Today’s set up

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Stinky Buffalo

Heh! You earned that one, Fishnguy! Nicely done!

Thanks, Stinky. I want my moose though, lol.

Originally Posted by Prairiekid

Nice buck buddy. Shooting that bigger buck wouldn’t make as good of a story!

Tanks, man. I do agree with that angle. Rack is just a rack, really. Just hangs there, maybe reminds of something, maybe not. For some reason, many of us still, to a various degree, want that big one. Even though this way, perhaps, there is more to remember and chuckle about.

Funny, if you think about it:

1. The big boy - I walked in the bush for an hour and half or whatever following a track that I randomly chose to follow and luckily stumbled into this beautiful deer, or half of the story above, pretty much. Still cool, but…

2. The deer I shot - That’s the story above.

I agree, number 2 is more interesting and definitely adds something extra to smile about.

Originally Posted by KazIce

Congrats on the buck. You have been grinding real hard this season!

Thanks, Kaz. Fortunately, I guess, most of my seasons end up in a similar way, by choice or otherwise. This one has been challenging so far as far as my moose is concerned, lol. I know he there, waiting to be found. Still hope that will materialize. Not much time left, really. Sometimes it doesn’t happen no matter how much effort we put and that is ok too. I have been fortunate enough to get out as much as I did, even if not as much as I wanted, in November and see the things I enjoyed seeing, many of them mentioned in this thread.

A couple of outings ago, on one of the colder days, I ran into a guy there (I stopped by one of the “more open” camps for a quick chat) standing and kind of jumping/dancing by the fire. He said they have been there for a few days (a week or whatever he said) and haven’t seen anything but a couple of cows, not even a deer. He also said he put something like 80 kilometres on his quad that morning and he couldn’t warm up. He said that they were planning to leave in the evening or the next day. It was kind of in the middle of the week, and my assumption, which could be wrong, was that they were leaving not because they had to be back wherever they were coming back to. I saw their “caravan” of trucks and trailers leaving later in the day when I got back to my vehicle from the spot I chose to hunt after I left them with wishes of them staying warm and some good luck. From my perspective that is the grinding. He didn’t look like he was enjoying at that very moment. Maybe he did like their hunting week or whatever period of time overall, who knows. We all see enjoyment differently, that’s for sure. I would be interested in what he had to say about his overall hunting experience in 520 this season.

So far, I see mine as putting the effort into time well spent, overall. Something like that, lol.

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

Congrats

Thanks, Smoky.

Originally Posted by Macdrizzle

I had to cancel my Valleyview hunting trip for Elk/moose this year due to work and haven't hunted 2 straight years in a row. Thanks for the porn and letting me hunt vicariously through your journey, I jerked off to this whole thread, ngl.

Lol. Glad you enjoyed, seems to be, more than others. I will try to deliver some “happy ending” to all the moose porn, lol.

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

I enjoyed this very much. I may have missed this noted earlier on, but what camera did you use? cell phone, point and shoot or DSLR?

It’s just a phone. Some of the pics were taken on lower zoom through the binoculars, which isn’t an easy task at times, lol. Examples of that would be the owl and the fox photos that quickly come to mind. I am sure there were more.

Funny thing is that last year, I was talking to Keg and Bob (from McBain camera), not sure if he still around because I haven’t seen him for a while, saying that sometimes, I wouldn’t mind bringing a camera with me instead of a rifle. I wanted to buy a “good one” (given budget constraints) last year and was talking to Bob, but somehow the conversation stalled and din’t go any further. Keg was saying that what I do is enough, lol. He could be right in a way: no matter how bad or good the photos or videos are, one really cannot capture it all but within. I really do enjoy showing these things to and talk about them with my kids though. And obviously don’t mind sharing them with others as well. There are so many to capture that a phone cannot, aside from the thing that no camera can.

Sometimes, I come back from a hunt on a very cold day, tell my wife about what I experienced and she thinks I am crazy, while I think I had one of the best days out, lol.

One thing that I am thinking about is that it might be much harder to get out on a crappy day with a camera around my neck than a rifle on my shoulder. In all likelihood, I cannot afford a proper camera that can do half the things I want to do. Maybe one day, I will sell my rifles and buy that camera, lol. Very likely, when that day comes, I won’t be able to do things I can do today.

Also, the story isn’t likely the same without the rifle on the shoulder and meat in the freezer. It isn’t necessarily worse, but sure is different.

