ALBERTA GIANTS
This story starts after successfully being awarded a limited entry draw for mule deer. There’s a lot of pressure on a draw like this only getting a couple chances in a lifetime with high potential of harvesting a big mature 190 to 200 plus B&C buck. I took the treeline academy e-scouting course and immediately started to make my hunt plans knowing the area well from past years elk hunts. I enrolled into the Eastman’s mule deer course. I started to watch and review all the Eastman’s field judging videos to make sure that I would achieve my goal of a B&C 180-190 class buck. This year was very challenging in archery, the temperatures were very hot, 95 F / 36 C. Because of that most activity of animals was in the early morning all my scouting had to be done in the first few hours in the morning quickly assessing what bucks were in each area. I would switch spots to check for animals in the evening going spot to spot using the afternoon as my travel time. After two days of scouting, I already had several target bucks located all in the 180 – 200+ range and an idea of where target bucks were bedding, watering, and some feeding patterns. With permission locked down and several alternate backup plans the countdown till opening day was on. Opening day, I got up at 4 am barely able to sleep knowing the pressure of a six-year draw and the potential trophy mule deer ahead. After getting all my gear loaded up and getting on the road right on time. By good or bad luck depending on how you see things, I hit a mule deer doe on the highway totally wrecking the front of my truck and instantly shutting down my chances of a opening day hunt that morning. After calling my wife who had to pilot me driving my truck back into town. I immediately started to make calls to my father to get a truck lined up to hunt the evening. Some people would have been shut down and might not have even hunted that day or week, but I’ve learned that sometimes a late start can by chance make you successful. The most important attribute of a successful hunter is persistence and by mid-morning I was loaded up in my father’s dodge diesel heading into my zone ready to begin the start of my hunt. The tag I drew has a season that starts as archery only in September till the end of October where it transitions to a rifle tag ending in late November. I was going to take a different approach to this year’s hunt than I had in the past, this time I would concentrate on three-day stints. Opening day and from then on in the middle of the week, focusing on Tuesday to Thursday to avoid hunting pressure especially in archery where stalks can last hours or all day to even get into position. This would allow me to go as hard as I could and have a few days to recover.
The first day I checked all my areas and was not seeing any of my target bucks, not a good start. The farmers in the areas where harvesting and that activity had shaken up most of the summer buck patterns that I had observed. I knew I only had a week maybe two before their patterns would completely change, I had broken up my hunt strategy into 2-week stages where I would tailor each two weeks to the phase of what the mule deer were doing. I knew that with the heat that If I wasn’t seeing bucks, I wasn’t going to be able to hunt more open terrain like I had planned. So, after not seeing much opening day, I made a new plan for my second day out. I figured that after I drove my main areas early morning that If I wasn’t seeing any bucks in the agriculture areas that my best bet was to head into public and search for bucks in the timber. Being an obsessed Elk hunter at heart I couldn’t help but bring my bugle tube and 2 reeds “just in case”. My thought was I was going to stalking slowly into each area quietly glassing as I make my way through my hunt route. If I didn’t see any deer, I would start an elk cold calling sequence just herd chatter wait a while and then move forward. There wasn’t much animal sign, but I knew that I was far enough into public that the pressure would almost be zero as in my mind all the loud clumsy hunters wouldn’t come in this far and only the “hardcore hunters” would be in here with me. After getting to a high vantage point that I could glass for miles I put two hours behind my glass gridding the terrain features and cold calling elk. After no activity and it now being the afternoon at 95 degrees, I knew that it was time to start covering area. With the wind in my favour, I starting to head into a game trail system on a bench. I seen a lot of bull elk sign. I knew that it being September 2 that if there is a bull in the area that he would be very territorial. I started with a soft cow call, waited a couple minutes moved up the trail a hundred yards and started chuckling racking