OK folks, it is that time of year again…when men are men and the bears, moose and deer are nervous!
If you’re back from the woods and have enjoyed a successful big-game hunt this fall, I invite you to share your story and photos right here at the Outdoors Guy Blog.
As someone once said, it’s time to show ’em if you got ’em!
Please keep in mind that all photos (submitted by pm please) should be in a small file format. Usually less than 1/2 GB is fine.
I’m off to camp this weekend to follow the moose boys around with their crossbows, maybe do a few calls and put my deer cams up!
Good luck this fall – to one and all!
Outdoorsguy
Our friend imacdon enjoyed an awesome hunting trip out west this fall. Here is the story and some incredible photos of his hunt! Congrats on your first Muley my friend!
“I was fortunate to be invited to hunt moose with my brother and one of his sons in the BC interior for 13 days. We where hunting at approximately 7000 feet. The group consisted at times of 5-10 friends of my brother. We harvested 3 bull moose on the first three days, and 2 mule deer. Out west they take the bark of the animal as soon as its hung. This is done with the ad of a winch on a ATV. Next the moose is quartered with a special chain saw…canola oil…synthetic fuel… and wrapped in cheese cloth. Beautiful scenery, lots of wildlife. Imacdon”
My pal Iggy also returned from a successful hunt this fall. He was pursuing moose up in Northwestern Ontario.
Have a cigar Iggs, you earned it!
Have fun Jeff
Got myself a bush chicken at our deer camp last weekend and packing up for the big trek north next wee
Whu. ….Whu. ….Whu. ….
Just practicing my bull grunt
🙂
Iggs, you going back to QC this year…or returning to NW Ontario (Atikokan) area again?
Outdoorsguy
you too jeff been waiting too long to stick a nice buck will keep you posted good luck to you and all the other hunters
Good luck Mike…hey, even if you dont stick anything..you’ll still get a chance to enjoy the sights and sounds of fall in the Great Outdoors!
Outdoorsguy
Good luck to the others. I’m heading off solo this year, so I’m not straying far
Good to hear from you, John..all the best out there!!
Outdoorsguy
John, when it comes to hunting, I have done very well alone in the past..moose hunting especially.
The big joke at moose camp used to be me returning to camp with a moose, before the oldguys had even left the breakfast table..hehe
Outdoorsguy
First good frost today .. now it feels like hunting season …. GOOD LUCK all
saturday was the first real day of deer, saw a very big doe just down the road from my house monday am at 5am but alas was on my way to work i am sure it will be picked up soon as free meat
jeff was out hunting geese on monday night counted 16 deer in a 3 mile area near clayton boy the deer pop sure is high in this zone i also saw 2 8pt bucks a 6 pt and 7 does all in one field just in a beas field
Hey mike, that is a VERY encouraging sign!!
Outdoorsguy
On my way up to Atikokan for the moose hunt. As I type this we just passed through Gerald to. Three guys have already flown in and are attempting to use our bull archery tag but our hunt really gets going Saturday morning for a bull and a vow. Good luck to all the moose hunters
Good luck to you Iggs..tks for the update on the fly!
Go get that big bull…and then report back here when you do.
Outdoorsguy
Wild Game anyone??
http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/outdoors/cooking/canadian-wild-game-cookbook/
Outdoorsguy
I still haven’t seen nor heard a single deer in my woods, nor in a beauty green field attached to a standing corn patch and I walk in the evenings. Tons of turkeys geese and everything else eating there but not sure where the deer are here. Don’t even see any on the drive to and from work. Maybe they moved into the city.
johan, any more deer sign in your area in recent days?
Outdoorsguy
Johan, same thing at my place… There’s no corn real close though, but usually I have a bunch of videos or photos by now. Just one tiny fawn and a small doe. Couple of tracks by the beaver dam. Nothing else. My drives to work and back prove fruitless as well… Might be a hard hunt in places…
Well, this week I heard from Iggy who had a successful moose hunt by looks of it, and imacdon who enjoyed two weeks out in beautiful BC hunting moose and muleys!
Stories and pics to come!!
Outdoorsguy
Not a one. I would bet someone a 100 bucks they couldn’t find fresh deer crap on my place right now. I see the occasional track but there aren’t trails in the long grass as there normally is, trails they have used for decades. I have since brush hogged the trails and only found two beds in all that long grass and golden rod. Crazy really but will there is a lot of bush around the food so they may be close but numbers are definitely way down. I am not seeing them on my road travels either.
May have to miss the moose hunt again this year, won’t know until tomorrow. Work sure gets in the way of life doesn’t it?
Johan, that sucks big time..on both accounts!
I wonder if deer in your area were especially hard hit last winter? Or from the previous three winters which we all pretty rough.
Outdoorsguy
Outdoorsguy, not sure where they are right now but there’s no doubt they had to have taken a hit the last two winters. With all this food readily available they are normally herded up here like cattle. No wonder the coyotes are moving to town. On a better note, the biz thing worked out well AND the big meeting was re-scheduled to week after next. Sweet. Maybe see what a deer looks like there.
johan, sounds like part of your hunting season has been free’d up at least..hopefully you do find some deer when the time comes.
mike, I suppose its like anywhere else..some regions always tend to hold higher densities of animals that others.
