Pheonix's First Deer

Friday! The start of the weekend. Work is done, school is out and we are scrambling to get our hunting gear together and into the truck so we have time to hunt. The sun sets at 7pm now and is black out by 7:30, so it doesn't leave a lot of time to get everything together and to get out.

We managed to get everything done and horse fed by 4:30 and we were hunting by 5. Doe season had opened up on the 10th of this month for everyone. On the way out I was telling Pheonix she had the rest of season to shoot a doe and a buck, October 10-31 was doe for everyone, and youth had a doe season Nov 1- 30 and general buck season went until the 30th of November. She had passed up so many spike bucks since September 1st, I wasn't sure she would be wanting to shoot a doe as her first deer. We have been hunting for this one big buck we have seen 4 times now and she has had a chance at twice. So I was a bit surprised when she said she was willing to shoot a doe.

Right off the get go we found a deer, from a distance it looked like a doe but as got closer you could see it was a little button buck so we continued on. We came upon a lone doe after that, she wasn't concerned about us and was just kind of milling around. I asked her if she wanted that one and she asked my thoughts on it. I told her she was a young doe and that was all she needed to hear- she wanted to pass. Onward we went. After that every doe we found had fawns with her. But it was a beautiful evening and we were having a good time. She wanted to go into the area where the buck hangs out. I told her we wouldn't see him because we are going in to early- she was ok with that. Now I drive a half ton truck and this road is basically a rough quad trail, I don't really like taking my truck in there because I have poor tires for the type of terrain I have to drive through but we took it slow and my truck made it in one piece lol. 7 o'clock hit and I told her that we didn't have much light left for hunting, so if we seen a deer and she wanted to take it, she would need to move a little faster getting set up than she usually does. Shortly after I said that she says deer! So I stop and look with my binoculars. A doe- I scanned the clearing looking for any sign of another deer with her and there was nothing to be found, so I drove the truck up a little farther and parked it. We jumped out and walked the fence line back to where we seen the deer. We got there and the doe was still there feeding. So Pheonix tried to set up using the fence as a rest- didn't work. It was either to high or too low for her. So we set up the shooting sticks aka my trekking poles strapped together. She goes mom they are to low, so I reset them and she was good. I sat watching the doe in my binos. Now she has missed 2 bucks this season already, so I was hoping she wouldn't have a threepeat. The doe was in a massive clearing up on a steep hill and Pheonix was shooting off her knees because that's the most comfortable position for her- so the shot was a steep one and more difficult than the two misses earlier. It didn't take her long to find her in her scope and after a minute- boom. I watched the doe run about 10 yards then stop and stand there. I quickly said reload reload! She did and was able to shift the gun and shooting sticks so she had a sight of the doe and within a few seconds- boom. Off goes her second shot. I said you got her! I watched her run about 30 yards and she disappeared from my sight. So we listened and sure enough you could hear her crash. Pheonix asked what was that? I replied, "That's your doe crashing. She's down! " She was pretty excited, she wanted to go find her right then and there. I told her to wait a few minutes so I could bring the truck back down and get my pack.

By the time we got the truck back down the light was fading fast. So I looked for my headlamps in my pack. I found my back up lamp- batteries were dead, crap! I looked around and couldn't find my good one, double crap. So I searched my truck to find the yellow one I kept in it for emergencies and it was no where to be found....maybe Kyle took it? uh oh. No headlamps and it was now dark...so I used the flashlight on my phone which sucks...bad. So we headed towards where we last seen her, in the dark with the flashlight on my phone. Pheonix was nervous, there was a cow bull hanging out in the clearing and now that it was dark you couldn't see him. But he never bothered us. We searched for an hour and I started to say it would be better to come back in the morning. But as we started walking down I found blood, so we searched for a little longer. Couldn't find her, so I went through my pack and found a garbage bag (my flagging tape was in the truck) and tied it to a tree marking the blood trail for morning. We got back to the truck at 9pm. She was understandably worried that coyotes were going to get it, but I reassured her it would be fine.


I got the kids up early the next morning so we could eat and get going right away. We headed back in and as we pulled up to where I had parked the truck the night before I looked up on the hill and said there she is. Pheonix was excited and asked how I knew it was her- I could see her white belly from down here. She was about 10 yards from where I tied the garbage bag onto the tree- we had walked all around her the night before! To be fair she did die in like a dug out on the hill lol. We had brought the dogs with us just encase she was hard to find- more eyes the better. But they weren't needed this time lol. So we all hiked up to her and not a hair was out of place. We looked her over and it looked like Pheonix missed her first shot and her second one was perfect- double lung shot. Unfortunately the steep angle of the shot resulted in the bullet exiting through the guts- I was careful not to puncture the bloated belly. Koda was not being helpful trying to bury the deer in dirt while I was working on it. After pictures, I got all the meat off that I could and strapped it on my backpack- Pheonix had to help me get up lol. And we hiked back down to the truck. Once at the butcher he weighed the meat- 60lbs. Now she's asking every day when her deer will be done!