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

Fishnguy

Looks like you have a real fan

Lol. He sure sounds satisfied



Here are couple of pics of that broken antler.

The G3:



The drop-tine:



I wonder if it even was a drop tine that maybe broke off during the growth stage. Any antler experts to chime in, lol?

Thanks for the kind words, guys. I am pretty satisfied with how things have so far played out. Again, a bit salty about the big boy (less than yesterday, lol, and Prairiekid is probably right anyway), but I am pretty happy with this buck. Hopefully, pics of the moose to come next and I don’t particularly care what he is carrying on his head; actually, the less the better kind of thing, lol.

[Dick284]

Great deer man, congrats.

[fishnguy]

Thanks, Dick. Appreciate it.

[leaseman]

Originally Posted by Sitting Bull

I enjoyed this very much. I may have missed this noted earlier on, but what camera did you use? cell phone, point and shoot or DSLR?

Got to be the best thread I have ever read in the forums I am a member of!

Enjoyed it very much, will probably re read several times!

[58thecat]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

Here are a few pics of the buck I shot “instead”.







Oh, look, I can make him look huge:



Haha.

The reason for the last pic (it just turned out that “yuge” way) is that the guy appeared to be a warrior. Take a closer look at his left antler:



There used be a drop tine that was broken off a while back. His G3 on that antler was “shaved” off fairly recently. Definitely a cool deer. Without a doubt I would rather take the one I thought I was shooting, but what are you gonna do. No complaints on my part.

What happened, I think, was that while the big boy was wrecking the bush, this guy wasn’t too far away and came to check it out. Unfortunately for him (and maybe for me as I am still kind of “salty”), he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Best thing about it is you did it your way, for a while I thought you were a moose hunter, then a tracker, then a bird watcher but ended up a deer hunter!

Awesome and congrats!


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[Phil McCracken]

Well....

After all these weeks of some very detailed pursuit, your patience and perseverance paid off!

Thanx for sharing your venture, and I am very pleased things worked out for you.

Now go get that meat moose!...

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by leaseman

Got to be the best thread I have ever read in the forums I am a member of!

Enjoyed it very much, will probably re read several times!

Haha. Glad you enjoyed the read.

Originally Posted by 58thecat

Best thing about it is you did it your way, for a while I thought you were a moose hunter, then a tracker, then a bird watcher but ended up a deer hunter!

Awesome and congrats!

I multitask

Thanks, Cat.

Originally Posted by Phil McCracken

Well....

After all these weeks of some very detailed pursuit, your patience and perseverance paid off!

Thanx for sharing your venture, and I am very pleased things worked out for you.

Now go get that meat moose!...

Thanks, Phill.

Tried getting that moose today. The day was windy as hell. Debated whether I should go or not. With all the poplar and deadfall around there, surely more would come down. But I found some good tracks a couple of days ago and thought I would go and check it out (I know, two days is a bit, but… desperation, I guess, lol). Well, I couldn’t find anything in that area. I moved to another. After some hiking here and there, I finally hit a fresh (as in has to be today) track:



Fair size, but how far ahead? Well, I was determined to find out.

Another good sign was, as opposed to the previous tracking experience, this moose walked around what the other one went under:





About identical height as last time, under six feet, so I was hopeful. I followed it for quite a bit and, of course, it eventually took me to the valley:



That little patch where all snow had melted was quite “soggy”, which was not a good sign because the sun has been up for a few hours now and no sign of the moose sliding around, only me, lol:



It had to be there way earlier in the day then. Down I went, then across the river, then back up and further in. Eventually, I ran into a pile. Can’t tell from the pic, but the largest “nuggets” I had ran into so far:



I almost convinced myself I am tracking down a bull. I also, however, realized in that moment that I was so far in, that I probably didn’t want to get the moose there, lol. Checked a preloaded map on the phone (no reception there) and saw what looked like maybe even a road that I could probably drive on if I could find how to get on it. Worst case, I could pack it out there and use the sled after if it wasn’t drivable and then a bit more of mule work, depending on how close I could get to it. It was still probably over 2 km pack-out to the “road” from where I was standing at that moment (moose kept moving, lol), but I did worse. At least it was fairly flat, valley aside. Those were my thoughts: I was trying to talk myself into shooting the moose even though I didn’t even find it yet, lol.

