Hello friends!
First off, Bravo to the folks putting up information & to all the hunters in Suffield that were willing to chat & share while we were on the base.
I want to give my quick synopsis of the hunt having never been there before.
Mornings: we stayed at a hotel in Brooks, were up at 4:15 every morning & packed & ready to go. Quick stop at Uncle Ronalds Steakhouse for a coffee & a mcmuffin and on the hwy. arrived in Ralston around 5:30 every morning. First 2 days the military personnel were there getting people registered even though the gates didnt open until 6 on the info package. 3rd day (due to temps no doubt) they didnt come out until 6 on the nose. Briefing is really well laid out, easy to follow. A few forms to fill out and its all quite self explanatory. You will be asked if you want to go into the north or south NWA (hiking only) and if you do, you need to have a compass or gps & a flashlight of some kind with you (have to show it when entering into the base).
Day 1 - no idea on strategy. Drive across the base to the North NWA (took a solid 40 mins on good roads as the speed limit is 50. See a herd off Mule Deer road, try to make a move, unpredictable as they are being pushed around by a bunch of different groups. After 2 attempts at getting to them (never got within 1000 yards) decided to do some driving, thats when the size of the base really set in! Place is HUGE. Saw nothing else that day.
Day 2 - boots on the ground. Approx 18 kms of hiking. North part of the north NWA we find a group of 15 bulls, really cool to see but I only have cow tags! Move farther into the north & go for another hike. Every rise we came over it felt like a herd would be there but it was nothing but vast rolling hills! A far more entertaining day, but I have not put a round in the chamber yet. Pulled one truck out that was waiting for a tow truck as they were pretty buried.
Day 3 - we are in Alberta, lets burn some fuel! After some consult with base personnel & fish & wildlife, we decide to put in for the south NWA as most animals had been shot in there. Spot a small herd first thing, make a move but a snowed in road slowed up those plans. Keep moving is what we kept telling ourselves. After glassing a coulee a few times, we were sitting at the top of it when we look in the rear view of the truck & there is a group of 8 standing there. Slowly exit truck, a group of 100 + comes over the hill! Very cool to see. They were also nice enough to lineup and cross infront of us & I was able to take a big cow, pretty exciting.
If I were to do that hunt again, I would do a couple of things differently.
-1st morning I would be first in line for the briefing, giving you advantage of being first guy out there. I believe that resulted in elk for a couple guys in the north NWA.
-either commit to hiking or commit to driving, either way you’ll probably find something but you need to cover some ground, again, the place is huge.
-talk to everybody, most people there are great & want to share information, including base personnel
-be sure you can accurately shoot 400 yards plus, some long pokes to be taken out there
-if your old hunting truck is a gas guzzler, Id bring some extra fuel along. Lots of idling time in the morning, plus the drive there, plus the driving on base & the gas station will be closed on the way out if you are there on a weekend. Day 1 I burned 3/4 of a 90L tank pretty easily & that was with half of the driving a guy could do
-be ready for wind (clothing wise, goretex or similar wind blocker)
Please, dont be like the d bags that were standing & shooting at a herd from 500 yards away with a 30 km/h crosswind. Thats all Ill say about that.
The travel lodge in Brooks pricing reflects the shape of the place, but it worked.
I hope this helps anyone looking for info if its their first time there! Now if you’ll excuse me, Ive got some meat to cut. [emoji482]
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