Two-for-two for white-tailed does this season

by Mac Olsen
(Donnelly, Alberta, Canada)

I continue to be amazed at what an adventure hunting is. On Saturday morning, I travelled to a place called Salt Prairie, which is about 50 km northeast of High Prairie, Alberta to hunt for a mule deer buck on a friend's land. I got there just before dawn and started to get ready for the hunt, when I heard a bunch of coyotes howling, including one that couldn't have been more than 50 yards away from me in the bush. That was unnerving! Anyway, I got kitted up and headed out along a back road onto my friend's land and to a hilly field. There's woods and a ravine to the right, near the fence. I was hoping to hunt for a mule deer buck there, but that wasn't to be. Instead, some white-tailed does saw me first, so I was busted. But I decided to see if I could still get a doe and moved up slowly and cautiously towards them. Some of them spooked and ran off as I moved in, but the rest stayed where they were and just kept eating, not feeling threatened as I got into a standing position about 180-200 yards away, at the edge of some trees. I watched them as they continued to eat. So, I thought, I would have a good chance at getting one of the does and just bided my time. But imagine my surprise when I also see four white-tailed bucks near the trees off to the right! I couldn't believe it! I couldn't see the size of their racks, but they all had racks, that much I could tell. What was also surprising was to see a couple of them sparring! That's the first time I've ever seen that! They sparred for a few minutes and then ran for the bushes when they saw me. I wish I had purchased a white-tailed

buck tag now, but the tag I had with me was only for mule deer buck, so they were off limits to me. Anyway, I returned my focus to does in front of me and one had finally separated from the others so I decided to go for her. I put my Remington 770 .300 Win Mag on my Bog Pod, put the crosshairs on her and pulled the trigger. I hit her right in the midsection of the body. She ran for about 20 yards and went down. I gave the deer about 45 minutes to expire and then went out to the carcass. I discovered that I hit her right in the rib cage and the bullet redirected downward, resulting in her intestines hanging out. I've never had that happen before, but I still got a good doe. I returned to get my truck and drove back to the carcass. On the way there, three more does came out onto the field, then ran for the trees when they saw me. Then, as I was field dressing the carcass, another doe came out from the trees and watched me for a few minutes, then she ran for the trees, too. So that's two-for-two now on the white-tailed does, and my next deer, hopefully, will be a mule deer doe. That will round out my freezer meat if I can get one of them. But, I definitely want to go back up to Salt Prairie in October and try for one of those white-tailed bucks - and hopefully a mule deer buck up in that area, too. I also have the draw a calf moose in the High Prairie area, a three-day deer hunt at a military base called Camp Wainright, which is southeast of Edmonton, and a late-season antlerless elk north of Peace River. So I've still got plenty of hunting action through mid January.