Alberta Hunting Styles

[fromhurynout]

Hi All,

I’m looking to find out more about the hunting style of successful Alberta hunters.

A bit of backstory, I grew up hunting in SE BC. Given the landscape there, and road hunting aside, it’s always been a spot and stalk approach. After moving here and getting a better lay of the area that I hunt, this isn’t really possible – flat land, dense bush and few clearings.

With little knowledge of the area at the time, I was still able to manage a successful whitetail hunt last year. The areas that I go have lots of sign, and I see animals, but getting a chance at them is a different story.

What I’m wondering, is it best to get out and put some miles on trying to track, or do you set up a stand/blind where you know they’ve been moving and wait?

Again, this is all generally speaking. I know there are different techniques for different areas, different times of the year, etc.

A few details that I may help: rifle hunting, general season, crown land, Clearwater/Mountainview counties.

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Cheers,

Jay

[35 whelen]

If you're just talking whitetails my favourite time to hunt whitetails is first couple weeks in November rattling and grunting getting into thickest s*** right with them

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[kilgoretrout]

As with all my hunting I prefer to put the soles to work to get away from the road hunters

[3blade]

Hike until you a find high concentration of feeding sign, get down wind, sit still and be quiet. Same thing over and over and over. Takes about 3 days to kill a deer in a new area.

In some places you can track after a fresh snow, but if there’s too much thick stuff, which is where the deer will go once it knows it’s being followed, you won’t get a clean shot.

[Big Red 250]

Originally Posted by 3blade

Hike until you a find high concentration of feeding sign, get down wind, sit still and be quiet. Same thing over and over and over. Takes about 3 days to kill a deer in a new area.

In some places you can track after a fresh snow, but if there’s too much thick stuff, which is where the deer will go once it knows it’s being followed, you won’t get a clean shot.

Same as this post, but when your hiking, slow down your pace and look behind yourself frequently.

[Zuludog]

Definitely always keep checking behind you. WT deer are very sneaky and more than once have caught them crossing my trail behind me.

[Redhorse Ranch]

I'm a dedicated stump-sitter; my wife and son also. There's something about becoming part of the landscape that is really attractive to me. You get to see the darndest things. And a lot of really big unconcerned deer.

[wildwoods]

I think the best answer is to hunt how the situation demands.
My go to options usually include:
I’m not going to sit in my favourite bear area. I’m gonna wear off my rhino tires spotting and stalking. On the flip side, I have patterned elk to where I’ll sit tight to intercept between food and bed. Moose (when not rutting)for me (varies by the time of year too) is more of a still hunt (i.e.- walking very slowly and glassing like crazy to catch them before they catch you). Sheep is a sit and glass game and trying to stay mentally sharp. Antelope is a glass and manoeuvre game. Whitetail I usually find myself calling from a tree or ground blind. Wind is a huge factor in most of these as well.


There is really no best way to hunt “Alberta”. You hunt the best way to find success. To find success you need to learn habitat and what the game is doing in that particular area. Those lessons learned from hunting one area can usually be applied to other areas. It’s a maturing, learning process. The very best part of hunting in my opinion- unlocking secrets as you go to add to your arsenal of approach/ methods.

Above is listed the ways I will usually approach it. But I would have to say nearly every species requires you to be proficient in all forms and methods. The guys on this forum who successfully kill not just what they’re after, but big animals consistently will most likely agree that you need to adapt to the situation and employ a big bag of tricks.

My $.02

[burnme]

Originally Posted by wildwoods

I think the best answer is to hunt how the situation demands.
My go to options usually include:
I’m not going to sit in my favourite bear area. I’m gonna wear off my rhino tires spotting and stalking. On the flip side, I have patterned elk to where I’ll sit tight to intercept between food and bed. Moose (when not rutting)for me (varies by the time of year too) is more of a still hunt (i.e.- walking very slowly and glassing like crazy to catch them before they catch you). Sheep is a sit and glass game and trying to stay mentally sharp. Antelope is a glass and manoeuvre game. Whitetail I usually find myself calling from a tree or ground blind. Wind is a huge factor in most of these as well.


There is really no best way to hunt “Alberta”. You hunt the best way to find success. To find success you need to learn habitat and what the game is doing in that particular area. Those lessons learned from hunting one area can usually be applied to other areas. It’s a maturing, learning process. The very best part of hunting in my opinion- unlocking secrets as you go to add to your arsenal of approach/ methods.

