Annual Deer Hunting Trip to Emo

[tracker 61]

Well I finally have some down time to post some pics of our annual deer hunting trip to Emo. When we left town at 5 am we ran into a snow storm just outside of Atikokan and it seems like it lasted for three days. It was tough hunting as high winds and blowing snow kept the deer from moving around. We did manage to get five total, but sightings were low from previous years. Another factor was the amount of water and the below freezing temperatures made for noisy walking. You can see what we had to get through to get to deer camp, no roads.

On day two my buddy Ted shot this nice buck just a dozen yards from our deer camp. I was inside and looking out the window when it walked out into the field. By the time I grabbed my gun and ran out, Ted had already shot and dropped it.

I had seen a few deer the first few days but never had a chance to get a shot off. On the third day I decided I was going to change my location and tactics. I had a 1/2 hour walk through skidder trails, bog and almost knee deep water to slip into the backside of a couple year old cut. When I arrived at the cut at 3:30 pm, the wind was still howling so I set up on a slash pile with my face to the wind. I had forgotten my rattlers so I found a couple of sticks to knock together. I guess the rattling and the grunting was effective because a buck had stepped out at the end of the cut about 150 yards away. With the cold wind keeping the eyes watering, it took a few seconds to realize that something was different. When I put the scope on it and identified it, I got buck fever. Here I was standing on a slash pile, wind howling and I couldn't steady myself. The buck had stayed put as he must have been curious trying to figure out why that hunter was waving at him with the barrel of his rifle. I had my walking stick to shoot off of, so I relaxed, controlled my breathing and finally got off a shot. Of course, the deer jumped and disappeared. I waited for about 15 minutes and than went to look. I was happy to see a blood trail and found it had ran about thirty yards. Now it is after 4 pm and it gets dark just before 5. I had called on the radio for some help as I was three cuts away by ATV trail and wanted to get out before dark. It took me about 5 minutes to realize that no one could hear me calling so I had to sprint all the way back to camp. Imagine the suprise on one of my hunting partners face when I went running by him when he was on stand. We had just enough time to retrieve the deer and make it back to camp before dark.

The next morning I told my nephew that he could come with me back to the same cut as it had the most sign of fresh tracks. We were just about to enter the cut when I told him that we needed to be very quiet and still. Looking at the same spot where I had shot the buck the previous evening, sprinting away from us was a bigger one. I didn't put up my gun as I was supposed to be the guide so I had grunted three times before it put the brakes on and stood broad side. My nephew did get off one shot but unfortunately he did not connect. My other partners did get shooting and connected with two does.

[Cheech 2]

Great story Dennis. Congrats to your crew and yourself on a successful hunt. P.S. Watch that Ted guy.

[Guest canuck]

Nice story Dennis....I am unable to view the photos. Glad you had a great time.

Shane