-20 for several days and still not froze.

You have a LOT more snow than we do Brian. Its been warm so far too. Hope you have a great season.

Takes a long time for some of those black muck holes to freeze.Layed a lot of spruce brush in those,helps hold the snow when it comes.

I just got back from a winter hunt with a couple old time buddies. We went to school together. They both had elk tags, one a cow tag and the other a bull. As my son and I had already tagged out we were there to help out only.


The boys had themselves a nice wall tent set up. Even some fancy poles.




Once the tent was set up the chef got into action




This was a new area to hunt for me for so we hit the trails looking for an elk herd. Rut is long over so we're looking for elk on their winter feed. Trails were rough and the country had a lot of wetlands.



Hmmm this doesn't look good.





But an easy fix

A wolf pack was working the first area we checked out. Looked like 8 members in the pack



I was following a game trail along a river when I came across this birch tree. You can see where someone cut out birch for a moose calling horn. It looks pretty old to me.


I found where a elk herd was feeding in a large meadow. I back trailed them towards their bedding area but didn't enter it.

The next morning the the other two guys went and posted over the meadow with the tracks. A dozen elk cows and calves came out and grazed for over an hour. They were 640 meters away and to far for an ethical shot under the conditions. They weren't comfortable putting a stalk on the herd so they just watched. They came back to camp pretty excited. While they had been watching the herd my son and I found another hot location that had a lot of fresh elk-moose-and deer tracks.

The next morning I went back with Tom to check out the cow herd as he had the only cow tag. They didn't return so we slowly worked our way into their bedding area. The cows and calves weren't there but it was an obvious favourite spot to hang out.




A good spot to remember for future hunts.

Yesterday I took them to the spot we had found with all the fresh sign. I took my buddy with the bull tag with me and my son took the other hunter with him. We were working a large clear cut that had 8' pines growing in it. I headed one direction while my son went the other with the intention of meeting up in the middle. i was cow calling as I made my way through the regrowth. We walked up on a cow and calf moose who were sure surprised to see human and not a neighbour elk.


Then I spotted an elk hind end through the trees and spotted a nice bull elk standing there 40 yards away. i pointed him out to my friend and he put a shot into the lungs. The bull ran into a stand of trees where a follow up shot put the bull down. I had a pretty excited couple of buddies on my hands.



My son spotted the bull running across the clearing towards my cow calls. I've called in and killed several bulls in November so don't believe those folks who say you can't get the bulls in during late season


The rack is real pretty and has a nice crown on top like a red stag. Not a huge rack but the elk had a big body.






A great hunt with a couple of good friends and my main buddy...my son






And so ends another hunt. Time to go trapping!!!

Looks like fun Brian. Once again you have more snow than we do...crazy. I got one of those frames for my wall tent a few years ago and they are nice. Good luck out there this winter

Thanks for the ride-along!
That is a really cool rack.

I picked up a new wolf rug from the taxidermist today. It has a unique coat on it and even better my grandson was with me... so it's got a story now.



It has quite a bit of blue in it that the camera doesn't pick up.

My film partner is filming the sheep rut right now. Rams were copulating like crazy last weekend.

It's been a slow start to trapping. Same old same old waiting for the high country to freeze up tight. Lots of lynx and bunnies this year. January will be full speed ahead.

I did take in a two-day wolf trapping course last week. Excellent course put on by our Trapping organization. It's great to see and hear different trapper's techniques. Spent equal time on both snares and footholds. Snaring though is much more popular because of our 48-hour mandatory foothold check.

Here's what the latest snare setup looks like

We finally got some real winter and have some -20 and a big snow dump. I just started getting sets out and hope to go hard now. last year was not a good one for wolves but things are looking up this year





The pack came down the river and left me some great set locations. I have snares and footholds out so we'll see. Fur sign looks good, more marten and lynx then I've seen for a long time. And of course, snowshoe hares are way up which is why everyone else is thriving. heading back out right away.

I had a visitor in camp all week. I believe it is Downy woodpecker. Cute and tough.



I adjusted pan tension and preset my lynx footholds in camp. I stack them in milk crates and just pull them out as needed. Saves a lot of time.

A picture of my fleet before the big snow dump. The Argo is handy for river crossings.





After the big snow dump, I went out and started setting for lynx. This is last years snare, nothing like being on location. It's in operation now!

Those lynx traps look huge! What are they? What is your chain set up?

Your wolf rug is a pretty awesome color. Lacking on snow here Brian but got some cold weather this week. What was the new wolf snare all about. Heading back out on Wednesday to get a bunch of wolf gear out myself. Good luck and be safe.

Happened on thread and quick edited pic to pull out color. No idea if hue is right as I’ve never seen that color phase that I remember. I’m also working on phone so not sure display settings.

I’m wondering if blue tones are darker more Catahoula Tick colors. They appear too bright vs. grayish I would think but if I get to a PC monitor I can get closer. Neck is coming through really bright though.