2022 Harvest Thread

[goldscud]

Nice deer for you Dad H380.
Did you see many quality deer in your travels? One of ranchers I spoke with said it was "sim pickins" this year

[Mistagin]

Although I'm no longer in Alberta I still regularly keep connected to ya'll via AO. And love seeing your pics and hearing the stories. Brings good memories of my time hunting in Alberta.

I just got home from hunting WT with my younger son on a new property he bought just 5 km from his house - 50 acres surrounded by over 500 acres of public land in Eastern Ontario (I found it for him). He got possession of it on November 4 and the firearm season started Nov 7. We got 2 bucks off it. He got both of them, one a 4 X 4 with one little additional sticker, taken on opening morning, and the other was either a 3 X 3 or possible 3 X 4; we couldn't really tell because the left antler was broken off and only had 2 points left. So we 'tagged out' . Pretty good for the first season on a new property! Sorry, no pics to share. And amazingly there was very little hunting pressure!

Trail cams showed at least 6 or 7 bucks regularly transiting the property as well as several does. Looks like it'll be a great place for local hunting!

There were also trail cam pics of at least 3 bears, one of them a big guy! My son is thrilled and is already making plans for hunting bear in the spring. We'll by busy studying the property, determining best locations and making strategically placed blinds, tower stands and ladder stands - and a feed plot; and hopefully a small hunt cabin .

Being so close to his house we can legally drive the quads right from there to the property. Lots of adventures to come, I'm sure.

[no-regard]

I got my antlered muley on Friday. Had a great 6 days of hunting over the past 3 weeks, quite a few miles on the boots, all sorts of weather though mostly sunny and very little wind which was nice - a couple days were nasty though. 6 trips down to the area I was hunting cost about $600 in diesel, I was starting to worry about that after awhile but the wife told me to get out as much as I could and enjoy it, so I did!

I'm very thankful to the land owners who granted me permission, especially on the property where I finally squeezed the trigger. I didn't realize it but the owner was glassing the property and myself from afar, he was watching me make my way across the 1.5 sections, taking my time. I had set up to sit for awhile when he drove up right beside me. The offer to drive me around a bit ( he knew there were no deer likely close by) and save some time was quickly accepted. I had a quick glimpse of what looked like a good buck earlier in the morning, after a short drive we found him bedded, made short work of the shot and then loaded it into his truck for a drive out!

3 of the 4 bucks I saw that morning were bedded down all alone, I was surprised at that.

I also didn't see much for sizeable bucks, down South in 108. I suspect the dry spring has something to do with that?



Spent the day making soup yesterday. Somewhat an interesting set of antlers: one set of forks broken off, traces of velvet still on, some of the tips are a little bladed. I'm happy.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Great to see you on here again, Mistagin! Sounds like you have a great spot set up. Nice!

[goldscud]

Interesting buck No-regard. Sounds like you had fun searching.
It seems lots of tags given out over the last few years has been hard on the quality buck numbers down south

[goldscud]

First of all, thanks to the lease owner for allowing me access for a good hike through the sharptail infested prairie.
The day before I had hiked in to some distant coulees to see what I could find. I found a bunch of does and small bucks. There didn't seem to be any big bucks around. I carried on to get a look at a single dark spot on a steep, snow covered slope. I got into position to get a good look at the big bodied deer bedded broadside to me, but he was missing a point. I watched him for quite a while before leaving him be.
The next morning I glassed some deer in the same area and there was a buck dogging a doe. Another good hike brought me into the willows where I had glassed the deer. It was tough going through the deep snow that the wind had deposited in the willows, but a short while later I was 40yd from a healthy 3pt staring me down. After a couple of minutes he collected his girlfriend and trotted over a ridge.
I wandered a bit farther to get to a spot for glassing. Right away I spot a buck bedded broadside to me a couple of valleys over. Well, he looks familiar.
10 minutes later a fox is sneaking up on this deer in his bed. The fox gets 10yds away from the deer and the deer never moves. Finally the fox gets upwind of the buck and he stands up. By now I am pretty convinced he is the loner buck from the day before. I decided the fox was a sign that this was going to be my target. So a shot rang out as he stood in his bed. Then I had to wade through some drifts and a couple of valleys to get to him.
Gutless method and then I went half way back to the truck with loins/trim for the stashed toboggan. Back up the ridge again to get the next load. It was a good work out dragging a tobaggan through the various valleys while flushing dozens of Sharptails and Huns. It was a great adventure not to be forgotten

[Stinky Buffalo]

no-regard, that's a unique buck for sure! Nicely done.

Great story, Goldscud. That's some great memories you made there.

[no-regard]

Originally Posted by goldscud

It was a great adventure not to be forgotten

Nice deer, and great story. Congrats.

[DiabeticKripple]

Well my 2022 season is over. I hunted quite a bit, about 15 days in the field.

Tried out waterfowl for the first time and that was a blast. I will be getting my own decoy spread this off season.

I was a part of the most big game kills this year by far. I helped on 6 animals and got one of my own. My brother and my coworker got both of their first bucks, and my brother in law got his 2 deer this year as well.

