Thanksgiving weekend hunt

[Blkram]

Had a great weekend hunting with my daughter and her boyfriend the past couple of days!

Started off Friday by cutting and wrapping my moose from last weekend.

Saturday we travelled up to Pink Mtn and my daughter was able to get her first stone's sheep. Even got it back and into a friend's meat cooler. Her first harvest with her 270 Win.
On the way to the Fontas area hunting grounds we saw 3 spike elk on the road at about 3:30am.
Yesterday, she got her first bull moose. Had a bit of a pack out of the black spruce and muskeg, as he travelled further than anticipated, not knowing that he was dead on his feet. Definitely could have been worse! Been so dry here this summer/fall that we didn't have to pack through too much water (only about 5 yards of about a foot deep).
Then I managed to get a young caribou bull. (Chalk up another for the 338 Federal.)
My wife had fun getting a bunch of ruffies and spruce hens with her 28 gauge! A really fat black bear was too quick for her to get a shot, and it apparently decided that he had an important appointment elsewhere, as it quickly vacated the area!
Moose and caribou deposited in the meat cooler last night!
About the only animals we didn't see over the course of the weekend was a grizzly or bison.

Going to be a busy week cutting and wrapping meat! And daughter will be buying a freezer this week too!
Definitely giving Thanks this weekend!

 

[hunter24605]

Congratulations to all! Sounds like a trip that most of us dream about.

 

[ShadeTree]

Man O Man, that's a pile of meat to pack out, cut up and put away! Congratulations on all the success! Sounds like great times and great memories.

 

[salmonchaser]

Outstanding! How did “the boyfriend” hold up?

 

[NYDAN]

Congratulations all around. That was one heck of a hunting weekend. Sounds like some great shooting was involved. Dan

 

[JD338]

Gil,
Congratulations on a very successful hunt. And a special congratulations to your daughter. She did fantastic!

JD338

 

[Blkram]

It was definitely good hunting, as the game was moving with the full moon, the rut and an approaching storm.
My daughter learned more about shooting off sticks and being able to place shots under field conditions. Not as easy as it looks!
She tasted the bittersweetness of missing what appeared to be an easy shot at her ram t 105 yards, but was happy for a clean miss. The second stalk ended when the sheep made it into the cliffs across a deep ravine, where we opted to back out (I passed on the 400+ yard shot). Luckily for us, we watched them cross the ridge into an an area that we could get around to from the other side of the mountain peak. Ultimately, on the 3rd stalk, after getting past a lone caribou cow, she made a great shot dropping her ram in its tracks at about 80 yards. In the end, her miss was a blessing in disguise. Was able to haul the ram out with the atv, from the open slopes beyond the cliffs. They did a great job learning to field dress the ram.
Her shot on her bull moose was at about 100 yards, and broke its shoulder. It appeared as though it was going down there, but found enough strength to make it back into the muskeg and black spruce. Thank goodness for soft muskeg that produced good tracks to follow, as there was no blood until just before it went down.
Her boyfriend did a good job packing that moose out, as my torn Achilles tendon and bad ankle found packing the hind quarter to be more than it could bear. He packed the two fronts and a hind quarter, while I made it all but the last hundred yards before a root in the muskeg took its toll on my ankle. He took it the rest of the way. Lauryn packed the rifle, the back straps and pack, after helping with some of the skinning chores. Was happy for his youth and energy!
The caribou was less than 150 yards and went down quickly on the edge of a road and pipeline that negated any packing. Was glad for that! We did have some fun, chasing several head back and forth between a lease, a nearby cutline and the pipeline. Two caribou the kids missed a chance on, while we were trying to locate the original bull, cow and calf we first spotted, and then the cow, calf and smaller bull I eventually took. Calling the caribou produced some interesting results, as both the bull and cow both had varied responses to the calling, at different times, both coming closer and going away, only to turn back towards us again. Took a while before I was presented a shot opportunity. The kids did a great job helping field dress the small bull. Neither are afraid of hard work or getting a little dirty in doing the work.
The kids had to return to Edmonton yesterday for work this week.
Yesterday we cleaned up the caribou backstraps and tenderloins. The roasted tenderloins were both extremely tender and delicious! The rest of the caribou we cut and wrapped today, along with the backstraps from the moose. We will finish cutting and wrapping the moose tomorrow.
Lauryn will be back to cut and wrap the sheep on Saturday.

 

[stew]

Wow sounds like a great trip with the family. Pictures?

 

[Blkram]

Sorry, I am unable to post pics...
All game taken for meat...no trophies; other than the smiles captured of happy hunters!
Lauryn's moose now cut and wrapped.

 

[stew]

Sorry, I am unable to post pics...
All game taken for meat...no trophies; other than the smiles captured of happy hunters!
Lauryn's moose now cut and wrapped.

A late season stone ram the cape would be beautiful especially if dark.
The late ones out of the muskwa/prophet area use to be beautiful
how they went from black to grey to white.
Was it a old ram shot on age or a full curl, or both.

 

[Blkram]

A late season stone ram the cape would be beautiful especially if dark.
The late ones out of the muskwa/prophet area use to be beautiful
how they went from black to grey to white.
Was it a old ram shot on age or a full curl, or both.

It is the classic salt and pepper cape; almost black body with white belly and back of legs, and then almost white neck and face.
Cape is pretty thick, being late fall, but we have had a very warm fall; hardly any frost yet. Might not be as thick as a normal October cape where we would normally have snow on the mountains already.
She is having it tanned with the hair on to preserve it.

There was a ewe in the herd with a gorgeous silver cape, with black stripes along the belly (almost like a springbok). Never seen one like it before. Would also make a beautiful rug!

 

[cloverleaf]

Wow! Congrats to your daughter. Stone sheep....pretty cool. CL