Sven, Gunnar and I had camp all to ourselves this weekend, it is getting to be too cold for most folks I guess. Except Patmores, who are nearly as nuts as we are, but they were watching grand kids this weekend.
Friday night was clear and cold, about -3. The view of the stars was magnificient! Someday, I really want to live in a place where I can always see the stars.
We left base camp at 8 am Saturday, headed up to Touchwood again. Rifle season doesn’t start at Chump until November 1st, so we might as well go to where the getting is good.
It was a nice sunny day, clear and crisp. When we got there it was -5, but warmed up through the day to about 6 degress above zero.
We saw a couple of Whitetail Does right at the start of Touchwood Road, they crossed over to the west side. Sven was sure that is a hunting zone, but I was not entirely convinced, because the east side is private land with No Shooting signs well marked. So we carried on and let those two live for another year.
Offloading at the Campground Trail staging area, and who pulls up but our favorite Fish & Game guy! This is the same fellow that worked the trail last year, we really liked him. He looked out for us to make sure we made it back, and he always celebrated our successful hunting adventures. Really nice guy.
And he remembered us! He came right up and said “Mr. Toft, isn’t’ it?” What a surprise that he’d remember our name a year later. So we chatted for a bit about our Campground Trail, apparently he and other officers hunt it quite often too. It’s a pretty spectacular trail as we well know, but it’s nice to know it’s well endorsed by Fish & Game too. And he gave us a GREAT map of the area! It shows all the trails we have been scouting, apparently my Campground Trail is in fact Dabbs Lake East Trail. Now I must rename all my iHunter way-points.
Side Note: Get the iHunter app here. It is easy to use, has excellent maps, and at $5.49 I think it’s easily one of my best hunting tools. To my brother Matt Hauer, there is a Colorado version too, in fact the app covers North America.
We stopped for coffee about 8 km in and just for fun, we tried our hand at deer calling. We learned them from a free phone app; iHunt750 that has some calls on it. We tried to imitate Hurt Fawn, Fawn in Distress, that kind of thing. We were not camouflaged, not quiet in any way, and one of us was very much NOT scent-free. But something we did started to work.
We were parked at the top of a hill, looking down on the trail and Sven started to hear something moving in the bush. I figured it was just the trees talking to each other, but then I heard it too. So I took the .270 and walked down the trail. The trail was really quite muddy at the bottom of the hill, making me very cautious of my footing. The autumn sun was sitting very low in the sky, shining straight into my eyes.
Lesson Learned: ALWAYS wear a ball cap to shade your eyes in the fall. ALWAYS.
Just about at the top of the upside of the hill, a whitetail doe popped out of the bush about ten feet in front of me! She was already on the run and we had no hope of finding her. If I had been able to see, I’m pretty sure that I would have spotted her still in the bush. It was so quick Sven did not even get to see her. But I did, and I am quite convinced that we called her in! I know many seasoned deer hunters out there will be rolling their eyes at the novice that I am, but really for me this was a total rush! This is a game changer. I have been quite concerned that our method of hunting is really just dependent on that one deer dumb enough to stand there and wait while we kill the engine, pull the rifle out the case, load it, take aim……. Shoot, miss and swear at the missed opportunity YET AGAIN… It feels to me that we rely a lot more on the luck of being in right place at the right time, as opposed to actually exercising some hunting skills.
We don’t have a tree stand, or a blind, or a local friendly farmer with a grain field to hunt on. We are hunting weekends only, and on public lands. Thankfully now we have an ATV and a lot of heart. But still, this season so far is a bust. We keep spotting the deer too late and can’t get a shot off. So this, being able to call a deer in, gives me renewed hope that it may only be 80% luck from now on. I am excited beyond measure, and am going to spend the next week researching and practicing how to do deer calls so I can get it perfectly right next time.