and location bugling. After no response I looked at a bench choke point and thought there must be a bull in there. Before I made any calls, I moved into a better shooting lane clear of sticks and downwind to the obvious line a bull would have to take to come in. In position I made three or four very Nasally almost annoying cow calls making the calls directionally behind me and in the thick timber I spotted tines moving, a bull elk was headed my way and fast. I had just enough time to range landmarks and nock an arrow. The bull was on top of me in seconds at 15 yards already and facing me there was only one opportunity to draw back and it was one small tree he was about to pass. As his eye passed the tree I in one movement drew back my bow and stood up. The only shot I had was a frontal which wasn’t an option in my mind. If it wasn’t a slam dunk, I wasn’t going to take the risk of losing a bull in 95 F to having to track him. So, I waited. He kept coming in, I held together my nerves and as he walked by at 10 feet! Broadside I Let him completely pass me to expose a slight quartering away shot. I went through my shot process settled in and made a perfect shot in the pocket exactly where I was aiming. I quickly mewed him to stop as I nocked another arrow. He stopped and turned to me broadside again I settled my pin at 20 yards and made another shot into the vitals, a complete pass through. The bull stumbled and bedded down. After waiting 15 minutes I stalked in slow arrow nocked and ready for another shot to anchor him if needed. He was piled up in the shade under a tree and as many elk hunters feel the instant thought of “how far from the truck am I?” came into my head. After taking some quick pictures, taking in the moment of success I immediately got to work. I hung the meat in a tree and made quick time to get my first load out. I ran out of water halfway breaking down the bull and was hurting bad, but I just put one foot in front of the other. I just remember thinking now is not the time for quitting I had to get enough meat out in the first load to make sure a single pack out was possible with help. After making it back to the truck, feeling like I was about to die of dehydration I called every strong friend and family member I could. Luckily my friend Andrew and my cousin JP answered my call and came in at 4 am the next morning to help me pack out. It was a tough pack out, hot, bad terrain and far from the truck. But we got it done in one load, at over a hundred pounds each. I had to recover for a few days before heading back out to continue pursuing mule deer.
It was now the second week of September; the bucks were starting to transition from velvet to hard horn behavior. Everyday bachelor groups of bucks would be on ridgelines in the morning travelling to and from feeding to bedding areas. That’s when I seen him, a huge non typical buck in the 200-inch range along with several 180 and 190 bucks. I backed out got the wind right and stalked in. there wasn’t much wind and at 150 yards from him I felt like every movement was loud and he would spook at any moment. I belly crawled into 107 yards and he stood up. panicked I laid as flat as I could not moving a muscle. Letting him crest the ridge in front of me, I backed out and regathered my pack and kit then made my way out. The next day after not seeing the big non typical buck and fearing that I had driven him out of the area. I had moved areas and found a very nice 170 main frame 6x6 190 class buck but he just wasn’t what I was looking for. He would score well but wasn’t that mature heavy buck I had in mind. As the hunt progressed and having several close calls averaging an astonishing 2-3 stalks a day. I stalked into a 4x4 180 class buck to 40 yards. I waited on him for over an hour to stand. It turns out that he was in a small bowl that you couldn’t see from my prospective. Right away as the wind shifted, I knew that I just didn’t have enough advantages to make the kill. I took a risk I drew back and stood up, the buck exploded out of his bed and took off. After what looked to be a flawless elk kill in September, it was clear to me that I was going to be humbled this year. I had to get into the mule deer mindset, not elk where you can make noise and stealth isn’t as critical when calling. I would have to be patient and persistent taking each stalk serious to the maximum.
Now well into October I was seeing less and less, at this point I had passed up ten or more bucks in the 160-170 range most of which I had stalked into under 40 yards and passed. I started to grid areas of timber and started doing slow stalks creeping through the trees slowly, hoping to turn up any of the target bucks I had seen. I had suspected that the heat had pushed most deer into dark timber.
