Troy and I have been preparing for our deer hunt for months. Both of us have invested in new gear: guns, boots, blind, 4x4 quad, camper, propane tanks, fuel, food, and many hours of labour. We thought that we could take advantage of the early season for deer in an WMU south of Edson. We would pack up our truck and trailer and wake up early on Saturday mornings to drive out 3 hours and arrive at legal light. The whole day we drove around and walked cut lines searching for deer signs and advantageous hunting spots. While out there, we enjoyed grouse hunting, and we got to know the area we wanted to hunt in. With zero deer in sight, we realized we would have to wait for the rut to have a fair chance.
We both took off time in mid-November for a serious 5 day hunt for deer. Those day trips were just not cutting it anymore. This meant more money on fuel and food to last. I tried to convince my hunting mentor and brother Tim (Crafty Woodsman) to come along, but his interest is on elk this year, not deer. He did however, bring us along on a hunt to a new area by Whitecourt, where he had gotten the bears in spring of this year. A few weeks before our deer hunt, a video goes viral of a mother grizzly bear and her three enormous cubs that were not far from our destined hunting place. So, we thought for our safety and the security of our "hopeful" deer meat, we decided to head up to Whitecourt instead. Our scouting trips were completely out the window and we were starting fresh.
We arrive at our new hunting spot at around noon on Wednesday. We set up camp and decide to go set up a blind in a clearing Troy spotted previously with Tim. We set up the blind and sit for the evening. We don't see or hear much of anything, but it is still so early in the hunt. When legal light is over, we walk back to our camp for the evening. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the carrier Troy and his buddy designed for the camper isn't complete, so we are without an ATV this trip. It is just the two of us, stalking and sitting. We heard plenty of road hunters and spoke to one ATV hunter during our hunt, but for the most part we were alone. On foot is a challenge for one hunter, let along two trying to sneak through the forest. Anyway, in the evenings, we warmed up in the camper and relaxed. I was grateful to be unplugged from the stress of civilization and the drama that comes with it. We played cards, listened to music, and read our books. We got 5 quiet days to enjoy each others company in the evenings.
Thursday morning, we walked back to the hunting blind. We positioned it just off the top of a hill over looking a frozen muskeg that had doe sign. We used our rutting doe call and waited. After about 45 minutes of listening to nothing but squirrels and ravens we hear snapping branches close by. We think its a buck coming to investigate the estrus doe. We are both alert and looking out the blind for the big brown buck. We hear it moving through the forest and it slowly walks around us through the trees, keeping just out of sight, and gets behind us downwind. If we had put our blind straight on top of the hill instead of a couple feet down on the meadow side, we would have seen it behind us. Instead, it stayed just out of sight and eluded us. We were excited though. We manipulated a deer to come towards us using a call for the first time. We decided to get away from the spot and try a new area for the afternoon. We sat on the ridge of a creek and used the same call. This time, nothing. After lunch, we hiked to the end of that cut line and sat in the grasses over looking the clearing. Again, nothing. After an exciting morning, we were cold and contemplated what we would do the next day.
When we had first set up camp, we noticed fresh deer tracks. After going back to camp after our first full day of hunting, we saw fresh tracks again. Our equipment and generator didn't spook off the deer. We decided to stay near camp the following morning and see if the deer would come back for a third time. Since we didn't have a long walk in the morning, we decided to make pancakes for breakfast. Will full bellies and less gear we were feeling really good heading to our spots in the morning. Troy took about 20 steps and sat on an embankment while I went 20 steps the other way to try to keep an eye on the cut line heading out from camp. I hesitated a couple of minutes while trying to find the best spot to sit for the next few hours. When I finally did decide on a spot and sit, I looked over to Troy who was trying to signal me and finally just came over. It had been maybe three minutes since legal light. He walked over and said the doe already popped her head into camp, saw my take a few steps and then site and it flagged and left. I was devastated. If I had just sat straight down, or got out a few minutes earlier than we would have our deer. This was the second close call and yet no deer. We didn't see anything else the rest of the day either.
It seemed like the deer were moving through the night, cause they left us plenty of fresh tracks, but tucking away minutes after legal light, not to be seen again for the rest of the day. Troy and I tracked that deer through the trees to see where it went and it headed upwind toward the intersecting cut lines we use everyday. Troy wanted to give the camp clearing one more shot in the morning and I wanted to sit on that intersection on our 4th day hunting and our last full day. We got up and out earlier and wanting to be in position before legal light with time to spare.
I stalked to the intersecting cut lines the way my brother taught me: five steps and then stop and listen. I took my last step into the intersection and looked up. At that very moment a deer looked up at me and we spotted each other at the same time. It was heading straight in my direction. My rifle was up the next second my eye on the scope, and now the deer's body was broadside now as it turned into the bush. I had a split second and a chance to shoot, but I didn't. I decided not to shoot, because the head was in the trees and its tail tucked down. I couldn't see whether it was a mule or white tail, so I didn't shoot. Hunters with much more experience than myself may have been able to tell what it was, but I just don't have enough experience and I didn't want to take the chance that it was a deer I didn't have a tag for. I could have taken the shot, which made me proud, but I am prouder still for my instinctual decision to not shoot what I couldn't 100% ID. I didn't know then, that the deer was my last chance to get a deer and fill my freezer for a year. But even if I did, it wouldn't have changed what I did.
We didn't get our deer this year, but we did learn a great deal. We manipulated a deer with a call, we predicted the behaviour of a deer, and I made an ethical choice in a fraction of a second. Hunting isn't just about shooting animals for harvest, it is about the fair chase of an animal. This time, the animals got away. Next time, who knows....
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