So I kept following the track. Brutal wind, but thankfully, most of it was above. A few trees got knocked over here and there. I only heard two falling myself. Not a nice feeling to be in the woods. First time I’ve ever tried making a gif from of a short video, so let’s see how that worked out:



If those trees are moving, you can see “the wind”. If not, I guess the experiment didn’t work out.

Anyway, the track took me to an area that you could just feel to be a bedding place. And soon after it was confirmed by a bed here and a bed there and there, etc. All recent, covered with a bit of snow, but nothing from today yet. I kept following the track, but couldn’t help myself looking at this parch of willow a bit down on my left:



No other decent food source that I saw in a while. We were also a very decent distance away from the valley to get back to for a quick snack. And eventually the track started circling in, heading right to the parch. My heart rate started picking up. Then this:



That does not look like it came from a schlong, does it? Not to me, anyway. If you look closer, you can also see there are two urinating spots, the smaller one is just a bit ahead. The “dreams” kind of started to shutter, lol. But hey, it is all still a guess at that point.

I was fairly convinced that the moose I was following was in that patch of willow. The track was very fresh now and right at the edge, I could see the trimming was very recent, still kind of wet even:



I “transferred” the rifle from my shoulder into my hands, safety still on. A step, another, and another… Safety off… I stopped still and listened. Nothing. I was convinced the moose was in this very patch, so I waited. I didn’t have to wait that long before the moose started running, lol. Surprisingly, I had more patience. But……… It was an effing cow!!!! Again!!! I could have taken a pic actually, but I was disappointed, you can call it that, I guess. At least, I got to see it this time, lol.

I looked at the map, trying to figure out the best way to get back where I came from. It looked like the best (or easiest) way was to head to that “road” instead of going through all the deadfall again. There was a nice looking swamp that way too, so I could run into another cow, lol. That was the route I chose. Surprisingly, closer to the swamp, I ran into another track heading straight there (where the sun is):



“Oh, look, another cow” I thought. I didn’t even pay attention to the track, just saw that it was going where I was heading anyway. Sure, there was a thought of maybe a bull going for the evening feed. I didn’t count on it though. And when I got to the swamp, sure enough, a cow with a calf, lol:



I don’t even know if it is funny anymore. It sure is getting to down right stupid, frankly.

When I got to the “road”, it turned out to be a cutline that has been overgrown. Nothing else to do but follow it.

When I searched for and read the older threads about 520 here, I saw many posts about wolves. So far, I haven’t seen any sign up until today and the overgrown cutline:



Ironically, the track went almost all the way to my vehicle a few kilometres away. Weird how that works. I didn’t see the wolf. The track was fairly fresh though. It was way after hours when I got back to vehicle; otherwise, I’d grab a few calls (elk and deer) that I have kicking around and see if I could get it to come. Alas, it was late and dark.

Better luck next time. Something has to be inseminating all those cows, right? Right? Laughing.

[fishnguy]

Looks like it’s a wrap till next year and this will be my last post in this thread about my days…

Today was my last day in this big game season. I put some miles on my boots yesterday and found a what appeared to be a great area I thought was worth spending some time in today.

Yesterday, I walked quite a bit here and there. Ran into some tracks that weren’t fresh (maybe from a day past), but also found a smaller set not too far, so opted not to discover where they were going, betting on another cow with a calf.



I then found this cut block. Not sure why I didn’t go there before (I guess I didn’t pay good enough attention on the map, maybe because this one is a bit further in and maybe I thought a bit too far for a day hunt, who knows). There was no recent trim that I ran into, but definitely plenty of tracks of various “age”. Nothing left within the past couple of days though. The cut block is also bordering the valley, has new growth between 5 and 10-ish feet tall and plenty of good eats for moose. It wasn’t perfect, but definitely was my best bet for today, to put some last good effort to end the season.

A thought ran through my mind that if a guy built some kind of platform between these trees at a good height, he should surely tag out (given a guy could shoot too) in a few days watching the block, lol.



On the other hand, a guy could see a lot of cows, some with calves, lol.

So I thought today I would hike the cut block a bit more, maybe the adjacent valley and whatnot. I would definitely easily kill a few hours in the area. I did spent about 2 hours inside and another 2 on the boundaries yesterday and inside sure isn’t fun since most of the movement is kind of sideways:



Walking boundaries wasn’t much more fun either because of the amount of deadfall through out:



I jumped from in to out and back in when walking the edges thinking one way is the easier than the other. In reality, neither is ideal, lol. I then just walked in a bit and followed a deer trail that is usually just a bit inside in this types of areas. Of course, I would come back out when I saw something I thought was worth taking a closer look at.

