Requesting adventure advice: father-son hunting trip

[Matt1212]

Hello everyone!

Two close friends of mine have mentioned doing a father son hunting trip together. Our fathers are close and have various levels of hunting experience. We haven't hunted much together and want to try and tackle a grand hunting adventure before they get too old.

We are all fit and have been on many backcountry camping trips together.

As with most hunters, we value the experience over the result. My initial thought was to Elk hunt in the general 400's since we can get some mountain hiking and adventuring in. But now I am not so sure.

Does anyone have any recommendations on fun hunting adventures (paid or not) that 3 young guys and their fathers could go on?

Cheers,

[nimrod]

Contact Dan at At Andrew lake lodge, for a moose hunt, fly in north of Fort McMurry

[marky_mark]

What’s your budget
Can you travel
How long can you leave for
What do you value more? The adventure or the hunt?

[roper1]

Your budget is the deciding factor. A wall tent set up in off-road camping in the Castle cheap wonderful adventure.

My son has taken 4 six-point bulls out of there. Not giants, but he has some of them from other draw zones.

[hilt134]

Originally Posted by Matt1212

Hello everyone!

Two close friends of mine have mentioned doing a father son hunting trip together. Our fathers are close and have various levels of hunting experience. We haven't hunted much together and want to try and tackle a grand hunting adventure before they get too old.

We are all fit and have been on many backcountry camping trips together.

As with most hunters, we value the experience over the result. My initial thought was to Elk hunt in the general 400's since we can get some mountain hiking and adventuring in. But now I am not so sure.

Does anyone have any recommendations on fun hunting adventures (paid or not) that 3 young guys and their fathers could go on?

Cheers,

Depends on your budget. If you all happen to be rich miners go do a caribou guided trip you’ll remember for a life time. If your budget is low you could definitely do an ek hunt, may have to be archery depending on draw status.

Personally I’d go a bit differently and do an upland adventure in the states. Try and go for a slam in the dakotas or something. Biggest reasons being you can do the tenting but the hunting lends itself to getting to know your family better

[pikergolf]

Get an outfitter to haul you into the backcountry on horseback, set up camp spend 10 days hunting whatever and then get hauled out. The hunt and experience is the thing not the killing. My dream hunt anyway. 10 days solitude with dad, nice.

[sns2]

Originally Posted by nimrod

Contact Dan at At Andrew lake lodge, for a moose hunt, fly in north of Fort McMurry

All kinds of great advice, but calling Dan @ Andrew Lake Lodge would be my choice also.

More importantly, good on you boys for thinking of your dads in this way.

[huntinstuff]

Six guys in an aircraft? That will cost you....

[Cottus]

6 people of various abilities across two generations: my biggest advice would be to schedule a guided hunt of some kind. That is a lot of talent to try to wrangle effectively unless one of you is very good at wilderness leadership. A good guide/planner will make it a lot smoother. I'd look ahead more than a year (like fall '23) in order to get some training in as a group AND to get the finances in order.

A supported horseback pack-in elk hunt in the Willmore would be pretty grand and somewhat scalable to your experience and budget.

[calgarychef]

You couldn’t go wrong by going to Africa…

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by calgarychef

You couldn’t go wrong by going to Africa…

I agree. If you are going to do a guided hunt you can easily get 5 times the experience, top notch accommodation, food and variety of animals on one trip, for less cost by going to South Africa. There are all kinds of great deals being advertised right now, with almost immediate availability. Including economy air fare, you can likely go for 8 days 5 animals each for about $6000 a head. If you do a meat/cull hunt, it could easily be less than that. Most guided bear hunts in Canada start at $5,000 for 4 days, but that too is an option, and you can go this spring if you want.

[JohnB]

Wyoming antelope hunt.

[thumper]

x3 on Africa. Even if a couple of participants aren't that keen on hard-core hunting, they'll still enjoy it, and it will be a common link amongst the participants that they'll share their entire lives.

[7magtime]

Originally Posted by JohnB

Wyoming antelope hunt.

I was thinking this too.
It’s a good excuse for a boys road trip too that adds to the experience….

[Bigwoodsman]

If you have a 12 or 14ft tinner or two, floating a northern Alberta river for moose during the rut can be an adventure.

Back when I was younger, Dad and I would do this, along with a good friend of dads and his son. We would go up highway 88 to where the Wabasca crossed then float down to the Loon. The other two would float the Loon down to the Wabasca. Good times in the late '70's early '80's. Also did this about 20 years ago with Dad on one of his last hunts. Great memories.

Floating Rivers like the Wabasca or Peace during calling season is an exciting hunt. Spot and stalk is also possible.

BW

[HuntingAlberta]

Most of the mountain zones take a few years to draw an elk tag. Some of the northern zones in the mountains are OTC tags. If you go into some of the northern mountain zones, they are world class hunting but big country. They will chew you up and spit you out.

My recommendation would be to find a place you can get tags for several species. If you go into the mountains you can hunt Elk, Deer, Sheep, Bear, Wolf all from the same camp.

If you are archery hunters, even better.

Be prepared for long days of not seeing lots until you learn a zone and area.

Be careful in the mountains as the fall can and will throw everything it can at you. Wind, Snow, Rain, Bears, long boring days, and will really tear apart a crew of friends who don't mesh in the outdoors together.

[MyAlberta]

For real together time I'd suggest a guided waterfowl hunt in Sask. Snows pouring into decs with barrels smoking is a wonderful thing as a group. Big game is sacred, alone time.