Well I'm back in the frozen north again. I thought it was cold in Saskatoon![&:]
Yesterday started with a plan to intercept the big 5x5 I had jumped out of the irrigation ditch. Bro' in law nearly had him on Thursday and I was confident I could make some minor adjustments to our ambush spot that would see me in position to get a crack at him as he returned from the night's adventures. Things started out exactly as scripted when the first doe group passed a mere 50yrds from my location. With the second group of does coming I caught a glimpse of a large bodied deer chasing another on the horizon. The two deer were working my way along the same general path as the others when I saw the brief flash of headlight near the farmyard the deer funnel through. I waiterd approximately 20 minutes for the buck to come by but there was no sign of him. As I packed up and headed for the pasture I came across a running truck stopped at the edge of the farmyard. The two guys in the truck informed me that they had a "huge buck" holed up in the yard and their buddy was walking through to push him out. Slightly disgusted I wished them good luck and left. After heading for the pasture and finding hunters on pretty much every corner, i decided to pack up and head for home.
As i approached Lloyminster I got a call from my hunting partner in High Prairie. After BSing for a while I found myself regretting my choice to quit early. At the time I was about 1/2 hour from my old favourite spot north of Lloyd so with two hours left in the season I headed north to sit the last minutes at "old faithful", a hay field that always seems to produce at least one buck sighting each night. No sooner had I arrived, dug out my gun and orange and got myself situated at the edge of the bush than a nice 5x5 buck walked out. Boom! Flop. It was all over in less that 20 minutes. I had him loaded and was back on the road by the end of legal light. Unfortunately my camera threw a hissy fit in the cold and i wasn't able to get field pictures. Here's a few from today once he thawed enough to skin him. Also apic of Bro's WT.
Hope you all had a great season. Good luck to anyone who is still in the game. Next up for me is Shedding season.