Saskatchewan Bear Hunt 2018

It has been 3 years since we were last in Saskatchewan chasing the giants of the woods. Well this year we made it back to hunt again with Warren and Kerwin in north-central Saskatchewan. The last 2 years just didn't work out with Kyles schedule for Rescue Competition season. This year it did, so we took advantage. We planned to be there on the 20th of May and stay for 7 days. Kyle had to be back to work the 28th for rescue training. So we packed up the kids and dropped the dogs off with his mom and dad and we were off. We made it to Kerwin's late on the 19th and stayed the night, unfortunately he wouldn't be able to come hunt with us until later in the week. We all had a good sleep and left in the afternoon. It was another 2 hours before we would get to Warrens family ranch.

When we arrived we noticed they were having a big family gathering, Warrens sister and husband were there with their 2 boys as well as an aunt. The kids were excited they had someone to play with. It was so nice seeing Warrens parents again, they really make you feel like you're at home on the ranch. After we visited for a few hours, Warren asked if we wanted to sit for the evening because if we did we needed to get a move on. We only had about 4 hours until dark! Warrens mom offered to watch Easton, he could play with Warrens nephews and Pheonix decided she wanted to sit with me in the tree. So we got our gear on and set off to what Warren calls the "pasture", from there we quaded in to our stands and went our separate ways.

Kyle was sitting alone and Pheonix and I were cuddled up on a double ladder stand. I helped her get in to the stand and made sure she was tied in good, this was only her second time sitting in a tree- the first time was 3 years ago with Kyle. She was nervous- the wind was blowing pretty good and it was moving our tree around- so I couldn't blame her. Now if you have ever met Pheonix, you know she has no off switch...like at all. She talked non-stop the whole night, with multiple reminders to keep her voice down from me. It was nearing 8pm now and the wind started to die off, and get really quiet. There weren't even birds chirping, although a squirrel had me all excited and scaring Pheonix for a while. Now when I'm in a treestand I don't stop searching and listening the entire time im in the stand. I heard the slight snap of a twig off to my left and it had me swinging my head over and full attention scanning the bush. It took a few minutes until my eyes locked on black through the trees, But the bush was thick so I couldn't be sure. I sat staring, straining my eyes to catch some type of movement from the black. Pheonix knew I could see something and went very still, and repeatedly asked me if it was a bear. I wasn't sure so I just told her I didn't know. Finally movement, after what felt like forever, I was able to catch part of his face pass through and opening while he was smelling the air. I quietly told Pheonix it was a bear and she finally went quiet haha! I had my rifle between my legs so it was easy to get it up into position. I waited to see what we he was moving before shouldering my gun. He was coming straight in, but very slowly. So I shouldered my rifle and watched him come in through the scope. From past experiences, I knew that if the bear was a boar he would be very wary of coming into the bait and might not give me lots of time to get a shot, or he would skirt the outside of the area- never coming into sight. I held my rifle up in my shoulder waiting...and waiting...he would take a couple steps, stop and smell, and look around before coming a few more steps. He repeated this the whole way into view. Just when he got into my view he stopped and stood up on his back legs- he was looking into the bait without having to come in. Checking for sows. After about a 30 second sniff check on his back legs he dropped down again and changed his course of direction. Instead of coming into the bait he was going to skirt around it- he wasn't interested in food, just ladies. So I followed him with my scope until I had a good broadside shot. He wasn't walking fast, but he wasn't stopping either- so once I had an opening I took it. Pheonix had her ears plugged from the moment I put up my rifle. I took my shot and it was perfect. He ran about 10 feet and piled up- unfortunately he did quite the death moan, my first bear to do one and Pheonixs first time ever hearing it. It scared her and I had to reassure her he was dead and that some bears do it when they die.

We stayed in the stand for a few minutes to make sure he wasn't going anywhere. I messaged Kyle Bear down and he was floored. He asked me how big of a bear was it and I told him it was a decent bear but nothing like "double chin" (a giant of a bear that Warren has been hunting for for a long time). After talking to Kyle I told Pheonix to stay in the tree while I climbed down to check him. I clambered down the ladder, shaking uncontrollably, and walked over to my bear. He had a skinny back end, but once I got closer to him his back just kept going, then I got to his shoulders and head- I had underestimated this bear! His head was so big I couldn't lift it and he had massive muscular shoulders. I texted Kyle saying I was wrong and he was BIG, I wouldn't be able to load him onto the quad...at all. So Kyle said stay there I'm on my way. He had called Warren and told him and he left his house and was on his way in too. I helped Pheonix come down just before Kyle showed up. He was speechless when he seen my bear. Even him and I wouldn't be able to load the bear and there was no possible way he would fit on a quad. We got some pictures and then Kyle had to go meet Warren with the Quad and pick up the quad trailer too. It was starting to get dark now and I felt uneasy being on the ground next to the bait- hidden in the brush. Pheonix was freaking out too. So we hopped on our quad and headed out of the trees out into one of the big open fields to wait for Kyle and Warren. I left the quad running so we had some light but she was still crying and scared-I gave her my phone to play a game and that helped calm her-kept her mind busy. We probably waited out there for a good 30 minutes before they showed up, we followed them back into the bait to load the bear. It took Kyle, Warren, Nat and I to load it into the trailer that was laying on its side. We took it back to Warrens house and skinned it out there. Warren was starting to wonder if it WAS double chin, for the next 2 weeks the guys poured over every photo of big bears that they got to figure out if it was. Kyle is positive it isn't him.

