Well the draw booklet came out today. I'm always in such a quandry wondering where to do my hunting. Any suggestions??

the chef

go shootin gophers

Haha, I can't shoot the little buggers anymore. I've been going to the park and feeding them french fries with my kids...it ud break their little hearts.

Haven't got it yet. But sheep, moose and mule deer are high on the agenda.
And MT pronghorn! And NV desert bighorn, ha, hA, HAAAAA!!!!!

And maybe one of these with the bow?

Frans

Hey, Frans ! Where are you going to hunt in Montana ? .. I've hunted around Roundup three or four times .. Not sure if I'll apply this year (I have about three days left) as I can take the license fee and apply it to a 1,500 pound vamint in the Northern Territory in Oz in July .. Back to the draws ... I love the planning so this is good news .. However I have little priority left in cool stuff like southern moose, F300 elk, mule bucks down south .. Aaargghhh !!!

I'll have a 10 in WMU 437 Trophy Sheep. But probably, so do a gazillion other people. Anyone try out the new RELM website yet? www.albertarelm.com Gives you your present priorities as well as your past history. You need your WIN number to check in.
Grizz

Grizz, three in 437 for me, so I'm way behind you. They'll need to wheel me up in a chair by the time I get drawn.

Scruffy, I'm drawing East of Lewistown. My good friend Keith Atcheson runs an antelope - mule deer - elk camp there. I visited him there a few years back and the number of antelope was mind-blowing (to a guy who never saw more than a handful together). Last year the drawing folks at FWP reassured me that my draw was processed, even though I got an error message on my screen (so I never got entered), so this year I tried mail-in. But so far it hasn't been processed according to their onlin status system. Sure hope I'll draw.

20 little rams near Exshaw yesterday, some just legal, about 135-145 points. Like mine. I need a bigger one this time! ;-)

Frans

Haha Frans, quit shooting the babies and they will grow up!!!

I was down at IHEA this morning picking Daves brain. I can't find anyone to share a fly in hunt with me, so I'm looking at a float trip on a river. I dunno if that will work easily either. It seems most wmu's use the rivers as boundaries, so you could see an animal on one side and not be able to shoot it. Also some islands lie within or without the wmu, it could get pretty confusing. One thing with moose is you can at least encourage them to cross the river TO you!! Also I don't know if I want to waste my moose points to hunt some of these areas because they would be generally open with a bow anyway.

ohhhhhhhhh it's all so confusing

the chef

Chef,

Are you looking at the hinton-whitecourt stretch? If not for investment in canoes, waterproof containers, and some training hours, I'd be keen on doing that. Just think about pulling into Whitecourt, canoes to the brim with meat and moose antlers, a layer of frost giving it all that turn of the previous century look... There are a few rapids on that stretch, I think we've gone over that here before. May be more a canoe trip than a hunting trip though.

About the fly-in, did you have an area in mind? Expected costs?

Frans

Fly in is north of fr. mcmurray. Costs are about 2k per person including drive up etc. It's a great area I've hunted there lots and I can't say enough about the moose,bears,and wolves. I think camping beside a northern lake for 10 days or so and gorging on fresh fish while not hunting would be--well....nice!! You could bring a canoe in and work the whole lake for moose, what nicer way to hunt!!

The canoe thing is another story!! The only thing I can find that's general tags is wmu 509 and 510 from Smith to Athabaska. There are a lot of rivers but most are the dividing line for the wmu's so you can hunt one bank but not the other. The other consideration is the season length. A feller wouldn't want to do a trip before the third week or so of sept because you wouldn't be in the rut. That limits it to much fewer wmu's.

I had three canoes until recently when some scumbag stole 2 of them!!! I'll have another soon so I could easily lend someone a craft!!

the chef