Saskatchewan road trip

[Okanagan]

Last week I got to drive around Saskatchewan a lot, from Broadview in the south east to La Ronge up north, where the lakes are still frozen and snow lays in patches under stunted pines.  A big blizzard around Broadview just before I arrived left deep drifts and flood waters as the snow melted.  Roads were closed under water in many places, plus many unpaved farm grid roads were impassible mud.

Ate caribou up north at a friend's place and looked over his sled dogs, plus snowshoes and snow machines for his whole family.  It's a different life that far north, as Tikaani has shown us.

FWIW, a hamburger and ice cream place called Jerry's in Saskatoon is worth finding if you get within 100 miles.    Great burgers and incredible gelatto and gourmet ice cream.  It is on the south side of 8th street about a mile east of the central north south street called Idylwild.

Saw a blond fox and lots of whitetails along the roads.  Friends showed me piles of huge whitetail antlers, and a few mounted monsters but I took pics of only one modest one due to social reticence.  The guy who had this one mounted told me he simply liked the mass and shape of this buck so had it mounted even though he has larger unmounted ones lying around his barn.  He said, "This one isn't all that big by local standards but I like it."

[Tikaani]

"Is not that big" funny .  Good stuff that caribou.  Glad you had a nice day Ok.

John

[FinsnFur]

Sounds like the perfect trip

[shaddragger]

  "I've got bigger, I just like this one." I'VE GOT BIGGER?!?!?

[Hawks Feather]

I think I would be shaking so much if I had one that size in my crossbow sights that I wouldn't be able to pull the trigger.  If it was larger I would probably still be sitting there in the woods with my mouth open.

Jerry

[Okanagan]

The size of whitetails in Saskatchewan and Alberta are mind boggling.  The same friend with the mount pictured has a shed with mass so heavy I can't touch my fingers around the main beam till the last tine on the tip.  He has gone to bow and muzzle loader to make it more fun.  A friend from BC who hunts most years with him  has taken a 180 class buck every year, though all have enough deductions that none has made the book.

Another friend in southern Sask has a couple of bucks with much larger antlers mounted.  Those guys consider a 150 class buck routine.  This second fellow lives a mile from a complex of draws that intersect a small river valley 400 yards wide.  Brush and small trees mix with natural grass meadows and a few beaver ponds along the river.

I knew the fellow who owned the house before them, and 20 years ago I walked out to those draws with him.  He was having trouble getting a deer.  We walked out on a finger point of grassy ridge that poked into the middle of the draws with fabulous deer terrain and trails within shooting range 270 degrees around the elevated point.  I suggested he go there before daylight and sit with the rising sun at his back during deer season.  He never did.

But the guy who owns it now started hunting those draws a few years ago when I asked him about it, and now his wife "owns' that point on the ridge.  She walks out there from their house and shoots deer.  Their teenage daughter and now their son is also hunting from the point.  They killed two respectable bucks in one day there last fall, one in the morning and one in the evening.

Yes, I am thinking about accepting his invitation to go hunt there, maybe this Fall.  Time will probably keep me from it but it is fun to consider.

[msmith]

Sounds like a great day for sure. I know if I saw a buck that size around here, I had better have brown pants on...cause they are gonna be that way anyhow.

[Todd Rahm]

social reticence

Think'n I should be offended, but not sure yet?   

Always wanted to hunt down there for those big suckers. 

You see any Biggyfeet? 

[FOsteology]

Without a doubt Saskatchewan has some humongous deer! And they're not just sporting some serious head gear, but  also have some serious body mass. Makes our Texas deer look like little dogs! 

[Okanagan]

Without a doubt Saskatchewan has some humongous deer! And they're not just sporting some serious head gear, but  also have some serious body mass. Makes our Texas deer look like little dogs! 

Well, since you mention it...   

A couple of years ago I was visiting friends in Texas in late Fall, after hunting big bodied whitetails in BC, and a dandy buck came out in their pasture while we ate supper.  With a tall rack of nice width, it was the best buck they had seen during the six months since they had moved there from Colorado mule deer country.  Comparing antlers to ears etc. I pronounced that the buck had at least 15 inches of inside width, probably over 16.  My old high school classmate friend agreed but his wife was doubtful.  It had to be 13 inches (if I remember correctly) to be legal.  We assured her and she stepped outside, rested on the corner of their country house and killed the buck.

When we got to it I was aghast!  It really did remind me of a German shepherd, and not a big one.  Everything about the deer was scaled down and my estimation compared to ears was based on large bodied Canadian bucks.  The inside spread was legal by 1/4 inch.   

[Okanagan]

social reticence

Think'n I should be offended, but not sure yet?   

You see any Biggyfeet? 

We got all the BiggyFeet here in BC, but they are too socially reticent for anyone to ever see them.