The other hunter shot his buck in one of the 2 pastures that everyone hunts near Cavendish and i shot mine further south yet

 

[Cam Moon]

I saw a few nice ones when I was out hunting my non-trophy. They are a fun and interesting hunt. They certainly rely on their eyesight, and their eyesight is exceptional.

 

[Whitworth375]

I picked up my mount this morning from the taxidermist and i think it turned out great!

Work done by:
Matt Schultz - Bluewater Taxidermy - Varna, ON