Hunting? in B.C. ( the challenges of weather)
Sorry I don't have any pics to go with this, but here's a brief report of my experiences last weekend. UPDATE - Reddog made me feel so ad I had to add both pics and video...... :-)
Hunting was a complete waste of time. My plan was to go out by myself to the same spot where my son and I camped 3 weeks ago. As I drive in off the highway and look to all the common camping locations I see no one. Turns out there was no one even in the same valley with Hallowe’en and all, so I have one major and probably 6 minor valleys (more than a couple hundred thousand acres) all to myself. Friday night plan was just to get there, get the tracker prepped, get the gear ready to go and then go to bed. Woke up several times during the night listening to the torrential downpours and howling winds. Up very early at 5:00, the rain continues to be medium to extremely heavy. I get dressed, stuff in a quick bowl of cereal, get in the tracker and go up to the spot where my son and I saw a few bucks and where he harvested a buck the last time out. I get to the parking spot about an hour before daylight and start to hike in the dark (always a little spooky when you are alone in Cougar country). It’s about an hour hike up through the side of the a cut block, over a ridge of trees, down through a second small cut block, over another ridge and then sneak into a spot that is near the top of the second ridge. The spot to sit is about ¾ the way up the hill and oversees 2 cut blocks each about 20 acres in size with perfect shooting sightlines to all corners. Maximum distance to shoot is about 220 yards. I get to the spot just at daylight and sit in the rain for 3 hours and nothing is moving (Deer don’t do much during storms and remain bedded down) so I bail and go back to camp. Rain pours down ALL day long and very heavy. I am building trenches around my truck to try to divert water away from the area under my tarp. Didn’t work, so my campsite is a muddy wet mess. At about 2:30 the rain stops and the wind goes to force 10 hurricane. It tears the grommets out of my tarp, and I hear huge trees crashing all over the place. My campsite was relatively safe since all the trees are young. The other side of the valley was another story. Sounded like a war zone. I set about to repair the tarp…….Sigh…………..
At 3:00, I get back in the tracker and head back up to the same spot and sneak in through the trees again. Rain has stopped but the winds continue to howl. I sit at the same spot and watch the cut blocks for 2 ½ hours until dark and see nothing. Wind howls the entire time, but I can see that the skies are beginning to clear. I am hopeful that the clearing skies and colder weather will give me one last chance at them in the morning, but I am disappointed that today, during the last hours of “any buck” season, I see nothing. Tomorrow will be 4 point bucks only. I hike back to the Tracker, get back to camp, build a nice hot fire, cook a giant steak and have a beer and feel sorry for myself……..Sigh…….. I am in bed by 9:30. I have a very restful sleep.
At 6 the next morning, I get up and look at the outside temp. It read 2 degrees so it is probably more like -1. My sender is in the propane cabinet so it gets a lot of influence from the heat of the camper. I can hear no rain so I assume that it is cold and clear. I think this will be a great morning and I go to open the door. Door opens about 6 inches and then slams into the collapsed tarp that has been pulled down by the weight of 2” of wet snow. ........Sigh…….
I get dressed, get outside and figure a game plan. I want to be ready to get the Hell out of this valley at a moment’s notice so I think I should start to pack up. I will get the truck and camper ready to travel, put the table, lantern, lawn chairs and all the external gear away and be ready to go and then I’ll go up to the top to have one last look. An hour later, I am ready to go up to the top and I leave in the Tracker for one last look. It is snowing lightly when I leave so I am hopeful that the snow is abating. By the time I get back to the top parking spot, I am in 8” of snow and it is snowing at a rate of more than an inch an hour. ……………..Sigh…………….
Still I am undaunted. I get all my gear on, load the rifle and start the long trudge up the side of the mountain. As I am walking, I start thinking about what the deer will be doing in this…… There isn’t a chance in Hell they will be moving. They will all be bedded down and waiting it out. Clearly this is a further waste of time. ………Sigh……..Ok I give up. “Mother Nature…… You win”……
https://youtu.be/y6M5nZMwS0Q
I head back to the Tracker, back to camp, load up everything , hook up the buggy and head for home. I am hopeful that the snow won’t be so deep that I am unable to get up the 1500 foot climb to get out of the valley that I am alone in. Tires seem to be digging all the way to the gravel and I don’t even slip a tire.
https://youtu.be/fBlVtJ0K224
The trip up the hill is relatively uneventful. I get all the way to the top and then run into 2 cowboys in a truck moving their cattle along the road. They let me know that they will try to find a wide spot in the road to let me pass. No problem I say and we go along very very slowly for about a half hour. The snow continues to come down in a near white out. Finally he finds a spot for me to get past his truck and lets me go and I slowly get past the 20 or so cattle. I get back to the highway and the snow continues to fall and the road is a white ribbon with 2 tracks. The snow falls all the way to nearly the main highway and slows the trip home.
All the way home all I am thinking of is my opportunity for next year and where am I going to go. I guess I am hooked on hunting………..or maybe I should forget all this and go back to 'hunting' big beautiful summer run steelhead in one of the rivers nearby………;-)
All I really know that what I am really hooked on is being outdoors in the fall in BC. In fact, I am haunted by it. I really need to spend some more time fishing and hunting and less time working. I don’t have enough falls left to miss a single one.
