Living in Canada Last Year (Hunting & Fishing) Dial up suicide
I thought it was about time I shared a few photos from my hunting/fishing/shooting escapades while I was living in Alberta, Canada last year & 2009.
I was lucky enough to score a sweet job as a shift manager for the hunting department a t a very large outdoors shop: Bass Pro Outdoor World. There I met some very interesting people and also gained some life friends.
The Office:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...IMGP3214-1.jpg
http://www.basspro.com/webapp/wcs/st...=94&storeID=75
One of those life friends invited me a few times to the private rifle / NRA steel target range he was a member of where we proceeded to shoot a selection of his huge array of rifles. It was a lot of fun hitting the steel targets from 220yds – 650yds. This was by far the nicest and well equipped range I have ever been on. There was even a cabin with log burner there for when you went in winter to keep out of the cold. And it did get cold! Twice we were there when it was -25/-30°C.
Some of the rifles I had the pleasure to shoot:
• Sako TRG42 .338 Lapua Magnum
• Weatherby Custom .257 Weatherby Magnum
• Sako Finnlight 300 wsm & 6.5x55 Sweedish Mauser
• H&K SL8 .223rem
• Remington 700 Tactical .308win
• A multitude of various rimfires, including CZ, Ruger, Remington
Here are some photos of the range & some of the toys:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/P6240232.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/P6240229.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/P6240194.jpg
Paper Target Range
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/P6240161.jpg
Steel Target Range
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/P6240173.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMG_0094.jpg
During the summer months my fiancé and I joined a few guys from the fishing department for a fishing trip to Fairmont (along the Columbia River Valley in British Columbia). We did not catch many fish but had an absolute blast and drunk way too much! It was so hot that it would have been rude to not consume large amounts of beer.
Columbia River
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/P6190115.jpg
Beautiful BC
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/P6200154.jpg
During the rest of summer / fall I made multiple fishing trips into the Kananaskis Valley in the Canadian Rockies, Alberta. Once again I did not have a lot of success but I just loved being out in the wilderness. It was a little unnerving seeing fresh bear/mountain lion tracks along the lakeshore and having to check behind your shoulder every few casts to make sure a grizzly bear wasn’t eying you up for lunch.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/DSC01379.jpg
Once fall finally set in it was all about securing some venison. I was able to get some tags as an Albertan resident so I did not have to pay exorbitant prices like most visitors. I had 1 general whitetail tag, 1 supplementary whitetail tag, 1 general mule deer tag & 1 black bear tag.
I found it a little difficult to find good hunting locations as a lot of it was tied up in private land and the general areas get hammered. But once you get out of your truck (which a lot of Canadian hunters don’t do!) and go for a walk, there were plenty of deer floating around. I was lucky to bag a small whitetail buck, which I was very proud of as I had to find my own hunting spot and had spent two previous trips getting the lay of the land and finding out where the animals were. I loved exploring new territory, especially when hunting a species that I have not hunted before so it was a fast learning curve for me.
Another friend from over there was able to take his first deer with me very close to where I bagged mine. The only difference was we had had a lot of snow over the two weeks between them and the temperature the day he got his was -42°C!!! Let’s just say by the time we got the deer back to the truck it was frozen solid and it took us 2 days with a small fan heater to defrost it enough to skin/bone. That was one hell of an experience! I passed up on a couple of easy does as we had enough meat in the freezer and defrosting 2 deer would have just been too much work.
My new hunting toy:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMGP3306.jpg
Walking cut lines proved to be the best option as the bush was very thick and noisy:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMGP3302.jpg
My crazy mates very decked out hunting truck:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMG_7098.jpg
My well earned buck:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...IMG_7216-1.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j.../TheCrew-1.jpg
My boss at Bass Pro, (now close friend) searching for another deer after bagging mine.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMGP3320.jpg
The same area 2 weeks later:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMGP3328.jpg
Mate's first deer, we performed the world's quickest gut job as to not get frostbite on our hands.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMG_7311.jpg
I had tried earlier in the season to bag my mule deer with a bow to no avail. I was not too fond of sitting on the edge of a wheat field in a blind all day. But I did shoot a few rabbits with the bow which was a lot of fun. I never filled my black bear tag which I had mixed feelings about anyway.
New years just been saw my fiancé, her parents and I join a friend at his cabin 1000km east of Calgary in Saskatchewan for an ice fishing expedition. We had sold our car by then so hired a 2010 Dodge Charger for the trip, boy did it eat the km’s up!
Ice fishing was one of those things you need to do while in Canada, we were sitting on buckets in a half erected tent or out in the open in -36°C, and everyone else is in their custom built heated huts. We caught enough fish for a couple of good feeds but it was very hard work. Every day you had to re-drill the fishing holes into the 2ft of ice. Sadly our 4 –stroke auger shat itself in the first 5 minutes so we had to drill them by hand. It was a good way to keep warm but bloody hard work. It was mentally quite tough sitting for hours on end looking into a 10” hole waiting for a bite, when it was so cold. All I can say is thank god I had invested in a heap of merino gear and the best bit of kit I had over there was my $15 possum fur gloves from PGG-Wrightsons!
We spent an afternoon hunting coyotes on New Year’s eve. Once again it was farkin cold and the snow was waist deep but we managed to drag ourselves around the ranch in search of these cunning buggers. We had no luck in finding any (funny that when you are driving around you see lots of them but as soon as you go hunting for them they all seem to disappear!) but on the way out we managed to spy a red fox 200 yards away. A well placed head shot from my new Browning X-Bolt 7mmRM and I had it on the deck. It is now at the taxidermist being tanned and it should arrive in NZ in the New Year.
We had to walk out 500yds onto the lake to drill for water every day.
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMG_7486.jpg
Our ice fishing tent, note the short rods we used:
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMG_7463.jpg
Gathering daily water supply
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/IMG_7500.jpg
Small holer, smaller perch
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/PC300281.jpg
Mate Graham with walleye
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/PC300284.jpg
The fiance was finding it rather cold fishing, our vapour from our breath was freezing onto our clothing
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/PC310299.jpg
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/PC310297.jpg
Coyote hunting
http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/j...b/PC310306.jpg
I absolutely loved my time in Canada and would happily go back there to live. The people over there are such kind, generous and friendly people and the landscape and wildlife there has to be seen to be believed. I have a multitude of wildlife photos that I will have to put up in another post in the near future. I hope you enjoy the images and story as it has put a huge smile on my face writing it and reliving my adventures in the far north.
