Ragman
AH elite
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2015
- Messages
- 1,975
- Reaction score
- 4,204
- Location
- Saskatchewan, Canada
- Media
- 285
- Hunted
- Canada(Sask./B.C.), Namibia, RSA(Eastern Cape) USA(Texas)
Well my family's hunting season wrapped up successfully this year with everybody filling their tags with the exception of my brother, who opted not to hunt this year. Sometimes I wonder if we're related or not! Lol.
We started out the first weekend of November. My oldest stepson was drawn for antlerless moose in a zone by my home town. He and his girlfriend drove down from Saskatoon on the Friday afternoon, picked me up and then we continued on down to my parents' house where we would be staying. Bright and early Saturday morning we headed out and came across a lone cow moose, however she was on posted land. No matter how long we sat and stared at her, she was happy to stay right there. We continued on and within a couple of miles ran into two bulls. Ethan's tag was no good for bulls, however there was a calf with them. Unfortunately they were much too close to an occupied yard, so away we went again. The next bunch of moose we found had four animals in it. Three were obviously bulls but the fourth we couldn't quite tell. So we get sneaky and move in for a closer look and it looks like we're in luck...no antler on the right side. But then old left ear gives a little wiggle and there is a tiny little spike antler. Finally later that afternoon we spot a lone cow, make a stalk and he misses. Day 1 ended without another opportunity. Sunday morning we are out to check the spot where we saw the first cow the previous morning hoping that she's out of the posted land. Luckily for us she was so we made another stalk and Ethan was able to put her down. Very excited young man to get his first moose!
Next it's my turn to hunt. Earlier in the fall I decided I wanted to try hunting with a crossbow so I purchased an Excalibur 340Mag. We have some zones that are specifically for primitive weapons and we can buy an OTC Archery Mule Deer tag and hunt them with a crossbow (all the other OTC archery mulie zones are bow only). It didn't take me long to have this Excalibur shooting where I pointed it. I had taken one week off of work to hunt whitetails so I wasn't going to be too fussy with the mule deer. On my first morning out I was lucky enough to get a shot and a decent buck and put an arrow through his vitals. He only ran perhaps 40 yards and I watched him tip over. I've shot mulies with my Matthews before, but this was my first crossbow kill and I was pretty happy with him...might have to hunt with that thing more often!
Now that I had the mule deer out of the way, it was time to get to my blind and wait for a good whitetail. I killed my first deer in 1981 at the age of 12 with a Winchester 94 .30-30 that my Dad bought from my uncle for me. Since this was the 40th anniversary of that year, I decided that that was the rifle that I wanted to kill my 2021 whitetail with. On the morning of my second day out a doe came out of the bush in front of my blind. She kept looking back so I figured she either had a fawn or a boyfriend still in the trees. Soon after I could see another deer and eventually saw antlers. When he finally stepped out of the bush I saw that he was a nice, high 4x4 that looked like he'd fit the bill or my old Winny perfectly. When he was at 70 yards he gave me his shoulder and I fired. I saw the hit and watched him run a short ways before he stopped, wobbled and tipped over. Two fast hunts for me!
Here's a pic of my first deer 40 years ago with the same rifle.
Next up was my father. Initially he didn't think he'd bother going out, but as he was out of deer steak he decided he'd shoot a young one. This proved to be a quick hunt as well. This year he is 79 years old. So after he shot his buck I asked him how it feels to know that when he shoots his next deer he'll be 80. He said "Not very F**kin good!!" Haha!
Last but not least is my better half. She couldn't come during the week as the kids are in school and have their activities, but Friday she arranged for the girl to stay at a friend's and she took the boy out of school and brought him down. We were able to hunt the afternoon and a decent 4x4 came in, but she decided to pass. Saturday we sat from dark to dark and not one mature buck showed himself. Sunday morning was the same story and she was really berating herself for not shooting the one we saw on Friday. I kept encouraging her and telling her it can change in a split second but she was still getting down. But as I said, at 1:00pm a doe came out and it was an exact replay of my buck. I spotted him in the trees before she did and I told her to get ready. He hung up behind the same trees mine did, came out on the same trail mine did and he stopped in the same place mine did. The only difference was he was wider than mine was and had a much bigger body. I was trying unsuccessfully not to let her know how excited I was but she knew. Luckily she kept her cool and made a perfect shot. But she's never confident when they take off after the shot. I assured her she did good but she doubted me because she couldn't find blood. I told her that in that case we should look where the buck actually ran! Sure enough there was a nice blood trail. I got her to follow it up and I just stayed behind her to watch it happen. She just about stepped on him before she saw him...it was awesome!!!
