Well finally had a chance to get out to look for a deer yesterday, went out north west of Rocky Mountain House up highway 22 and to a spot I used to frequent, it's an old lease road that was bermed up and goes in a couple km, I generally park my truck and walk in and always see lot's off action. Well this year it seems someone found it wise to drive over the berm, now there is a trail in there which looks like highway 63. So I arrive there and firs thing I see a guy down to road in camo must have been waiting for someone? I look down the line and there is a truck parked there, and 2 more guys walking on a side line. My honey hole was ruined lol!!!

So I headed out of there and every corner I turned I bumped into road hunters, it was anything but quiet. My brother in law calls and I told him my dilemma, he has a quarter section on the NSR up the crimson lake road so he spends a lot of time out there, he gave me directions to a spot on crown land where he's been seeing plenty of deer, so I headed out that way. When I got out there it was very quiet, and heading in I saw 7 or 8 deer. I found a good spot and walked in on a grassy hill and parked my butt, it was already close to then end of the hunt. As I was glassing a clearing I saw a doe with 2 little ones and another deer that walked into the bush, so I didn't get a good look. Then a decent 4 x 4 popped out. It being the time of year that bucks are still hanging out together I hoped to see something a bit better, sure enough a short time later a very respectable high horned 5 x 5 followed. It was a bit too late though, legal light was over, so I watched him until I couldn't see then headed out.

Tough area north of Rocky there, couldn't believe how many road hunters there were. Hopefully this new spot stays quiet and I can get back out there this week.

The honey hole sounds rough but the new spot has some promise.  Good Luck!!!

I agree Paul, I can only count a handfull of times where I have actually ran into another hunter on foot back there. But it's road hunted hard and fast!!

True that but I have noted that getting off the roads there you still see plenty of deer, and some good bucks. Example last year I went out there and passed road hunter after road hunter going in, I didn't see so much as a squirrel. I parked my truck and walked through a cut block to a power line, in 2 hours sitting there I saw 11 deer, 3 of them bucks, at the end of the line was the corner of a lease road about 1km away, truck after truck came down that hill and around that corner the whole time I was there. I didn't shoot any of those bucks but it was somewhat satisfying knowing the deer, for the most part, were smarter than the road hunters.

Getting on the footsmobile and walking is the only way to get away!  You do always seem to run into ppl when you least expect it though.


CK

I don't begrudge any Albertan wanting to enjoy our province.  That doesn't mean I don't get frustrated about it sometimes though, especially when I get strangers telling me how they know the area and everyone in it since they've hunted it since before recorded time, inferring I'm the interloper.  (while they're standing on my land)

Just too many people for my liking.

I hear yah Bruce I hear yah..

Road hunters aren't a big issue in my neck of the woods. Some of my best stand set ups are only  a couple of 100 meters into the bush from heavily hunted roads.

Agreed, getting off the road even a short distance can make the difference. I shot a 6x6 hog one time walking on a pipeline running maybe 200 yards parallel to the highway near Slave Lake.