Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Beyond The Shot: What It Really Takes To Hunt Bison
A bison, two determined hunters, and a nine-hour battle to pack out pounds of wild meat from the Yukon wilderness. This is hunting stripped down to its essence.
Kaleb Graham shares his late-season bison hunt with hunting partner McGinnis – a story filled with strategy, perseverance, and the raw challenges that make hunting in remote territories so rewarding. After spotting a herd of 54 bison on a distant ridge, the pair abandoned their snowmobiles and embarked on a four-kilometer stalk through deep snow and difficult terrain. With careful planning and perfect wind direction, they crawled to within 82 yards of their quarry before Kaleb made a clean shot with his .45-70 lever action.
What followed was the true test – a grueling nine-hour ordeal to butcher and transport quarters weighing over 100 pounds each back to their snowmobile. Working until nightfall, they meticulously harvested every usable part of the animal, honoring it through complete utilization. The meat care was impeccable, hanging for a week at perfect temperatures to develop its rich flavor.
This episode captures what authentic hunting is about – not trophy animals or easy victories, but challenging yourself in wild places, connecting with nature, and bringing home clean, sustainable protein earned through sweat and determination. If you appreciate real hunting stories told with honesty and respect for the animals pursued, this conversation will resonate deeply. Have you experienced your own epic pack-out? Share your story and subscribe for more authentic hunting adventures.
Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
this is hunts on outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken marr. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to howos. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. All right, thanks for joining us on this week's podcast. We've got a great one for you. You know a lot of people think that I've talked to that. They need a big animal to be on the podcast. They need a big trophy animal. They don't. I just, I like, I love the stories, stories, and it's not the size of the animal, it's the story that goes with it.
Speaker 1:Uh, now, obviously it's interesting to hear some stories about some true monsters, but I mean, this week on the podcast, we're talking to caleb graham. Uh, he's in the yukon. He's been on here before. Uh, he's on over the winter talking about a caribou hunt. So if you want to listen to that, if you haven't listened to the podcast before, it's uh, it's back a few months he talks. You know there's a picture of him with his caribou great chat on that.
Speaker 1:But this time, though, he's talking about a bison hunt, and they didn't get the biggest one there, but they had a great experience on this hunt. He tells us all about it, from finding them, stalking up on them, getting the shot, and then you know something that us hunters, maybe we do. Other people might not realize the amount of work afterwards, especially when you shoot an animal of that caliber just the sheer size of it getting all that out, packing it all out and making sure you get it out and, you know, being able to have some great meat to feed your family with in the winter. So if you guys like this podcast, it'd be great to share it out, and if you can leave us a rating and or review on Apple or Spotify, we're going to get right to it and have a chat with Caleb.
Speaker 1:Caleb Graham, thanks for coming out to the podcast. You've been on before. You're living up in whitehorse, but for those uh that haven't listened to your, your sweet voice before, uh, telling a story last time was the caribou hunt why don't you tell us a bit who you are?
Speaker 2:yeah, thanks for having me on. Uh, caleb graham, born and raised and against ridge new brunswick. Uh, the last nine years I've been in White Horse, yukon.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, it's been that long and the hunting opportunities there are plentiful. Amazing, your game populations are all up Like you hear about these different places like well, you know this herd's in jeopardy or that, but in White Horse it's all on the up and up, is it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, conservation's pretty good there. They, yeah, conservation's pretty good there. They're on things up there for sure. There's not a lot of people there, that's true. Does that help?
Speaker 1:You guys have a lot of outfitting, but still, it's not that much people hunting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whenever you see species not doing so great, they always shut down the zones and whatnot or have lesser permits out that year.
Speaker 1:Do you find that they have a lot more boots on the ground, like with biologists and stuff like that, monitoring things and keeping track of it? Because I find I know here in New Brunswick you never hear about it. I know there's some places out West that seem to do a really good job, or in the States in some spots, but here you never hear about them putting tracking collars on or things like that. Did they do that up there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've run into a lot of different species with collars on. I haven't run into many conservation officers while I've been hunting, but always see them on the highways, see their choppers a lot.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, that's good. Yeah, stuff like that, yeah, no, it's nice to hear that they're monitoring that. Yeah, you know it's a natural resource that should be looked after and said here I don't know, I never source that you know should be looked after and said here, I don't, I don't know, I never hear of anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me personally, I've never been checked while I've been hunting, but a lot of my friends have been out there and checked yeah like moose hunting in the chopper lands right next to the river really checks their stuff.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool, pretty cool.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I'm not gonna see any moose for a while. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I suppose.
