2007 Alberta Elk Hunt
09-25-2007, 11:18 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Wisconsin and Canada
Posts: 2,415
2007 Alberta Elk Hunt
Well, where do I start?!? First, let me say that I have been pretty forunate to hunt some of the spots I have.....with that said, this was the greatest hunt I have ever been on. The weather was hot and I didn't kill an elk.....but here are some great pics and a little story to go with it.
I left camp on Wed, September 5th and started driving west to Alberta. I stayed overnight in Saskatchewan on Wednesday and in Calgary, Alberta on Thursday. On Friday, Sept 7th, I picked up my good buddy Scott Barth at the airport in Calgary. We then drove 2.5 hours NWand met up with our good friend Kurt Walbeck of Canada Outdoor Adventures in Nordegg.
After picking up our licenses we drove another 45 minutes to the base camp. Of course we had to stop along the way and take some pics of the most beautiful land and water I have ever seen.....
Abraham Lake and Mount Michner.....
We also took time to stop in and see, arguably, the greatest Big Horn sheep guide ever, Ron McKenzie. Super guy and very humble. Here is a pic of a replica from the World Record that one of his hunters shot in 2000.....he also guided another hunter to, I believe, the #4 in 2003.
After that we headed to base camp on the shores of Abraham Lake....15-20 miles east of Banff National Park. This was home sweet home when we weren't spike camping it....
On to the hunting....
DAY 1
We woke up to a cool morning and loaded the packs into the canoe to head across the lake. We packed in about 1.5-2 miles and set up spike camp. There were no ATVs allowed in the area and horses were nearly impossible to get in. On the way in I found a nice little 5 pt shed....my first elk shed...woooo hoooo!!!
After setting up spike camp we hiked up the mountain to do a little glassing.....by this time it was mighty warm.
Scott Barth on the right and guide Mark McKay on the right
I almost forgot to mention....our guide for the week,Mark, was an amazing guy originally from New Zealand. This man was a machine and was extremely knowledgable about hunting and game. His specialty was sheep...and let me tell you, after walking with him, you could tell!!!!
DAY 2
Not much action....hot and the bulls were quiet. We decided to head back to base camp in the evening and check out another area higher the next day.
DAY 3
We got decided to head up higher and see if we could find a little more action in the upper elevations near the tree line. We started out at 4400' and ended up at 7500'. That may notseem high to a lot of guys, but when the peaks are around 8500-9000' and the tree line is at 6500-7500', it up there. (OK I'm a flat lander!) When we got to the tree line it was still 75.....not good elk weather.
Here's a few pics from day 3.....
Myself and Mark checking out where we were heading next...
Scott (L) and I posing.....
Scenery.....
Mark taking it all in...
DAY 4
Hot again. We ended up heading back across the lake and hunting a couple different drainages than we had previously checked. Bingo......at about 4800-5000' there was fresh elk sign everywhere....rubs, beds, droppings....you name it. 1 hour after finding our where they were we had an encounter with a great 6x6. This was a 6 pt minimum area so he was legal. Unfortunately, the closest we could get to him was 94 yrds.....34 closer and he would have been smoked.
DAY 5
We ended up moving back in the area and set up spike camp just outside it. No dice.....way to hot again and the winds were swirling badly.
Here is spike camp for the night.
LtoR Curt Walbeck, Scott Barth, Myself.
DAY 6
Crazy hot again. Things weren't looking good, so we did a little scouting for future hunts and took a nap in the shade.
Curt shooting a little B roll...
This is what I had to look at when I woke up from my nap...terrible..
Well, like I said, it was an amazing hunt. It was an amazing experience, got to meet a new friend in Mark, saw an amazing bull and had a blast with my other buddies. I would not hesitate to do this hunt again. Hopefully the Big Man would cool it down a little for us. If he would, I believe we could have gotten into some serious elk.
Like I told the guys when I was out there.....I feel bad for the people who go on a hunt and fell like they absolutely have to kill something or they are wasting their time. To me, its a hell of a lot more than that..........
