OUTFITTER:
Big Rack Adventures
Blair Trout
,
http://BigRackAdventures.com

ABOUT THIS HUNT:
If you've never been to Alberta it's hard to imagine what a massive and rugged land mass it really is. When we hear or read about whitetail hunting in Alberta most of us see a whitetail hunter driven right up to his stand and sitting there in sub zero temps waiting for those notorious big bodied deer Alberta is famous for. While this is definitely a common hunting strategy and a reasonably effective one at that, there are other styles of hunting in Alberta which is what this hunt was all about.

We used a combination of pick up truck, 4 wheeler and walking just to get to the stand location. In other words, some of the stand locations were WAAAAY out there which is just fine with me!

Just as the day began to break on our first day it was clear the fog was still hanging tough. I'm not exaggerating when I say we couldn't see 10 feet in front of us!

As the morning wore on and the sun began to heat things up slightly, the fog thinned out and as good fortune would have it my cameraman and I were staring at a 150-155 big heavy beamed buck following a doe. This is where I made a big mistake which was asking my camera man if he felt the deer was big enough. He hemmed and hawed and said "I don't think so." I passed and in so doing broke one of my own rules "Never pass up a deer on the first day that you'd shoot on your last day!"

Knowing we were beginning to see perfect conditions with cold temps and with the rut just kicking in, I was confident this would be an excellent trip even though we had just passed on a dandy.

As often happens when you're hunting, things took a turn for the worse and the weather began to warm up. Big bummer!

80 hours later (that's 10 hours a day "on stand" for 8 days in a row) and several different locations we're perched up on top of a hill hunting a cut line which can be difficult. Mature deer often just quickly pass through the cut leaving no time for a shot or to score them.

We decided to try and increase our odds of success by putting up a few strategically placed 2 dimensional decoys to get the deer to stop.

A little four pointer came along and poked his head out into the cut we were watching. I used my "True Talker" grunt tube to mess with him a little and suddenly the little guy snaps his head around to look behind him.

We all know what that usually means don't we? It could be a doe or in this case, it could be a dominant buck that stepped out from behind the little 4-pointer and man! Did a beauty of a buck emerge from the treeline!

A 150 class 10-point with a heavy beamed rack set high on his head stood there all bristled up at the four point and ready for a fight! The little guy took his cue and exited and the big boy was walking away from us. I grunted at him to stop and finally he gave me a shoulder I was looking for. Breathe, breathe.

My Browning A-bolt 300 WSM barked in the Alberta solitude and at 150 yards we watched this great animal drop in his tracks and it was all on camera for a future broadcast on Bass Pro Shops "Outdoor World".

Next time I hope to remember my own advice but the God's honest truth is our patience and persistance was definitely rewarded!

ABOUT THIS ANIMAL:
Obesssion Quest Northwest Whitetail
Stunning 10-point 150 class dandy of a big bodied buck!

EQUIPMENT USED:
Browning A-bolt 300WSM, 180 grain Nosler ballistic tip on a Winchester cartridge, Swarovski scope