Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Anticosti #12 is now but a memory.

It is hard to believe another year is gone. As is every year, this one was VERY different. Last year we were belly button deep in snow. This year, most of where we hunted was totally flooded. It rained and rained HARD for 3 of the 4 days. I killed the ONLY deer I saw in 4 days. Normally we see 30+ deer in any given day.

At any rate this year was a year that my wife and I never had the opportunity to hunt together. The guide pretty much stayed with her to make sure she would be OK considering the conditions. She also killed the only deer she had the chance at.

Day #1 I was dropped off on a trail that went on the high side of a thick stand of spruce. I walked 6.2 miles according to my GPS and never saw anything that resembled a deer. I did, however, see a spruce grouse and just couldn't go by without a picture.





On the way back to the lodge in the afternoon we had the most beautiful sunset you could ever want to see and we all thought, "red sky at night, sailor's delight". Well I call BS on that.






Because for the next 3 days it rained buckets. Everything flooded. The rivers rose to a very dangerous level. We had a pair of hunters that were Quebec residents. They could go anywhere they wanted without being assigned an area bu the guide. They both crossed the Platte River while it was still low and passable. They hunted during the day and one of them came out and saw the river rising. He jumped on the 4 wheeler and headed back. The other one was still in the woods and came out later in the afternoon and the river was impassable. He had no radio or survival gear with him. Darkness came and there was no contact. The guides all gathered and headed out. The built a HUGE fire on the bank and fired a rifle. These guides are the best. They had a cannon to fire a rope across the river. A couple guides got across the river and got to the hunter at about 7PM. They got him back and into the lodge by about 9. His rain gear was shredded and he had a few scratches. He was soaked to the bone.



He commenced to strip the wet clothes and get warmed up.



My wife sat on the stairs and watched the show.




It was an interesting first day to say the least.

Day 2 came with yet more rain. It rained so hard, I had to take my glasses off just to be able to unobstructed vision. I had rain gear on and eventually the rain wicked down anywhere possible. I kept my scope as clear as possible. Becaust to the Stith set up scope caps are not possible. I used a zip lock bag over the eye piece. It was another day of a 6 mile+ walk. I eventually met up with my wife at the blind where she was sitting. I told here that I was returning to get my 4 wheeler and headed back up the hill. I had gotten less than a hundred yards from her and couldn't believe my eyes. There in front of me less than 40 yards was a deer looking at me. I ripped off the zip lock, put the rifle to me shoulder and could just barely see through the old Lyman scope with just the post with no cross hair. I fired and could tell the bullet hit home HARD. The deer jumped and disappeared. It went maybe 3 jumps and got about 30 yards and piled up. The rifle is a pre-war (1939) 99RS in .300 Sav shooting a Hornady 150 grain flat base spire point.




As I said, that was the only deer I saw in 4 days.

My wife got lucky on the morning of the 4th day. The rain had turned to snow and sleet overnight. She was hunting the coast with the guide.

He placed her at this tree stand.




She was there for an hour or so and saw movement and a little over a hundred yards. A deer had stepped into the opening in the center of the picture.

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One shot was all it took to make a happy hunter out of my wife.

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The guide took care of the field dressing with the help of the red fox. Foxes really are plentiful and brazen at the same time.


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I apologize for so many pictures but just click the links and they'll be there.