king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

32
T he
morning of November 22nd,
2007 started out on a good note.
Although the weather had not
been cooperating for the fall hunting
season (it was warm and there was
no snow), I had been seeing a lot
of good deer. One of my hunting
buddies, Chris, was on his last day
of hunting. He would be heading
back to Ft. McMurray for another
shift in the oilsands of Alberta the
next day. Chris had an open mule
deer buck draw tag in his pocket
and, as I wouldn’t be receiving my
draw again for another two years, I
was happy to help him out. I had
spotted a good mule deer buck about
ten days prior that I fi gured would
go about 200-inches with the extra
“junk” he had. We decided to go
to the area where I had spotted this
buck for the day.
I have spent most of the
month of November for the last
few years hunting in a community
pasture. I took a 197-inch mule deer
with a 10-inch drop-tine there three
years previously, so I knew the area
well. To make a long story short,
Chris never saw the “big one” that
morning, but he was lucky enough
to fi ll his tag on a nice, heavy,
mature 3x4. It was a good buck for
the last day. As the buck was in a
fairly remote part of the pasture,
we enlisted the help of Chris’s
brother, Darren, to bring a quad up
for us to retrieve the deer. By the
time we fi eld-dressed and hauled
the deer back to the truck and then
returned to the farm, it was already
past noon. After skinning and
caping the deer, followed by a hot
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
lunch supplied by Chris’s mom, it was
now almost 3:00 p.m. Darren, in the
meantime, had arrived back at the farm
following a trip into town and decided
to head out with Chris (who still had his
whitetail tag) and I for the evening hunt.
Because we were running a bit late due
to the previous activities, we decided to
change locations a bit due to the length
of time it was going to take to do the
drive and then the hike in. Although we
were only going to be about fi ve miles
“as the crow fl ies” to where the morning
hunt took place, it was still a much
quicker drive.
Upon arrival at our destination,
we grabbed our packs and rifl es and
made a quick plan as to which way each
of us were going to head for the fi nal
hour and a half of daylight. Although
I had not hunted this exact spot yet
of the
5NORTH BORDER5
Justin Newman
NORTH OF THE BORDER
He’s a Wide One!
Hunting Alberta for trophy whitetail.
The author with his trophy 2007 Alberta whitetail that spans an
incredible 32-inches wide and has four drop tines
this year, I had spent a lot of time
in this area in previous years, so I
already knew where I wanted to be.
Typically, when I hike into an area, I
take my time and do a lot of glassing.
But, because of the fact that time
was running short and it was over a
mile hike, I didn’t waste any time.
My chosen spot was on a hillside
overlooking a draw to each side and
another hillside that was covered in
thick patches of willows and trees
to the front of me. The downside of
this hill is that it is wide open. But,
I have always found that as long as
I am lying down on my pack, keep
movement to a minimum and avoid
the skyline, the deer usually don’t
notice me. Lower light conditions
and the deer being a good distance
away always helps too.