Bowsite.com

(For those not familiar with our outfit these are not exclusive access, private land hunts. In fact we don’t have any exclusive access, all of the private land we hunt can be hunted by anyone who asks for permission. Most local hunters can get more access than we can! We can’t pay $ for access, it’s illegal. We just scout and hunt in about 4600 sq miles of free ranging country, spread over three huge Wildlife Management Units, no baiting allowed either, except for bears in the spring.)

We do have one Muley Bowhunt and one Rifle hunt open for 2023 too! Call/text me anytime at (780)864-7736 cell for more info.

Bou’bound, our moose and elk hunts were good but not great, seen it better seen it worse. I’ll be covering them too.

We, guide Gerard actually, first saw Mike’s buck in mid August of 2018 as a probable 190 class non typical, 3 1/2 yr old. He got on our target list but soon disappeared never to be seen again all season. We hunted hard for him from the August 25th bow season opener, then all the way through rifle season, Sept 17 to Nov 30. He never even resurfaced during the rut! When the season closed we thought he must be dead.

We thought our suspicions were confirmed with no sighting of him in 2019 or 2020. We were wrong…

Curious as to why you think the buck that Mike shot last year, was the same buck from 2018, especially after 4 years? Very similar frame? Same area? Some other distinguishing characteristic?

Good questions. Mike’s buck was seen in the same area, within a mile or two every time in mid August. His typical frame was very distinct, short backs, long main beams and a few extras. I’ll see if I can find the 2018 pic.

The buck was quite a bit bigger than our biggest one before him at 214 score. We’ve taken about 6 other 200-210 archery muleys since 2006. But we still tell everyone that you should try to kill the first 170+ buck you come across, maybe even a 150-160 class deer, which is a great deer considering the Pope and Young minimum for mule deer is 145 net. Ones like this are a random fluke. It was Mike’s first hunt with us, we don’t try to save bucks for any special hunters.

Nothing like seeing a couple of huge racks floating just above the canola!

Bghunter, we will be showing our elk kills too, coming soon…

T-Roy, that’s a toad!!!

Mark

72 yard shot on a big bull

The Bison is an unofficial opportunity kind of thing while you are here. Michael was helping out on his buddies hunt after he had killed his deer, positioned on an escape route to see where some bucks might go. They went the wrong way and he was waiting for pickup when the rancher came by on his 4 wheeler looking for an escaped Bison. He wanted to kill it. Mike said he would love to shoot it with his bow! They thought that would be fun to see so they went after it and when it threatened to charge them, it was either a 72 yard shot or a rifle kill. Mike got it done! Whoohoo!!

We always avoid doing crop damage and pay for any that we accidentally do!

(Not that it should matter much, but before our traditional evening scoring session I really thought the buck would go over 180 but no brow tines kept it under, good 3-5 inch brow tines make a huge score difference but not much of a difference in look.)

Guide Gerard got both of them their deer on a two hunters to one guide hunt. Two muleys, a moose and a bison all in one busy week! Hunters often get nervous about booking a 2 on 1 hunt but we’ve been able to do really well with them. It’s not easy to find good bowhunting guides and you are much better to be with one great guide than be split up with a less than stellar guide.

About a 40 yard average shot, with the guide using a rangefinder. If you can hit a pie plate out to 50 you’ll be in great shape. We can often get much closer but choose not to so we don’t get spotted hiding in the crop. Maybe a trad guy could jump up out of the crop and shoot at 10-20 yards?!

I should have more details on how the deer were killed. I wasn’t in the field with them so I forget the stories told back in camp. I’ll see if I can get details or get my guides or hunters to chime in, would make the thread more interesting. Sorry for now.

Alex’s Dad Ryan was also on the hunt and even though he is an awesome shot, deadly out to 80 yds, he barely missed the mark on a big buck hitting him right in the shoulder. The buck easily survived it and was killed opening day of gun season Sept 17th by another outfitter. It went 190 gross. Ryan booked his Redemption Tour hunt for 2023!

I hope 2023 is great for you, and your business is back on track after the last couple years.

There’s a pretty small group of outfitters I’ve seen on bowsite over all the years I’ve been here that produce happy clients and great hunts year after year. Your definitely one of them.

Fred Soares featured here with his 190 inch buck. It’s a classic Peace River muley, big brow tines, heavy, extra inline point but narrow. Often we will give an experienced mule deer hunter from the Western USA an, “in the field estimate”, of a buck like this in the 180’s or 190 and they will really doubt us. They’ll often say there is no way a 20 inch wide outside spread buck is going to be 190, that is until it’s dead and the see the somewhat abnormal features of our mule deer. They often think a high scoring muley has to be 30 inches wide. I love wide bucks, we just don’t have ‘em.

39 yard initial shot and then a 55 yd finisher for Fred.

On Sept 4, Fred’s buddy Mike McEntee shot this giant typical that was hanging out with Michael Miller’s buck. The really incredible part is that 65 yr old McEntee has Parkinsons with a very visible shaking. When I first met him I thought there was no way he was going to be able to even hit a buck, never mind kill it. Well, he smoked this huge 206 gross score buck at 30 yds! The deer had a 200 inch typical frame and 6 inches of non typical. It may not look that big in the picture because Mike couldn’t get crouched down behind it but believe me, it was huge!!

