OK Mr. Ludd, but I am warning you guys, I don't type very fast so you had best get settled in and compfy cause you are gonna be here for a while.
This Buffalo hunt came about because an aquaintace of mine was on shift work and knew that if he tried to drive all the way to the Dawson Creek area in North-western BC he would probably get in an accident or lose 2 days to sleep. So he asked a couple of other people and when they couldn't get the time off,he asked me.(No I wasn't the first choice ) Being a pro driver had some influence on his decision but I did warn him about my night driving problems(vision).
So, there we went,12+ hours in the diesel Chev ext,PU,4X4, one stop for fuel and a pee in Lyton(for those of you with road atlases),another in Prince George,and the last one in Chetwynd(home of moderator Canuck). No I didn't meet with him.
We had fairly good directions to the Buffalo Ranch where we were to camp out in the camper and actually found it with no trouble once we ignored the instructions from Mikes dad and used our own inate abilities of bush sense.
We got there at about 12:30am and quickly set up and passed out. The next morning since I had gotten more sleep the previous day, I crept out of the camper to leave Mike in peace and met a gentleman coming in from one of the pastures with a Ruger in 257Roberts and a nice old scope. He had been trying to ambush coyotes but the song dogs didn't want to play. This fine gent introduced himself as Bill and I correctly surmissed that he was the land owner whose house we had parked almost on top of. As he and I walked around looking at the Buff herds and the Reindeer, he said that where we had parked was just fine as he wouldn't have so far to walk to have coffee with us and to ignore his wifes screechings about being parked in her living room.(I mean really, we were at least 30 yards from the house,well maybe 20 or so )
When Mike got up I made him some breakfast and then he and Bill went exploring with Mikes new 660 Grizzly. The main idea was that in exchange for Mike sending fence wire up to Bill from where Mike worksd and got it cheap, Bill would show Mike his hunting "honey hole". And did it ever turn out to be that! That little area on top of that ridge was lousey with Elk and Moose. Access was by quad only or horse but was way to far to walk in one day.
Now bear in mind this is only the first half of the first day! Things got better in some ways and much worse in others! The afternoon was spent in camp arranging and then we went out for a little sight seeing with Bill in his truck. He showed us the perimiter of his ranch and where the whitetails liked to hang out. Along the way we saw a baby Moose,bill said the mother had dissapeared a week before and he figured it wouldn't survive the winter cause it was so young. On that same road we saw 3 Whitetail Does and a nice 4x4 basket racked Buck.(More on the buck later) After an early supper in the rain which I again prepared, Mike went back to the honey hole to look around some. He saw over 20 Moose in there that evening, but they were all cows or calves and those weren't open at that time in mid Sept.
The next day we decided to go out on the quad and look at the honey hole together. I wasn't legal to hunt so I was once again just a companion and jeering section. I saw some new and interesting country side and a couple of Moose and a cow Elk. When we got back we found out that Bill and his daughter had to dehorn some of the Reindeer since the rut was getting close and Mike and I offered to help. Dehorning and shots took up most of the afternoon and we got to meet some of Bills fine family.
That evening it started raining again(It had been raining for 3 weeks after a 4 year drought)but Mike headed up the ridge again anyway while I moved our kitchen into the barn at Bills suggestion. When Mike got back he was beside himself. He had lost count at over 30 of the Moose he had seen and when he got back to his quad it became apperent that the local Moose couldn't read as they had been licking the Grizzly!
Now Mike is an ex-bc-guide, and gets real excited when he gets to hunt,so he took off without breakfast but on the promise that when he got back there would be a decent lunch. Him and Bill headed up the ridge and after sleeping for a while longer I ate and read for a while. I was surprised to hear Mikes quad coming back at about 9:30am and I hadn't started lunch. Mikey had got himself a 3x2 Bull Moose,him and Bill had dragged it down to the road and had come back for the farm tractor to pick it up and carry it the rest of the way. I made luch while they picked up this young Moose and dressed it out. Supper that evening was 6 hour old Moose tenderloin Steaks with panfried potatos and onions washed down with camp coffee. Damned fine fare.
This has gotten kind of long so I will give everyone a break and get on with the Buff part later. OH yeah, and that whitetailed Buck! derf

derf, you are a veritable Hemingway! Never saw you so long winded before, but I enjoyed the read and that's a fact. Lookin' forward to the buck and buff part of the story!

Dan

Pres., TYHC

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