Outdoorsguy
I will be posting 3 hunter succes stories in the coming days..from imacdon, Iggy and my old pal Yukon Bob..who just harvested a little bull moose this week.
Only 61″ wide!!!
Stay tuned..
Outdoorsguy
Anyone else going Wild For Whitetails???
http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/hunting/going-wild-for-whitetails/
Outdoorsguy
i was getting depressed as i had only seen a few deer in my area but friday am i saw 3 8pt bucks and 2 6 pt bucks with 6 does of course 200 yards away in another farmers field and not mine but on the good hand there is actually deer around jeff your other writers johan and herman are right i have yet to see the larger amounts that are usually there some i am sure are nocturnal but i am keeping my fingers crossed to get something early in the first week of the gun season .
just got back from moose only 3 days of hunting for me . first time in 20 years been home for my wedding anniversary, with that said would rather be hunting . in three days seen a red wolf hopefully got some good vid of that . our group saw 3 cows and one bull, could have possibly killed the bull if one group member was not trigger happy. we saw absolutely NO deer Our area has been decimated for whitetails. Well I am on my way south bound to see a nascar race and do some fishing and some hunting. Leaving all my guns at home since this crap with what’s been happening in Canada, I do not want any hassle at the boarder … when I get home I will look at the video as I left it at the moose camp (stupid) good luck every one
Hey chess, good to hear from you! Too bad you didnt down any swamp donkies, but such is life eh! Very sad about the whitetail herd in that area…not sounding good at all.
Have fun in the wonderful USA, and wise idea regarding the firearms this time.
Hope you catch some strips..see some deer, and of yeah, send me that vid whenever you get it.
I will post it right here!
Outdoorsguy
Back from my moose hunt, only hunted a day and a half but not much point as we didn’t have a tag. Seemed to be lots of birds though so that was good. Hydro has put in a highway along the tower line so that means the place will be infested with hunters next year and this year for deer. Not many moose in our area and with better access the numbers will only decrease as everyone with a trailer behind a car can camp in the abundant turn arounds they have installed.
Our hydro must have spent millions building that access road and I swear the maintenance they did on the actual towers was a very small fraction of the cost. A couple guys in our camp are aggregate experts and they were mind boggled when they saw it. Some of the towers had a 2×3 foot concrete footing poured (enough to be mixed in a wheel barrow) and some had another foot added or painted. You really have to look to see the repairs. I guess we need to make sure they are in tip top condition to provide power to the US and anyone else we can pay to take it.
Off to find deer in my woods.
johan, as my dad always says..”That’s progress for ya!” I remember as a kid when Hydro QC put in their huge towers right through middle of our deer territory, and forced my father to sell his land to the Gov’t in the process. Luckily they allowed us to retain our 100 year lease on the hunt camp!
I know it all seems shocking at first..but eventually(hopefully) you will adjust and it won’t ruin the landscape there forever. We have hunted in and around our power lines for so long now, it’s like second nature. There isn’t any major roads tho…that could be of greater concern.
Best of luck finding some deer my friend!
Outdoorsguy
I have just added some photos and hunt details (above) from two of the regular Blog contributors – imacdon and Iggy! Check the out!!
Looking forward to more of your bragging board stories and photos. Send em if you got em!
Outdoorsguy
Jeff, it’s not the landscape I am worried about, it’s the ease of access and all that comes with it. Atvs would have a tough go in there but now you can take in your car and set up a watch. We encountered a group of 3 First Nations hunters who were camped for a week and in their words, ‘killing everything they see’. Nice bunch of guys taking advantage of their inherent rights but it doesn’t bode well for our hunts in future as there aren’t many moose to begin with. There was also a local bear outfitter who was taking advantage of the roads to bring clients and he has been running the bush with big hounds for the last month. I figure they tree the bear and some city guy comes in and shoots it if it’s big enough, not sure how else you would use dogs for bear. Progress is not always good even if there is not much you can do about it.
There are more deer tracks on my 2 acre cottage lot than in my 100 acres of bush. Still no venison pics on the game cam; one coyote, one woodpecker, and one squirrel.
OK johan, YES….Hydro did frig up our area with main roads, thats true.
Any chance of hunting deer at the cottage bush?
Outdoorsguy
Well my luck continues. I get my van completely emptied at the boarder I was waiting for over 30 minutes and my family questioned then get pulled over by state trooper frOr driving atv across road and took a 10 minute yelling fest from officer ( I would never let a officer yell at me like that in Canada ). Then comes the icing on the cake we had a wonderful day at the nascare race. In Martinsville then come to van and check phone my 19 year old daughter was in a car wreck and wrote her car off and her two friends gigot sent to hospital as well as daughter. They are just sore now and under control of her grandparents till I get home then she is going to wish she was in the states lol .. We managed on fish tonight no deer as it’s been to warm for me to hunt 80 is not fun to hunt with. Well that is my rant for today.
Ok Chessy, that is YET another string of bad luck for you.. Thank goodness your daughter is ok, and I hope for the recovery of her friends as well.
Perhaps you’ll get a chance to ‘hide in the deer woods’ for a few days..avoid all stresses of every day life? Thats my plan..hope it works.
All the best and keep in touch!
Outdoorsguy
Oh ya forgot to tell ya.. it was her 19th birthday the day of the accident lol.. she is still sore.. going fishing tonight.. its 84 outside right now