Trips Booked!

[BizCT]

About an 1-2 hours from Tucson.

[BizCT]

I cannot catch a fkn break lately. Suppose to flight out Saturday, 3/17 to go to Northern Ontario for a 5 day wolf hunt. Temps were as low as -30 when my Dad went 2 years ago to the same spot around the same time. Common temps are more like 0 - 20 above..........anyway, its currently around 50-60 ABOVE right now.....all the snow is melting, so everything is flooded, and of course the wolves aren't as desperate to come into bait or calls when its 50 above as opposed to 20 below.......this trip went from me preparing by buying special pac boots for sub zero temps, etc to the guide saying maybe we should reschedule........the thing that sucks is that the flights to get up there cost $1600/person........Pennsylvania was extremely warm (60-70 degrees) when I went in early November, Minnesota Bobcat hunt got postponed in December due to lack of snow, Arizona Mt. Lion hunt was great weather, just caught a few bad breaks and came home empty handed...gotta go back in October, and now this!!!

[Skillet]

Sorry to hear that. Will he hold your spot and price till next winter?

[BizCT]

im sure he would, problem is that most airlines these days give you a credit less $150 or $200, but the credit is good for 1 year from the date you booked, not schedule flight. Of course, these flights were booked well in advance. Therefore, unless im going to Canada this summer, my flights will be a complete loss. sucks!

[Skillet]

There's gotta be something you can do up there in the summer. How about a fishing trip? Just so your ticket isn't wasted.

[BizCT]

Im still going, just talked to the outfitter. They still have snow, its just sloppy and slushy. I will be sitting over whatever baits are actively being hit when I get there. The 1 positive is that with the warmer I will no problem hunting sunrise to sunset. That wouldn't have been an option in sub zero temps. I'm leaving Saturday as planned, hunting Sunday - Friday. 2 guys are up there right now, 1 guy missed one this morning around 200yds.

[Skillet]

Good luck. Have a safe trip.

[BizCT]

What a disaster of a trip. I flew out with my Dad on Saturday, March 17^th on Air Canada from NYC to Toronto. Then we took a small prop plane by Air Canada Jazz from Toronto to Timmins, Ontario. We get to Timmins to find out the gun case didn’t make it. It was on the plane, but the plane was too heavy so one of the few bags they took off was the gun case. Unbelievable! They are told that when they have to take off bags for weight issues, to never take of special items like gun cases, etc that people pay extra $ to fly with. It was probably some anti or something in Toronto. They said they would have a taxi bring it up to where we were staying, but it wouldn’t arrive till 2am, so there goes sighting it in, etc. Needless to say, we never even took the time to sight our guns in and borrowed one of the outfitters instead.

Next up we had a 2 hour drive north from Timmins. The outfitters wife picked us up. Going 90+km/hr on the highway, one of the tires blows out. Once again, unbelievable.

Now to the hunting. The temperatures were insanely high. 2 years ago my Dad went to the same place a week earlier and has temps as low as -38 degrees F. This past week, we hunted in temps in the mid 70’s F. It was all over the news up there about it being the warmest temps in March in over 100 years, etc. We didn’t see any wolves, saw 1 red fox, 2 moose, 2 rabbits and that’s about it. We did see tons of fresh wolf tracks, but I think with the crazy temps, they probably only moved at night. When we got there, there was over 4 feet of snow on the ground, when we left 5 days later there was barely any snow. Lots of places were flooded, frozen lakes became open water, so we really got limited when it came to access points to hunt. I found it interesting that there are NO DEER whatsoever in this area of Canada. The deer cannot make it through the winters with the extreme cold and deep snow. All they have up there is Moose, Bear, Wolf, Coyote, Fox, birds, rabbits, etc…

Lastly, on Friday, March 23^rd we got to Timmins to fly home to find out that Air Canada was on strike for flights to/from Toronto. We then had to fly some other small airline company from Timmins to Toronto, only to land at some tiny airport in Toronto, which was 45 minutes away from the main Toronto airport. After a ferry and 45 minute cab ride, we got to the main Toronto airport, and Air Canada was back up and running, and we got a later flight back home.

I’m done with hunting for a few months now. Done thinking about it and talking about it. Very frustrating….Anyway, its onto Fishing, Playing golf and men’s softball, and watching baseball……Next hunting trip is October 1-5 to Wyoming for Mule Deer & Antelope.

[hunterman7956]

Even a trip thats a bust will be told for years to come. Too bad it turned out that way but

at least you were with your dad and you can laugh later about your misfortune.Better times are ahead and I hope you feel better after some time has passed.As for the money lost well that sucks but you can make it back we all have bad years and experiences I hope this doesnt get you down. Till the next hunt.....