It was now October 25 opening day for rifle, a severe snowstorm had hit Alberta, and I thought conditions would be ideal for getting animals on their feet as it would force big bucks to come out of the timber into the wide open. I got to my vantage point at first light setup my sig binoculars on a tripod and started to glass. The snow was bad up to my hips at times, I seen 6 bucks only one was even worth looking at, a 170 4x4 that I passed. I knew that I was going to have to wait a couple days for some of the snow to melt down to allow me to cover more distance. I waited till the weekend to go back out, I thought it would be a terrific opportunity to take my two sons hunting. Cohen who had a elk tag (15 years old) and my youngest Mase (12 years old) were excited to get out for some hunting. We were up bright and early 4 am, loaded up and out to my first spot. An open area that has a creek bed and full of buck brush. We made our way around the area, I tried to use it as a teaching opportunity to teach some basic hunting skills like not high marking yourself, using the terrain features to your advantage as well as minding the wind. Didn’t take long till we got into a nice 160 class buck, he spooked and was troughing away slow I looked back at my youngest as he looking at me like I was crazy. “that was a big deer dad….” Mase said to me. I responded “ they always look big running away” I explained to my sons that conservation isn’t just about tags and population it’s also about age class and quality of the hunt. I asked them what is the single most important attribute of someone that harvests big bucks / big bulls? Both said “they work hard” and I agreed but I added “not shooting small deer… you have to pass the 170’s for a chance at the big guys and sometimes you feel like it’s a mistake.” Setting expectations of the hunt and sticking to them is very important to success. That way there is no hesitation when the moment comes, you are already mentally prepared. We hiked out of the spot and started doing some long-range glassing looking for anything out in the open. We decided to move to public only spotting trucks quickly driving by full of weekend warriors. My oldest looked at me and said “Dad I just want to get after it. We have a chance if were in the trees” with an elk tag in his pocket I decided to switch gears and move to an area I’ve heavily hunted elk. In a couple of minutes, we got to our spot spoke with our friend that is the landowner of the property. Got some info on what he had been seeing and headed up a tree covered ridge that would give us the most wind advantage. We moved through the snow-covered trees making little to no noise glassing in the thick timber. There was a lot of elk and deer sign and we quickly spotted a nice 150-160 buck. My youngest again raising his eyebrows looking me. The buck eventually spooked and bolted through the timber looking like a beast of a buck from the back. I told my son to never judge a buck from the back, always look at him from the front and the side. We eventually got into our final glassing position the edge of some trees that looks on to a large 1300 yard opening on the edge of heavy dark timber. We setup our glass on tripods and started picking apart the area. Each of us had areas we were to watch, hoping to glass up Cohen a nice Bull elk. I spotted what looked like a deer in the far trees, I moved over to change my perspective to have a better look. That is something that is critical when glassing, to stand then sit or maybe move over five feet. That movement can completely change your perspective of the area you are glassing. It was getting into prime time, an hour before dark. All three of us put eyes behind our glass. I seen what looked like a cow elk. I quickly made an approach plan to get a closer look, it was tricky we had to cross an open field that had zero cover completely covered in snow, we’d stick out like a sore thumb. I got the boys in single file behind me giving them instructions to walk exactly behind me as “smooth” as they could. No swaying or quick movements, hand on their sides, shuffling their feet slow with zero talking. We slowly made our way to the trees. Where I spotted deer bedded. We continued moving straight towards them. At under a hundred yards four bucks stood up. I quickly sat the boys down and put eyes on the biggest buck. I knew instantly that he was a mature heavy buck, a shooter. His fronts were level with his backs and his rack was outside his ears. I knew I was looking at a mature high scoring B&C buck, which is difficult to judge only from the front in a second and with my sons with me it was a no brainer. I quickly side stepped to put a tree between the deer and me, a black spruce tree. I started quietly moving towards the tree keeping my profile as small as possible. I got to the tree and thought how I would get a shot without spooking the buck. At first, I thought to get low and get a prone shot but how close they were they may not like seeing something crawling towards them. So, I opted to brace my gun on the right side of the tree out of sight and rotate it counter clockwise till I could see the buck. I did every movement smooth and settled my reticle on the buck’s chest. He was close 50 yards tops, the trigger broke, I made a perfect heart shot the buck was down immediately. I waited a moment to let what had happened process keeping my gun ready for a follow up shot. The boys stayed completely still and quiet as they have archery hunted with me for elk and know not to make noise of celebrate until we know for certain the animal is down. After a couple seconds I waved the boys over. I had just killed the biggest Typical mule deer of my life and did it with my two sons! As we walked up to the buck in the deep snow we didn’t know what we were looking at until we pulled his head out of the snow. “He’s massive! DAD! He’s Huge!” both my son’s yelled. My sons have never been around a buck of this calibre he has it all 28 inch wide, deep forks and 5 inches of mass carried throughout his beams. A heavy old mature buck, and to get it all done with my sons was the perfect end to the hunt. We took some photos and the work began, we had him broken down quickly caped him and loaded up. It got dark quick, I recall saying “Lets hurry up boys! it’s a school night and Mase has a math test tomorrow” Cohen took a hind, Mase a front and loose meat, I took a hind, a front and the head with cape. We packed him out in one load in the dark walking shoulder to shoulder. Mase said “dad I really wish I could swear right now, just a little” I told him “Go ahead” Mase replied “Dad I feel like we are pretty badass right now!” I said “You’re right son we are pretty badass right now, packing a buck out in the dark”. We made our way back to the truck, it was now pitch black unloaded our gear and headed home soaking it all in.
The buck green scored 189 5/8 inches