And just like that, my week of hunting was over! Kyle continued to hunt, sometimes solo and sometimes with Pheonix but it had slowed down and there were just little ones coming in. I hung out with Easton and sometimes both kids- took them to the lake for some swimming. Kerwin eventually showed up, he got his bear the same night I got mine where he lives, so the night he came in he went and sat the stand with Kyle. Sure enough a big lanky bear came in, Kyle passed him up twice that sit before he decided he was going to take him right before dark. They came in with the bear loaded in the trailer like mine and pulled into the carport- holy hell did that thing stink! He was definitely a big bear, younger than mine and full of scars. His hair was really thin too. He was obviously a scrapper. As we were skinning him the smell turned to a rank smell- rotten almost, and it was all we could do to finish the job.

Warren was hunting the whole week as well. The mornings we spent helping him with checking his beaver traps, which the kids found fascinating! Our last day there, Kerwin had headed home and warren suggested we all go fish for some walleye and pike. It was slow but it was the perfect night to be on the water. The kids each caught a pike and that was it lol. And they got to see a beaver up close- one came off the bank by the boat and went swimming across the lake.

I love going to Saskatchewan to hunt. Not because of the chance to kill a monster bear (ok maybe a tiny bit lol) but because I have so much fun watching them around the bait. How they interact with each other, their personalities, and the cute little cubs. I was hoping to spend more time in the stand- mainly in hopes of being able to get some decent photos of the furry critters....but alas....maybe next time!

2017 Whitetail Buck

Hunting with the kids can some times be a challenge, especially when the temperatures are starting to drop and you can feel winter trying to claw its way into the area. We do a bit more truck hunting when it's cold, mainly because Easton has a hard time staying warm. He's like me in that way, I have a hard time keeping warm and I always carry a backpack full of layers with me. This year we haven't been having to much luck when it comes to elk. The hot summer and drought conditions pushed the elk out of our usual elk spots and so we had to do a little more exploring. So we haven't been seeing much of elk, actually we weren't seeing much of anything for the first week or two after the bush was re-opened. Due to fires the bush was closed from September 2-14, they finally re-opened it on my birthday (15th) at noon.

We traveled a little more north hoping we wouldn't see too many people out, boy were we wrong. Truck after truck and we ended up seeing nothing at all. The terrain in there is to thick and steep for the kids to hike, so we chalked it up to a nice evening drive.

Next time we stayed a little closer to town and tried sitting. We each took a kid and separated.  I had Easton with me. We were seated in the middle of a rock ledge with a bunch of fallen trees to cover any movement. After about 30 minutes Easton was asking how long we were going to stay. The wind was howling and it was a bone chilling one that cut right through your clothing. I told him until dark. He was bored but played with his lego men beside me. I wasn't too worried about the noise he was making-the wind would cover his sound.  By this time he had his hoodie on and his jacket along with my gloves and toque. After another 15 minutes, he said he was cold. So I pulled out my down jacket for him to wear and pulled both his hoods up over the toque. I bundled up after I got him cozy, wearing my vest and softshell jacket, gloves and toque. We sat there for a little bit and he snuggled up to me. After an hour he was asking if daddy and Pheonix were back at the truck yet, I kept telling him no they weren't but he wanted to go check. This was his way of saying he wanted to go back to the truck. We sat for another 10 minutes and I could see he was cold, I was starting to get pretty chilled too. So I suggested we head back to the truck. I messaged Kyle to let him know what we were doing and he asked us to come pick them up then. Neither of us seen an animal, but that's part of hunting.

Finally, one evening I made a suggestion on where we should go. We have good luck with whitetail in there and we see bear and elk too. We were seeing a couple does, some little bucks. But not really anything either of us wanted to cut our tags on. We parked the truck where they deactivated the road and Kyle decided to go for a short walk on the other side, I stayed at the truck with the kids. I took a picture of the sunsetting and let Pheonix play with the big camera.
When Kyle came back to the truck it was about 20 minutes before we would lose shooting light, and we turned around and started making our way out. We only went about a kilometer down the road when he stops the truck and says big buck Niki. I coudn't see it, it was on his side of the truck down a pretty good hill. I didn't waste any time, I jumped out with my gun and dropped down into the clearing a little bit. I instantly seen him with the light bouncing of his antlers, he looked like he was the same size as Kyles big buck that he shot a couple years ago. He was standing just on the edge of the treeline in a cut block about 200 yards down. I didnt waste any time I put my rifle up, aimed and squeezed the trigger. Kyle watched him in his binos. As soon as my shot went off Kyle says you hit him hard, I reloaded and made my way down a little bit more to a giant root ball. I was going to use it as a rest if needed. But it wasn't needed. He was going down when he was heading back into the treeline and I watched him go down with a huge crash. I was over the moon! We waited a bit and grabbed our backpacks. Pheonix wanted to come with us, Easton stayed up in the truck and watched a movie snuggled in his nest of blankets. By the time we got down to him we were almost out of light in the clearing, it was dark in the trees. He was easy to spot though, he had fallen with his antlers stuck in the ground and his bright white throat patch seemed to glow in the low light.

Once we got to him he did have some ground shrinkage, but I didn't care. He was still an amazing buck. My biggest one and he had a unique rack- double brow tines on both side with a kicker on the one which made him  a 6x7.
Pheonix was getting nervous with the darkness in the trees, so I gave her my unloaded rifle to take back to the truck and she could stay up there with Easton until Kyle and I finished up, we kept Kyles rifle ready just in case.
It didnt take us to long to get him field dressed. We loaded him onto my pack and I hiked back up to the truck. Kyle didn't take a single piece of him. At the butcher we weighed just the 4 quarters, backstraps, and tenderloins- he came out to 67lbs.



