Went out today to the Haul Road again. It snowed in town at night, unexpectedly, and so it did there:
I studied the map a little more yesterday and found what looked like a nice spot to walk with a lot of potential. That on the photo was where I walked in, heading towards the Peace. The plan was to find some tracks that would lead to a moose, ideally a majestic bull. Lol. I actually don’t care for the size (and probably prefer a youngster) because I am looking for meat here and not the antlers. It was pretty quite for roughly first kilometre or so. The only track I ran into up to that point was some kind of predator, my best guess was a lynx, but I am no expert and not even an amateur: it was too big to belong to coyote and too small for a wolf, but mainly I couldn’t see any claws.
Not the best pic, I guess. I know dogs would mainly stick to the game trails. This one didn’t appear to do so. Anyway…
Oh yes, forgot to mention, when I parked and was getting ready to head out, I realized I forgot my gaiters at home. Strike number one. When I was about 20 minutes away from the vehicle, I noticed my hands were getting cold and I wasn’t wearing gloves, lol. Left the gloves in the vehicle. Strike number two. It was just below zero, so I decided that going back would be a waste of time and kept going. The two things I always have this time of year are my hat and my gloves (I guess that’s three things), that may come off and on, but they are always with me. The reason, beside being comfortable/uncomfortable, a person looses tons of heat via head and hands and I am usually very lightly dressed when hunting in these conditions. I may have extra layers in my pack that can be used if needed, but I tend to regulate the temperature quite a bit by simply taking off/putting on the gloves and hat. Only when that doesn’t work I start taking off or putting on the layers. Works great for me.
So… I was walking, not finding what I was looking for, but enjoying the walk nonetheless. The bush is dense in some places, plenty of cover for the game.
Even if there was moose 5 meters in, there is no way one would see it. But then why would a moose be in there? Lol. Deer, sure. Moose, not so much. Finally, the first track of an ungulate, about a kilometre in:
Shortly after, better grounds for moose:
Plenty of sign, “new” and old:
All well and dandy, but no tracks. So I kept walking. My goal was to get as close to Peace as possible, ideally into the valley, but I knew it was unlikely that I would get there today (or ever, unless I find a better access).
Deer tracks appeared to be plentiful now. Another kilometre in and there were well defined trails with lots of traffic.
Scrape after a scrape. I actually started to loose focus, lol.
Then I ran into this one, where the poop didn’t even freeze yet:
With urine all around, all over the place:
What does a guy do? He starts still hunting, of course, lol. In my case, just to see what it is all about because I did not buy a deer tag. Strike number three.
So I did that for about 30 minutes, didn’t find the buck, but I was definitely in his home where he spends plenty of time.
Then, I finally realized that I am wasting time and moved on. Walked some more, hit some dense bush and turned around. I was probably between 4 and 5 kilometres in now. It took about 1.5 hours to come back, almost running, given the terrain. It was just after 3 when I got back to the vehicle. More or less like I planned if unsuccessful.
Next in the plan was to go back to Cadotte and do a quick walk around, then hit the trail that I drove on the previous time with gazillion grouse. I did bring the .22 with me. The Cadotte turned out to be a dud. A sxs and a truck were there before me (which probably isn’t bad, being only two vehicles) and someone actually walked. All looked like a morning run though, so I walked anyway. I also walked an old, now undrivable, trail that everyone overlooks (maybe for a reason?). Nothing.
Ran back to the vehicle and drove to the “grouse trail”. Plenty of traffic from earlier in the day. Drove about 12 km on the trail and only saw two deer tracks the whole way. And guess what? No freaking grouse. Well, that was probably a given because I brought a proper gun with me, lol. I did see three earlier in the day (one almost gave me a heart attack).
So I drove back out, found another trail to drive on and found someone shooting my moose again:
Kidding, of course. I don’t even know what was shot there this time and I didn’t care to look.
I drove a bit further in on the Haul Road trying to build a plan for the next time, but it was too late and too dark. I did see a cow with a calf crossing the road though. So they do exist! Laughing.
Not seeing a single track to follow today is kind of disappointing, being in the prime habitat, all pressure kilometres away. Better luck next time, I guess. I do need to get into the valley. I have little doubt I will find my moose there. We will see what happens.