2009 Black Bear With A Bow

For Christmas this year I was the lucky recipient of a Bowtech Flatliner Archery Package. It was something I’d been just throwing on the list for years without ever really caring if I got one or not… Well… I am kicking myself in the ass that I didn’t get into years ago!

After practicing, practing and practicing for the last few months I am fairly confident that I can take a killing shot within 20 yards. Being on the Island, Black Bear seems like a logical first choice.

I’ve got a trail cam setup on a trail I picked up a few bears last year on and have been scouting most of April but haven’t seen a thing until last night.

Coming around the corner on the logging road behind my house I saw a large black object clearly out of place in a large, dead douglas fir tree. It was a black bear cub. He dropped out right away and met up another cub. I hopped off the bike a little leary as I had not located the sow yet. She was right there at the base of the tree just out of sight.

When I focused the camera in for a pic I realized there was actually 3 cubs! Good for her.

Sow And Three Cubs - Vancouver Island Black Bears

2008 Elk Hunt 6pnt Bull.

After hiking out of the mountains ramless we loaded up our gear and headed back south for the long drive to Fort St. John. We arrived late afternoon, and after discussing it with my dad decided we’d better go pick up some tags and try to get a bull in the 3pnt or better season on private land.

We stopped by the landowners house on the way out and got permission, She told me a party had just left the day before with 2 six point bulls and that another party was due to show up tomorrow, Since I was only hunting for the one evening (we had to drive back to the Island the next day) She gave us permission to go giver a try.

The area we had permission on ecompasses 9 sections of private land sowed in alfalfa and clover along with several hundred acres of standing timber. Right alongside a major watershed as well, so it’s right on a travel corridor.

We headed out there about 5pm and on the 45 minute drive to get there I was a little dejected at the pressure the area had received and was skeptical if we’d come across a legal bull on our micro hunt.

We got to the lower field where it was decided that one of us would sit in the lower field (where the elk commonly feed) and the others would head up to the other fields so we could cover more ground. Fine, I volunteered, got out of the truck and began the slow walk through the spruce timber toward the opening of the alfalfa field.

This a big alfalfa field a few hundred acres in size, but bordering alongside is a creek running through a shallow and wide ravine that the elk, moose and deer seem to travel along frequently. Along the edge of the field on the corner we walk in from is a small ditch just enough for a guy to sit down in without too much worry of being spotted.

I snuck my way into the ditch alongside the field, and got into position… Slowly raised up the swaro’s hanging around my neck and scanned the field from my left to my right… Nothing… Nothing… Woah!!! In the closest corner of the field (the one I looked in last) was a 6 point Bull… About 200 yards away staring right at me. SHIT I thought… I am totally busted… I didn’t dare move but I could see out of the corner of my eye 2 cows not too far off to his right that were now in the frame as well. It took him about a minute to settle down and he went back to feeding, the moment he put his down I flew out of the ditch and into the timber as fast and silently as I could and then jacked a shell into the chamber. I snuck about 15 yards into the timber and then just slowly closed the distance between me and the bull while hidden behind the trees.

He must have sensed me because at about 75 yards he put his head up again and was looking in my direction. I was standing in between two spruce trees, barely exposed. It was a perfect broadside shot but there was nothing to rest on without getting busted for moving, so I raised the .270 and brought the crosshairs onto his rump and slowly crept along his body until I had him pegged, BOOM… He fell down hard right away, then got back up and hobbled over to the edge of the field and dissapeared. I radioed my Dad and told him to bring the truck back because our Elk hunt was now over… He didn’t believe me at first!

I waited until they got to me with the truck which was about 10 minutes and then went looking for my Bull. We found about 100 yards from where I’d hit him. He just made it to the edge of the field and collapsed in the low lying timber and brush along the edge.

My .270 was loaded for sheep shooting a Federal Vitalshock 130 grain so I might have been a little undergunned but it worked out well.