Mike was such a nice guy too, humble and very gracious.

So we hosted 9 mule deer bowhunters who shot 9 bucks, flesh wounding one and killing 8 of them. We averaged 189 gross score with 4 of the bucks going over 190 and two of them over 200. Our best year ever and we don’t expect to top it. We feel very blessed!

(In case anyone is wondering why we don’t have the deer gutted, the farmers don’t want the deer gutted in their crop field so we walk them out with a medical stretcher and then it’s not far to the lodge where we can get them quickly gutted and cooled with our walk in freezer. Charlie’s son Matt built the steep roof on the cooler back in 2006. Thanks again Matt and Charlie!)

The moose get hard horned right about this time, Sept 5-10.

. . . . . for stone cold Killers!!!!

I was going to book a hunt with you until you insulted my age group.

I still might book, I just have to get a fake I.D. :)

Next is archery elk and moose that we do from Sept 7 to 14 and Shane got his moose the first full day of the hunt, Sept 8. It was an initial 35 yard shot, then a couple misses at 55 and 60, then a finisher at 30. Gerard called the bull in with our early season calling method. The other person is Waylen Case who was also on the 2 hunters to 1 guide hunt.

Waylen and Shane both had elk tags too. Shane had to leave the hunt early after killing his moose. The forest fires in Oregon were threatening his home so he headed home, one of the perks of driving up. He loaded up his meat and took off. Waylen stayed and hunted elk hard with Gerard. They put on the miles and got into elk almost every single time out, sometimes with multiple bugling bulls. But no kill. That’s bowhunting!

Phil and his buddy Howard both had elk and moose tags but they only got the one animal. They had other opportunities but it just didn’t work out. That’s bowhunting too!

The elk and moose bowhunt is so reliant on physical fitness, how the guide and two hunters work together and then knowing when to make the right move on an elk coming into a call. Knowing when to stay rock solid still or make a move or simply when to draw your bow are all important factors. Not having a meltdown and missing or wounding helps too.

Our muley bucks don’t generally shed their velvet until Sept 20th to 25, especially the older, bigger bucks. After the 6 day opening week hunt we don’t do any mule deer hunts until the rut kicks in, Nov 7th.

What’s going on with what looks like a couple of holes on top of the head of the bull moose that Waylon Case shot?

Thanks for the comments, rackmaster and bou’bound!

Class act for sure. Thanks for sharing!

Gerard called in this nice 5 point bull and Doug made the shot count. They killed it deep in a river valley on Sept 21st. Packing out time!

Thanks Tom, Rgiesey and RK for the comments and Dennis Allman at least you got your name on the board!

The other elk hunter in camp wounded a bull and then left the hunt a day early, he was wore out.

Thanks too for the kind comment!

John Putikka drove down from Alaska for his elk hunt and even though John was a bit limited in where he could hike he still killed a good looking 5 pointer. I believe it was his first elk but he was a very experienced moose hunter and had killed some impressive moose in his day.

Joe Montalbano also did the elk hunt and even though he was fit and a good, experienced hunter he didn’t kill. It’s really rare for us to have a physically fit, elk rifle hunter who doesn’t kill but Joe rebooked for 2024 so we must have been doing something right?! Sorry Joe!!

Thanks Jeff.Thompson love to have you do a hunt with us too!

We did have two other moose hunters this week that unfortunately didn’t get their moose too.

Jason bought the hunt at a discounted rate on a last minute cancellation hunt. If you are interested in maybe getting one of those hunts it’s always good to touch base with me right before our season starts about August 1 of each year and see if I have anything that has come open. Another reminder Sept 1 is good too. Email [email protected] or a text at 780 864 7736.

This was Larry’s 3rd Alberta moose hunt, two with other outfitters where he didn’t kill. Third time was the charm!

With moose tags in the USA so hard to get and moose hunts so expensive for many of our hunters it really is a dream come true to finally get to hunt moose and much better yet if they kill one! Us guides sometimes forget that we are often helping a dream come true even if it’s not a giant Alaska bull.

Our best bulls over the years have scored 310, 315, 325, 336 and 345. But several 350-400 inchers have been killed in our home zone by other hunters. If they learn to live life like a nocturnal whitetail they can grow to old age. Gather a harem and bugle like a normal elk and they are dead on the Sept 17 rifle opener.

Mid October elk hunting can be very productive for a well scouted guide who knows some hidey, hole food sources. The 2nd rut can produce some very intense bugling sessions with bulls battling over just a few cows coming into heat on the second estrus. We have too many cows so a 2nd estrus is pretty common.

Larry was 89 years old and he was the oldest hunter we have ever hosted and he killed a nice bull on Oct 26. They said they loved the hunt and it was such a special time to be able to get together for a week of hunting. Larry was a very lively 89 yr old who loved to joke around and poke fun at himself and everyone else.

