|
12-27-2022, 02:27 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
Late Season Archery - The Ups & Downs
Bit of a tale to share on this one.
Quite a few downs, but enough Ups to make one smile in the long run...
First Downer:
the evening before I was set to wander, I was pretty well packed.
Last thing was to collect my usual gifts of halibut and ling cod for those I visit over on the mainland.
Went into the fish freezer, and grabbed a few packages.
Only crystally, NOT frozen.
Oh No!! :Yikes!:
A day or two previously the freezer had failed.
Lost over 200 lbs of the good stuff, only managing to save around 60 pounds (of which 2/3rds went to my Buddies...)
Took well into the night to clean up the mess and make arrangements for the failed freezer to be removed in my absence.
Almost cried...
The next I was on the early ferry, and off to visit a great Buddy in Vancouver.
Had an excellent night, and told tales while sipping incredibly good rum well into the night.
Made for a little later start to my day, but... I had all day to make Kelowna.
Highways were good up to the Hope Princeton run.
4x4 and 65 Kph all the way.
Then a hold up from construction around Summerland.
But made it safe and sound to a great reunion with my Hunting Partner & his Family.
His pup Zulu really remembered me, and why I was there.
The bond became instant with him once again, and to Tad's chagrin, stayed that way my entire visit!
Off to bed early in anticipation of a very early departure...
|
12-27-2022, 02:34 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
Up in the wee hours, and a run from Kelowna to one of our favorite haunts near Rock Creek.
Got there with plenty of time to chain up which was very much required.
2 - 2.5 feet of snow greeted us, and we simply knew it was going to be tough just getting into the areas we hunt.
Over the course of that day we counted 50 whitetails on the nose.
Two provided opportunities, which we promptly blew in rapid order!
Getting close to a whitetail in the deep of snow was proving to be a challenge.
But with so many sightings, I literally figured This will be a cake-walk...
Wrong...
|
12-27-2022, 02:40 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
The next day we went into the same area of course.
That day ended up being a bust.
We only had 6 sightings and it was like all of them had bottle rockets up their butts!
Exploding and running far to far away each and every time.
Two rather nice bucks though.
And we endured the first of several tire chain failures.
The deep snow and messy conditions were taking their toll.
Lost two chains, but recovered one of them
That evening we Jerry rigged the one we found so it was at least serviceable.
Decided to take a short day the next and hunt closer to home.
The truck simply could barely manage it's way with but 2 chains on and eventually we ended up burying her.
After getting out of that mess, we decided to call it even shorter and go in search of more chains...
Did not find any (even the major outlets were sold out!) so repaired another old set my Buddy had.
Saw ONE whitetail that day.
Still not overly worried...
|
12-27-2022, 02:47 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
Up early and back down to our original spot.
Four chains again, so getting in there was dicey but do-able.
Saw a few deer, but no real opportunities.
Moving from one spot to another, the truck began to slide around again.
Yep - another chain gone the way of the dodo.
Put in some more effort on foot to no avail.
Total sightings: 7 for the day.
All spooky...
Worry starting to rear it's ugly head...
|
12-27-2022, 02:55 PM
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2022
Location: Spruce Grove, AB
Posts: 231
|
|
I'll wait with bated breath for the next installment of "Late Season Archery-The Ups & Downs"
|
12-27-2022, 02:56 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
My Partner had to catch up at work the next afternoon, so we did another short trip locally (West Side Road area).
Saw a small family group of whitetails, and a single Mulie.
Headed back to town and I suggested we have a quick look at a little area we have enjoyed success in years past...
Heck of a lot less snow in there as it is a lot lower down than our other areas.
Barely got into there and recognized some large bodies laying under a big old pine.
Sneak in and it turned out to be four of the rams that live in that spot:
One was a real Cranker, and the one behind him that is still bedded would have been too if only he had not sheared off one side fighting:
Wandered home and I spent the balance of the day seeking new chains within casting distance.
No Luck.
We called a buddy who lives by Lumby (having had some good success there historically).
Ge suggested an area we were not familiar with, but with only 3 chains we decided to give that a whirl...
Got there in the early to find sledders running everywhere.
Checked a few of our other spots, down that way.
Ended up seeing ONE whitetail that day...
Worry setting in now...
|
12-27-2022, 03:05 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
Managed to fix another spare chain, so set off to the Rock Creek area once again.
Not meant to be.
More chain issues, conditions were just too tough.
Set out back towards Kelowna, stopping at each small town to search for replacement chains.
All told this trip we lost 3 chains, and snapped four (managing to recover those though).
In Osoyoos of all places we found a set of good V-Bars that would fit.
Next couple of days are a whirlwind of hunting for no opportunities.
At the end of day eight I was pretty well resigned to that fact of going home empty...
|
12-27-2022, 06:07 PM
|
|
Moderator
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: A bit North o' Center...
Posts: 11,150
|
|
Excellent write-up, Nov! Congratulations on your hunt.
|
12-28-2022, 06:04 AM
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 617
|
|
Sounds like a great hunt.
Congrats.
__________________
winner of the first annual CoyoteHunter.net tournament seiries.
|
12-28-2022, 09:35 AM
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Edmonton
Posts: 8,328
|
|
Great story to read. Congrats on your successful trip. Sorry for the loss of your freezer and all the contents. Lots of hard work went into filling that box.
BW
|
12-28-2022, 03:42 PM
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Gods Country
Posts: 673
|
|
Had to work for that venison. Tough go, but sounds like a super rewarding hunt, congrats!
And really sorry to hear about the freezer, awful to think of all that delicious seafood being wasted.
DR
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
|
12-29-2022, 10:18 AM
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,711
|
|
Congrats...Sounds like a tough hunt! Just wondering what the price of tire chains are now?
|
12-29-2022, 12:21 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by pikeslayer22
Congrats...Sounds like a tough hunt! Just wondering what the price of tire chains are now?
|
$ 140 - $ 175 per set.
Cheers
|
12-29-2022, 02:44 PM
|
Banned
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC
Posts: 3,444
|
|
Interesting point I forgot...
That final day in Rock Creek we saw a healthy Cougar.
Season was open.
Had a tag.
But don't usually carry a rifle when bowhunting (obvious reasons).
It was out just over 100 yards.
May have to revisit the rifle packing consideration down the road...
Cheers,
Nog
|
12-30-2022, 07:52 AM
|
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: At the end of the Thirsty Beaver Trail, Pinsky lake, Alberta.
Posts: 24,607
|
|
Sounds like the complete trip that worked out in the end.
Imagine if you put a cost per bite on a meal
I was asked that once and said 20 to 100 bucks depending.....got a weird look.
__________________
Be careful when you follow the masses, sometimes the "M" is silent...
|
Posting Rules
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:43 AM.
|