Southern BC mountain whitetail hunt

[Okanagan]

No deer, just scenery.  I hunted two days as side trips from a long road trip.

Walking back to my rig after my first morning rattling stand.  In previous years I've rattled in and killed 2 bucks in the woods to the right of  the old road, but got no response Friday morning.



Cold water.  Palliser River.





The clearcut below has day old grizzly tracks, two day old wolf tracks, smoking fresh coyote tracks and very few deer and elk tracks.



Two pictures of Mt. Assiniboine (at least I think it is) taken from the clearcut above.  Its summit is hidden in clouds,  shaped similar to the Matterhorn. I've hunted mule deer, elk and Mt. goats on those nearer slopes above timberline. 





Grab shot driving down a logging road.  A couple of goat hunters were glassing goats on the peak in the distance about a mile farther down the road.



I moved a couple of hundred miles that night and hunted another spot near the US border, west Kootenays.  Had a buck grunt at my doe in heat sounds but he would not come closer.

[pitw]

Awesome pictures.   

[CCP]

Okanagan I have looked at these pic's over and over since I have been up this AM and I am still in awe.

Those are some nice pic's and beautiful country.

[golfertrout]

very nice pics love to hunt there but man it looks cold. ive been fishing in florida in shorts and t shirt

looks like some good fishing to

[FinsnFur]

Mannnnnn o mannnn that is some beautiful country right there.
Thanks for sharing them Okanagan

[GunDog]

    ^^^^^Yeah - what they ALL said!^^^^^    

I'm lost for words .... Beautiful, Thanks for sharing!

[Okanagan]

Yep, we're blessed to be able to hunt such country, though its a day's drive from my place to get there.  Awesome is how I feel about it.    Kind of wanted folks to see some of it.  Banff and Kootenay National Parks are nearby and this country is the same, but they can't make all of it park I guess.  I love the color of the Palliser River water.  Ten miles upriver from the bridge in the photo, the river runs through a deep slot in bedrock, 15 feet wide and 40 feet down to the water.  No signs, nothing but a rutted logging road across a log bridge at that spectacular gorge.  Big cutthroats and whitefish in the river.  Never fished it but have seen them.

I drove in on a logging road and linked with others and drove 87 miles not counting any side roads to come out on another highway.  Ice or compact snow covered most of the logging roads all the way, even where there was no snow in the woods.   Saw grizzly tracks in three places, one of them a sow with two cubs.  Deer numbers appear to be WAY down and I heard there was a big winter kill last year.  Saw one day-old lynx track but the season isn't open on them yet.

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

[HaMeR]

That is some beautiful scenery for sure. 

The last pic proves the World is flat too!! 

In the 2nd pic there is a log box on the creek bed. Any significance to that? Old bridge pier base? Maybe a watering hole for wildlife in a dry summer? Someone just threw it over the bridge? 

[Okanagan]

In the 2nd pic there is a log box on the creek bed. Any significance to that? Old bridge pier base? Maybe a watering hole for wildlife in a dry summer? Someone just threw it over the bridge? 

I'm pretty sure that is the base for an old bridge pier.  There used to be a bridge of logs which was replaced several years ago. 

[iahntr]

Very nice pics !!
Thanks a bunch for sharin em with us.
Too bad on the deer numbers, sounds
like ya don't have a shortage of other critters. 
Ya beat me to it Glen, I was wondering the same thing. 

[Okanagan]

Here's a few more.  I meant to post these instead of some above but couldn't see little thumbnail sizes well enough.







Frozen pond.

[pitw]

Thanks for that cause I feel much better now 

[Okanagan]

Thanks for that cause I feel much better now  

Yes, I know everybody feels sorry for me having to look for deer and stuff between all these mountains that block the view.   The country is a lot like Kansas or Saskatchewan, only turned on edge and covered with trees.  Truth is, though BC has many kinds of game we don't have nearly as good deer hunting as many other places and we usually work pretty hard at it to fill a tag.  A hunting club member I talked with near Grand Forks told me that he has hunted on at least 50 days this season and seen only five whitetail bucks TOTAL of any size.  He usually passes a fair number of bucks but has had a hard time just finding one this year.  I passed bucks last Fall that I wish would show up in front of my crosshairs again this year!

[Frogman]

WOW!!

Jim