Author Topic: ahhh... good ole 2007...dream season for our camp (Read 3224 times)

wildmeat · « **on:** June 05, 2012, 09:07:52 PM »

was looking through some old pictures and found this one... our hunting crews 2007 whitetails all taken within 3 days of each other... it was a good year... the guy in the picture is my buddies kid brother... and no he didnt shoot all of them lol.. even tho the look on his face says he did

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sheepguide · « **Reply #1 on:** June 05, 2012, 11:05:39 PM »

gee I wouldnt say that Justin! Many areas of the province didnt get hit that hard at all and many of the areas I travel have unbeleivable numbers of whitetails! Yep for sure some areas got hit but there are many that pics like above are indead a possibility.

From Slave lake through Swan Hills to Caroline on my last trip(7hrs) home from work I easily seen 300 deer. And on our average 2hr evening drives in my hunting area this spring show an easy 150+ deer right now without looking to hard. Also has been good in the mountain and foothill zones from 417/314 up to 438/330 ive been in this spring to see an increase in our mule deer populations but the whitetail numbers are just unbeleivable in many of the same areas.

JIMMY 808 · « **Reply #2 on:** June 05, 2012, 11:28:38 PM »

Impressive season forsure. Had a few bucks around that size 2 years ago get buy me and another guy.

sheepguide · « **Reply #3 on:** June 06, 2012, 12:34:52 AM »

well I had a big long comment on this Justin but im not going to go there. If you think that all the big deer are gone then thats good! But really shows your lack of knowledge of alot of zones. The "Big Winterkill" didnt hit the whole province!

Paul · « **Reply #4 on:** June 06, 2012, 08:25:07 AM »

Looks like a good trip for sure.

I agree about deer numbers, they are fairly stable in most areas and for sure the mature bucks took the brunt of it, I saw a good number of smaller bucks last season, as I am sure most did, but a real lack of anything I would consider a shooter.

nube · « **Reply #5 on:** June 06, 2012, 08:29:14 AM »

Deer numbers are looking decent up north. This year might be better than last from what I saw last year but it will still be another year or 2 of good winters before the older age class is more abundant. I don't have much planned for deer hunting this year.

wildmeat · « **Reply #6 on:** June 06, 2012, 09:12:42 AM »

i think a good number of the really old weak bucks did die off... but there are still alot of monsters out there... i seen the biggest deer ive ever seen last year... he was out about 700 yards so i didnt take a shot at him but i watched him in my glass for a good half an hour.... im gonna get that boy this year tho

i think it depends alot on the area for how hard the deer were hit that winter

nube · « **Reply #7 on:** June 06, 2012, 10:17:42 AM »

You are right there are still some studs out there but they are fewer than years past by quite a bit. It has been at least 2-3 years since I have had any great bucks on camera in any numbers and my cameras don't lie. There have been a couple nice ones but I used to get pictures of 3 or 4 170+ a year and now I am lucky if I get one. I have not seen one on the hoof for 2 years that would go 170+ either. Last year I saw one that might be around 160-163 that i passed on the 2nd day and a handfull of 140-150's in about 8-9 days of hunting. That is not good numbers for what I am used to.

sheepguide · « **Reply #8 on:** June 06, 2012, 10:28:39 AM »

Quote from: nube on June 06, 2012, 10:17:42 AM

You are right there are still some studs out there but they are fewer than years past by quite a bit. It has been at least 2-3 years since I have had any great bucks on camera in any numbers and my cameras don't lie. There have been a couple nice ones but I used to get pictures of 3 or 4 170+ a year and now I am lucky if I get one. I have not seen one on the hoof for 2 years that would go 170+ either. Last year I saw one that might be around 160-163 that i passed on the 2nd day and a handfull of 140-150's in about 8-9 days of hunting. That is not good numbers for what I am used to.

Im sure in the few zones you hunt Nube that is true, just stating that it is far from province wide.

wildmeat · « **Reply #9 on:** June 06, 2012, 11:03:42 AM »

deer do go through a cycle just like any other animal as well... they can prosper for what seems 5-10 years then there is a big spike in how many big deer you see... i dont know if its because the predators go through their cycles of good to bad or if its the weather... i guess both would def play a factor in it

sheepguide · « **Reply #10 on:** June 06, 2012, 12:18:55 PM »

You may want to relax there Justin. Like I said I'll put my money where my mouth is and take you out and show you the quality that is out there! You talk the talk and in all them miles you claim to put on come on out and show me in wrong. I'm far from stretching the truth so any time you wanna back your self come on out and I'll show you around a bit. But I'm sure like others you will decline and stick behind your keyboard. The foothills and mountains in most of Alberta have have minimal winters the last few years. Heck in Dec. and Jan. the last couple years the south facing hills have had chances to clear off. We have had a very hard time the last two winters cat hunting at time due the lack of snow. We have only used skidoo's on one hunt the last two years as we could used quads. But heck maybe that is my imagination too!

