My annual deer hunt at Kenauk Nature is always the highlight of my year, and this fall was no exception. The famous Montebello, Quebec territory, with its rugged terrain and majestic old growth stands of oak, brings me back year after year.
This particular deer season, as I gazed in amazement at a big mature whitetail buck loping roughshod through the hardwoods in front of me, my entire hunting season culminated in this one brief encounter. The scene was almost surreal as we watched the dark beast break from the comfort of his three does. But this wasn’t the only deer we saw during the deer season. Whitetail numbers, from what we observed, were definitely on the increase in this magnificent land, and back at our family hunt camp too where we spent the first part of the rifle season.
Population on the rebound
The first week of the deer hunt was spent as I have these past 36 years, climbing the peaks around our family camp near Mont Tremblant. I’m happy to report the whitetail population has rebounded swimmingly over the previous fall. We observed several does with twin fawns and the overall deer activity was up from last year. We were encouraged by the amount of deer sign in the way of images on my six trail cameras, as well as tracks in the woods. We chose to pass-up on a yearling buck as we have done in the past, and secretly crossed our fingers that other hunters might do the same. Word on the street is that deer numbers are up in eastern Ontario as well which great news for hunters and conservationists alike
Big buck on the move
As the biggest-bodied buck I’d seen in over 20 years trampled the Kenauk underbrush like matchsticks, my hunting partner Jim and I watched in disbelief. There was no way in heck we were going to stop this beast and as the reality of the situation sunk-in; we were left scratching our heads. Chalk it up to one more eventful outing in the deer woods. We will be anxious to get back up there next fall with hopes of challenging this old monarch once again. Thanks to Bill Nowell and Celyne Fortin of Kenauk Nature for facilitating another great trip to a ‘little slice of heaven’. To enjoy wilderness at its best and top notch accommodations check out: http://kenauk.com/ For more information on deer hunting across the river, contact Tourism Quebec: 1-877-266-5687
Fish, Hunt & Ride Fall issue
The autumn issue of Fish, Hunt & Ride magazine is now available online; featuring scads of hunting, fishing and riding stories, news, tips and tricks. Fall is about hunting and we really take it to heart in this edition. Fish, Hunt & Ride would also like to welcome a new member of our team; Ashley Rae of SheLovesToFish.com fame. Ashley is a gal who lives and breathes the great outdoors and is as passionate an angler as I’ve ever seen! Be sure to read Ashley’s first column along with great material from our team of experts and specialists. Oh and hey, Ol’ Toothless is celebrating 20 years; read our fall issue for more details: www.fishhuntandride.ca.
Safety first
This time of year with some hunting still on the go, enthusiasts are reminded to be vigilant and take the necessary safety precautions. Remember that hunter orange of a minimum 400 square inches is required and, for Ontario residents, a hunter orange cap as well. Be sure to keep your firearms and ammunition locked away when not in use, and never shoot unless absolutely sure of your target and beyond. It is illegal to shoot from a vehicle or carry a loaded firearm in or on a vehicle, and remember that any hunter who harvests a deer must immediately attach the game seal. A safe hunt is a happy hunt and a careless accident can turn a wonderful day in the woods into tragedy.
Next time
Check out next month’s column for highlights from this year’s deer hunt as well as your Valley ice-fishing primer! Drop me a line anytime with your hunting and fishing news, or stories: [email protected].
Guys around here got 5, up from 1 last year so that’s a good sign. I hadn’t seen a track in my bush until mid first week of the hunt. Dogs must have rattled the bush enough to get them moving although they don’t seem to be living in my bush. There were a few sets of tracks in the snow so I expect at least one or two bucks and a doe and fawn aren’t too far away. After the snow the turkeys seem to have left and flocked up down the road, has to be 200 or more in that flock.
It was a very slow start to the rifle season but I managed to get an 8 point buck on the sunday am of the last day of rifle very lucky as lots of hunters were left empty with no deer , but with the snow the deer came out while hunting geese I saw a 10 pt buck and a 3 pt buck with 5 does and someone shot the piebald buck , I would have let him go and not took it down I hope this guy has bad luck next year , karma is a you know what , I will hunt this weekend with a lady that wants a big buck they recently moved to an area with lots of deer activity but the cold weather needs to come back to get the bigger deer to move , looks like the muzzle loader might be a better chance to bag one
We only got two and the camp next to us none. A camp in Calabogie that I know of only got two and they ran dogs like us for two weeks. I sure hope the MNR realizes how much the deer populations are down in this area.
I harvested a nice 8 point at 7:20 opening morning, then took a Hale Marry shot at a doe on the Wednesday of the second week and that’s all the action we saw. There was lots of sign but they were not moving through the day. Even more sign in the woods now that the pressure is off. May have to dust off the bow skills…..
Nice to see my old pal is still around:
http://blogs.canoe.com/outdoorsguy/outdoors/enormous-backyard-buck-alive-and-well/
Outdoorsguy
Good to hear you are still out there with Jim, does he still wander around the woods with shady Ont. people??