We did have a few other hunters spread throughout the season who didn’t get their moose, which is really rare for us.

Lots of our hunters drive up from the USA and take the opportunity to see Banff and Lake Louise. They tell me it’s one of the most impressive, scenic drives in the world! You can drive from Calgary to Grande Prairie on the way to the lodge. It only adds an hour or two to the drive, depending on traffic, well worth it!

It was one of the toughest weeks of hiking in my life, too, or maybe I’m just getting old…

I promise I’ll get back to our outfitting success again. I couldn’t resist the family pic time. Hope you don’t mind?!

I love the marker where your dad is.

More nice critters too! Some great eating moose I'd suspect coming out of the fields?

Thanks too Treeline! I’m happy to post everything. I wish more hunters and guides would post their hunting stories and pictures on bowsite. The response to our mule deer hunts and all of our hunts courtesy of bowsite is really good. Plus it gives a place for me to send any hunter inquiries. I just send them the link to this thread and they can see everything we do. It’s so much better to support a hunter friendly platform than Instagram, Facebook or YouTube.

This was the last bull for the November opening week hunt. Now we get into our rut deer hunts Nov 7 to 30 and only a few more moose.

In the mid '70's I lived in Canmore and worked at the Lafarge plant in Exshaw. I see a plant in the background of one of your pics, but looks too small to be Lafarge. We had some sheep that rutted on a hillside behind the welding shop and I got to witness a lot of rut activity. After the rut a few big boys wintered there, but I'm not sure how those rams survive after how they carried on. They said that the lime dust on the vegetation around the plant caused the local sheep to be heavy bodied.

Getting to hunt 410 was pretty magical. Probably my best and worst hunting memories all in one hunt, but a hunt that meant a lot to me for both reasons. Amazing country.

Love the pics Mike! This thread is always amazing.

The story on this buck is that I was out hunting whitetails with my kids when we found him. We were actually looking over some whitetail does from the truck at about 150 yds, seeing if there was a buck with them. They were standing near a patch of trees when suddenly this big rack popped out of the trees, we thought it was a huge whitetail and we all got excited until he came further out in the open and we realized it was a giant muley! He sniffed the does and then trotted across the gravel road and all the way across a one mile wide field. We figured he was 190-200. Fortunately my guide Gerard was hunting muleys with Eric and he was being very picky on what class of deer he was going to hold out for, 190 or nothing. I told him earlier in the week he better get mentally prepared for the nothing part of his hunt. Especially after he had passed on 4 different 170 class bucks. I told him he shouldn’t be doing that.

Then this guy shows up and I happily ate my words. Gerard quickly came out but they couldn’t relocate him that day but finally caught up to him crossing another wide open field the next evening. He was much bigger than any of us realized. In my defence with binoculars I didn’t see all of his nontypical points, I just saw the big 4 by 4 frame and a couple extras. Better to underjudge than overjudge!

Do you ever have any guys want to go after those muley bucks during the rut, using archery equipment? Is it even legal to hunt them with bows at that time of the year. A big muley during the rut, with a bow, is way high up on my list.

T-Roy, you actually could buy a rifle rut hunt and use a bow but a rut muley hunt with a bow would be near impossible, especially if you were after a big buck. Imagine those big flat, farm fields you saw with nothing but snow. The does are usually grouped up in the fields, getting within 100 yds would be very tough. If they go in the trees the ground is so covered in deadfall it again is near impossible. Even tree stand hunting wouldn’t really work. Interesting question for sure, you would think a skilled bowhunter could do it but super unlikely.

Mark’s buck gross scored 181 which is still a big deer for us!

The moose hunting up there is pretty interesting… Big pile of excellent meat!

PS - Love Tyler’s smile! Happy boy for sure!

Mark’s son Kallen killed his buck on Nov 19th with guide Cody. He killed it for its unique character, not its score, to each his own. He was a happy guy!

I love a big clean typical buck like this one. When Gerard brought it into camp I swore it was going to hit the 190 mark, my emotions got the best of me! 184 typical is still a rare buck.

Scott Storey was our next kill on Nov 25 with guide Cody in our east zone. This was another deceiving looking deer, 28 inches wide but only scoring 164. It was Scott’s biggest muley and he was very happy, so we were too! Scott was a blast to have in camp and he really loved the social aspect in camp. With daylight ending about 5 pm the last week of the season we sometimes get into a bit of “partying”, which means sitting around socializing having a few drinks. He half jokingly said I need to feature the party part of the hunt on my website. Thanks Scott, and Congrats!

Guide Cody was in Martin’s area so he went to pick him up. My phone buzzed and I took a sceptical look and then just about dropped my phone when the picture above came in!!

Mike booked an elk hunt for 2023 and we look forward to having him back in camp!

Couple more to go…

(Guide kills don’t detract from our hunter kills, we don’t manage the huge areas we hunt.)

That’s a wrap for the Fall of 2022. Thanks for following along!

THANKS AGAIN! HOPE TO HAVE YOU UP HERE SOON!!