Hunting in Canada

For the last few months I have been heading into the Foothills of Western Alberta looking for Mule deer & Whitetail deer. The first few hunts were unsuccessful but we learnt heaps about the terrain and habits of the local deer population. After that it seemed we were finding deer everywhere, if only the little buggers would stay still. It was great seeing all sorts of animals and sign, from cougar prints and black bear scat, to wolves howling right behind us.
The day I got my whitetail buck was a crisp autumn morning with almost no breeze but a solid frost. The hunting party was: Glenn Puschner (my boss), Graham Wickens, and myself. We were in a small cutline where we had seen deer previously and just missed them again that morning. We were standing at an intersection between two other cutlines deviously planning an ambush for the little buggers when Graham calmly said to look behind us, when we did there was a little buck 200 yards away quietly grazing. I took a knee, rested my sights on the front brisket and let one rip!....I had my first Canadian deer!
The rest of the day was spent stalking up onto other deer with a few close calls but no luck.

Me stalking a cutline

My new cannon

Very happy hunter

The crew: Graham, Glenn, myself

Looking for more deer

Glenn on the lookout

We went back to the same spot 10 days later to find Graham his first deer, and we did! but this time it was -39.5 degrees with wind chill and lots of snow on the ground.

 Graham and his chubby bubby

Looking for another doe to cram in the back of Rangi

Braving the weather and cold wasn't easy

Overnight Trip to Jasper with Jax & Joel

On Phil's last weekend with us we headed back into the Rockies. After a not so quick stop in to pick up Jax and Joel the five of us were packed into Rangi and heading north through the Icefields Parkway to Jasper. Once again we were stopping every 15min for spectacular photo opportunities.
We finally arrive in Jasper just before dark and settled into our rather nice accomodation at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. We enjoyed a cosy evening eating gormet pizza and beer with Elk roaming around outside.
Sunday we packed up and headed south on Hwy93 and home for some well needed sleep.

 Lake Louise

 Peyto Lake

 Me and my darling

 The boys

Jax & Joel

One of the passes on hwy93

Columbia Icefields

Big Elk

Road to Jasper

Rocky Mountain Billy Goat

Rocky Mountain Goats

Athabasca Falls

View from our cabin at Jasper

Kananaskis & Radium with Phil

Our first weekend off while Phil was here Graham, Phil, Kirsten & I spent friday night with Jax & Joel at the Delta in Kanasakis. We were lucky to get a good room at the lodge wthanks to jax, and we quickly made ourselves home with cheese, crackers & appletons reserve. We had an epic diner session at the restuarant where we managed to clear it of all other customers with our ruckus.
The following morning Phil, Kirsten and I carried on to Radium for a dip in the hot pools. Once again we came across Bighorn Sheep on the road and we even found them on the baseball pitch in the middle of town!

Remnants of the massive forest fire this valley

Phil and myself chillin out at Olive Lake

Rangi the roadtrip beast

Pretty view

Lamb roast anyone??

This is the same spot Kirsten and I went Dog Sledding in winter

Bighorns on the Baseball pitch

Kananaskis Valley

Kirsten's Birthday

We had a big day planned for Kirsten's Birthday. It actually started the night before with a surprise cookies & cream birthday blizzard cake, it was all kinds of deliciousness!

Jax & Joel met up with Kirsten, Phil and I for lunch downtown at the Metropolitan, afterwards we enjoyed some retail therapy in Bankers Hall at the designer stores. In the afternoon we visited the Calgary Zoo to see the animals, where I was almost sprayed on by a Siberian tiger! Bloody cats.

In the evening Kirsten, Phil and I went to the Brad Paisley Concert for 4 hours of fantastic country music. The two warm up artists were awesome as well: Justin Moore, Darius Rucker (Hooty & the Blowfish lead singer).

The whole day was a hell of an experience.

Blizzard Cake

Calgary Tower Downtown

Muskox

Great Grey Owl

African Animals

Cheeky Squirrel having an icecream

Brad Paisley Concert:

Jonn'y Visit

Mid September we met up with Jonny and his parents in Banff for a day. They were travelling around western Canada for a few weeks with some family and friends. We enjoyed a day of walking around the town seeing the sights, visiting Lake Minawanka and enjoying a nice dinner and locally brewed beer in the evening.

It was nice seeing familiar faces and accents and we all had a fun day.

The Lovely Couple

 Jonny and Myself

Lake Minawanka

 The Crew

Cheeky Squirrel With His Cone

 One Of The Many Fantastic Views Around Banff