Shrubs I have hunted both these areas extensively for over 20 years, I lived in Slave Lake and my mom grew up around LLB, so I have a lot of permission there with all my farming relatives.

I won't BS I have killed some big deer over the years and seen some monsters, but like the rest of the province it's been less than stellar the last few years in both these areas, but there are still some big deer around. Lots of pressure, predation, some hard winters, and excessive antlerless harvest have hurt populations. I used to be able to look out the kitchen window at my moms farm and easily see 25-30 deer running around, now a guys lucky to see 8-10. A 6 km drive from my mom to my uncles it was nothing to count 100 deer, now lucky to see 15-20. I hunted there this year, 3 days only, saw a few bucks best deer was a 140 that I passed, but I have cousins that scored with decent bucks, but on private honey holes that haven't been hunted much.

Slaves the same situation no matter where you go there, lots of pressure, reduced herd. I have hunted hard there last year and the year before, probably about 15 solid days, I saw one shooter, and didn't get a shot. I cut my teeth hunting deer around Slave, don't even want to think about some of the deer I have seen around there when it was good, in the rut guy could see couple shooters a day there. Those days are gone, hope they shut the doe tags down and we have some mild winters.

Living in Red Deer I also spent a fair bit of time NW of Rocky, seen some decent bucks there, but again, lots of pressure, have to get off the roads and back in the bush a bit.

Hate to sound so negative Shrubs but that's the reality, Walleyes is from the LLB area maybe he can chime in a bit.

Shrubs I have hunted both these areas extensively for over 20 years, I lived in Slave Lake and my mom grew up around LLB, so I have a lot of permission there with all my farming relatives.

I won't BS I have killed some big deer over the years and seen some monsters, but like the rest of the province it's been less than stellar the last few years in both these areas, but there are still some big deer around. Lots of pressure, predation, some hard winters, and excessive antlerless harvest have hurt populations. I used to be able to look out the kitchen window at my moms farm and easily see 25-30 deer running around, now a guys lucky to see 8-10. A 6 km drive from my mom to my uncles it was nothing to count 100 deer, now lucky to see 15-20. I hunted there this year, 3 days only, saw a few bucks best deer was a 140 that I passed, but I have cousins that scored with decent bucks, but on private honey holes that haven't been hunted much.

Slaves the same situation no matter where you go there, lots of pressure, reduced herd. I have hunted hard there last year and the year before, probably about 15 solid days, I saw one shooter, and didn't get a shot. I cut my teeth hunting deer around Slave, don't even want to think about some of the deer I have seen around there when it was good, in the rut guy could see couple shooters a day there. Those days are gone, hope they shut the doe tags down and we have some mild winters.

Living in Red Deer I also spent a fair bit of time NW of Rocky, seen some decent bucks there, but again, lots of pressure, have to get off the roads and back in the bush a bit.

Hate to sound so negative Shrubs but that's the reality, Walleyes is from the LLB area maybe he can chime in a bit.

2x what Paul says