This year I choose to camp out for the last 2 weeks of the season, in a relatively remote area, with limited access (can only get into this area by foot).
A bit of background: My preferred method to hunt whitetails is still-hunting and more specifically, tracking them on fresh snow (self-proclaimed amateur). I've mentioned this before, but I am a huge fan of the North Eastern trackers; Hal Blood, the Benoits, Joe DiNitto, Jim Masset, and Jeff Doyle. Alberta seems to be a tracker's dream; we always get at least a few prime days in November for tracking (all my friends back east are envious/jealous).
I booked the last two weeks off and got a wall tent set up on November 14. I had a couple of cameras spread out over a few kilometers over mock scrapes I had made earlier in the season (mid-October). After retrieving the pictures, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and quantity of bucks showing up!
I hunted/scouted the next couple of days, with no fresh snow coming down I predominantly still-hunted working into or cross-cutting the wind. I crept up a several does, a young buck, and found loads of fresh sign.
I awoke to fresh snow that was still coming down one morning, it's exactly what I wanted…except it was still coming down while trying to cut a track, I managed to cut one track but it quickly filled in and was lost to a barnyard of tracks. The snow let up around 10 am and while still hunting through the open aspen I cut a smoking fresh good-sized buck track…after being on it for approx. 45 minutes the snow started again, I cranked up the speed but couldn’t keep up with the snow…and again lost it in a barnyard (the deer seem to start moving once 10-11 am rolls around, anyone else make this observation?).
Being gently disappointed but still motivated (the snow had stopped) I started working into the wind towards a big stand of mature spruce on a north-facing slope, just after getting into it I cut a couple of tracks moving east that had come up from the bottom of the hill, both were bigger deer tracks. I just kept a steady pace on them, not wanting to bust the deer (the tracks were no more than 30 minutes old). I really dialed back the speed based on the tracks after being on them for 20 minutes or so, the deer were meandering and making lots of sharp turns…it doesn’t happen often, but my assumptions were correct, the deer were close.
Still working my way through the spruce stand, I noticed movement to my left, I stopped and locked eyes with a nice buck maybe 40 yards from me slightly uphill, almost 90 degrees to my position (wind coming from the NW and he was straight north of me). We just looked at each other for ages (5 minutes), I looked at him through the scope but knew he wasn’t what I was looking for this year. He seemed very interested in something behind him the entire time we interacted (I was grunting at him, figured why not have some fun).
Then things got strange, the buck walked to his left, along the top of the hill, approximately 5 yards into some alder, I could no longer see him. Then suddenly, he was back in view but was walking at me, then back in his original position (I thought to myself, these animals are so fast and maneuverable, how did he twist his body around that fast). I hadn’t moved this whole time and once he has back in the original position, he bedded down in front of me! I was completely shocked, took my phone out, and snapped a few pictures.
At this point, I was simply confused but attributed his behavior to “being in the rut.” Just after this, I heard does blowing approximately 80-100 yards north of our position, and I heard a few soft grunts in the vicinity of the bedded buck, this went on for a few minutes, all the while, this buck is bedded in front of me, looking over his shoulder to the west.
I was grunting the odd time and watching this show, not wanting to move just in case something even more ridiculous happened. I notice some subtle movement in the alder understory, 15 yards directly west of the bedded buck, then I see a 2 m spruce tree shaking and snow falling to the ground…there was another deer! And it has been there the entire time (40 minutes have gone by). That’s when the adrenaline hit me, I had to force myself to breathe and get control of my heart rate. I hadn’t seen anything even to confirm it was a buck (other than the tree shaking) but just that thought was enough to compromise my remaining mental stability.
Once I had regained my composure, I decided to step forward (north) 5-6 steps to see if I could make out the other deer. I made the 5 steps and a deer jumps up from its bed no more than 3 meters from the spruce that was shaking, the deer jumped into a patch of alder, but I got a glimpse of antlers. I wasn’t sure what else to do and felt I had ruined any chances (amazing the range of emotions one can experience in 20 seconds), I could still make out the deer but figured it would make a run for it (side note: the other buck is still bedded, he is within 20 yards of me). I grabbed my grunt call, let out a few grunts and a snort wheeze, that deer came charging out of the alder heading right at me (approx. 40 yards), I made a quick scan, saw mass and width, and pulled the trigger. I saw the deer jump straight up (made a front-on shot to the chest) and he turned and ran off…meanwhile the other buck has stood up and decided to run in front of me and make some distance between us.
The buck I shot went 60 yards and laid down, I put another round in him as he was trying to get up and gave him a minute. I was pumped, to say the least, I've taken several bucks now via tracking but nothing with the build-up to the shot like this one! Not sure on age (thinking 5.5-6.5 based on teeth) or bodyweight, but he was top 3 the biggest bodied deer I have taken. It was 2:07 when I got up to the buck, I got a few pictures and concluded that I would have to quarter and pack this guy out. I was almost 6 km from camp and not a chance I was getting a quad close, nor was I going to drag him out. I got a fire going and got to work, not long after the wolves starting howling to the north of me about a kilometer away, I thought to myself “this is so epic, but let's get a move on.” By 4:30 I had him quartered and in my pack.
(Pointing at his bed, the furthest pink ribbon is my shooting position)
I knew something was off when I couldn’t get off the ground with my pack on….I knew the pack was big enough and I’ve had 78 lbs. in that bag on a past sheep hunt, but this weight was beyond anything I’ve experienced (for reference, I'm 6’5, 246 lbs., and an avid gym rat who enjoys squats and deadlifts).
Maybe I was tired, sore, wore out from a few days of hunting, there was no way I was going to get that whole deer out on my back. I got 700 yards from the kill site, found a bent over birch tree, and started hanging meat!
After that, I made good time, got back to camp by 7:30 pm, hammered some heart and tenderloin, and called it a night. A buddy of mine came in the next morning and we retrieved the rest of the meat, nothing had touched it and we made good time getting back to camp.
I got exactly what I wanted from my 2020 whitetail hunt and then some! A couple of conclusions I came to after pondering the events: when I saw a deer walking at me head-on (thinking to myself how fast and maneuverable deer are) and those soft grunts, I believe it was the bigger bedded buck, I hadn’t thought there were two deer at this point.
Thanks for taking a read and to everyone who posts on here, it’s a wealth of knowledge. Any comments and or criticism is more than welcome (maybe debone the meat next time, not go that far without having ATV access, etc?)
2020 Big Woods Buck
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