Nikita

Stone Sheep Hunt 2017

July 27th, 4:30 in the morning and we were on our way north for our Stone Sheep hunt. Kyle, Kelsey, Southgate and I along with our hunting gear and fresh clothes were crammed into my little half ton Ram. There was not an inch of space to spare in the box. Kyle drove and Southgate claimed the front seat, while Kelsey and I had a nest of blankets and pillows in the back seat.  The first leg of our journey was to make it to Ft.Nelson, stay the night then finish the journey in the morning. Its a long drive from our homes in the East Kootenays, about a 20 hour drive all together and Kyle decided to drive the entire trip. Poor Southgate had food poisoning the day before and was puking the whole day, the long drive gave him a chance to somewhat recover but he still felt queasy. We got to the hotel after a long day of driving and we all crashed. Surprisingly, the beds were extremely comfortable, we all had troubles getting up the next morning.

The next morning we were off again, bright and early. We wanted to get to the beginning of the trail early because the hike in would be 8 hours. We pulled up to where the trail head started and we were relieved to see no vehicles were parked there, we were the first ones in. So we parked the truck and started changing into our hunting gear and loading the packs. We were off, I did my best to keep up with everyone else but being the shortest in the group has some major disadvantages...and I wasn't just the smallest by an inch or two-it was 5 inches, but Kyle stayed with me making sure I didn't fall behind to bad. What a good hubby! At about half way we stopped to have some snacks and rest a bit. Thank god! I was starving. After about 15 minutes we loaded back up to finish off the last half of our hike. About 2 hours away from camp my left hip was starting to protest the hike, it was getting pretty sore. I had a couple times where my stiff boots slipped on the wet rocks along the creek, i'm sure that combined with the long heavy hike was wearing on my hips. I ended up slowing a bit but still trekked on. We came up to a camp spot and Kelsey and I were so happy! Only to have Southgate say this wasn't our camping area-damn it. Still had an hour to go.

10 kms from the truck to camp. I was so happy to be able to drop my 50lb pack. It took a few minutes before I could walk normal. We went straight into setting up camp and I noticed all around were places where an animal had been digging. We figured it was probably a grizzly. After we were done we got to glassing, it didn't take long for the guys to start spotting rams. I was pretty excited to spot one sky lined, only a half curl ram. Beside me, Kelsey shifted then jumped up squealing that something had poked her. She turned around and hanging out of her pants was a porcupine quill. We both got a good laugh from it but started watching closely where we sat down. A little while later Kyle sat down where Kelsey had been, and soon found a quill poking into his pants. I started looking closer at the diggings around camp, the most was around the fire pit. Beside the pit was a stump full of quills- we knew who the culprit was that did all the digging!

By the time we called it a night we had seen 12 rams, none that were legal. At least we were seeing sheep!

I don't usually sleep at all when we are camping, especially in a tent. I was surprised I actually had a decent sleep until I woke up from a nightmare. Of course my nightmare was of grizzly bears coming into camp. But as I lay there wide awake, I could hear a strange noise outside our tents. At first I thought Southgate was snoring because the sound was by his tent. As I listened closer I realized it wasn't him snoring but an animal, but I had never heard this noise before. I listened a little longer and then a second sound came but it was closer to our tent, so now there were 2 animals wandering around our tents in the dark. I woke Kyle up and asked him what that sound was, he listened for a little bit then decided to check it out. He took his rifle with him and popped out of the tent, flashing the flashlight around camp. There by the fire pit were 2 porcupines digging, squeaking away. Kyle threw a rock at them and they disappeared back into the trees. He thought it was cubs at first trying to get our food out of the tree we hung it in, that's why he took his rifle. After a bit I was able to fall back asleep.

In the morning we spent a couple hours glassing. After, we decided we would all pack up camp and head farther up the valley. At one point we decided to split up, Kelsey and Southgate went up a draw we had seen sheep in earlier. Kyle and I went farther back into the valley with the hopes of getting to the lake at the very back. It was a rough go. We took a trail that went straight up the mountain and then disappeared in the caribou brush. So we bush whacked a little ways and then Kyle sees a trail down by the creek, cursing we start heading back down the mountain. It was thick and it was steep. Kyle has no problems pushing through the brush, hes big and has a lot of power and weight behind him. Me on the other hand, had a really hard time getting through.The branches would pull on my pack throwing me off balance and I wasn't able to power through the brush.We got back down to the trail and it wasn't to bad for a short while. It was a goat trail- I found tons of goat wool all over the brush on the trail. Then the trail got bad, I'm not sure how a goat goes through that trail but it was thick.

The goat trail

We finally fought our way to a knoll, we thought it was close to the back of the basin. We crest the top of the hill and had the wind taken out of our sails. We had gone about 3 kms...and we had about another 4 to get to the back. The basin was much much bigger then we had originally thought. We both dropped our packs and sat down to rest. I was exhausted. We had to make a decision- do we keep going, stay here for the night or head back down the valley and meet up with Kelsey and Southgate? It was very windy on the top of the knoll. I had suggested making camp, but Kyle didn't think it was a good idea. The only spot we could have camp was where we were sitting, and we had no cover at all. Part of Kyle wanted to keep pushing to the back, I was straight up with him. I knew if we made it back there and shot a ram or two while back there, there would be no way I could get a sheep out of there and back to the truck. We would be 20kms from the truck. It would take us at least 2 days to get out of there and it was all bush whacking the whole way. We glassed for a bit and then made the decision to go back down the valley and meet up with the other two.

