deerhuntr4885
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LAST EDITED ON Jan-06-06 AT 01:31PM (MST)[p]Ok, here it is...
The second day of my hunt started my first white tail experience. My guide took me to The Majestic Ranch. I was told that this is the ranch Jackie Bushman films his Alberta hunts on. He is reserved a piece that is only hunted by him and the family.
We walked down to the river bottoms from the breaks above. The ranch is located on the Red Deer River. The ranch is about 20-25 miles long and at least 5-6 miles wide. I was put in my first tree stand. I hated it! I sat there about 3 hours and nothing walked under my stand. Scott finally came to me and said they were going to do a push for me in about an hour. It was extremely cold. The only sound you could hear was canada geese. They were everywhere, flying up and down the river. The sound was deafening. I did see one good muley pushing a doe around about a mile away in an alfalfa field. He looked like a dandy to me and I spent more time leaning out of that stand watching that buck then I did looking for WT.
I went to warm up for a few then started to walk back to the stand. As I stepped up on a small bluff I looked toward my stand and saw a buck cruising the brush line. He was coming towards me right under my tree. When he got closer he turned and entered the tree line. He was only a 3X3 but had long main beams. After the push brought nothing out I asked to do a little walking.
For the afternoon hunt we went to a series of deep ravines and started walking the tops, just like MD hunting. We saw one herd of MD that had 8 bucks in it. One was a monster. He was about 28 inches wide w/ really long sweeping main beams. He had massive fronts but his backs were a little weak. We still thought he'd go 180-185. I filmed him for a while then continued.
Later in the evening we found another huge MD. He was really tall and heavy and about 26 inches wide with really good forks. We then started spotting WT coming into the fields below. They were everywhere! We saw several small bucks but no big ones. We walked about a half mile and then spotted a good buck coming into a pivot about a mile away. He was really thick and his main beams went well past his nose. We could not see points from the distance we were at.
We left Manny behind and started running towards this field as it was about 20 minutes until dark. We got to the field but the buck bedded on the far side with no chance for a stalk in the failing light.
The next morning, my last day, we were driving to a new area of the ranch when I spotted a decent WT walking away from us. We got out to look and spotted another one coming towards the first. They both looked to be about 130 class bucks. They both disappeared in a depression and we took off after them. We lost one of them and stalked one for about 30 minutes. They were cruising fast looking for does and we were not able to intercept him.
We pushed the river bottom for about 2 miles and then decided to climb to the top of the breaks and walk the brushy tops. We saw MD everywhere. A few 170 bucks and a lot of does. Once on top we started along the top, back towards the truck. I was really starting to get nervous now as my hunt was winding down.
We pushed about 4 canyons when we jumped three MD does. They ran into the next canyon. When we reached that canyon they bumped a WT buck. All of a sudden I just saw this brown streak with a really wide rack come sprinting up the far side of the canyon out of the brush. It looked like a cougar the way it moved. Scott started yelling, "Big WT buck!"
Scott was holding my shooting sticks. The buck crested a finger ridge and disappeared into the next draw. I could see a trail crossing the hill on the far side of the draw. I began yelling at Scott to give me my sticks! Scott was yelling back,"We gotta go! We gotta go!" I just kept yelling at him to give me my sticks! Finally he realized what I wanted., He threw them to me and I dropped to one knee.
I got pointed towards the trail just as he came sprinting up it. He was running from my right to left. Just before he reached the top he stopped! Just like a MD. He stood there for just about one second and started to turn away when I pulled the trigger.
I saw him stagger and then crest the hill. I got out my range finder and it read 326 yards. Scott was jumping up and down wooping it up. Ok, so was I. He just yelled at me that I just shot a monster WT!
We hiked to the next draw and I found my buck laying on the trail about 100 yards away. He still had his head up so I put one more in him to finish the job. The closer I got, the bigger he looked. He was 24 inches wide and had 5 points on each side. His main beams were a little bladed. Scott said he was a 150-160 class buck and probably the biggest WT they would take this year. This part of Alberta does not grow the big monster WT that they get up north.
I just sat there holding his horns, looking down over a gorgeous river bottom, on cloud 9! I woulda taken a 120 buck for my first one and could not have been happier. In the end I ended up hunting him just like my MD hunting and that made it that much better. Back at camp he was scored at 156 and change.
Jack Franklin had a MD tag for this year. I had showed him the video of the 28 incher we saw the night before. When we got my buck to the butcher there was Jack. He had gone out and shot that deer for himself. I guess even residents have to wait to draw and this was Jack's first buck in 4 years.
I will try to post pics of that deer later. All in all I had a great hunt. Not sure I will go back though. Only reason being it was almost too easy. I think a lot of the satisfaction comes from having to sweat and struggle to harvest that dream deer. I'll stick to high country basins and sage covered rimrock coulees while I still can.