Hunting was a complete waste of time. My plan was to go out by myself to the same spot where my son and I camped 3 weeks ago. As I drive in off the highway and look to all the common camping locations I see no one. Turns out there was no one even in the same valley with Hallowe’en and all, so I have one major and probably 6 minor valleys (more than a couple hundred thousand acres) all to myself. Friday night plan was just to get there, get the tracker prepped, get the gear ready to go and then go to bed. Woke up several times during the night listening to the torrential downpours and howling winds. Up very early at 5:00, the rain continues to be medium to extremely heavy. I get dressed, stuff in a quick bowl of cereal, get in the tracker and go up to the spot where my son and I saw a few bucks and where he harvested a buck the last time out. I get to the parking spot about an hour before daylight and start to hike in the dark (always a little spooky when you are alone in Cougar country). It’s about an hour hike up through the side of the a cut block, over a ridge of trees, down through a second small cut block, over another ridge and then sneak into a spot that is near the top of the second ridge. The spot to sit is about ¾ the way up the hill and oversees 2 cut blocks each about 20 acres in size with perfect shooting sightlines to all corners. Maximum distance to shoot is about 220 yards. I get to the spot just at daylight and sit in the rain for 3 hours and nothing is moving (Deer don’t do much during storms and remain bedded down) so I bail and go back to camp. Rain pours down ALL day long and very heavy. I am building trenches around my truck to try to divert water away from the area under my tarp. Didn’t work, so my campsite is a muddy wet mess. At about 2:30 the rain stops and the wind goes to force 10 hurricane. It tears the grommets out of my tarp, and I hear huge trees crashing all over the place. My campsite was relatively safe since all the trees are young. The other side of the valley was another story. Sounded like a war zone. I set about to repair the tarp…….Sigh…………..
At 3:00, I get back in the tracker and head back up to the same spot and sneak in through the trees again. Rain has stopped but the winds continue to howl. I sit at the same spot and watch the cut blocks for 2 ½ hours until dark and see nothing. Wind howls the entire time, but I can see that the skies are beginning to clear. I am hopeful that the clearing skies and colder weather will give me one last chance at them in the morning, but I am disappointed that today, during the last hours of “any buck” season, I see nothing. Tomorrow will be 4 point bucks only. I hike back to the Tracker, get back to camp, build a nice hot fire, cook a giant steak and have a beer and feel sorry for myself……..Sigh…….. I am in bed by 9:30. I have a very restful sleep.
At 6 the next morning, I get up and look at the outside temp. It read 2 degrees so it is probably more like -1. My sender is in the propane cabinet so it gets a lot of influence from the heat of the camper. I can hear no rain so I assume that it is cold and clear. I think this will be a great morning and I go to open the door. Door opens about 6 inches and then slams into the collapsed tarp that has been pulled down by the weight of 2” of wet snow. ........Sigh…….
I get dressed, get outside and figure a game plan. I want to be ready to get the Hell out of this valley at a moment’s notice so I think I should start to pack up. I will get the truck and camper ready to travel, put the table, lantern, lawn chairs and all the external gear away and be ready to go and then I’ll go up to the top to have one last look. An hour later, I am ready to go up to the top and I leave in the Tracker for one last look. It is snowing lightly when I leave so I am hopeful that the snow is abating. By the time I get back to the top parking spot, I am in 8” of snow and it is snowing at a rate of more than an inch an hour. ……………..Sigh…………….
Still I am undaunted. I get all my gear on, load the rifle and start the long trudge up the side of the mountain. As I am walking, I start thinking about what the deer will be doing in this…… There isn’t a chance in Hell they will be moving. They will all be bedded down and waiting it out. Clearly this is a further waste of time. ………Sigh……..Ok I give up. “Mother Nature…… You win”……
https://youtu.be/y6M5nZMwS0Q
I head back to the Tracker, back to camp, load up everything , hook up the buggy and head for home. I am hopeful that the snow won’t be so deep that I am unable to get up the 1500 foot climb to get out of the valley that I am alone in. Tires seem to be digging all the way to the gravel and I don’t even slip a tire.
https://youtu.be/fBlVtJ0K224
The trip up the hill is relatively uneventful. I get all the way to the top and then run into 2 cowboys in a truck moving their cattle along the road. They let me know that they will try to find a wide spot in the road to let me pass. No problem I say and we go along very very slowly for about a half hour. The snow continues to come down in a near white out. Finally he finds a spot for me to get past his truck and lets me go and I slowly get past the 20 or so cattle. I get back to the highway and the snow continues to fall and the road is a white ribbon with 2 tracks. The snow falls all the way to nearly the main highway and slows the trip home.
All the way home all I am thinking of is my opportunity for next year and where am I going to go. I guess I am hooked on hunting………..or maybe I should forget all this and go back to 'hunting' big beautiful summer run steelhead in one of the rivers nearby………;-)
All I really know that what I am really hooked on is being outdoors in the fall in BC. In fact, I am haunted by it. I really need to spend some more time fishing and hunting and less time working. I don’t have enough falls left to miss a single one.