We carried on down the trail without seeing any more deer. We did get a few grouse, but not after Sven missing four in a row! Don’t know at all what that was all about, he doesn’t miss that often usually. Guess everyone is allowed to have an off day once in awhile.
We had lunch again at the T-Intersection, and despite scouring the girl’s bathroom grounds extensively, I did not find my lost pocketknife. Moment of silence, please.
Of course Sven wanted to scout the trail further, avid explorer that he is.
“I wonder where this trail goes…?” I swear to God, I married David Thompson.
Who the heck is David Thompson?
So we carried on to where we had turned around last weekend with Patmores. Along the way we came again to the lumber pile and turned right there instead, but the trail ended shortly in a big field. There was a trail leading out from there, but it was marked for Trappers Use only. Our Conservation Officer friend had told us there are a great many trap lines in the area.
We made it past the Turnaround Point and the trail gets quite boggy on the left, but cuts into the woods along the right and is quite passable. We were maybe a half km in and we met an Argo on the trail. Complete with an Argo Family! This was a man and wife with 3 pre-teen daughters riding along on this 10-wheeler Argo that they’d built a cab on top of, and along they all rode cheerfully along. They were pulling a little trailer behind it with a bunch of camping gear. Turns out they were headed out to Dabbs Lake to camp, in a tent! Definitely a HARD CORE family, just our kind of people! He very helpfully gave us a rundown of the what trail behind him looked like, as we were heading in that direction.
As per Argo Guy, we came to a bridge. Not a little boardwalk bridge, but a SERIOUSLY well built bridge. Good thing, too, because it was directly over a bog that would have been impassable in any machine.
We carried on for another km or so, and finally met our new Turnaround Point at 24 km in; stopped by another bog. Note, we could have cut a trail through the woods on the edge as the trail had already done several times, but at 3.20 in the afternoon it was time to head back to base camp. We will wait until Richard can join in on the next Chainsaw Fun Day.
As it was, we still did not get back until after 7 pm. With 7 more grouse to add to the freezer, we were pleased.
On the way back, we stopped about 4 or 5 km from the trailhead for the last pit stop of the day. It was getting chilly, and sundown was less than an hour ago. Deep in the old Boreal Forest, it gets pretty dim.
Enjoying our last beer, what else would I do but break out my newly found deer calling skills? Again, we put in a very half-hearted effort that most folks would define as “farting around”. I did this for about 5 minutes, maybe less because Sven wasn’t fond of my rendition of a Fake Fawn Screech. So, I put it away and off we went down the trail again.
For about a minute. Then two more does ran across the trail in front of us! Again, we had called in the deer! With a bare minimum of effort and even less preparation.
I am pretty convinced that it was the deer calls. We only had two deer sightings, and only called twice. Coincidence? Maybe, but I think not. Regardless, I am going to possibly buy a better quality call, and craft a deer call strategy that we will work in earnest next time we are out.
Saturday evening was pretty uneventful and Tofts went to bed early.
Sunday dawned crisp, about -5 first thing though it did warm to a couple of degrees above freezing. The slight mizzle turned to snow flakes by mid-morning but thankfully they didn’t stick. Tracking snow is all well and good, but snow during packing up camp is just miserable.
I took Gunnar for a little hike down the path in quest of grouse, but alas again none were to be found. Still, it’s good to keep the dog’s head in the game. He’s a fantastic hunter.
We pulled out the last of our freezable stuff (olive oil, dish soap, that kind of thing) and packed it up to bring home. We won’t be out again until November 1st, so we needed to be ready for the weather to do anything. Sven put up all the foil on the windows again, and we should stay warm and cozy when the cold hits.
Staying home next weekend to babysit Sophia; not even sorry about that! I cannot wait to get her out there with us again next year.
Another Side Note: We are going to binge-watch Meat Eater Season 8; it was finally released on Netflix this week! Not going to lie; if I wasn’t already happily married to David Thompson, I would have married Steven Rinella.
Till next time, folks, stay Wild.
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