Just Sven and I this weekend; Patmore’s are at home helping their son move.
We came up Friday night, after we left the house we realized we had forgotten to get deer licenses. That’s ok, we said, we will get them at the Caslan store; they are open till 8 pm. Lots of time. So we got to the Caslan store at 5 minutes after 7. Guess who is closing earlier now that the season is winding down? We missed them by 5 minutes. That’s ok, we said, we will get them in the morning. So off we go to camp, and how slow does time go when it’s only 2 of you and a dog?! We were falling asleep in our chairs by 9 pm! But we made it until around 10.30, then off to bed.
Guess who decides to have an upset stomach and start WHINING at 5 am?! Gunnar, of course. He was frantic enough that I got up and figured well, might as well stay up. So there we are at 5 am with no deer license, and have to wait till 8am anyway. That’s ok, we said, at least dog didn’t barf in his crate. And he’s fine, by the way. Had a bit of the runs is all.
So
we had a really nice easy morning, watching the sun come up. Shook our fists Waved politely at
the trio of bow-hunters that smugly walked out to my hiking trail exactly at
sunup.
Finally, 10 minutes to 8 arrive, and we are ready. On time, no less! Off we go to the Caslan store, going to get deer tags and then venture off to Touchwood Lake, our best (and only) hunting grounds that are open for rifle right now.
The internet is down at the Caslan store. Really? We say, though we aren’t at all surprised. This is our luck. That’s ok, we say, we will go to the sporting goods store in Lac La Biche; it opens at 9 am.
Off we go.
And finally! We get the tags, just for whitetail, because in all the years we’ve gone to Touchwood (since 2007) we have never seen a mule deer.
Until today. Guess who is standing on the roadside, right where we turn onto the Touchwood Lake Road??!!! Two fat, ornery, obnoxious Mule Does!! ARRRGGHH. Leslie told me later they were hired by Fish & Wildlife to encourage hunters to get ALL the licenses available. Support conservation, you know.
We carried on to the trail we scouted with Patmores; staged at the 3-Tire Trail Head. Nice enough day, low cloud cover but not cold. About 11 degrees. Hit the trail around 10.30 am. Was full moon last night, so curious if wildlife has gone nocturnal or not.
Went straight through the Dragonfly Crossroads, followed trail down a couple of kilometers and found another set of cut lines that we call Secondary Dragonfly Crossroad, naturally. Kept going straight. Trail was very nice until it started to drop and the ground got really marshy. Looked like it climbed back up on the other side, but was too deep for us to get through. Nice hunting potential for after the ground freezes.
From Secondary Dragonfly Crossroads, turned right and again went a couple of kilometers. Saw a grouse, but I chased it further into the bush than I was willing to go. It did not want to stick around to see my pretty 20 gauge. We got stopped on that trail by a couple of big logs. We could have cut them up, but just didn’t feel like it. It was getting close to lunchtime and a slight mizzle was coming down.
Back at Secondary DF Crossroads again, this time turned left and same thing; boggy ground that will become passable when frozen. Never thought I’d be so eager to see winter!
So back at Main DF Crossroads, turned East again to see what there was to see. Carrying on toward Turnaround Point, this time we chose to go left at the Y. About 50 yards in, there is a little old decrepit shack that is apparently owned by the Alberta Forestry Department, so the sign said. Carried on down the trail from there. Very nice terrain. Lot of deer tracks, and in fact, one set fresh enough that we saw the hind end of the deer bounding in to the bush!
Off we go, I am first shooter and thus scrambling for the .270 which is conveniently mounted in the box. There was a VERY industrious beaver in this area, and the trail ended in a little pond that must have been the local Whitetail Watering Hole. We went here looking for my deer. I saw him run up a little slope in the trees and leap over a couple of fallen logs. Sure enough, just like Sven always says, he stopped and turned around to look at me. Yes, HE. He didn’t have a huge rack, but he was more than a forkie. And ornery as WT always are, he was rather well hidden. The two logs completely blocked my view from his chest to his nose. All I could see was the top half of his face, so I figured I would aim right between his eyes. (Figure if Sven can do head shots, so can I) I didn’t want to move to a squat as he was looking right at me, so I shot offhand.
Missed completely. He was only about 40 yards form me, and I forgot to calculate. Scope is set to be 3 inches high at 100 yards, so I should have aimed for his nose, or at least lower than I did. How utterly disappointing, but also glad that I didn’t wound him.
Now he’s next year’s buck. Also a great feeling to have a shot like that, so early in the season! We both feel so utterly vindicated; after wishing for an ATV all these years to hunt with, and sure enough it paid off. What a great feeling .
So we turned around, heading back to the Y to get back on the trail to Turnaround Point. Felt more elated than deflated, hopes are still high.
Got to Turnaround Point (thus named because of the deep and impassable crevasse cutting across the trail) and the mizzle is now more of a drizzle so we suited up in our rain gear. How wonderful to have that along!
Sven did his best Paul Bunyan impression, cut down all the big tree stumps around the crevasse and filled it in. I found it a little alarming that he in fact cut down all the anchor points to winch to. Thankfully, we did not need them because he sailed right through! And now 3-Moose Trail is a full loop.
On we go, wet but still cheerful, toward Dead Willow Marsh. Now THERE we got lucky. That would not have been a good place to get stuck and thanking the Gods we did not. Came close in a couple of boggy spots, and I would not do this part of the trail until, you guessed it, the ground freezes.
So there we are putting along the marsh, and suddenly this BIG BULL MOOSE just steps out of the bush onto the trail in front of us! About 30 feet in front of us. He just looked at us, we just looked at him, then he decided we were not a pretty enough cow and off he went up the trail. Lost sight of him around the curve, so we moved up the trail VERY slowly… in case he changed his mind and decided that we were attractive after all. We spotted him in the dead willows, and sure enough, he did just like the deer do……..he’d turned around to have another look at us. He was about 150 yards away, damn those things move fast. And he just stood there for a few minutes, staring at us staring at him, then he just melted off into the bush. Too bad we didn’t have a tag for bulls up there, he would have been ours right then and there. Would have been an easy shot.
So we made it back out to the end of the trail without any mishap, muddy and wet but exhilarated at all the wildlife we’d seen. We hunted the road all the way back to the end, but didn’t see anything further.
Back at camp, cozy fire, hot rum toddies….. life is good.
Sunday morning we made up for sleep lost to the damned dog the night before; got up around 8. After breakfast we went for a little drive to the Junction, got a grouse first thing! As soon as we entered the pines on my walking trail. That was our first grouse this season; I got to shoot it this time.
We saw a lone bear cub on the trail, ironically, near to the spot where we saw a bear running bear last year, being chased by a dog. No sign of its Momma, which was odd. We must have spooked it; it just bolted out of the bush in front of us and bolted on down the trail. We made it up the gravel pit without seeing any other critters.
We went over to the Beaver Overflow to check it out; it’s been so full and chewed up that we have not wanted to risk it. Didn’t risk it this time either, being on our own out there. So we went over to the Bypass by Sandy Hill, and it is just so chewed up that again, not worth risking it. This is getting to be a cause for worry, as we need to get firewood. We still only have one pile at camp, and that will not get us through winter. We thought we’d have more by now, but it just hasn’t worked out this year.
Saw a red-headed woodpecker over by Sandy Hill. They are so big and bright! This one had to be a male.
Of course we had great weather, it being Sunday and all. It’s always sunny when we have to go home.
Can definitely feel autumn in the air. Leaves are all turning color and quite a few coming down. We saw a couple flocks of Sandhill cranes heading home; funny how they fly so low around camp. The geese are heading out too. I love the fall.
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