Start to finish my first 6 point bull took me about 10 minutes of Elk hunting!

2008 BC LEH Results

Unless you've been living under a rock then you probably know the 2008 BC LEH draw has been completed.

You can Check Your LEH Results Here

I was sucessfully drawn for Fall Grizzly on the Liard Plateau (7-53) and will probably spend a few days after this years stone's sheep hunt looking for a Grizzly.  The odds were very generous but the area is massive and largely inaccesible.  There is a small road network and we'll be exploring it on ATV's.  If any of you have any tips on the area feel free!

Happy Hunting!
Carl

Missing Spatsizi Hunter – Tom Leonard

Tom Leonard failed to return from a fall hunting trip in Northwestern British Columbia at Spatsizi Plateau Provincial Wilderness Park. Tom signed in at the Eaglenest Trail Head on September 11, 2005 and continued on backpacking on his limited entry sheep hunt. When he failed to return home on October 2, 2005 RCMP conducted a search and located his truck at the base of the mountain at Eaglenest Trail. Search and rescue was called in and they conducted a search using aircraft and ground trackers but there was no trace of the missing man. Due to weather conditions the search was called off on October 8, 2005 and the family was reassured that a recovery operation would be conducted in the spring when weather conditions permitted.

In late June, an extensive one week voluntary search was conducted by family and friends searching various areas of the park. Again poor weather hampered the search.

In mid July, an RCMP air search was conducted for 5 days but again failed to produce any answers. Tom's clothing was all camouflaged, including his backpack. He was packing a brown tent and quite a bit of gear.

 Missing Spatsizi Hunter Website

2007 Spring Grizzly Hunt Allocations.

The 2007 Spring Grizzly Hunt Allocations Were Released On Monday.

This is the number of tags available for the 2007 spring hunt draw and for the most part it looks like there has been quite an increase in tags available to certain areas. For some of the sub-regions the numbers appear unchanged or they have shifted a few tags from one sub-region to another in a few cases as well.

2007 Spring Grizzly Hunt Tag Allocations

The areas I put in for Spring Grizz the allocations increased 300% for my 1st choice and 500% for my 2nd choice area so I am pretty excited about that. If you haven’t put in yet you still have time! Applications must be into Victoria by 4:30 pm on
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9th. Notification of draw results will be sent on February 20, 2007.

If you’re this late though I would courier it to Victoria.

Good Luck!
Carl

Canadian Game Trackers Association

Every year in BC and across Canada for that matter law abiding hunters may by accident wound or lose a big game animal such as a Moose or a Black Bear. Unfortunately if a hunter doesn’t have access to some trained tracking dogs recovering the animal can be next to impossible depending on the situation.

The Canadian Game Trackers Association hopes to change that… They are a new organization created by Canadian hunters who are also active houndsman. The goal of the association is to help regular hunters in legal situations recover their lost or wounded game animal.

Many of the founding members of the Canadian Game Trackers Association own and work with or have direct access to their own highly trained game tracking dogs. Their trackers are extremely active and have many years of tracking experience. As a group they are responsible for recovering many wounded or lost big game animals every year. Now they want to offer their tracking dog services to not only their clients on guided hunts but also to resident hunters who may need the service of trained tracking dogs at some point.

The Canadian Game Trackers will track with their dogs solely within the laws of the province or territory they are located in and only in situations where the animal was harvested legally.

The association’s goals are to:

Click Here To Visit The Canadian Game Trackers Website

Happy Hunting!
Carl

November 2006 Whitetail & Mule Deer Hunt

Well it’s that time of year again… I am busy packing up all my gear to head north Wednesday AM on the first ferry. I’ll be headed to Fort St. John for the annual deer hunting trip and will hopefully return with some real good video footage for the site and maybe some pictures of the bucks I pass up

If I play my cards right and put the time I hope to be rewarded with a nice buck (or two)

I’ll also be going to take a farmed buffalo for meat. I’ll video that too for everyone

Happy Hunting!
Carl

Are You In Sheep Shape?

