This year was extra special because it was Levi's first year of hunting at 14 years of age. I had originally planned on taking a week off of work to scope out the terrain and have a better chance of nailing a big buck for myself and Levi but my fieldwork kind of got in the way. To make matters worse one of my 5 draws was a Pronghorn that I had been putting a draw in for since the year 2000. The herd had shifted and in the two days I had last year to hunt it would have been pointless to purchase the tag even though it will take at least another 4 years to be drawn in that area again.
Stanford hunting in Southern Alberta is often looked at being a bit redneck. I won't lie about that as you can see from our 4 wheel drive purple (Eggplant) hunting machine in the picture below. At one time when I was hunting before I left on my mission we had a truck, but for the last couple of years it has been the eggplant bringing home the goodness. The fire power we have prefered is virtually anything semi-automatic and bigger than a 243. Currently I usually use the 300 Winchester Mag. while Levi uses the 308. and dad uses a 303 British used by one of our uncles during the war. The 300 is definitely overkill but it solves the problem of having to track the deer especially when we haven't had the snow. In other wards it doesn't matter where you hit it, it isn't going anywhere. Bolt action rifles aren't the greatest for this kind of hunting especially white tailed deer being as skittish as they are. Remember we are out to hunt at least 15 deer, and believe me we have a tag for everything! Once we've shot one we are not out to congratulate each other on the successful kill we are out to drop the other ones running away. This year we managed to shoot 9 deer in the two days I had off.
The eggplant with our deer carrier on the back (2 White tailed does and Levi's first 3 x 3 White tailed buck.
Believe it or not they're are 3 deer in the carrier. This hunt was rather interesting. We had not travelled more then 45 minutes when we saw 2 white tailed does run up onto the top of a field. Levi and I immediately jumped out of the van and ran up to the top of the hill, Once in position we fired each killing a doe and then saw the buck on a complete run. Levi fired 2 times missed and then his gun jammed. I tossed him my 300 and and told him to get in the van and head north around the bend while I gutted out the 2 does. A little while later I heard one shot that did not sound at all like it had even impacted anything. Dad and Levi showed up in the van with a successful kill but a broken stalk on the gun. Levi had one shot at getting his buck and he managed to achieve it.
Levi and his first 3 x 3 White tailed buck
If we are not hunting on grain or hay fields we are hunting in coulees and areas with deciduous trees and rolling hills. Shortly after getting the 3 white tailed deer previously mentioned we headed back to Cardston and fixed the stalk on the 300. Just south of Leavitt dad had mentioned a coulee where he had seen a herd of mules. Levi and I headed out they're and discovered this mule deer along with 4 other bucks a bit smaller and approximately 30 does all grouped together. It didn't take long for levi to decide on which one he wanted.
He was a little heavier then we expected, in fact both of us couldn't lift him and dragging him a few feet was hard enough. Notice the long rope in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Yup that's right we pulled him up the coulee with the van. Pretty sick I know, but hey it was a lot easier on the back if you know what I mean.
Levi's first 3 x 4 Mule buck. Not bad for his first one.
All in all I think Levi did pretty good for his first year of hunting. A lot better than me that's for sure. Both pretty descent bucks, but pretty small in comparison to what we could have found had I been able to take more time off. Excellent job Levi.
This is Levi's mule deer strung up on the kids playhouse all ready for skinning as the garage is occupied with other things. Oh man was he heavy, but nothing compared to the moose I shot in 1998. We used to allow our deer to hang for a couple of days, but the volume became more of a hindrance than anything and quite frankly we don't seem to notice any real difference in the way the meat tastes or cooks.
Dad and I were butchering the deer outside and then taking the meat inside and grinding, cutting, and separating it into it's perspective categories. This particular one is a white tailed doe. We butcher all our own game meat mainly because it is cheaper and we are not all that fussy. Underneath the garage we have a stainless steel work area where we usually do all the butchering but mom was canning tomatoes. Many of you are probably wandering year after year where we keep all this meat and the answer is simple; we have a walk in freezer.
In previous years we have taken the hides to the Railey Hutterite Colony where we could have them tanned for approximately $15 dollars. The tannery hasn't been open for a few years and so all our hides this year were donated to the Fish and Game Society to be sold in an effort to raise money and purchase more wildlife habitat. Anyone want a costume for Halloween next year??? Comes with the head and all.
