Against this backdrop, and knowing the area and it's elk, the decision was made to enter the draw for Suffield Bull Elk for the 2015 hunts. Being only a Priority 3, I realized the odds were likely long, but with the prospect of hunting the base itself, it was a no-brainer to enter...
We did not draw our first request (first hunt) nor our second (first hunt in January 2016) but did manage to draw on our third: the second hunt of January 2016.
The Scouting Run
Through the fall our Crew scrutinized the ongoing hunts there in as great as detail as possible. What we were hearing was downright discouraging (more on this later) but we managed to keep our spirits high, and looked greatly forward to the opportunity we were being afforded.
I visited an area adjacent to the base and managed to be successful on a Fine Muley Buck with my bow.
That also allowed me a good glimpse at what was occurring off the base (FN and LEH Hunting) and see a handful of rather tremendous bulls those hunts had taken.
Also got the odd glimpse inside the base, where in some places the elk trails looked like cattle had been run there for 1,000+ years!!
Also on that run we saw several Great Bulls that really helped to keep the enthusiasm high for the impeding hunt!!
The last days of hunting here on the Island passed into memory, and I held tight to the thought that my season wasn't over quite yet!
Lots of calls, lots of discussions, pouring over every little bit of intel I could gather kept me focused on the happenings a Province away until the day I could wander back there...
Deciding to make the journey in a couple of hops, my regular Island Hunting Partner and I departed home a full 3 days early, and overnighted with a Great Friend in Vancouver we hadn't had the pleasure of visiting with for far too long. Despite the excellent camaraderie and visit, we were up and away well before the first greying of the morning sky.
The highway was fine, and the miles literally flew by. Before we knew it we were topping out on the continental divide, and sliding downhill eastwards into Alberta. Although we had planned on an evening stop in Calgary, we decided to forgo that and make the final miles to Medicine Hat in one push. Again the weather cooperated with that mission, and we arrived to hearty grins & firm handshakes all round in the mid-evening.
There is a reason I plan these trips with the Buddy whose place we landed at so as to arrive a tad early. True to form, we "
celebrated" well into the wee hours of the next morn (as I simply knew we would) requiring the next day to be a write-off spent recovering! Well worth it every time, and this instance was no different! The tales of Glory (and some not so glorious) kept all entertained, laughing and grinning the whole while. And it was much to my satisfaction that my two hunting buddies - one from BC, the other from Alberta - got along as famously as they did! In fact I do recall thinking that together they might well prove Dangerous to my health!! LOL!
One of the topics of discussion that night and the next day was the long snow machine run our Alberta Buddy had made - pretty well the entire river adjacent to the base the very day before we arrived. That report wasn't all that "pretty" as far as our aspirations were concerned. Despite temperatures below minus 20, the big river had yet to freeze solid enough to allow an elk to cross (a positive thing in many aspects). But even with fresh snow, the sign and sightings for his run were worse than dismal. Extremely few tracks, and a total of 3 bulls sighted being the only elk he wandered across in that full day run. The only thing that held our spirits up at that point was the somewhat dubious conclusion that "
all the elk must still be up deeper on the base...".
Following the recovery day, and a day before our hunt would commence, we rose before dawn, and set off for a full day's scout of the entire base perimeter.
A skiff of new snow topped the 4 or so inches already down as we made our approach. Spotting scopes, Binoc's and telescope in hand, we set out to see whatever we could for sign of our quarry...
The run across the southern boundary produced a couple far off sightings of cows & calves, but little of interest beyond that.
Making our way northwards along the western boundary was much of the same until we neared the northern boundary intersection.
Topping a small hill, there was a little herd of elk, and in it the first bull we would see this trip:
Sure, just a spikey, but a bull nonetheless!
Their initial reaction appeared to be confusion, but it certainly did not take long before they firmly engaged the
afterburners!!
No other encounters were realized as we turned now to the east, and wandered our way along the northern base boundary.
However it was but a short time after that turn when we ran into the first of a great many antelope herds we would bump into in the next coming days:
Although most had shed their horns (the only critter that does that with this type of horn) it was readily apparent that many we saw during this trip would be True
Trophy Material. These were outside the base, but soon ducked back inside upon our appearance. Likely that protected area is the reason we saw as many Good Ones as we did methinks...
Also extremely interesting to be seeking hard for elk in the same areas frequented by these little Speedy Goats!
Our BC Buddy was entirely fascinated by this, exclaiming
Now I understand why you guys shoot such long range rifles, and get so damn good with them! aYup!
To this point we had seen but little sign of anything beyond Mulies and Antelope wandering off the base. A small herd of perhaps a dozen had wandered westwards just before the herd the spike was in, and to this point, that was it.
So, when we topped another herd and found a significant crossing - fence completely down and tracks of 40+ elk - we got a little more excited. Unfortunately they were at least a day or two old, and going away from the base. But hey! More signs! They still exist!!
That was to be it for signs and sightings until we crossed the river.
Doing that on the highway, we soon wandered back to the river breaks across from the eastern boundary of the base.
Stopping to take peeks from every available high spot, we checked out numerous Mulies along our way:
Some had asked why we did not get out and hunt on foot much. Were these river breaks to be open, we certainly would have!
But alas, those on this side of the river are either outside the base, or in an area they did not open for us. And on the other side, the Wildlife Sanctuary encompasses all but the flat in the above picture. In that picture, you can see the wide open low flat that is on the base - the only section of river bank not inside the NWR. Walking across such flats, anything certainly sticks out like a sore thumb!! The hills behind - closed of course.
Suffield Alberta - My Prairie Elk Experience
). Thankful he did though, and the strategy of two trucks working together made very sound sense.
Hybrid Mode
