I'm Home! BC mountain hunt.

For those that never saw my previous post, my dad and I took the trip out west this year to meet up with my little brother and go hunting in beautiful northern BC.

The trip was incredible, the scenery beautiful and the game was plentiful. Finding legal bulls proved difficult, but we were seeing and stalking game everyday.

The hunt started on a tough note. The day after we set up camp we met some horse guides who were on there way back out. It turns out that they were in picking up the horses from the 2 sheep hunters who had been mauled and nearly killed by a sow grizz and her 2 cubs about 5 kms from where we were camping. My first thought was the expected "don't get between a mama and her cubs", but learned as we chatted that the sow and Cubs stalked and chased them down the mountain, and that the Cubs were part of the attack as well. I knew going in that we were in bear country, but this story affirmed that and had everyone a little more wary in the dense timber. In the end, we saw some tracks, but never actually laid eyes on a grizz.

The majority of the hunting was 'spot and stalk'. We would find a good glassing location and spend a while scoping the hillsides and trying to determine if an animal we saw had a good enough chance of being legal, and worth the trip to try to get to it.
When spotting, most game was seen 2-5 kms away, and getting to the animal required a lot of hiking, climbing and often someone to sit back and watch and radio what the animal was doing.

In the end, we didn't tag out, but out of our group of 10; one guy took a 46" bull moose, one took a nice 6x5 elk and another a 6x6 caribou. One of the rules for the area we were hunting was that atv's aren't allowed more than 400m off the main trail, so this meant that these animals had to be carried out in packs from where they dropped. The elk was shot about 6 kms from the trail up in the alpine, and the moose was shot about 4 kms in, and across several muskegs from the trail. To make matters more difficult, they were shot on the same day which meant the following day all 10 of us woke up at 4am and spent until 10pm hiking and packing out both animals.

The regulations made it a tough hunt. I had a tag for elk and caribou. An elk has to have Atleast 6 points on one side to be legal and caribou either had to have 6 up top or 5 and a back scratcher. My brother and I were able to put a 5 km stalk on a big bull elk, and ended up with him 35 yards away, but alas, he was a monster 5x5 and we had to let him walk.

We had similar experiences with caribou, and saw lots of mature Bulls up close, but none had the magical 6th point.
All in all, the trip was a blast. We saw game galore, hunted hard, hiked well over 150 kms and got to spend it with family and friends, so even though I don't have a rack on my wall, the memories were well worth it.

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Absolutely amazing looking country. Add in all your game seen and stalked and that truly is a trip of a lifetime. As you age and collect kills you will realize that putting one on the ground is great but not all that is part of hunting.

That's an awesome trip. Beautiful country there!

Wow, some great pictures....that right there is what dreams are made of...
Thanks for sharing such a great experience with us

What a great adventure! Really nice pictures, thanks! Congrats on the success of the group as well.

Whats the white stuff on the ground???????? Great trip you guys had thanks for the pics

Great pics. Really like the tent. How big is that?

Thanks for posting that. Incredible country. Must be humbling in that landscape.

To cool, you guys worked and played hard, the pics are incredible...... good job

Looks absolutely amazing. Thanks so much for sharing. My bucket list just increased.

awesome! fire extinguisher on the tree is a nice touch, I like your group already :)
Makes me sad about hunting in ON. AB, BC and Yukon have so many more opportunities.

Beautiful photos and write up. You men certainly worked your tails off. Thanks for bringing us along.

Thanks for sharing your amazing adventure. Beautiful country and nice pics.. Congrats to all.

I am totally jealous. What a life time of memories made their. Just go to show success is measured in inches of rack but the excitement of the hunt. Congrats and thanks for sharing the story and pictures

Awesome.

Great report. Awesome trip.

thumbs up. an adventure for sure.

Great pics,nice setup looked like a great trip.

That looks fabulous! I like your camp set-up. You mentioned that BC rules state ATV's aren't allowed more than 400M from a main trail. Most areas of Alberta and north Sask. don't allow the use of ATV's for hunting,at all. Hopefully,those rules don't come to Ontario.

Wow, in the middle of nowhere. Cool to see!

Awesome stories and pictures, thanks for the share!

Very, Very Cool!!!

Great trip report. Fantastic photos.

Thanks for sharing

Thanks so much for sharing. That's an amazing trip to experience. Better be in damn good shape to start with. Doesn't look like much flat terrain around. Have your legs recovered yet after a week of that?

So many great photos. A couple jumped out more for me, specially that one looking across the valley with the dark clouds looming and the lone hunter down in the corner. I showed my wife all the pics and she didn't even notice him as she took in the view across to the mountains.

btw, I figure you have way more pics of your trip. :) Don't be shy to share some more with us all. No one will mind one bit lol.

Cheers

Awesome pics and the main thing is you had a great time with family & have some everlasting memories!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by trimmer21

That looks fabulous! I like your camp set-up. You mentioned that BC rules state ATV's aren't allowed more than 400M from a main trail. Most areas of Alberta and north Sask. don't allow the use of ATV's for hunting,at all. Hopefully,those rules don't come to Ontario.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by smitty55

Thanks so much for sharing. That's an amazing trip to experience. Better be in damn good shape to start with. Doesn't look like much flat terrain around. Have your legs recovered yet after a week of that?

So many great photos. A couple jumped out more for me, specially that one looking across the valley with the dark clouds looming and the lone hunter down in the corner. I showed my wife all the pics and she didn't even notice him as she took in the view across to the mountains.

btw, I figure you have way more pics of your trip. :) Don't be shy to share some more with us all. No one will mind one bit lol.

Cheers

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It was funny, it took about 5 days to get used to the hiking, but we were there 2 weeks, so for the second week it was routine and didn't take nearly as much effort as in the beginning.

And yes, I took that picture of my brother from up on top of one of the ridges. I didn't realize how cool a shot it was till I got home and saw it.

Anyways, thanks everyone for the positive comments! It was a trip of a lifetime, and one I won't forget any time soon.
Kyle

Very nice! I was too busy this year but will be doing a family hunt in the Fort St. John area next fall. The guys were 6 for 7 on elk last year so I have high hopes for my first elk!

Really nice pictures!!!

What a hunt , one day for sure if love to it . Thanks for sharing ..

A Ray

That sounds and looks like the trip of a lifetime for sure!! Beautiful!You are lucky to be able to do that!! Congrats!!