Strathcona Whitetail Season 2017 UPDATE
 

It's on!
Been into my little haven about 4 times now. Have yet to not lay eyes on a deer. There have been more bucks than does.
My typical hunting threads happen after the shot so I thought it would be cool to document this season as it progresses.
I sat the other night and was busted by 5 antlerless deer at 35 yards. The wind was contrary and swirling so I was happy to have gotten in that tight.
Last night I had a half decent 5x4 come out on his own. I will not be picky with this tag at all (like usual) BTW. Came to 90 yards, this time with perfect wind, but had other plans for travel. Instead of hugging the treeline and working north, he went with the wind to the south. Oh well. I quietly slipped out as to not disturb his pattern.
Tonight, he came out with two buddies. I though at first it was mamma deer with her little ones. Binos confirmed it was ole 5x4 and 3 young friends. The small guy is like Elliot from "Open Season"- a one antlered wonder haha.
They came my way this time and disappeared in the bush at 80-90 yards. Come on boys! They walked parallel to my hay bale and didn't come back out.
Two little fellas, who came late to the party, decided that walking past my hay bale was a safe play. They guessed right. At 35 yards I drew on the first guy and he bolted ten yards into the bush at draw. The second little guy kept coming only to flee at my draw. Note to self: come to full draw before they come into sight- check....

I will keep documenting as I go. I'm sure that I know exactly where they are bedding and coming out at. I will be rolling that hay bale closer to the low part of the barb wire where they cross. That part seems constant so far and may be my ticket to folding a 248 tag!

Heading north for my wifes first ever deer hunt (finally got her course passed and PAL done). Kids are being babysat this weekend so time to fill some tags!

Pics below
w.w. out

Here they come: second pic is the spooked 35 yarder.
That wide little 3x3 is a funny looking deer for sure.

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Sounds like you've got a productive area, your persistence should pay off. I saw lots of deer on the move in Strathcona tonight as well, looking forward to hopefully closing a tag there tomorrow. Good luck!

Looking forward to seeing pics of one on the ground buddy!

Good luck

Awesome! Good luck!

Best of luck! Sounds like you're getting some good activity there.

Slow on my grounds.
 

Nice action. I have not been enjoying similar in my haunts. Not sure what’s going on and in that line of thought, I’ve been on a serious roll of successfully getting permission on some new properties late in the game. Pretty nice hearing a yes or two! Best of luck. The all day sits begin soon enough.

Gotta love permission. Especially when you're excepting

Strathcona Whitetail Season 2017
 

Went in today to move cams around and make a mock scrape. It's rubbed and scraped out in there like nuts. While setting up the camera I had two deer come out of the bedding area for a visit. No bow in hand and I was busted immediately anyways. Cool to see them moving during midday. Here is the Ridgetech live camera at work. Time to head up north though for my wife's deer hunt.....
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Such a great spot buddy. Hope you connect in there. Some good looking deer!!


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Hahaha smelliot. Great movie

Good idea on the thread. Will be watching the pics from start to end ... of life

Park road
 

x2 good luck

Beautiful looking buck!
 

You'd better keep us up to date you tease.

Went out this morning in Strathcona county, saw lots of tracks from a few days ago but nothing fresh, nor a single rub..little odd but still lots of time..did kick up 3 ruffies tho but left the bird shot at home for the day. :sign0161: be nice to harvest a deer this year, been 3 years since my last! :fighting0030:

Haha sorry.
Saw three does in there on Tuesday. We are up north hunting private land now so the county is on hold till next week. Passed up a couple today:

Rattled this guy right in today: https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0b8ba5cf55.jpg
And this guy was cruising. Passed on him too:https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...76bc037fa7.jpg


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I've had action steady, rattled in 3 different bucks in the last 7 days, all little runts.

Strathcona Whitetail Season 2017
 

Back from my annual Northern AB whitey hunt. Back in 248 for tonight's sit. We went behind the ole hay bale and saw a doe that was being harassed by a small buck. My wife and I rolled the bale a little closer to where they cross as that is a fork in the trail. Up the odds a bit. Prior to that they escaped out of range and unharmed. Well that's a matter of opinion as that skippy little buck was sure being forward....https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...c6bf764a8c.jpg

Four shots heard in three days on properties that border where I’ve been focussing. This marks the first year I’ve not seen a whopper there and I’m fearing the worst for a couple really nice up and comers that were being far to visible for their own good. I have seen a buck in the darkness on the way in and out that has a big frame but I swear he’s camera shy. Luckily the wind has been in my favour when I’ve seen him and he hasn’t made me. Haven’t seen any major cruising action midday yet but I know it’s coming. Could have arrowed 8 does and fawns this evening but not an antlered beast following a one. Couldn’t believe it.

Great thread.
So many deer out that way and so little permission given...usually makes for great hunting if you're one of the lucky one's.
Good luck out there!

These pics make me jealous
 

X2, I’ve been trying my luck on a chunk of crown land and still haven’t seen anything -_- looks like year 3 of tag soup for me....lol :angry3:

Thanks Boys! Heading in a few mins to see what's happening. Hoping to be reporting a kill tonight!

Good luck, Wildwoods! Hope you get a cranker!

Strathcona Whitetail Season 2017
 

Ah nuts. Doe and fawn 50 yards. No buck tonight. Picture of a video so quality is not great. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...94768ae9e4.jpg

Sounds like everything is "locked down" right now

Thank the Lord for small mercies being on crown man. I had a voicemail from the guy who rents the one property I hunt on. “Hey, I moved one of your cameras a little ways to the west. I hope there wasn’t anything else in where I was brushing with the cat.” Well, I haven’t seen where this occurred yet but there are limited options to where a cam could be moved west so I’m betting I’m down two other cameras buried in brush piles. The call is a little after the fact bud. Right on.:angry3:

I am of similar opinion but I went and froze my butt off today and had two lone bucks come cruising by mid day about 25 minutes apart. Noses down and working into the cross wind. Broke up the day a bit.

I don't think so. Not sure how much I subscribe to that school of thought. I think the bucks are still going hard after potential concubines. Although this is the first sit without seeing a buck

Agreed, probably in the next couple days though. I saw 6-8 bucks pushing/chasing does yesterday and today. Fun times!

Just closing out this thread for the year. Been spending less time on AO these days but wanted to sum this up.
So out of the +- 12-15 sits, I only have 3 times where deer did not come out. Having only hunted this field this year only, it took a few sits and some camera intel to get a grip on exactly where and when the deer traveled. It was almost like clockwork in the early going. The bucks were coming from the east and came about 250 yards to the west. From there they usually crossed the barbed wire at a low spot and decided whether to head north into a patch of bush or south into the hay field. Once I established that pattern, I moved my set up to that crossing and had a lot of close calls with flat tops, but the bucks dried up towards peak rut for whatever reason. One morning alone I had 4 antlerless deer 30-50 yards swirling around me. It's an absolute paradise in there. I had my target buck (a big fork horn-hilariously big for a forky) cross a field at 90 yards, nose to the ground where of course I did not have permission. I know for certain this area will produce a good buck for me. Now that I have the upper hand on intel, I will be able to get into bow range next year right from the get go. The closest I came to the 2 bucks I wanted was about 90-100 yards on the land I hunted on. I was busted while drawing on 2 younger bucks, and was totally fine with that.
The cams will be deployed there early next fall to make sure that pattern stays the same. There's no reason it won't as it's such a perfectly funneled corridor.
Had a great time and saw countless deer. Having it 800 yards from my front door was a huge privilege.