One kind of funny thing happened at another place yesterday. Coming back to the vehicle from the bush, I suddenly saw a footprint:



Wtf, I thought. I haven’t been here yet because I walked in a different way. Thinking I was going nuts, I checked the map on the phone. Nope, I didn’t take this route in. I know it is weird, but it took me a minute to clue in that someone else had walked there earlier in the day. This was the first footprint I saw in the bush further than 50-100 meters away from the road/trail in at least 5 years, probably more. And maybe only the second-ish ever. I guess call it set of footprints, since it wasn’t the only one, obviously, lol. I usually try to go where others choose not too because it is either too far or too hard or mix of the two, or whatever other reason; this place wasn’t either, but still. Had a laugh with my cousin when I told him about it. Anyway… I thought it was funny.

So my plan for today, the last day I could go hunt, was to spend lots of time in that cut block (it is fairly large) and the surrounding area. I was going to take my daughter to school, change, and head straight there. My plan was cut short when I was preparing her lunch, fruit snack, etc. Standing by the countertop, cutting fruit, this muscle spasm (or whatever it is) hit me out of nowhere, side and back of my torso. Damn… I almost sat down where I was standing. Pretty much from doing nothing, just standing, lol. What the heck… Definitely had some trouble turning and whatnot afterwards. Took my daughter to school (was hard to get into the vehicle, lol) and written off the day. It kind of became better in a few hours, but it was a “bit” too late to go and I didn’t want to risk it going to the middle of nowhere on foot with no phone reception, in case it would hit me again, (maybe harder). Who knows, right? That’s what my wife told me. She was right though. I do have an occasional problem with my back.

Well, that sucked. My moose season had ended, just like that. At that moment, I remembered that I still have an antlered elk tag! I put a lot of effort into this 520 moose that I haven’t thought about elk for probably 3 weeks.

I did some “warm up” type exercises and it was painful, but definitely felt better. Well, I got dressed and drove to the field and climbed down to the valley. There is phone reception there, lol. Here, there was no guessing and I knew exactly where to go for the best chance to hit a young bull dragging along with the cows. I hit a couple of spots where the herd might be to no avail. The tracks were there, who knows from when, hard to say when it was above zero for the past few of days and +5 yesterday:



Some fresh scat as well:



But no elk. Remember this though:

Originally Posted by fishnguy

I bet you I can go and find a moose tomorrow where I usually hunt.

Well…



You can clearly see one and I circled the other one standing behind the bush. Two bulls, doing their thing trimming the brush, about 500-600 yards away on a straight line, lol. Oh well, hopefully next year.

So yes, moose, but no elk. Also mule deer:



Still horny and determined, he couldn’t care less about me. Mule deer is weird.



With Sun hitting the horizon, I got to this one last spot. I wasn’t going in because it was late and the snow was way to crunchy to move fast, so I just came to the edge and sent a few cow calls, just to see if anyone is home. It seemed like no one was. I was, however, sure there was (there is always someone home there in late November this time of the day), but I also knew it was late and no way to get in quietly to squeeze that last minute shot if the opportunity presented itself. So I just hunkered down to enjoy the view, sending a cow mew or two every few minutes. I knew this was the last time I would come there until the next (late) summer. They went untouched there year round until we found their home, so I don’t like disturbing them more than we do for no good reason, so I was taking it all in. About ten minutes later a cow responded to my call from the other side of the ravine. Ain’t no way she would be making it here and bringing the herd in the little time left. But I tried. Another cow and then another called from my side and from the bottom. So there is hope. Just as I looked at the clock that showed ten minutes before I hang the rifle, a weak bugle came from down and far away. I was in the wrong spot, I should have been higher up (not that it would necessarily make that much difference). Well, there was no point to call or do anything at this point, so I watched the dusk settle in and listened to their occasional vocals. Not a bad way to end the season, I say. I was at my vehicle an hour later.

And that wraps it up for 2021.