The second day of my hunt started my first white tail experience. My guide took me to The Majestic Ranch. I was told that this is the ranch Jackie Bushman films his Alberta hunts on. He is reserved a piece that is only hunted by him and the family.
We walked down to the river bottoms from the breaks above. The ranch is located on the Red Deer River. The ranch is about 20-25 miles long and at least 5-6 miles wide. I was put in my first tree stand. I hated it! I sat there about 3 hours and nothing walked under my stand. Scott finally came to me and said they were going to do a push for me in about an hour. It was extremely cold. The only sound you could hear was canada geese. They were everywhere, flying up and down the river. The sound was deafening. I did see one good muley pushing a doe around about a mile away in an alfalfa field. He looked like a dandy to me and I spent more time leaning out of that stand watching that buck then I did looking for WT.
I went to warm up for a few then started to walk back to the stand. As I stepped up on a small bluff I looked toward my stand and saw a buck cruising the brush line. He was coming towards me right under my tree. When he got closer he turned and entered the tree line. He was only a 3X3 but had long main beams. After the push brought nothing out I asked to do a little walking.
For the afternoon hunt we went to a series of deep ravines and started walking the tops, just like MD hunting. We saw one herd of MD that had 8 bucks in it. One was a monster. He was about 28 inches wide w/ really long sweeping main beams. He had massive fronts but his backs were a little weak. We still thought he'd go 180-185. I filmed him for a while then continued.
Later in the evening we found another huge MD. He was really tall and heavy and about 26 inches wide with really good forks. We then started spotting WT coming into the fields below. They were everywhere! We saw several small bucks but no big ones. We walked about a half mile and then spotted a good buck coming into a pivot about a mile away. He was really thick and his main beams went well past his nose. We could not see points from the distance we were at.
We left Manny behind and started running towards this field as it was about 20 minutes until dark. We got to the field but the buck bedded on the far side with no chance for a stalk in the failing light.
The next morning, my last day, we were driving to a new area of the ranch when I spotted a decent WT walking away from us. We got out to look and spotted another one coming towards the first. They both looked to be about 130 class bucks. They both disappeared in a depression and we took off after them. We lost one of them and stalked one for about 30 minutes. They were cruising fast looking for does and we were not able to intercept him.
We pushed the river bottom for about 2 miles and then decided to climb to the top of the breaks and walk the brushy tops. We saw MD everywhere. A few 170 bucks and a lot of does. Once on top we started along the top, back towards the truck. I was really starting to get nervous now as my hunt was winding down.
We pushed about 4 canyons when we jumped three MD does. They ran into the next canyon. When we reached that canyon they bumped a WT buck. All of a sudden I just saw this brown streak with a really wide rack come sprinting up the far side of the canyon out of the brush. It looked like a cougar the way it moved. Scott started yelling, "Big WT buck!"
Scott was holding my shooting sticks. The buck crested a finger ridge and disappeared into the next draw. I could see a trail crossing the hill on the far side of the draw. I began yelling at Scott to give me my sticks! Scott was yelling back,"We gotta go! We gotta go!" I just kept yelling at him to give me my sticks! Finally he realized what I wanted., He threw them to me and I dropped to one knee.
I got pointed towards the trail just as he came sprinting up it. He was running from my right to left. Just before he reached the top he stopped! Just like a MD. He stood there for just about one second and started to turn away when I pulled the trigger.
I saw him stagger and then crest the hill. I got out my range finder and it read 326 yards. Scott was jumping up and down wooping it up. Ok, so was I. He just yelled at me that I just shot a monster WT!
We hiked to the next draw and I found my buck laying on the trail about 100 yards away. He still had his head up so I put one more in him to finish the job. The closer I got, the bigger he looked. He was 24 inches wide and had 5 points on each side. His main beams were a little bladed. Scott said he was a 150-160 class buck and probably the biggest WT they would take this year. This part of Alberta does not grow the big monster WT that they get up north.
I just sat there holding his horns, looking down over a gorgeous river bottom, on cloud 9! I woulda taken a 120 buck for my first one and could not have been happier. In the end I ended up hunting him just like my MD hunting and that made it that much better. Back at camp he was scored at 156 and change.
Jack Franklin had a MD tag for this year. I had showed him the video of the 28 incher we saw the night before. When we got my buck to the butcher there was Jack. He had gone out and shot that deer for himself. I guess even residents have to wait to draw and this was Jack's first buck in 4 years.
I will try to post pics of that deer later. All in all I had a great hunt. Not sure I will go back though. Only reason being it was almost too easy. I think a lot of the satisfaction comes from having to sweat and struggle to harvest that dream deer. I'll stick to high country basins and sage covered rimrock coulees while I still can.
