Southern Alberta Deer Hunt

We spent two days chasing deer in the Southern part of Alberta. Stalks were made, stalks were blown, mistakes were made, and hunters got busted; arrows were flung despite all of that. It was a great time, with lots learned. With a bit more time in that country I feel confident one of the opportunities would have led to a deer on the ground.

Ten Lessons Learned (mostly rookie mistakes)

1. We need to learn a whole new level of patience; glass, spot, identify, assess the situation, and learn to turn down those iffy opportunities that most likely will just eat up a lot of time and blow the deer into the next county.
2. When half the deer you see in a morning are either chasing coyotes or are being chased by coyotes, there are too many coyotes.
3. When you spook an animal during a stalk, it will go exactly towards the deer you were after and make it run away. We found that elk are especially adept at this. The best performance we watched was by one bull elk, who cleared out a entire bowl (that held approximately 25 deer).
4. Ignore the wind at your own peril; yes, deer will smell you if the wind is at your back; they may not run immediately, but they will depart long before you get within longbow range.
5. When you think you are off the skyline, drop down another 100 feet if you can, and you might still be back-lit when looked at from the bottom.
6. When you are sitting in the middle of a light-straw-coloured grassy slope, you will stick out like an ugly wart on a pretty girl’s face; find a rock, shrub, high weeds, anything to break your outline; camo doesn’t help.
7. We make too much noise when walking, or deer hear too well.
8. Kyle needs to stop wearing his rain pants when it is not raining (swish-swish-swish-swish)
9. We have proven that we can get into the red zone, despite our efforts to alert deer to our presence.
10. A 15-yard shot is not a gimme.

Brief photo essay