Once we all met up we discussed what to do and decided to head down the valley to the last camping spot along the creek. We set up camp and had dinner then did some more glassing. While we were glassing a porcupine came wandering down the trail and Kyle was sitting on the trail. When it seen him it stopped and went back the way it came. Southgate chased it and it went up a tree. After we went to bed I didn't feel tired but my body had other ideas. I was warm and comfortable but could not stop shaking. The shaking kept me awake and lasted probably a half hour. Once I was finally able to sleep I slept like the dead. In the morning I told Kyle about the shaking and he said it was because my body was so exhausted.

When I woke up and crawled out of the tent, the guys were glassing. They thought they found a legal ram back where Kyle and I had been the day before. I was not exactly thrilled by this news. The guys decided to go back down to the old camp and do some glassing, Kelsey and I stayed at camp. About an hour later we got a message on the Inreach- 2 legal rams. Pack up camp. Both Kelsey and I were happier about this news. We quickly started packing everything up. I had my gear all done and was working on the tent when the guys showed up. I was still pretty stiff from the day before and my feet were sore but hopefully this would be the last time we moved camp. Its been colder today and we have had rain and off all day. I enjoyed having the day to rest my sore feet and legs. Later in the day the guys decided to climb to higher ground behind our camp so they could see into the basin where the rams were. While they were up there we got hit with a torrential down pour and the guys were drenched, good thing they were in rain gear.

It rained all night and when we woke up it was still raining. Kyle had to get up because his back gets sore, I stayed in the tent- wrapped in my sleeping bag, too comfortable to get out. Everything felt damp. Even inside the tent. I waited as long as i could in the tent, but I had to pee. I grumpily donned my layers of clothing and rain gear and crawled out of the tent. We checked the weather on the Inreach and it said the temperature was 7C but feels like 4C. If it doesn't warm up we may see snow in the morning. The Inreach said the rain was to clear by tonight and tomorrow-Opening day- would be beautiful.
The rain finally cleared off around 4pm and we were able to do some glassing. Southgate found a massive ram back up the valley-we had a target for morning providing he's there. The clouds finally broke up and the sun came out, we tried to get our gear out and dry it in the sun before dark. It felt good to be able to strip some layers off.

OPENING DAY
We were up bright and early and MY GOD was it cold. You could see your breath and the vegetation had a heavy frost on it. We loaded up without eating breakfast and set off for Southgates ram. He was there, and we were ready. We had a long hike up the valley then straight up the mountain to get to the same basin he was in. It took us 3 hours to get up to the lowest ridge in the basin, after that it was a long wait. We couldn't see him anywhere and unfortunately it would be too easy for him to just hope into the next basin. After an hour the guys decided to climb up higher to see into the one basin closest to us and to hopefully see farther down the ridges. Kelsey and I stayed where we were and watched the basin we originally came to. We stayed up there for over 4 hours before we all decided he must have moved to a different basin or dropped over the ridge to the other MU (management unit). Reluctantly, we all headed back down to camp. We all were hungry and tired. It was also a nice day- sunny and 18C, it gave us a chance to wash some of our clothes. That night while we were glassing, a ton of sheep came into our valley from over top the ridge. Sheep after sheep started making their way over. I think we counted 20 sheep, most were young rams. We figured a ram had been shot in the next valley and it was pushing all the others up and over to us. Right before dark we had a treat, 3 young rams just in the basin above camp, were playing and having a ball. We watched them ripping up and down the ridge, down the mountain, back up again, head butting each other and chasing each other.

In the morning you could see Southgate was a bit down about not finding that big ram yesterday. Kyle was the only one raring to go, Southgate was bummed and Kelsey and I were tired. So the morning ended up a bit of a lazy one, which annoyed Kyle haha but he managed to live. It only lasted a very short time anyway, because there...back in the same basin just sky lined...was Southgates ram. That added some spark back into Southgate. Kelsey and I made the call to stay at camp, we couldn't hike like the guys could and this way we could watch him in the spotting scope and relay messages to them with the Inreach if he decided to up and disappear on us again. While we watched him, more and more sheep were popping up and joining him- they were all ewes and lambs except one young ram who went to the next ridge line to bed down. Everywhere this big guy went, the ewes and lambs followed. This provided an extra obstacle to getting close to him. He had no problems sprawling right out in his bed and snoozing with those ewes around him...which gave Kelsey and I both a heart attack because we thought he had disappeared! While panicking he popped his head up and all was good again. After a couple of hours we managed to spot the guys making their way up to the ridges we were on the day before. Now we could watch them and the ram. While Kelsey and I were all excited about this new fact we heard some cracking in the bush beside us. We both stopped and looked at each other, then looked toward the noise. A porcupine stopped about 12 feet from us, noticed we were sitting there and turned around and followed the creek instead. So I got up and followed him with the camera. 