Speaker 1:Um, like I said, I know they're understaffed, you know, in a lot of areas and all that, but it's nice to see more areas, putting the biologists and stuff out there and keeping an eye on things. For sure. Yeah, so that's good, so the population's doing well, so you've done a lot of hunting out there. You've been on. How many bison hunts have you been on out?
Speaker 2:there, geez, I don't know if I could count how many I've been on. Okay been on it there. Jeez, I don't know if I could count how many I've been on. Okay, um, I've probably been on maybe six or seven, like five day, five dayers okay yeah, and then countless day trips. Yeah, because where I'm living now I can hop on a skidoo and within an hour I'll be in bison country. Yeah, I couldn't tell you how many day trips I've been on, but so a lot and you've got a.
Speaker 1:You got a nice one this year this winter, yeah. And then, uh, I think I'd messaged you. I'm like, oh nice, it looks like a little podcast there when you get home and you're like and then you were like, wow, that's a lot coming from you because you've been on, you know, the moose hunts, caribou hunts, the bison hunts, all that. And for this one to stick out that much, I was like I'm really excited to hear it. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So before we get into that, can you tell us a little bit about the bison herd up there in Whitehorse?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I've heard that there's upwards of 24 to 26,600 now in the herd, which is really good. Our season opens up September 1st. There's like a three kilometer corridor that they open up. Okay. And then they shut that. How's that go? September 1st they open up a three kilometer corridor and then November 1st till March 31st it's all open. So, um, there's certain zones, but like the bison herds in one big circular area, huge area, but uh, so that's all opened up.
Speaker 1:You can shoot cow, bull, calf if you want, they both have horns right, the cows and the bulls.
Speaker 2:Pretty easy to tell them apart.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Bulls are so much bigger.
Speaker 1:Just bigger head. It's kind of like bears, is it? Like the cows have like more of a narrow face and stuff and the bulls have wider. Yeah, kind of like you know boars and sows with the bear.
Speaker 2:Exactly that sort of it. Yeah, and the horns on a bull will be much wider and like will come up a lot higher, whereas the cows will kind of V out a little bit, but then we'll also curl very tight and uh, but yeah, so much smaller.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you're looking at a younger bull and a and an older cow, sometimes it can be a little harder to tell. Yeah, in an older cow sometimes it can be a little harder to tell. But every year since I've been there, um, I think there's one year where they were saying please don't shoot a cow If you, if you can, but there wasn't going to be any penalization if you did. But they were thinking numbers were a little low so they were asking to shoot bulls. Um, this year actually, coming up, they shortened the season a week because they were figured um.
Speaker 2:Numbers are a little bit down, yeah, from what they'd like them to be. So now we've got till march 24th, which is the day I actually shot mine, so we're still in the clear.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for next year, yeah, so yeah, uh were the bison. They must have been introduced there yes, in the 80s, I believe. Yeah, from alberta oh yeah, they've had them that long, you know, uh, I think it's most of the herds in the world. Uh, well, north america, most of them were have some uh bloodlines, whatever, from alberta, I think, like all over, like the canada and the us too. They've got when other you know, when it's wiped out in certain spots and all that.
Speaker 2:Uh, a lot of them were from alberta I'm just trying to think of that herd too. Uh, it's near fort saskatchewan okay in alberta and that's like the herd that has like replenished north america's yeah, north america's grasslands and woods and everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it's from alberta. It's pretty neat. Um, it is, it's really neat, so I didn't know. They had them there since the 80s, so the herd's done. Well, do you have any years they've had a hunting season?
Speaker 2:uh, so I I'm pretty sure it was in the 80s and then they gave them a couple years to kind of get going. I want to say they dropped off like 150 or 200 or something like that, gave them a couple years, okay, and then they opened it up up yeah and I don't know whether it was like an open season on them or if they had numbers, but all I know is from the locals.
Speaker 2:People were telling me like the first few years it was like you drove your skidoo up to them, you shot them, you brought them home they weren't used to. And now, man, it's just like they're getting harder and harder to hunt every year, like we're learning every year. You know about them and they're learning about us every year too.
Speaker 1:It's I think it's going to be like that here in new brunswick with uh them introducing the wild turkeys, yeah because this is like I think this is the fourth year and you hear people saying like you know, they're getting a little smarter, they're getting a little more, you know, leery of people and stuff like that, and it kind of the same thing. I'm guessing, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, crazy story a coworker of mine um, he was, uh, he's huge bison hunter, like gets him and his family. They get two or three every year, that's basically all they eat all year round. And uh, they were going out one year chasing a herd of like 50 and it was the last week of hunting season. They just kept pushing this herd further and further into the mountains, couldn't get a shot. Uh, ended up getting one on the second last day had to go all the way up the mountain, bring it back down to camp. So then it was April 1st, so the first day of non-hunting season. They're coming down the mountain with their bison and bison are walking right out in the trail right in front of them.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Knowing that they weren't huntable. Like how do they know already?
