Have an oportunity to hunt the last week of the season up there . I was wondering how things are shaping up there this season? Anything at all.

I was in Lac La Biche, Alberta this week and the bucks are starting to move. Lots of snorting a bit of chasing.

The site below might be of assistance.

http://www.menoutdoors.com/forums/index.php

I grew up around there. The rut seems to be going on right now and most deer in the area are decent.

Like martinbns, I just drove by Lac la Biche today and saw three big bucks chasing does within about 3 minutes of each other...


SS

Just booked it all I'll be up that way on the 28th to the 6 th. We'll see if I can find a good one.

Good luck up there!!!

I'm headed up to Slave Lake on Friday for a 6 day hunt......hoping that we hit the rut perfect and hoping that deer numbers are okay and we find some decent bucks!

same to you , best of luck . Let us know what you see when you get back .

I hunted up there with Safari River Outdoors in Oct. Just East of Meadow lake. I passed on several deer and went home empty handed. WEather got us a little bit. Rut was not in effect but my buddy killed a 174" 15 pt. Nice area and some good bucks.
Lee

Ebby: I've hunted w/ Barry @ Safari River twice, but never on an early season hunt. I would love to hear more about you hunt.
Chris

Chris, we had a pretty weak hunt as far as deer sightings go. I saw by far the most bucks and only saw 2 borderline shooters. Both about 2 hours apart on the 2nd day out of 6. They had snow and really cold temps for about 10 days before we got there and deer were mooving. The day we arrived it rained and rose to about 40F and the snow melted. We had temps of about 25F to 42F and it really slowed things back down. THere were 4 of us in camp and the other 2 guys saw 5 small bucks combined. My dad went and he only saw 10 total deer in 6 days and 1 small buck. Barry was great and worked really hard for us. I do not think that there was much he could do. We had a great time and everybody enjoyed the trip. My Buddy went same week last year and killed a 178" so we picked the same week again and he killed a 174" but none of the rest of us did any good. That's hunting I guess. I would definitely go with Barry again but probably closer to the rut. Temps were great but activity was slow. I did rattle in one buck and see some scraping and rubbing going on.
Lee

Thanks Lee. I have only hunted in Nov. w/ Barry and was curious about his early season hunts. I also heard from a friend that they had some warm weather this year in Nov. In 2004 we hunted Thanksgiving week and I tagged out the first morning. We went back in 2007 and I passed on a good deer the first day. My buddy shot him the next day 2 miles away. I saw alot of deer and tagged out on the third day. We had a group of six; two tagged out the first day, one the second, me on the third and one on day four. No monsters, but solid deer except for one. Thanks again.

I think his Oct hunts are good we just got a little boogered by the weather. Much milder temps and it would have been nice if it hadn't been cold the week before.
Lee

Can we get a hunt report from campfire ranger, wildone?

Sure can... I have to say ,weather was not quite where it should have been for the last week of the season and fall had gone a little to long this year leaving a lot of food available in the bush. Movement was lets say just ok , but not for the really big boys. I saw quite a few deer , but mostly 1.5 to 2.5 year olds with lots of potential for the next few years recruits. Lots of good 4x4 and 5x5's and one 5x5 in particular with a droptine that just needed some more time. I would say over all it was a little below average year up there from what I can tell . I have been recieving recaps from a few of the outfitters I emailed prior to the hunt other than the guy I wound up with. It appears it was an off year all around for the great big ones , some here and there but like I said below par. I managed to find this 150 class 4x4 on the last day and decided to take him out of the geen pool .

Nice deer

thanks Wookie