This was probably the same one that came into our camp last night. He was scratching at our tents. He started at Kelsey and Southgates tent...until Kelsey punched it through the tent thinking it was a mouse, you could hear him complaining the whole way across camp to our tent where he scratched at ours a bit then meandered away.

After 7 hours of watching this one ram, he FINALLY got up out of his bed and started making his way down towards the guys. Kelsey and I were getting pretty excited and stressed out. We both watched in the phone scope, anticipating the moment when that big ram would buckle and roll. But...it wasn't meant to be. As Kelsey and I are sitting there going why didn't they shoot it, he was right there! In reality, the ram never came close enough to them...780 yards was the closest he came and even if they had shot him there he would have tumbled down a really bad cliff face. In the scope he looked so close, a good reminder that things look very different in person compared to in the glass. We watched as he walked into the next basin up onto the ridge and disappear into the other valley. From 3km away- it was pretty frustrating- I couldn't even imagine how Southgate felt right in that moment. So close...yet so far. His dream ram and after 5 years, to watch that white furry butt disappear just like that. 

The guys got back to camp late- about 8pm. Southgate was exhausted and very sun burnt. We discussed what we should do tomorrow and decided we would play it by ear. Either way tomorrow would either our last day there or last day to hunt. For the first time we all went to bed early. The guys- tired from their all day excursion, Kelsey and I from sitting with our faces glued to optics all day and fending off Asian Beetles. OMG the beetles!! There must have been a hatch with the warmer weather because we killed at least 100 of those suckers.

Kyle was the first one up in the morning again...such a keener. He found the big ram right away again. He was in the same spot as the day before. Southgate had to make a decision- try again or leave the area and hopefully find another place with multiple legal rams for more opportunities. Kyle was also on his last day of food. Southgate made the call to let the ram go, with that we packed up camp and made the long trek back down to the truck. Its an 8km hike back down to the truck and it didn't take too long to cover the distance, but my feet were still pretty raw and I had some blisters I had to deal with before the walk. My feet protested the whole way back to the truck, it made me slow and I tripped on everything. I was getting extremely frustrated. Eventually I just turned my brain off and cruised on auto-pilot, I stopped focusing on trying to keep up and just made sure to keep my feet moving. The truck was a welcomed relief. We had traveled about 50kms on foot, and most of that was with a loaded pack. We decided to get a cabin at Toad River and relax the rest of the day, and to clean up a bit. The cabins were beautiful. But the Asian Beetles were terrible.

We were right on the lake and across from our cabin was a cow and calf moose swimming and eating. Once we were cleaned up we decided to go for a drive and do some glassing for the evening.

I have a hard time spotting sheep so after a little glassing I pulled out my DSLR to take some photos. The lighting was perfect and the area was beautiful.

When we made it back to the cabin the sun was setting and the sky was on fire with color. Kelsey and I both went running to the lake with cameras to capture the beauty.

It felt AH-mazing to sleep on an actual bed and to have a luke warm shower haha! It felt so nice to wash my hair...i had sticks and leaves and bugs falling out of my lion mane. It was pretty gross.

The next morning I did not want to get out of bed. I was comfy and it felt like I didn't sleep long enough. But the guys wanted to get an early start to the next part of our journey, another 6 hour hike up a valley to hunt for 5 more days. But first we would drive the highway and glass from where we could. Reluctantly I pushed back the blankets and hopped out of bed- I almost collapsed. My calves were so tight I could barely walk. I hobbled around getting my stuff together. When I turned around I noticed Kyle was watching me closely...he could see something wasn't right. It was written all over my face. But I stayed quiet hoping that once I was moving around they would let go. I was hoping we would be able to find some rams from the highway so Southgate and Kelsey could go after them and maybe get her her ram. Of course we didn't see any, just young rams.

We got to the trail head and I got out of the truck trying to move around, hoping the pressure would let up. It didn't, and the more I moved the worse it got. I stood staring up the valley we were to be hiking up and couldn't move or speak. I didn't want to be the one to call off our trip early and it killed me to know it was because of me that we would be leaving 5 days early with no rams. They all knew i was sore and having troubles - just not the extent of it. I didn't know if I would make the 6 hour hike in, if I did- I knew I wouldn't make it back out again. I stood in silence while the 3 of them talked and planned. Kyle came over to me and asked if I thought I could do this. I shook my head and broke down in tears. I wanted them to go on without me, to leave me at the truck to camp by the river, but I knew Kyle would never leave me there and later when I told Kelsey she had the same sentiments as Kyle. So we made the long journey back home. I stayed quiet most of the way to red deer and slept quite a bit, crying makes me exhausted. We stopped in Red Deer and stayed the night then finished our trip home the next day.

Nikita

Last Stand Goat Hunt 2016

Our 2016 fall hunting season has been quite a bit different compared to previous years. Usually we spend our majority of September and October trying to get an elk. I have been trying for 8 years to get an elk without any success until this year. On top of that success, i managed to get him the second day of rifle opener (Sept 11). So this made for a pretty relaxed season for both Kyle and I. Since I had a bull down he wasn't in a hurry to get himself one ( that would be a lot of meat!) so he focused on helping other people and trying to get himself a sheep, and I helped out a friend a few times that is new to hunting. October it was back to the grind, particularly for Kyle, for Mountain Goat. He and I had a trip planned together then afterward he had 2 of our friends coming in from Alberta on an accompany to hunt permit. Well our first trip in ended up being a dud. It rained the whole time and the clouds never lifted enough for us to see up where the goats hang out. 4 days and not a single goat.

