Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Well, this was one of those hunts where everything went right. Spent 7 days in northern Alberta hunting whitetails and was successful on taking my largest buck ever. Spent my time in a ladder stand or tripod over a 100 acres of newly logged forest. The area was in 10,000's acres of untouched provincial forest land where my stand was on a flat ridge watching a heavily thicket that created a funnel between the logged area and the high flat that went down to the creek bottom. Spent 10 hrs a day in the stand and weather was a real test with snow & temps between 14 F to 24 F.
This was a true wild fair chase deep bush hunt. No bait piles, food plots, or AG fields to hunt over. No scents, lures, decoys, etc. allowed. These deer have very little human contact given the remoteness of the area and can reach 7-8 years old if the wolves do not get to them. They can get to well over 300 lbs and live on browse and lichen which is a fungi that is very high in protein.
We would drive 30 minutes in the guides truck to the head of the logging road, then 10-12 miles to the trail to the stand site. We rode 2 of us on an ATV quad ~1.5 miles of rutted trails avoiding brush and limbs back into my stand location. Amazing how quiet it can be this far back in the deep bush that was aspen, black spruce, & alder sometimes so thick you could only see 5-10 yards. Getting away from normal sounds you hear in populated, even in the country & rural areas, was pretty cool. The sound of silence is really impressive!
This buck was in his home range and I heard him coming slowly down the thicket flats for about 30 minutes. He was slowly working scrapes and rubbing branches every so often. He showed himself about 120 yards on the inside of the tree line in tight cover. Couldn't ID him at first and then he showed his right side which got my attention. He dipped back deeper in the cover and started working a scrape and then moved a bit forward. He gave me about an 18" clear shot broadside and then lifted his head and looked my direction. No uncertainty at that point and put one into his side about 4" back from his shoulder. He dipped and turned and then ran back into the thick cover with his head down. Felt I made a good shot and waited for about 30 minutes before trailing him. A LONG 30 minutes
Found him about 60 yards and he was down. Had a good double lung shot just above his heart. These are really big, tough deer and the bullet did not exit on the opposite side. I shoot a 300 WIN MAG 165 g, Vital Shock round and he absorbed the bullet.
He is the classic Alberta deep bush buck. Pretty much hit all my check boxes with a good spread, good tine height, heavy mass and a great deep chocolate color. He has 14 score-able points, a 18.5" inside spread, mass of 38", and field dressed at 264 lbs. My goal someday was to to crack the near impossible 160" mark. The guide had him on camera and we knew he was big but not this big and he scored 173". Estimated he was 5-6 years old and has a beautiful white coloring on his face. Very thankful for this and still pinching myself to make sure this is real.
Good luck to everyone still chasing the big one!
I found the initial blood inside the thick cover then backed out and waited for the guide. The guide tracked him and and I was following about 30' behind. When he shouted there he is, I saw him and had the greatest feeling of relief.
His tines were wide with great mass and looked as if someone had carved them.
This was a true wild fair chase deep bush hunt. No bait piles, food plots, or AG fields to hunt over. No scents, lures, decoys, etc. allowed. These deer have very little human contact given the remoteness of the area and can reach 7-8 years old if the wolves do not get to them. They can get to well over 300 lbs and live on browse and lichen which is a fungi that is very high in protein.
We would drive 30 minutes in the guides truck to the head of the logging road, then 10-12 miles to the trail to the stand site. We rode 2 of us on an ATV quad ~1.5 miles of rutted trails avoiding brush and limbs back into my stand location. Amazing how quiet it can be this far back in the deep bush that was aspen, black spruce, & alder sometimes so thick you could only see 5-10 yards. Getting away from normal sounds you hear in populated, even in the country & rural areas, was pretty cool. The sound of silence is really impressive!
This buck was in his home range and I heard him coming slowly down the thicket flats for about 30 minutes. He was slowly working scrapes and rubbing branches every so often. He showed himself about 120 yards on the inside of the tree line in tight cover. Couldn't ID him at first and then he showed his right side which got my attention. He dipped back deeper in the cover and started working a scrape and then moved a bit forward. He gave me about an 18" clear shot broadside and then lifted his head and looked my direction. No uncertainty at that point and put one into his side about 4" back from his shoulder. He dipped and turned and then ran back into the thick cover with his head down. Felt I made a good shot and waited for about 30 minutes before trailing him. A LONG 30 minutes
Found him about 60 yards and he was down. Had a good double lung shot just above his heart. These are really big, tough deer and the bullet did not exit on the opposite side. I shoot a 300 WIN MAG 165 g, Vital Shock round and he absorbed the bullet.
He is the classic Alberta deep bush buck. Pretty much hit all my check boxes with a good spread, good tine height, heavy mass and a great deep chocolate color. He has 14 score-able points, a 18.5" inside spread, mass of 38", and field dressed at 264 lbs. My goal someday was to to crack the near impossible 160" mark. The guide had him on camera and we knew he was big but not this big and he scored 173". Estimated he was 5-6 years old and has a beautiful white coloring on his face. Very thankful for this and still pinching myself to make sure this is real.
Good luck to everyone still chasing the big one!
I found the initial blood inside the thick cover then backed out and waited for the guide. The guide tracked him and and I was following about 30' behind. When he shouted there he is, I saw him and had the greatest feeling of relief.
His tines were wide with great mass and looked as if someone had carved them.
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