I left camp on Wed, September 5th and started driving west to Alberta. I stayed overnight in Saskatchewan on Wednesday and in Calgary, Alberta on Thursday. On Friday, Sept 7th, I picked up my good buddy Scott Barth at the airport in Calgary. We then drove 2.5 hours NWand met up with our good friend Kurt Walbeck of Canada Outdoor Adventures in Nordegg.
After picking up our licenses we drove another 45 minutes to the base camp. Of course we had to stop along the way and take some pics of the most beautiful land and water I have ever seen.....
Abraham Lake and Mount Michner.....
We also took time to stop in and see, arguably, the greatest Big Horn sheep guide ever, Ron McKenzie. Super guy and very humble. Here is a pic of a replica from the World Record that one of his hunters shot in 2000.....he also guided another hunter to, I believe, the #4 in 2003.
After that we headed to base camp on the shores of Abraham Lake....15-20 miles east of Banff National Park. This was home sweet home when we weren't spike camping it....
On to the hunting....
DAY 1
We woke up to a cool morning and loaded the packs into the canoe to head across the lake. We packed in about 1.5-2 miles and set up spike camp. There were no ATVs allowed in the area and horses were nearly impossible to get in. On the way in I found a nice little 5 pt shed....my first elk shed...woooo hoooo!!!
After setting up spike camp we hiked up the mountain to do a little glassing.....by this time it was mighty warm.
Scott Barth on the right and guide Mark McKay on the right
I almost forgot to mention....our guide for the week,Mark, was an amazing guy originally from New Zealand. This man was a machine and was extremely knowledgable about hunting and game. His specialty was sheep...and let me tell you, after walking with him, you could tell!!!!
DAY 2
Not much action....hot and the bulls were quiet. We decided to head back to base camp in the evening and check out another area higher the next day.
DAY 3
We got decided to head up higher and see if we could find a little more action in the upper elevations near the tree line. We started out at 4400' and ended up at 7500'. That may notseem high to a lot of guys, but when the peaks are around 8500-9000' and the tree line is at 6500-7500', it up there. (OK I'm a flat lander!) When we got to the tree line it was still 75.....not good elk weather.
Here's a few pics from day 3.....
Myself and Mark checking out where we were heading next...
Scott (L) and I posing.....
Scenery.....
Mark taking it all in...
DAY 4
Hot again. We ended up heading back across the lake and hunting a couple different drainages than we had previously checked. Bingo......at about 4800-5000' there was fresh elk sign everywhere....rubs, beds, droppings....you name it. 1 hour after finding our where they were we had an encounter with a great 6x6. This was a 6 pt minimum area so he was legal. Unfortunately, the closest we could get to him was 94 yrds.....34 closer and he would have been smoked.
DAY 5
We ended up moving back in the area and set up spike camp just outside it. No dice.....way to hot again and the winds were swirling badly.
Here is spike camp for the night.
LtoR Curt Walbeck, Scott Barth, Myself.
DAY 6
Crazy hot again. Things weren't looking good, so we did a little scouting for future hunts and took a nap in the shade.
Curt shooting a little B roll...
This is what I had to look at when I woke up from my nap...terrible..
Well, like I said, it was an amazing hunt. It was an amazing experience, got to meet a new friend in Mark, saw an amazing bull and had a blast with my other buddies. I would not hesitate to do this hunt again. Hopefully the Big Man would cool it down a little for us. If he would, I believe we could have gotten into some serious elk.
Like I told the guys when I was out there.....I feel bad for the people who go on a hunt and fell like they absolutely have to kill something or they are wasting their time. To me, its a hell of a lot more than that..........
09-26-2007, 12:13 AM
#2
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Calgary,Alberta,Canada
Posts: 2,123
RE: 2007 Alberta Elk Hunt
That is beautiful country up there. Wicked pictures by the way. One of the spots i hunt is about an hour south of where you were. Unfortunately u were a few weeks early if u were to be there now you would have alot better chance cause the elk are rutting up ther right now. But its good to hear you enjoyed the trip out here, hopefully you will be able to bag an elk if you decide to do another trip out here. You should have stopped in at the lake and did some fishing, wicked fishing in that lake.