The mountains of British Columbia offer some of the best wild sheep hunting in the world. With 3 major species Dalls, Bighorns & Stones and 2 sub-species California Bighorn and Fannin (cross between Dall & Stone)it’s a sheep hunters dream.

If you’ve never hunted sheep before for the most part they are a very challenging animal to hunt. Aside from some Bighorns which are sometimes taken in very close proximity to a road you can expect you’re going to have to hike for your trophy ram.

If you’re hunting stones or dalls get ready to hike for sure and if you’re smart you’ll be getting ready several months ahead of the game.

Last year was my first sheep hunt and coming from a family of outfitters I’ve been fortunate to learn from some of the best guides in the province but no amount of advice can prepare you for the physical endurance needed to actual carry yourself and your gear up some of the mountains you may find sheep on.

How did I prepare last year?

I went on a 1.5 hr bike ride daily, around my area. There are some hills that maybe go up a few hundred meters in total. It was a good workout and I lost 24 lbs in about 3 months. Was it enough to be in Sheep Shape? I don’t think so… I should have been doing much more work with my actual pack on my back.

So what I have been doing this year?

This year I put it in full gear and I’ve packed my bag for a 7 day trip into the mountains. My bag is packed ready to go aside from my rifle. I put the pack on and hike for at least an hour everyday around the trails at my house.

After only a few weeks I really noticed a difference carrying the pack. My knees also feel much better while hiking and they used to get sore pretty fast from some old Rugby injuries.

It’s been a few months now and I can scale Mt. Finlayson which is 419 Meters (around 1300 ft.) in elevation in less then an hour fully packed. It’s hard bloody work and I sweat like a pig but at least I am training my body with the full weight I’ll be packing in the mountains on mountainous terrain.

If you don’t have access to hills in your area, consider going to the gym and using the stairmaster with your pack on or else resort to running or lightly jogging up flights of stairs.

Whatever you can do to get yourself physically ready for your sheep hunt will ensure that you have an enjoyable time in the mountains. It’s rugged terrain and you’re going to start hurting after only a few days.

So what have you done to keep yourself in Sheep Shape?

Happy Hunting!
Carl

2006 BC LEH Draw Results – I Drew Mountain Goat!

Well… 2006 was my first ever year to put in for the BC Limited Entry Hunting Draw. And low and behold I guess a little beginners luck kicked in and I was drawn for Mountain Goat in the Skeena region 6-15A with 60 other people who were drawn.

In all reality I’ll bet a little under 50% of the hunters drawn will actually make the trip. But I could be wrong. I am excited as this is a very good area to be drawn in and there is slightly more access to the area then in surrounding LEH goat areas. The potential for a decent Billy is really high if I put the work in.

The draw was yesterday and I have already made loose plans to go on a Goat hunt with a friend that I met through a popular BC hunting website called HuntingBC.Ca. He was drawn in the area right next to mine and invited me to come along with him in January of 2007.

Hopefully as the date gets closer I’ll know for sure if this hunt is going to happen or not. If I go I will document the trip with pictures, video and a good story for the site and my readers. It would be awesome to take a really late season long haired Billie.

I also put in LEHS for Caribou, Island Elk, Buffalo, Grizzly Bear & Bighorn Sheep but was unsuccessful.

And I also purchased several of the special sheep and elk permits which have yet to be drawn.

Happy Hunting!
Carl

BC 2006 LEH Draw Results

The 2006/07 BC LEH draw has been run on the 30th of June 2006. The results are expected to be on the website tuesday July the 4th.

Check Your LEH Draw Here.

Visit The Official BC LEH Page Here.

Post your comments if you got anything cool.

I am pumped about is the special Elk and Sheep tags. I bought several of each but that draw isn’t until the 20th of July.

Happy Hunting!
Carl