Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Canada Sask deer forecast?

Lol, your absolutely right.

+1 Kutenay comes through again with the right phrase.

Problem is lots of guys come to Canada to shoot a "big one"; have never seen anything that will gross 140 at home despite years of trying,and to them a 120-130 looks "big"....cause they have never seen one at home.

So the 120 gets killed...until they get slapped up side the head by the outfitter.

I am guilty myself but it depends where you are....I killed one in Alberta that grossed 160 and the outfitter asked....why the hell did you shoot THAT (Skane has seen a picture of that rack)....I could only respond that it looked BIG to me cause I don't see 160's every day........but Alberta is a very freaky place to chase whitetails. Your perspective gets thrown all out of whack.

The outfitter I hunted with had a simple rule. 140" or one grand fine. This was when a hunt only cost 2K.

Bob, I find such an attitude on the part of an outfitter to be highly offensive and arrogant beyond tolerance; I bet that guy did NOT tell you to accept a $500.00 REFUND because the deer was "too small"!

I dunno, but, it seems to me that the GUIDE should be responsible to make certain that the hunter ONLY shoots what is legal and acceptable in terms of serious conservation concerns. I have zero interest in shooting stinking big, rutting bucks as they usually taste like crap and I want to shoot spikes and dry does...I kill game to eat it and always have done.

Soooo, WITH a system such as BC's "points" with Mulies, IF, well administered, ONLY the older, larger bucks WILL be targeted/shot in the rut and that, to me, is how it SHOULD be. In fact, this past month, more such retrictions were implemented in the "Kootenay-Boundary" region, once a fabulous Mulie hunting area that drew US guys, like the late Jack Slack, of Leupold, to hunt the very numerous deer we used to have...and, COULD have, again, if the gawdamm government actually gave a ratz azz about environmental issues.....

I suspect that SASK. is much the same, the problem of shooting "dinks" COULD be solved, but, I doubt that it will be.

One other point, at $5-8K, for a single deer, it is kinda hard to blame some poor bugger from the over-populated and urbanized USA, for shooting what IS, after all, LEGAL, as we all want to kill SOMETHING,once in awhile, else why go hunting?

The same thing has happened with deer in NW Ontario albeit nr hunting pressure related rather than weather. The Dryden buck was killed and within a few years the place is overran.Of course the boreal forest isn't that productive and after 5 or so years of the onslaught the deer hunting isn't even close to what it was.

Alberta is much worse...at least Sask limits non residents to whitetail or bear.....and somewhat where they can hunt them...

If you like to fist fight,scream,flip finger f*ck you's and truck race other Hunters then hunt Alberta.

If you like to be in solitude all day with your hands on your crotch to keep them from freezing then hunt SK.

I've done both & thinking about heading more East like Manitoba or further East...any suggestions?

That is the Alberta way! This province is f*ck'd in so many ways and I can't wait to leave...money makes this province go round...ethics and sportsmanship seems to have gone down as money has gone up...

Stoney, where are did you hunt? Despite several trips to Alberta, I have never seen anything like that in Alberta..I have had miles to hunt mostly with no competition.Especially the bush units.

Mostly all north of Edmonton.

Manitoba has excellent potential...just don't expect to see as many deer from what I can tell. But it grows some awfully big bucks.I have been there.

Kutenay my outfitter was not being offensive; he's an old friend by now and was just trying to get me to hold out for a bigger buck....over the years they have killed a good number of larger deer.But by the time they gross around 160,they simply look very big to me, on the hoof. Hard to pass on those.

Keith,
I'm familiar with that buck. And the outfit the guy was hunting with that poached that deer has likely done more to screw up that entire area than any one single person.

Bobin, I hunted North of Calgary. Anti hunters follow outfitters around blowing there horns to scare game.... It's nuts there. We had a farmer yelling "no glassing my property" while my outfitter was yelling back GFY!

If I return to Alberta I'll contact you for reference. I enjoy hunting mature bucks & score is not important long as it's a respectable buck.

Stoney we don't see that sort of thin where I go...at least I have not run into it.But can understand how it can happen near places like Calgary, which I regard as "Aspen North".

Lots of solitude in Manitoba,again, near as I have experienced.

Contact anytime.

Bob, I think this is the picture you're referencing? (that's Bob holding the rack.. )
Damn fine buck.