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know like it's. Like you know, around here you always see deer and stuff in the fields that are posted.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, exactly. Or coming into town the day of hunting season, stuff like that, like they just know.
Speaker 1:That's what I've heard in Banff too. I think it is where the elk hang around the tourists and stuff, because they know that they're safe there and the wolves aren't going to come there.
Speaker 2:And yeah, they just yeah.
Speaker 1:Out by my place there's an elk corridor, corridor and you very rarely see them outside of that corridor. Oh yeah, yeah, they just they figured it out, they're smart, they are smart. Um, so the bison? Uh, so they've been hunting them for a little while the population's doing well. Do they have much for predators? I mean, it's a grizzly bear gonna take on one or no, the bulls are gonna deal with them from what I know, there's only been like one confirmed wolf kill on the bison herd in the.
Speaker 2:Yukon yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Like I could be wrong on that but like, that's what I've heard.
Speaker 1:But even the cats cause they stay in a herd, right? Yeah, so the wolves are going to go after a calf and the herd's going to, yeah, and if it's anything like the herd I witnessed with my own two eyes this year like.
Speaker 2:I was scared going in there. So yeah, there, so yeah, so uh, so no predators really I don't think so. No, uh, I think environment is is, uh, their biggest downfall, and you know hunting as well. But uh, there was a few years ago they had found like 15 carcasses that had fallen off a cliff somehow, whether some of it washed out, or something like that but it was all over the news and the Yukon was really sad.
Speaker 1:They found like 15 old Indian style Kind of yeah, they'd run them off the cliff, exactly, yeah, and then and then collect the remains.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but there was like a bit of a washout and whether they got in an area that they couldn't get back up. But, yeah, they had found like 15, 15, which is quite a loss. Yeah, you know especially in non-hunting season right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, huh. What a way to uh, to go. You imagine just strolling along and 15 bison are falling from the sky.
Speaker 2:Oh, that'd be. Yeah, quite the sight.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You'd want to run.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure Um yeah.
Speaker 2:So, uh, all right, caleb, uh yeah, try to get out uh for at least one five to seven day hunt for bison every year with me and the boys. And, um, this year, me and my buddy McGinnis he's like my number one hunting partner. Uh, we live uh like 12 kilometers away from each other and we're like right in the middle of like bison territory. Like I said, we can hop on the sled and within half an hour to an hour we can be hunting bison from our house, which is pretty awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And uh.
Speaker 2:So we actually did that quite a bit, starting, uh, I think our first couple of day trips we did were in January, just kind of going out and, uh, checking out new territory that we'd never been.
Speaker 2:And on some day trips we were finding some somewhat fresh tracks no fresh scat or anything like that, but some fresh tracks. And then we had just got to think of the date. I think it was end of February or early March. We had a five day hunt planned with another buddy of ours and the night before I had to bail because we had a family emergency on my wife's side. So I had to shoot them a message being like oh boys, this is what's going on, I'm sorry to bail. They ended up going out and they were out there for five days and we dealt with what we had to deal with. But then there was a little window that I had where I was able to go out for the day with them, and good thing I did, because McGinnis was having sled troubles with his he's got a Skidoo Tundra and I think it was the fuel pump in the end.
Speaker 2:But they weren't sure what was going on at the time and it was running good for an hour and then three hours it wasn't running at all, and then it would run good for an hour and not you know. So, long story short, I went out, uh left my place at like six in the morning. Probably took me three and a half hours to find them, got to their camp, hung out with them, had a coffee and whatnot. And uh, it took you how long to find them? About three and a half hours.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And I left, yeah, by skidoo Right from my house. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I left at five 30 in the morning and, uh, I had to cross six or seven different lakes on my own and I was like oh this is territory I've only been in once, yeah, and, like McGinnis, he's really good with uh navigation, where that's not my strong suit, like you know. I'll go a few kilometers and then I'm pulling out my Garmin and looking where he just he just kind of knows.
Speaker 2:But like he's like. But like he's like, oh, he's in reaching me. He's like, oh, you've been out here before. I'm like, yeah, one time in the day it's dark and I'm alone now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and there's no trail, there's trails, but like people are going every which way right Like chasing herds and whatnot, and uh, you know when, when can sweep off the lake? And your skidoo tracks are gone, just like that. So, anyways, I I finally got him. I'm like, turn your fricking, uh, what was it? Your location on your garment, and I can at least track you. And that's what he did. And then I was able to just kind of follow his bubble all the way to camp. Okay.