[BizCT]

Yea it took my Dad 30+ days of hunting wolf over a span of 5 different wolf hunting trips before he got a shot at one. Im up to 13 days now (including 8 from 2008 in Alberta).

Edited March 24, 2012 by Biz-R-OWorld

[BizCT]

UPDATE::: Well after negotiating back and forth, Air Canada gave me and my Dad $400 cash back and $1200 worth of flight vouchers, so looks like I will have to return to Canada at some point in 2013 to use up these vouchers.

[BizCT]

Hunted in Pennsylvania for 4 ½ days (Clearfield County, Units 2E & 2G), about 5 hours away. Was hunting heavy laurel fields in the mornings and food plots in the afternoon. All land was public state forest hunting property. Wish NY had food plots on the public land. In the 4 ½ days I saw 28 does and 8 bucks. I was hunting from the ground with an Excalibur Crossbow, my first time hunting without a gun. Legal bucks in these areas are 3 points to one side at a minimum. I saw one giant 8 pointer (120+) at 113 yards and one nice 7 pointer at 68 yards. Both would have been easy gun kills. The other 6 points were all within 40 yards as were many of the does, but of course these bucks were spikes, 3’s, 4’s, etc….not legal. All in all, it was a great experience hunting public land and seeing tons of deer especially since the weather wasn’t the greatest. 61 degrees 2 of the days. Didn’t see any bucks chasing does. A few guys in my camp passed up and took video of nice legal bucks I definitely would have taken.

I didn’t come home empty handed however, as I shot a porcupine on the 1^st day while walking out of the woods. Should make a cool mount. A few pics attached. Next up, shotgun season Nov. 19^th here in NY.

Just got back my porcupine mount.

[Paula]

looks like it would be soft not porky lol

[BizCT]

Just checked my banking online and found this charge:

07-17-2012 *DEBIT AUTHORIZATION Jul17 06:58p 6943

AT 18:58 AZ GAME AND FISH D 866-3866210 $ 225.25

Looks like I got drawn for either a Mule Deer or Coues Deer Tag, while I'm in AZ for my Mt. Lion hunt....should find out within the next day or two.

[nyazhunter]

Biz,

My card got hit yesterday here in Arizona., I will have the October Coues Hunt in 36 B. What choices did you put in for. Should be able to go online early next week to see what you ended up with.

Jim

[BizCT]

I will be in Arizona 10/27 - 11/3. I put in for 2 Coues Deer tags during those dates as my top 2 choices, and my 3rd and 4th choices were Mule Deer tags that start on 11/2 or 11/3 If I remember correctly, so that would only give me 1-2 days to get one.

TOTAL PAID TODAY: $12.50

CHOICE 1 CHOICE 2 CHOICE 3 CHOICE 4 CHOICE 5

HUNT CHOICES: 01116 01112 01068 01056

TOTAL DUE LATER IF SUCCESSFULLY DRAWN: $225.25*

Edited July 18, 2012 by Biz-R-OWorld

[nyazhunter]

Biz,

I would think you will get your 1st choice as there are 700 tags for that unit. Hopefully it will not be as hot as last year when we had mid 90's at 4500 ft elevation for the entire hunt . Was nasty. Are you doing the hunt with a guide? Attached is my Coues from last year, still in velvet.

Jim

[BizCT]

I will be with my mt. lion guide. If and only if I get a lion first, will I then try for a deer. It would just be a bonus....figured since im there, why not apply. He told me the units to pick.

I'd love to get a deer in velvet, thats cool! Would make a cool mount.

Edited July 18, 2012 by Biz-R-OWorld

[nyazhunter]

The velvet on this one was coming off with each touch , the previous one I got in velvet stayed on. You must be hunting near Oracle and north of Mt.Lemon.

J

[BizCT]

Not sure about where we would hunt for deer (if I get a lion). I only know where we hunted for lions, which my guide asked that I keep to myself.

[nyazhunter]

Not to worry, I understand the proprietary nature of hunting areas and have another New York guy who moved to the Oracle area 40 years ago and it is lion country. Unit 33 has a 34% harvest success for antlered deer in your hunt.

good fortune to you.

[BizCT]

Thanks!

[BizCT]

Biz,

My card got hit yesterday here in Arizona., I will have the October Coues Hunt in 36 B. What choices did you put in for. Should be able to go online early next week to see what you ended up with.

Jim

When will I be able to see what unit I got picked for?

[nyazhunter]

Biz,

It will show you on line what unit you got. Seems to be a delay in the posting on line. www.azgfd will have the notice of when the results are posted. Guys out here were still having their credit cards hit as of yesterday. Lot of anxious hunters waiting.

Look forward to hearing what you got.

Jim

[BizCT]

Ok, thanks for the update!