Above is listed the ways I will usually approach it. But I would have to say nearly every species requires you to be proficient in all forms and methods. The guys on this forum who successfully kill not just what they’re after, but big animals consistently will most likely agree that you need to adapt to the situation and employ a big bag of tricks.

My $.02

Well put

And having a little luck!

[Bushleague]

Pretty much any style of hunting will work in AB, given half appropriate terrain. Personally I like to track or still hunt in big timber, simply because I rarely have to compete with other hunters, and because I enjoy it the most. I rarely spend a day wandering the game trails and looking at sign where I don't learn something interesting and useful, which I can not say of hunting a stand. Required gear is extremely minimal, and most of what you need to know can only be learned by covering ground and looking at tracks.

[thumper]

A very successful method for me, that I haven't seen mentioned yet is AMBUSH. In more open country, feeding animals often slowly 'drift' in a pretty consistent direction. Instead of trying to stalk them where they're at, be very still and wait until they're out of sight, and then stalk to where they're going to be.
I find that gives me lots of time to settle in, get comfortable and my breathing under control and then as the target comes into view I can take a good, clean, unhurried shot on an unsuspecting animal.

[Bushleague]

Originally Posted by thumper

A very successful method for me, that I haven't seen mentioned yet is AMBUSH. In more open country, feeding animals often slowly 'drift' in a pretty consistent direction. Instead of trying to stalk them where they're at, be very still and wait until they're out of sight, and then stalk to where they're going to be.
I find that gives me lots of time to settle in, get comfortable and my breathing under control and then as the target comes into view I can take a good, clean, unhurried shot on an unsuspecting animal.

I guess I would lump this in with spot and stalk, but I agree with you. Getting ahead of a moving animal is often a more successful strategy than trying to stalk a stationary one, albeit less precise and depending a little more on guesswork. I'm generally pretty comfortable with a fair degree of guesswork though, and all the benefits you listed are entirely true.

This can work in fairly dense country too when the variables are right, of course getting the guesswork right becomes more critical.

[Sledin]

I’m finding I see more bucks when I stay silent on my land, no calls or rattling.
Find what works where you are, I’ve shot my biggest bucks from stands where I can see my house and hear everything going on in my yard.


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[Gifted Intuitive]

If you are aware of what the experts do you will wonder how you haven't identified or adopted this hunting style. It is known as the "Nothing Upstairs Hunting Style".
You will pay major dollars to hunt with a guide who has perfected this technique. You see this technique in hunting magazines and on TV shows.
The "Nothing Upstairs Hunting" technique requires wearing the most current and expensive hunting fashion but only from the neck down. From the neck up you wear a big black (or some other color) western style hat that does not have a camo pattern.

[Speckle55]

just use a bunch of infra-red Drones that fly a grid pattern

pattern your target animal

set up camera's in area

take lawn chair with a pop up blind where wind is not a factor

take a buddie heater

make sure you wait 6 hours

shoot said target

Good luck

David

Food for Thought ;

[Kurt505]

The key to killing big bucks is you have to hunt them where they are. To hunt them where they are you have to understand their patterns, not just daily patterns but yearly patterns.

Early season, August-September before the rut and while the crops are still standing, glass them then set up between their food sources and their beds. Things change once the crops come off, October-early November, I set up a little ways in from food sources and set up on scrape lines, this is when I find grunts and rattles work the best. Often I’ve seen bucks taken in the mid morning to noon type times.

Trail cams are great to see what’s in the area, but when the rut hits in Alberta, that area can consist of 100sq miles. Sounds crazy? I watched a buck one evening, then the next morning I saw the same buck 7 miles away..... and that was just over night! After seeing that it changed my way of thinking. Instead of hunting the areas I seen bucks in August through October, when the rut hits I set up on key travel routes. This can be something as simple as fence rows in between fields, creek beds that run through wide open fields, natural corridors in bushes is a no brainer. This is my favorite time to hunt whitetail, it’s often the time you’ll see deer you haven’t seen all year, not even on trail cams.

My favorite style of hunting is still hunting, however it’s no where near as effective as ambush hunting. Watching your wind and waiting them out is your best bet.

[Dick284]

I am having outstanding results setting up over looking natural funnels or choke points that deer like to use. This is on private land, and what I’ve found is once the dawn breaks into daylight, or once that slightly inkiness begins in the evening the deer will travel in the relative comfort of the bush, they really dislike being in the wide open for long. Finding that narrow finger of bush that connects two larger pieces of bush, with perhaps a fence line or a surveyors slash line bisecting it is the perfect scenario.