North of the Border. Aye?

[Gerald Martin]

Been reading a lot lately and not posting as much. I did get to go on a couple of adventures this fall and hope I have a few more to come once I get a major project finished up in a couple of weeks.

Our friendly neighbor to the north requires all nonresidents to hunt with a guide for big game. However, they do have a nifty little program called a Hunter Host program that lets an Alberta resident host two hunters every three years and take them hunting for free.
If the nonresident is unrelated to the resident Hunter Host they can take only one hunter every three years. There are several species that this is allowed for including deer, elk, bear and moose.

My "in" to this gig was a good friend of mine (Phil) has a sister married to an Alberta resident (Jeffrey) who has access to some incredible plains mule deer hunting. When I was invited to tag along it didn't take a lot of convincing.

One other really neat fact about how Alberta manages their big game hunting. In Alberta it is illegal to lease property or pay a landowner for hunting access. Even outfitters who hunt private property are forbidden to pay. Consequently, there are many places where hunting is allowed, simply by asking for permission. On our hunt we had access to about 100,000 acres of private land that was aquired by Jeffrey from several different ranches just by him asking politely.

Like Montana, Alberta has general areas and draw areas. We did not put in for the draw and would be hunting an over the counter general area. This area was on a draw for rifle permits but allowed anyone with a tag to bowhunt. Now on with the pictures.....

 

[Gerald Martin]

As I start this thread I should call attention to a well-known fact concerning the generosity of the owner and administrator of this site.

This past spring Randy PM'd me and asked if I was still using my Canon Xh A1 to video with. When I said I was, he sent me a box of gear that he was no longer using since they upgraded their cameras. Among the items he sent was this shotgun mic with a windmuff. Thanks again Randy!

Heading out for another On Your Own Adventure!

 

[Gerald Martin]

In the spirit of a Willie Nelson classic. "On the road again...."

 

[Art Vandeley]

I'm looking forward to the rest of this story. I've been in Alberta the last 5 months for work, I've found some awesome bucks in my spare time . I would have done the hunter host program if the area I'm in wasn't all a draw area.

 

[Gerald Martin]

The kind of country we were hunting in. It was classic spot and stalk muley hunting, glassing at daybreak, finding a buck and trying to stalk him in his bed.


Jeffrey, putting the binoculars to good use.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Sadly enough, for all the camera gear both video and still between Jeffrey and I, we didn't get a lot of still pictures. We both left our DSLR's in the truck on the first day's hunt. I was concentrating of video and Jeffrey was thinking there wouldn't be a lot happening on the first day. The ranch we were hunting on did not allow any motorized vehicle access anywhere except on gravel roads so we rode mountain bikes into the country we wanted to hunt. We would end up a little over five miles from the truck by the end of the day.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I was pleased to get a lot of video footage that you will hopefully get to see if I can find time to edit it all. I'd like to drag this story out and say we hunted for days and days until we killed our bucks on the last day, but on this hunt Phil and I both killed our deer by two pm on the first day. Phil actually stalked and missed the buck I killed. After he missed it, we were able to find it again a couple of miles away from where we first saw it. As Jeffrey topped a rise and began to glass, he was shocked to see the buck fast asleep only 30 yards from him. He was able to get Phil and I and we all stalked within bow range of the still sleeping buck.
Our plan was for Phil to try another shot with me backing him up in case things went wrong. The buck was bedded in the wide open facing away from us at a steep downhill angle. Phil drew and held as long as he could when it looked like the buck was going to stand. Eventually, he had to let down and rest. When it looked like the deer was going to stand the next time, he drew again. This time when I knew he was getting tired I drew and held while he let down. The buck started to move his head again and Phil drew once more. Somehow the deer must have caught some movement in his peripheral vision because he instantly looked up at us. I was at full draw with my pin on him and when his eyes locked onto mine, I knew that it was now or never. I touched the shot off and hit the buck high on the near shoulder taking out the top of one lung.
As the deer ran off, we ran to a point on the butte to keep tabs on him. Eventually he made his way into several trees in a little creek bottom and did not emerge from the other side. We were keeping tabs on my deer when two more bucks popped out at the bottom of the ravine we were above and headed out the other side.
Jeffrey and Phil took off after them to keep tabs on them and see if they would bed down again. The two bucks were not very spooked and Jeffrey was able to find one of them bedded in a great position for a stalk several hundred yards away.
I knew my deer needed some time to expire, so I got my video camera and was able to video Phil and Jeffrey from the top of the butte while they stalked within 17 yards of the bedded 4X4.
Phil made a good shot and the buck died within a hundred yards. We boned and caped his deer and then went to find mine.
I was glad the country was so open and that I was able to mark the last place I saw my deer. He was bedded in the same patch of trees and even though there was no bloodtrail we found him without difficulty.

Phil's buck.

 

[Gerald Martin]

My buck.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I like this shot. Did I mention a big thank-you to Randy for his generosity? The mic must have been good luck Randy, I hope you don't regret giving it to me.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Muddy creek banks may be more slippery than they appear. Especially if you have 80lbs of deer meat and gear on your back. Jeffrey wouldn't let me sit on his truck seat with these pants on. What a fussy guy!


Back at camp.

 

[fishing4sanity]

Awesome hunt, bucks and photos! Earlier today I was wondering if you might be putting together another video of this year's adventures, I'm looking forward to it. Congratulations.

 

[Gerald Martin]

We hunted one more evening and morning trying to get Jeffrey his buck. He missed a long shot at a very nice (big) buck the next evening and then we had to get back home.

Other than running out of gas twice on the way home it was uneventful.


Some random shots from the trip.


Don't sit on the prickly pear! Word.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Towns and gas stations are not as frequent where we hunted as most places in the US. We were 70km from the nearest town with gas. Due to difficulty finding a good camping spot, we did more driving than we anticipated. After going through the two gallons of emergency gas, we had to resort to draining gas from the generator to get us to the gas station. Twice. The first time was funny. When we ran out again just 5 km from town it was annoying.

The inevitable about to happen...

 

[Gerald Martin]

Earlier today I was wondering if you might be putting together another video of this year's adventures, I'm looking forward to it

Yes, I've got good video of this hunt and another. Finding the time to get it edited is a bit problematic right now. I'll be sharing them here when I can get them done.

I'm hoping to find time to go chase this guy in the next couple weeks.


I think this is probably the coolest find I've ever been on. A huge petrified tree in a cave at the base of cliff.

 

[ashersdad]

Awesome pics and hunt. You got a couple nice muleys.

 

[havgunwilltravel]

Great adventure guys. Would have to be happy with that hunt!
Good luck on the bull!

 

[big28hunter]

Awesome pics and trophies! Congrats!

 

[EODRay]

Awesome hunt, pictures and write up. Can't wait to see the video..........eventually.

 

[kansasdad]

Great work and a great adventure Gerald! Someone should inform that prickly pear that it is trying to live in Canada, I never would have guessed Canada for your location.

 

[1_pointer]

Congrats! That looks like some SUPER cool country to hunt. You guys are better than I as I doubt I'd be able to get within rifle range. Kudos! Can't wait to see the video!