My fiancé shot her first two elk, both were male calves. Best meat ever.

One of the elk hanging from my winch


One calf


Second calf


Coworker and his first deer. We figure the skull is fractured and the antler spun around and then healed upside down.


Brother in law and his mule doe


My mule doe


Brother in laws Whitetail buck


My brothers first deer ever

[goldscud]

Good show on all the firsts. Some fine food there

[lastlatvian]

Danielle Smith is going to ruin this province like Liz Truss did the UK. At least the bucks are tall this year.

[brie21]

managed to fill my draw tag on a nice mulie buck. Lots of miles walked as the pasture road conditions were rough. Learned a lot about how to find deer in a high pressure area with the tough conditions leaving me not interested in travelling deeper in to the pasture. This was the first time targeting a buck rather than just shooting the first antlered deer in front of me. Seen, watched and passed on plenty of little guys. Had a few maybe moments, followed by the "was that the right call" question that lingered in my mind. When I looked up and saw this one bedded on a hill unaware of me there was no question that he was the one I was looking for.

[Mark Huff]

Spotted him bedded down around 8:30am. Stalked to 150 yards, he stood up, and I shot him in the heart. He ran 20 yards, then died in a pile, legs under him.

[Demonical]

A couple more nice bucks in the '22 harvest thread!

[H380]

Originally Posted by goldscud

Nice deer for you Dad H380.

Did you see many quality deer in your travels? One of ranchers I spoke with said it was "sim pickins" this year

Deer are few and far between thanx to bios and his approach to management .. a few good bucks taken but many "off beats " - big 3x3s ,forkys and such ,all mature deer and doe numbers way down as a result of constant double tagging and hi tag number give outs .. mule definitely on the decline in this border zone. Don't consider this as a tricky zone any longer .

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[58thecat]

Well done folks!

My muley hunt starts today.


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[goldscud]

Nice deer Mark H. Sounds like a great stalk

[H380]

Starting snaring early to help out a.rancher having coyote problems. Checked snares today and 3 in 10 sets then finished up the deer season with my mule deer .Left the gutpile to prebait the area for more snares ..a real.multitasker I am ..lol.

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[Demonical]

NICE mulie!

[DRhunter]

Great buck H380!

Lots of great trophies being posted. Thanks all for sharing.

DR


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[reddeerhunter]

Sucker for 3x3. Great season all.


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[300magman]

Originally Posted by H380

Starting snaring early to help out a.rancher having coyote problems. Checked snares today and 3 in 10 sets then finished up the deer season with my mule deer .Left the gutpile to prebait the area for more snares ..a real.multitasker I am ..lol.

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Heck of a nice deer Cam!

[Smokinyotes]

Well done

[antlercarver]

Originally Posted by RACKER

Im not quite sure posting a pic of a porcupine is the best thing to do in the harvest thread.Thats just me.One of the toughest animals to pursue ive heard.

Porcupine is some of the best meat. After hunting for 60+ years, several moose deer, few elk, antelope, some bears, wild boar, buffalo, different birds fish ect.

[fishnguy]

Heck of a buck there, H380!

Congrats to all on their harvests!

[RoOkIe86]

I spotted a herd in a creek valley at about 500 yards so I figured I'd creep in and get closer. I got to a decent spot about 100 yards from the valley edge and was getting situated to sit and hit a few calls to see if I could bring them in and as I was grabbing my call the herd came over the edge about 350 yards south of me and trotted right towards me so I got the rifle set on the shooting sticks and looked for the biggest doe I could find and she happened to be the closest one and she stopped at 112 yards looking straight at me. I debated waiting for her to broadside me but the rest of the herd was starting to move so I squeezed the trigger and the .270 spat out a 130gr winchester XP and heard a good 'whack' and she dropped right where she stood. Might not be the biggest muley doe around but she popped my cherry and I couldnt be happier with a good quick kill

[goldscud]

Awesome H380!

[Buckshot82]

After an unsuccessful archery season finally got it done on my last day out for rifle season. Not a monster but hey, can’t eat the horns

[DRhunter]

Didn’t have as much time this November to get out, but was able to fill a mulie tag yesterday morning.. should be a good eater!



Congrats on all the successful hunts this year. Already looking forward to next year!

DR


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[Peebles]

I spoiled a chance at this buck earlier this week while hunting with my wife. I spooked a doe and he took off the wrong way for a shot when he otherwise would have followed her right up to me. Whoops! I checked out the area he went to and found his scrape line for future reference.

Next time we were out hunting I decided to end the night sitting on a comfortable bump maybe thirty feet away from the intersection of his trail and the seismic line. Seven minutes before legal guess who decided to come back for another sniff. He hadn't even stepped out into the open nevertheless I had a clear line of sight. The sling my father made me was already half slung and my BLR .243 at the ready, so I raised it, cocked the hammer, got the perfect sight in my 6x42, and squeezed the trigger in a fluid motion from awareness to realisation to action that took less than five seconds.