Live Hunts - Alberta Mule Deer Archery Hunt - October 18

Live Hunts - Alberta Mule Deer Archery Hunt - October 18 - Day 3

Wednesday - October 18 - Day 3
Alberta Mule Deer Archery Hunt

Wednesday A.M.
This morning we set up a Double Bull blind in the dark on the edge of a year old burn where there is some new grass growing. It's an area the deer have been traveling the fringe of for each of the several days we've been hunting here. One of the other hunters saw 2 big groups of deer here last evening. We set the blind up and staked it down good, because the wind was howling. I saw about 75 deer this morning, including at least 1 really nice buck. The only problem is that they decided to use a different route to the burn this morning. 75% of the deer I saw this morning were about 400 yards from my blind. We're getting closer, just not there quite yet. We're going to try and set up something for this evening in the saddle all the deer crossed through this morning.

Wednessday P.M. Hunt
After the deer were down in the canyons and bedded down this morning we went to check out where they all crossed into the burn, and found a few serious trails. Plus, we also found a few patches of tall grass in which would be perfect to dig a pit blind, which is exactly what we did. Jeff did an awesome job of making it blend in. The wind was perfect for one real heavy main trail, if they followed it again this evening. I sat the pit blind from 10:30 a.m. until dark. Spent a lot of time reading a book, did a little napping, lot of snacking, and a lot of trying to shield my face from the wind. The wind was absolutely howling this evening.

It was approaching dark and I thought I was going to be blanked this evening, when finally at 7:00 p.m. I saw some deer coming over the edge of the burn, up out of the canyon, about 75 yards away. Deer after deer after deer. All heading right towards the trail my blind was set up for. It was dark enough already that I couldn't see what each animal was (sex) until they skylined their head in front of the set sun, but light enough to shoot still. Bunches of does and fawns. Wait, all of a sudden, I see horns, and immediately get flustered. These deer are 10-12 yards away, and walking right down the trail. About 25 deer in all. The buck is a medium 3-point, and while smaller than what I was planning to try for this week, since he was close and the wind was perfect, I decided to try for him. I couldn't shoot through my first lane because the wind had the grass bent over covering my shooting hole. Just as he was about to walk into my second lane I drew my bow. Wouldn't you know, when he came into the lane a doe was parrallel with him, perfectly covering his body. I whistled at him, trying to stop him. Kept on going. I said "hup", then said it again, louder, and he finally stopped. The doe kept going, leaving the buck open. By now, though, he was about 30 yards away, was quartering away pretty hard, the wind was howling, and that was a pretty long shot as dim as my sight pins were. I let my bow down and watched them trot away towards the alfalfa. Even though I didn't shoot, that was an extremely exciting encounter. We're getting ever closer!

Check back tomorrow!

working on the blind

the blind completed

the view from inside

Go to Day 4

e-mail Joshua Flournoy

This site is designed by Hunting Information Systems for use with Netscape or Internet Explorer

Click here for technical help or to send us feedback.