So bring your camera on out and a set of Bino's and then you can prove how little I actually see our there.

nube · « **Reply #11 on:** June 06, 2012, 12:30:46 PM »

It isn't the last 2 winters that were the problem Darcy. The damage was done before that ( in the zones my friends and I hunt)
Sounds like I need to come down and start hunting your part of the province for a couple years!

Dark Wing · « **Reply #12 on:** June 06, 2012, 01:30:26 PM »

2006 was the most depressing deer season I ever had.Record snow fall at the end of Oct. and it never let up. It was near impossible to walk in the bush and there was 90% winter kill in our area.

In 2007 I quickly filled my tag on a 140ish white tail thinking I was lucky to get one that size. Boy was I wrong, the white tail bucks had a knack of surviving the previous brutal winter and were putting on the miles searching for the does that were almost non existant.

We figured the buck to doe ratio was around 13/1 and we saw one absolute monster buck that we didn't connect with and my buddy ended up tagging this guy.

sheepguide · « **Reply #13 on:** June 06, 2012, 02:31:05 PM »

Quote from: JustinC on June 06, 2012, 12:50:40 PM

So what are you saying? How many big deer are there? Can you post a picture with the same amount of quality animals in the same picture? No you can't. Like I said numbers of deer are good in some places for sure but they still had the same problem loosing a good amount of the big deer. I am not going to come up to see a bunch of does and small bucks. I will come up. I am never hiding behind my keyboard. Anybody you know that. So when the dee have horn so you can tell what they are call me and I will come up. I would love to see all these big deer up there. Also don't worry I won't come shoot all your big deer.

This is a small portion of the mature bucks I seen and were able to take pics of with tons more and many alot larger that I was unable to get on film the last two years. So Justin come up and have a look at the dink/immature bucks we have roaming around the areas I frequent!!! I really hope we can have some more large die offs!

And a few we were able to tag.

The next three bucks came from a 10mile radius in 2 seasons,

Killed day two of the season

killed day two of the season

A 200"+ buck a friend harvested in our area

sheepguide · « **Reply #14 on:** June 06, 2012, 03:14:03 PM »

In order from top 168gross, 165net, 178gross 172 net Official B/C, 200+ Official B/C are the ones killed. A few of the velvet bucks will be tanks with some having a couple months yet to grow. Your welcome to come put a tape on them, if you wish. And as usual your knowledge of deer shines through. Mature old age bucks are the hardest hit deer. There is no score boundry for mature bucks. They come in all sizes and forms and are labaled mature by age not horn size but if you thing the above pics and harvests of a couple people isnt proof that good mature deer arent around and abundant then I guess not much will.

Oh and yes Justin the whole derail is Just me!!! You kinda sound like a school kid blaming the other guy. Im guessing we are toe to toe on derailed posts here so maybe we both should just man up and admit that part.And yes sorry for the derail guys its been crappy weather and stuck inside. Just put forth that the winterkill was far from province wide and there are lots of mature bucks left in many zones just trying to show that so guys on this forum will see that there are still good oppertunities and shouldnt feel discouraged when looking for that big buck.

Paul · « **Reply #15 on:** June 06, 2012, 03:54:01 PM »

Quote from: sheepguide on June 06, 2012, 12:18:55 PM

I'm far from stretching the truth so any time you wanna back your self come on out and I'll show you around a bit. But I'm sure like others you will decline and stick behind your keyboard.

If Justin is declining on this invite then I will gladly take his spot

wildmeat · « **Reply #16 on:** June 06, 2012, 04:33:32 PM »

Quote from: Paul on June 06, 2012, 03:54:01 PM

If Justin is declining on this invite then I will gladly take his spot

me too

sheepguide · « **Reply #17 on:** June 06, 2012, 07:05:22 PM »

Paul, Wildmeat and anyone else are more than welcome to come along anytime I'm home. I'm pretty much in the field everyday I'm off!!!!

Dark Wing · « **Reply #18 on:** June 09, 2012, 07:44:43 AM »

I dug up another pic from our 2007 deer hunt. Not the biggest bucks but some good ones for the area.

sheepguide · « **Reply #19 on:** June 09, 2012, 10:17:31 AM »

You guys deffinatly had a decent year for sure!