After our hunt, it was Myles turn (one of our friends from Alberta) to try and tag out on his first mountain goat. On day 2 of their hunt, Myles took a goat. Although it was a nanny, it was a trophy of a lifetime. His goat aged out at 13 years old, was skinny and had no teeth left. She wouldn't have made the winter. The perfect nanny!

Kyle came home early and went to see if he could find a sheep before he had to go back to work. Next days off Kerwin was coming in for his goat hunt. Kyle has taken Kerwin out before on a permit in the same area, but our friend Warren was with them. On that hunt 2 years ago, Warren was successful. Now it was Kerwin's turn at success. They had a little less than 7 days to get it done. They seen lots of goats but most were nannies and kids with a couple young billies. The young billies stayed higher in the rocks then a few of the nannies, so they just watched until they had an opportunity. On the last full day of their hunt they decided to take the Nanny that was on their hit list (if a billy didn't come lower for Kerwin). This nanny was not in good shape. She was completely emaciated and never ventured farther than the alder patch and the creek.

Kerwin's Nanny

Worried that she had an illness, parasites or a disease they took her. If she did, we don't want her to infect the rest of the herd. They videoed the field dressing and she had no fat at all and very little muscle mass, her hair was also much shorter then it should have been...more like a mid-late September hair. Her growth rings indicated a healthy life and good feed. So what happened? What ever happened to her happened during this year. We took the meat in to the biologists in hopes they can test it, unfortunately (and we didn't know at the time) the organs would have been a better thing to bring them. The taxidermist skinned the head out and commented on how the muscle in the jaws was like hamburger and her teeth weren't very good as well. So maybe she had an injury? Either way she wasn't going to make it through the winter and she was probably living in a great deal of pain. And Kerwin got his first goat.

Second times a charm...well that's how it worked out for Kerwin so I was hoping that would be my luck as Kyle and I headed out again to try and get me a goat. We had even less time this trip, 3 days but the sun was shining which was rare for this area. The first day was a wash, we knew we wouldn't get a stalk on unless we just happened to stumble upon the goats right away. As we came in we noticed a truck parked with ramps out for an ATV and a sled stashed beside it off the road, weird. It was right before the slides that take out the road. We kept going and once we got through the slides there was another sled stashed just off the road, concerning. Someone that knows this area is getting prepared. This didn't sit well for Kyle as we continued on our way. The whole month of October when Kyle was in here he never seen another sole. That all changed in about  an hour for us. We came upon an ATV, the guy stopped to chat. He was the trapper in the area and the truck and sleds are his. He was getting prepared for when the slides come down so he wouldn't be trapped in the back. He proceeded to tell us the last 3 years the slides blew out the road on Oct 29, Nov 5 and Nov 9...and it was November 6. He told us a guy last year got stuck in there with him, the guy was hunting for goat but the trapper was prepared and had no issues leaving his old truck or ATV in there for winter, the hunter wasn't. They had to barge the guys truck out on the lake and it cost him $600. This made us nervous...we started to second guess our staying there. After chatting with him for a half hour or so he mentioned just before we parted ways that there was a few guys camped up farther, goat hunting, but they were packing up camp. We passed the guys as they were coming out. We got up to the slides where Kerwin and Myles got their goats and they were bare. Not a single white body. We found where the guys had their camp set up, right at the bottom of the slide in the wide open where the goats could see them. I was feeling pretty deflated and Kyle was frustrated and worried.

We only had 2 hours before dark so we decided to sit tight and hopefully the quiet valley would coax some goats out. About an hour before dark a nanny came out to feed. Some life jumped back into us. We watched her for a bit and decided to go down to the next slide to glass. Right away we found 2 more goats, both billies. One very young and small, the other was a shoot able goat. We didn't have time to go up after them so we sat and watched trying to decide the best way up to them for the morning. As kyle was occupied i looked up and noticed a third body, i announced the third goat noting how much bigger it was then the other two. This got Kyle excited. He got the spotter out and sure enough it was the massive goat he seen with Kerwin. So we stayed there until he finally bedded and we quietly made our way out of the valley. We decided to go back to town and stay at a hotel. Kyle's reasoning (although he was partly kidding) was it was good luck to go back to town, get a cheap hotel and go to Boston Pizza for dinner (he did this with Kerwin and Myles and both shot their goats the

next day). I just shook my head and rolled my eyes.

We went back in the morning and sure enough the big guy was still there and a nanny was just below him. But he was watching her intently. So we packed up and got ready to hike up after him, Onca stayed in the truck. After an hour hike we were just below the rock cliffs, we dropped our packs to strap our rifles to them so we could have 2 hands for climbing the cliffs. I put my rifle down then peeled my pack off and put it down- ready for my rifle. Before I decided to strap my rifle on, I looked up out of habit and there he was. All I said was Goat. Kyle kept messing with his stuff without looking up and brushed my word off saying it wasn't that he already checked. I said Kyle, there is a goat watching us. He stopped, unbelieving and looked up asking where? I told him to look on the left side of the saddle, that its standing on the top. He seen him, he put his binos up and started cursing- it was the big billy. I knew it was farther then 200 yards so I instantly jumped on Kyle's rifle (my rifle is new and i haven't figured out the drop yet at farther distances). I got set up with his pack as a rest while he ranged him. 390 yards but i was shooting at about a 50%+ incline, he said put the 300 mark on him. He was facing chest on but I wasn't concerned. I put the 300 on him and felt very stable. I squeezed the trigger and instantly reloaded after the shot. Kyle announced a miss. I was baffled, how did i miss?? He disappeared into the trees and never gave me another chance. We climbed up a little ways into the cliffs and sat for a while, hoping the other billy would come down to check out the ruckus. He never did and I was feeling pretty frustrated. The fog started to roll in and we made the decision to go back to the truck before we got stuck up there with no visibility. When we got down, Kyle wanted to go check the zeroes on the rifles. He was confused at the turn of events, I kept saying I felt solid and his rifle has killed 2 goats in the last 2 weeks