Speaker 2:So, uh, anyways, they were out there for five days and they were seeing some fresh sign, but they didn't actually see any bison, and I seeing some fresh sign, but they didn't actually see any bison, and I don't think they saw any fresh scat. I can't remember, but anyways, what?
Speaker 1:what are they eating this time of year? Uh, that's no the high grass and whatnot oh, there is, and they and they paw, oh yeah, a lot and dig with their, with their faces and whatnot, get right down in there, and that's how you find them is.
Speaker 2:You can glass the hills and you can kind of see like, oh, bison have been up there pawing around oh, okay, yeah, you know okay hike up there and hopefully find when you find some steaming shit. That's when you yeah if you're not walking already. That's when you get off the snowmobiles and you go for a walk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah okay, yeah, if you're seeing cold, if it's steaming on them.
Speaker 2:Anything you can smush with your hand. Get off and walk.
Speaker 1:Okay, go for a walk.
Speaker 2:That's what I've learned, yeah, so uh, on my way in, I was probably two kilometers away from their camp and I saw tracks and I'm like man, those tracks are like 10 minutes old. I got out and like I could feel the pressure on there.
Speaker 1:I was like, and they didn't know.
Speaker 2:No, I messaged him. I'm like boys. I'm on bison right now. I'm like I don't see them, but like there's. There's fresh tracks right now and they're like oh yeah, I'm sure. I was of figured I was going to have to pull McGinnis' sled out, but he was fine the whole way out. I just took his skimmer and his camp load which was probably that much easier on the skidoo.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and anyway, so it was nice getting out for the day. So that was early March and then, yeah, so that was our one big trip planned for the year. Um, went out on a few day trips before that, nothing serious Like we didn't, didn't even see a bison and. Mcginnis had been out. I don't know how many times he's been out for bison, but he's been out at least three or four times on on longer hunts and he's never even seen a bison during hunting season.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so like never seen one. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, uh, one day we were at work together and we said, oh you know, we kind of got like just a couple of days left to hunting season, we should get out for a good day hunt. So, uh, we planned on this March 24th, we'd get up six, eight, well, we'd be on the sleds for 6am and we found an area that we had heard people have been seeing like big herds Like me personally, I've only seen four. That was the biggest herd I've ever seen where I've had friends have seen like 80 and 90 and like oh yeah, I've only seen.
Speaker 2:I've only seen like bachelor groups of like four or just the tail end of like a small herd and they're gone. You know what I mean. So I've been on four successful bison hunts but I've never seen a big herd. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And uh anyway, so yeah, me and McGinnis, we get up and we go leave from, leave from home, and we're on the trail by 6 AM and it's pitch black and we get going. And uh, I told McGinnis I was like man, I just like to, I just like to see some like for you, I want to be with you when you see your first bison man Cause it's, it's quite something.
Speaker 1:I was like they're huge, but they're they're hard to pick up.
Speaker 2:But once you pick up one you're like oh, like, I know exactly what to look for now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And yeah. So we found an area that we wanted to go. We heard people were seeing like a herd of like 50 and 60 and whatnot.
Speaker 2:It was good you know few had been taken in that area. So we're like, ah, we'll give her a try. He's been in there before but I'd never been. And yeah, so we go in, we skidoo for about three hours I forget the kilometer amount, but it was three hours and I was, you know, going 35, 40 kilometers an hour across a few different lakes, and we were the only ones in there that we could tell, because there was no trucks at the pullout, no fresh skidoo tracks. We were on the trail pretty early. We didn't see any camps. You know feeling pretty good, yeah, um, so we get to this one spot and it was getting pretty close to the idea of the area that we wanted to be in, and then the overflow started getting pretty bad on the lake okay yeah, so, uh, as I said, mcginnis was sled trouble, so we were just doubled up on mine.
Speaker 2:And then we had the one skimmer with just like we brought some emergency gear, but we didn't have that much stuff with us had my gun, he had his gun, we had a day pack and an emergency what do you call it? Emergency sleeping bag? Oh yeah, stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So a skimmer. Those wondering, I think I know what it is. Is it the like the wooden sled thing that you hook onto your skidoo?
Speaker 2:It's like a toboggan.
Speaker 1:Mine's like a big PVC plastic. Oh okay, yeah, like tough plastic and mine.
Speaker 2:I just got a new one. It's I forget the dimensions, but it's quite long. I can haul a lot of gear in it.