All in all it was a wonderful season. I wish my brother would have come for his mule deer, but everybody's priorities are different. Now to do the Euros and make some sausage. Oh yeah, gotta get out the icefishing gear!!!
We started out the first weekend of November. My oldest stepson was drawn for antlerless moose in a zone by my home town. He and his girlfriend drove down from Saskatoon on the Friday afternoon, picked me up and then we continued on down to my parents' house where we would be staying. Bright and early Saturday morning we headed out and came across a lone cow moose, however she was on posted land. No matter how long we sat and stared at her, she was happy to stay right there. We continued on and within a couple of miles ran into two bulls. Ethan's tag was no good for bulls, however there was a calf with them. Unfortunately they were much too close to an occupied yard, so away we went again. The next bunch of moose we found had four animals in it. Three were obviously bulls but the fourth we couldn't quite tell. So we get sneaky and move in for a closer look and it looks like we're in luck...no antler on the right side. But then old left ear gives a little wiggle and there is a tiny little spike antler. Finally later that afternoon we spot a lone cow, make a stalk and he misses. Day 1 ended without another opportunity. Sunday morning we are out to check the spot where we saw the first cow the previous morning hoping that she's out of the posted land. Luckily for us she was so we made another stalk and Ethan was able to put her down. Very excited young man to get his first moose!
Next it's my turn to hunt. Earlier in the fall I decided I wanted to try hunting with a crossbow so I purchased an Excalibur 340Mag. We have some zones that are specifically for primitive weapons and we can buy an OTC Archery Mule Deer tag and hunt them with a crossbow (all the other OTC archery mulie zones are bow only). It didn't take me long to have this Excalibur shooting where I pointed it. I had taken one week off of work to hunt whitetails so I wasn't going to be too fussy with the mule deer. On my first morning out I was lucky enough to get a shot and a decent buck and put an arrow through his vitals. He only ran perhaps 40 yards and I watched him tip over. I've shot mulies with my Matthews before, but this was my first crossbow kill and I was pretty happy with him...might have to hunt with that thing more often!
Now that I had the mule deer out of the way, it was time to get to my blind and wait for a good whitetail. I killed my first deer in 1981 at the age of 12 with a Winchester 94 .30-30 that my Dad bought from my uncle for me. Since this was the 40th anniversary of that year, I decided that that was the rifle that I wanted to kill my 2021 whitetail with. On the morning of my second day out a doe came out of the bush in front of my blind. She kept looking back so I figured she either had a fawn or a boyfriend still in the trees. Soon after I could see another deer and eventually saw antlers. When he finally stepped out of the bush I saw that he was a nice, high 4x4 that looked like he'd fit the bill or my old Winny perfectly. When he was at 70 yards he gave me his shoulder and I fired. I saw the hit and watched him run a short ways before he stopped, wobbled and tipped over. Two fast hunts for me!
Here's a pic of my first deer 40 years ago with the same rifle.
Next up was my father. Initially he didn't think he'd bother going out, but as he was out of deer steak he decided he'd shoot a young one. This proved to be a quick hunt as well. This year he is 79 years old. So after he shot his buck I asked him how it feels to know that when he shoots his next deer he'll be 80. He said "Not very F**kin good!!" Haha!
Last but not least is my better half. She couldn't come during the week as the kids are in school and have their activities, but Friday she arranged for the girl to stay at a friend's and she took the boy out of school and brought him down. We were able to hunt the afternoon and a decent 4x4 came in, but she decided to pass. Saturday we sat from dark to dark and not one mature buck showed himself. Sunday morning was the same story and she was really berating herself for not shooting the one we saw on Friday. I kept encouraging her and telling her it can change in a split second but she was still getting down. But as I said, at 1:00pm a doe came out and it was an exact replay of my buck. I spotted him in the trees before she did and I told her to get ready. He hung up behind the same trees mine did, came out on the same trail mine did and he stopped in the same place mine did. The only difference was he was wider than mine was and had a much bigger body. I was trying unsuccessfully not to let her know how excited I was but she knew. Luckily she kept her cool and made a perfect shot. But she's never confident when they take off after the shot. I assured her she did good but she doubted me because she couldn't find blood. I told her that in that case we should look where the buck actually ran! Sure enough there was a nice blood trail. I got her to follow it up and I just stayed behind her to watch it happen. She just about stepped on him before she saw him...it was awesome!!!
All in all it was a wonderful season. I wish my brother would have come for his mule deer, but everybody's priorities are different. Now to do the Euros and make some sausage. Oh yeah, gotta get out the icefishing gear!!!
