What a week, smoking hot one day with bugs so bad you could hardly breath, to rain/sleet, wet snow and -7C temps in the morning. We didn't know what to expect. Only one bull and one cow were spotted during the week after countless miles paddling the river but no shot was taken on the bull due to the circumstances. Finally on the last day with two hours of paddling left, this bull could be heard 100 meters away grunting as he crossed the river. He was taken by my son, Sam on the left bank of the river in the nice dry grass. Unfortunately it jumped into the water and expired in the river; it took two hours to winch it out, . We ended up having a camp out beside it due to losing light and not being able to make it down river safely. Luckily our hunting partner was able to reach us by radio after we missed our pick up time to confirm we were spending the night and made arrangements for a second canoe to come down stream to pack out in the AM. Surprisingly this hunt was half as exciting as last year, but a lot more work due to the size of the animal. Were finally home and exhausted but happy we came home with at least one.
What a week, smoking hot one day with bugs so bad you could hardly breath, to rain/sleet, wet snow and -7C temps in the morning. We didn't know what to expect. Only one bull and one cow were spotted during the week after countless miles paddling the river but no shot was taken on the bull due to the circumstances. Finally on the last day with two hours of paddling left, this bull could be heard 100 meters away grunting as he crossed the river. He was taken by my son, Sam on the left bank of the river in the nice dry grass. Unfortunately it jumped into the water and expired in the river; it took two hours to winch it out, . We ended up having a camp out beside it due to losing light and not being able to make it down river safely. Luckily our hunting partner was able to reach us by radio after we missed our pick up time to confirm we were spending the night and made arrangements for a second canoe to come down stream to pack out in the AM. Surprisingly this hunt was half as exciting as last year, but a lot more work due to the size of the animal. Were finally home and exhausted but happy we came home with at least one.
congrats nice looking bull . looks like another father and son trip . sounds like it was some tough going , but I bet at the end it was like the clouds opened up ,the sun came shinning through , mutli rainbows arched the sky . songs birds started singing and everything in the world was great .... ok so that's a little bit thick , but you know the feeling . To take home a nice bull like that , with your son is memories for life.
What doesn't kill us , make us better hunters !!
__________________
Think about it ....every single corpse on Mt Everest...
Was a highly motivated person...
...stay lazy my friends
Thanks for all the congratulatory posts folks. We do find we get a tremendous amount of satisfaction hunting in this manner. Definitely adds to the adventure. I need a bigger canoe now I see. Anyone selling a 17' Coleman by chance?
Nice bull, reminds me of the days we used to paddle the Christina River. Had some good success and memories that will last a life time. Even the hunts we didn't score on were memorable.