without fault. We left the area and headed down low to shoot them at our metal gong. My gun was still on, Kyle's was shooting 4 inches to the left at 100 yards. I was relieved that it wasn't me that caused the miss but I was still pretty down. Did i just lose my chance at filling my tag? With the cloud cover low again and not letting up I wasn't very hopeful. We had to leave the next afternoon and if we didn't find a goat right away than all i had was the next morning. We went and checked another valley but it was fogged in worse then the area we were just in. So we made the decision to go back and hope we could catch something moving below the fog line. We were coming up to the slide that Warren had shot his goat out of 2 years prior, but there was a slide before that one- so we slowed down to take a look. I was on the wrong side of the truck so couldn't see up the slide, but it didn't take long and Kyle slammed on the brakes-Goats! He was instantly out of the truck with the spotter. 2 young billies and 2 nannies. So I got my pack and my rifle out. They were 800 yards, we had to hike up into the slide to get closer, this time we brought Onca along. We got as close as we could without them busting us, 500 yard shot. Kyle gave me his rifle again and I got set up. I wasn't nearly as stable as the morning shot but stable enough to make a shot. I put the 500 marker on him and squeezed my trigger. Kyle watched in his binos and said he went down. Over and over again I asked him if he was sure he went down and he repeatedly told me I folded him. I felt a little better but was not getting my hopes up until I had him in my hands- all I needed was another fiasco like my elk!

"I have learned not to celebrate 

until I have my animal in my 

hands because as soon as I celebrate,

I shake uncontrollably." 

Kyle decided he wanted to try and get the other billy, so he grabbed the rifle and took a shot. I was watching in my binos and he missed, I watched the rock blow up above its back. Then all hell broke loose and there were goats scattering all over the place. Finally things seemed to quiet down so we decided to head up and retrieve my billy. He died in the cliffs above the alders, and let me tell you....that slide is NOT what it seemed from the road. From the road it looked like it was nice and open most of the way up with a gradual increase in steepness, then comes to a short alder patch then clears up again just before a bit of cliffing. NOT! The entire slide is thick alders and it gets steep fast then continues to get steeper the closer you get to the cliffs. And under all those alders its grass and with the rain it was very slick. Anyway, we get up to the rocks and Kyle decides to go up to find my goat while I stayed with the packs and Onca. Onca wanted to go with him but the rocks were steep and slick and the bush on the top of them were 10 times thicker than the alders we just fought through. So I'm standing there with my rifle strapped to my pack- on my back, petting Onca when I hear Kyle yell Get ready he's coming! I'm like what the --??? So I yell back, "What do you mean he's coming???" I was under the impression I killed that goat. All of a sudden the bushes start shaking violently jut above me to the right but they are so thick I cant see him, until he is RIGHT THERE! He pops out of the alders about 15 yards to my right and starts walking straight towards me. I froze. My rifle was still strapped to my pack on my back and I didn't want to make him bolt, but he was going to walk right into me! I momentarily forgot Onca was sitting on my feet until he started growling at the goat walking at us. The goat stopped at about 12 feet from me and focused on Onca. My thoughts went to Oh Sh*t what if he comes after Onca? Thankfully he didn't and instead he turned around to head back towards Kyle (who was about 100 yards above us still fighting his way down the cliffs) giving me the time to whip off my pack and grab my rifle. I put my rifle up, announced to Kyle I was taking a shot, and all I could see was hair- my scope was on 15 but I didn't have time to fiddle with it. I found the top of his shoulder in the scope and went down a little ways and fired. He dropped on the spot about 10 yards from me, then rolled down to 15 yards below me before he got hung up on some alders. About 10 minutes later Kyle's head poked out at the top of the cliff asking if I got him. He then proceeded to tell me his story of finding him, still alive, 10 feet from him in the thick bushes. My first shot did get him and that's why he dropped but it was a little far back, so he didn't die right away. 

After we got our pictures out of the way, Kyle insisted on packing him out whole. We didn't have any cliffs to deal with, just alders but even with that he fell down a lot. I kept asking if he was sure he didn't want to quarter it up and he insisted on doing it, and he said it was faster this way and was concerned about bears.

I have been on 3 goat hunts now (my own hunts, I've been with Kyle for his), 2 being successful and the successful ones always ended with a close encounter with a goat.  
I'm pretty happy to finally have my billy!! My first goat was a nanny, so I'm happy to be able to say I have a billy under my belt as well.  

 ** Sorry about the different sizes in font...I have literally spent 2 hours trying to get it all to be the same and I give up. **