To sum up my 520 moose experience…

- It’s a fun zone. Tough, sure. Lots of sign and great potential. You are definitely limited if you are hunting on foot until you have it figured out, which would probably take more than one season. I am not sure if there are lots of cows and bulls are scarce or it was just my experience, but there is certainly good size moose there since I saw plenty of clipped brush at the height of 7.5-8-ish feet.

- Lots of deer. Lots. Would I go there to hunt whitetail specifically if I lived “far away”? Nope. But I would bring along a whitetail tag with me if I was heading hunting there anyway.

- Do not necessarily believe what you see on the google or apple maps. Plenty of cutlines that are no longer there (overgrown) and I ran into a couple (there are probably more) active cut blocks that are still good standing timber on the maps.

- Lease roads you see on the maps have been abandoned a long time ago. From the signs I saw, most of (or all) the wells were suspended in 2004-06. Some roads simply aren’t roads anymore, most of the rest you probably don’t want to drive too far in the wet season, depending on what you are driving.

- The gates at the end of the corridor…

- There is lots of grouse around. Until you bring your .22 with you, lol.

- I will probably pull my moose tag next year in a different zone, but if for some reason I don’t get awarded, I will buy another undersubscribed in 520 and give it another go. I am fairly confident I can succeed there.

That’s about it.

Originally Posted by sns2

Dude, you hunt in a veritable zoo!

To add to the zoo, lol, a few pics I didn’t post earlier:





A very rare sight at that field, a cow with a calf:



Unfortunately, the owner of the field passed away in early November. He was a great guy, who lived a long life, pulled way over 90 years out of it (I don’t exactly know how old, certainly up there), living alone, driving around, taking care of himself till the bells called… RIP. I will likely loose access to this parcel now, but it isn’t important, really. I am grateful for having known the man, our conversations, the work I have done for him, and the good times I spent at his field, along with a few animals I shot there, including mule deer, elk, and bear.

Early in the season, while chasing elk in the valley, I also stumbled upon the very first pair of antlers that came from the same deer, lol. Never found a set before. It looked like they just fell off the young buck’s head pretty much at the same time.



This definitely wraps it up. Hope those who sticked with it got a bit of enjoyment out of it.

And on to the next one!

[Prairiekid]

That was a fun read. The variety of animals you see is impressive, I also see a lot of grouse until I bring my .22. Lol

[Stinky Buffalo]

Really enjoyed the read!

I didn't get to drop the hammer on any big game this year either if it's any consolation.

Now there's predator hunting season... Woot!

[newdrenalin]

I really enjoyed your story ! Great pictures too

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

Here are a few pics of the buck I shot “instead”.







Oh, look, I can make him look huge:



Haha.

The reason for the last pic (it just turned out that “yuge” way) is that the guy appeared to be a warrior. Take a closer look at his left antler:



There used be a drop tine that was broken off a while back. His G3 on that antler was “shaved” off fairly recently. Definitely a cool deer. Without a doubt I would rather take the one I thought I was shooting, but what are you gonna do. No complaints on my part.

What happened, I think, was that while the big boy was wrecking the bush, this guy wasn’t too far away and came to check it out. Unfortunately for him (and maybe for me as I am still kind of “salty”), he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.

So the rack spent some time in water; I dropped it in early May or so, if I recall correctly. Today it was ready (I think) to hang next to other “honourable” mentions, lol:







I managed to break the nose somehow, not even sure when. Oh well. Crazy looking rack… didn’t really have time to take a pic but at night (just hanged it, too; busy times).

I bought another undersubscribed in 520 for this November. Not sure if I will be able to hunt there though and not sure I will run another hunting thread this year. We will see.

[Mike1027]

Amazing thread I love reading it I actually got a undersubscribed tag in 520 this year too I’ll go try my luck there if nothing get some experience in a new area


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[FortMac]

What a great thread.

When you say "gates at the end of the corridor", are you referencing the peace river pulp resource road?

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Mike1027

Amazing thread I love reading it I actually got a undersubscribed tag in 520 this year too I’ll go try my luck there if nothing get some experience in a new area


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks. Reread page 2 and 3 just now. Great memories… Remeber every day as I went through it. One of the benefits of this type of threads, lol.

I may help out with some intel later on (whatever that is worth). It seems I provided plenty as I read through it.

Originally Posted by FortMac

What a great thread.

When you say "gates at the end of the corridor", are you referencing the peace river pulp resource road?

I believe that is what some refer it to it. East Hall Road is what it is officially called.