I suspect this may be due to residents getting tired of outfitters tying up land to keep them out. Something that I believe is technically illegal and often locks up public land under grazing leases.
Been t here myself and it leaves you feeling violated.

I have experienced a few (very) of these unpleasant incidents here in BC, especially with "quad" jockies, most non-hunters, but, overall, we BC hunters usually treat each other very well while in the field.

Back in 2009, a hunting partner and I came out of Pass Creek and Ladybird Creek, close by Castlegar, BC, midday, after passing on two Mulies, that while legal in Oct., showed a lot of potential for becoming REAL busters. I won't kill bucks like this as I can only use a small amount of any meat for my wife and I and I do not need to "fill an ark" to supposedly be an "outdoorsman", as some 'net posters seem to feel the only mark of a "real" outdoorsman.

WE met four, younger guys, quads, 4x4s, local licence plates, ours showed Vancouver insignia and my buddy, an immigrant to Canada, was a bit concerned as he has a noticable accent and thought that these guys might well resent we "non locals" hunting in "their" region. The local Member of Parliament, a socialist and the provincial MLA, also a socialist and a feminist, had been recently speaking out publicly against "non local" hunters...that is, other BC people who happen to live 400 miles away......

But, I told him to stop and we got out and inspected the Mulie they had just shot, one that was the size that we had passed on. I walked up,smiled and said, "nice buck" or something and ALL of these young guys grinned, stuck oout their hands and the first question the shooter asked was, "it's too hot today for good hunting, just got lucky and would you guys care for a cold beer, we have a few left in my cooler"

We spent about 45 minutes yakking with them, VERY friendly, just all BC guys out hunting and then left for a valley close to my birthplace where there are LOTS of huge Elk...and, yeah, I DID tell these guys about a back road that gets you plus truck close to it.

MOST, of my hunting encounters have been like this, so, I just hope BC stays this way and the current campaign in our public schools, by, The BC Teacher's Federation. to vilify hunters and stop all "sports hunting" will fail....but, the slime are busy and we hunters NEED to realize that our basic traditions are under constant, highly skilled, ruthless and, all too often, foreign-funded attack...even in the schools OUR taxes pay for and by those we pay.....the REAL enemies of basic decency in BC/Canada!

There is an old saying...'go west old man'...BC has everything if you look in the right spots.

tango:...I have hunted the same land my outfitter has been on for years...some Crown, some private.

In the bush units I have hunted, I have seen absolutely no one.In the bush units, east and west of the Peace, I was surprised at the number of deer I have seen(both whitetails and mule deer, and the lack of hunters.

My guy has "permission" on some private ground, but hardly has it tied up,and it is not "exclusive". There are residents who have permission hunting some of the private ground, too....but I just have not seen what I consider to be a lot of hunting pressure.People seem to leave everyone a wide berth.
i can say I have never felt violated up there, nor seen any rodeos.

I have on a couple of occasions,seen some trespassing on private ground by other outfitters...but would not call it a chronic problem.

It is mind boggling how much of the land goes un hunted...especially if you are willing to get your ass out of the truck,which lots of people don't want to do.

Bob, much the same thing is the case here in BC and those roads legally open to motor vehicle use in hunting season are usually "dragstrips", especially on early season weekends and the long weekends of "Thanksgiving" and "Remembrance Day".

What I do and have for quite some years, is to just climb the ridges above some of these roads, SLOWLY, at my age and rather "gimped" condition. If, one can get up there and just WATCH, deer.etc. are often seen moving away from the "Hunter's Motor Brigade" and some good chances for shots can/do happen.

This, actually, is probably THE most productive method of hunting Elk, WT Deer and Mulies for older guys in much of BC and one DOES NOT NEED to wear all the $$$$ camo-G/T-stretchy clothing and matching pack, gaiters, hankies and even "gonch" that those "real"hunters in 4x4s and on ATVs always seem to wear......

Kutenay....laffin'!

The Canadian mixed farmland/bush is too much fun to hunt to waste a bunch of time zipping past it all at 60 mph.

I like to get dropped off and hunt by myself on foot,which is what they let me do mostly up there. Dunno if it's legal that way or not (I know it's not in Sask which is why I no longer go there),but tat's mostly how I hunt up there...either that or a stand with some poking around mixed in.

The Alberta bush is so much like our forest hunting in Maine or NH it's almost like I am at home.