Speaker 2:Okay, cause I used to just have like a Canadian tire special and I still have it, oh yeah. And so McGinnis kind of got off and walked a little bit and he's like, ah, it's, it's getting pretty bad, and we were on this one lake but we wanted to get onto the end of the next lake. So we were quite a little ways of where we wanted to be yet and, uh, so I was like, okay, well, I'm going to ditch the sled here. And he's like, okay, I'll go in towards the tree line on the right, uh, to see if I can find a trail on the tree line that can get us to the next lake. Yeah, I was like, yeah, sounds good, I'll, I'll go straight ahead into these willows and see if I can bash a trail through there somehow on foot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's what I did. He went right, I went straight and as I'm going, um, I have got a good view of, like, the mountains in front of me, mountains in front of me, um, but the willows are kind of in my way. So I'm kind of working my way through and I get to the, the bottom or the end of this lake. I didn't walk too too far from the sled maybe 10, 15 minutes, and I just happened to look up and I see like 40 bison on on this hill with the naked eye.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, and.
Speaker 2:I didn't even grab my binos, I didn't even take the time, I literally just looked at them and I was like bison and I started sprinting back to McGinnis and then as I'm sprinting I'm like should I have got the binos out? And like looked, I was like no, those were bison, like I know they were. So I'm running back and found McGinnis' trail. He was all the way down this little creek and I'm like man man bison everywhere.
Speaker 2:He's like really, I was like yeah, I was like they're far, but there's like I saw like there were definitely bison and I was like it's a huge herd and he's like, okay, right on, so, as we're walking back, to. We were going to get our kill kits. We were going to get our day pack and our guns and our tags and whatnot and we I was like it's far, but we're going to hike.
Speaker 2:We're going to leave the sled because we don't want them to hear us. We're just going to go and he's like, yeah, I'm in. Like McGinnis is an animal, he'll go anywhere. I was like, even if it's 15 kilometers, we're walking.
Speaker 1:Especially knowing that you saw bison.
Speaker 2:He's like, yeah, it going, they'll swim across the lake, exactly. So, uh, we get back, grab our guns, grab our day packs, um, our kill kits and everything, and I bring them to where, uh, where I first saw them. And this is where we actually like get our binos out in glass, and not at the time, but after. So I took a photo through the, through the binos, like you know how you put your phone up to the bino.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, so I did that trick.
Speaker 2:After the hunt I counted 54. Really yeah through that photo. So it was a good-sized herd, good-sized herd, and there was even more like tucked down into the trees that you couldn't see. So huge herd, biggest herd that I've ever seen.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the first bison McGinnis has seen in hunting season, so he was really he was stoked. Yeah, and when we're looking at him he's like man. How have we not like been able to pick these guys up before? But they do look like just trees. If you don't know what you're looking for.
Speaker 1:They're not, unless I've been around them in Alberta, I mean, unless you know they're running or something. They don't move fast, so like, if you're looking from a ways away sometimes it hardly looks like they're moving, cause they're not, they're not real quick, they're just like you know, like a cow Right, say, just kind of grazing. But when they move, yeah, when they move, they can move, they're fast. When they want to move, yeah.
Speaker 2:And when they don't want to be seen, they won't be seen. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They're sneaky, sneaky guys, just as we're kind of taking the time to glass and like, pick up a trail, because they're quite high up on this ridge, and we're like, okay, is it doable? You know, do we have to cross a creek? Is the creek open? Do we take the sled a little bit further? We're kind of coming up with a plan and as we're doing this, we hear sleds behind us coming and we're like, no, and one of them was a two-stroke and and one of them was a two stroke and and the bison were here in that two stroke and we're already making their way up the Ridge and we're like five kilometers away from them at this point and I'm like, oh, no, please.
Speaker 1:You know, this is.
Speaker 2:This is just too good. Please don't ruin it.
Speaker 1:Uh, few minutes later we hear them turn around and they they just go. Oh yeah, the sleds Really.
Speaker 2:They're gone, so come to find out. At the end of the day we ran into another hunting group and they saw that group get stuck in the overflow and buggered off. Oh yeah, which is great Like where we were kind of like getting sketched out on the overflow. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They. They found the same overflow and got scared and went away. So we're like, oh, oh, okay, so that was good for us, because I was thinking like, oh, maybe we're gonna have to meet up with these guys and kind of come up with a plan, like either tell them like hey, we found them first, like take a hike, or, if you want, you can come with us and make a plan and you can hunt with us just take a shot at them from a ways way to scare them.
Speaker 1:That's kind of what they're doing with their loud sled.
Speaker 2:But here I am. I'm a kind of a four stroke jerk now. Like I had, like I had a two stroke forever but I would never go back. Man, like we. We were five kilometers away from these things and they heard the two stroke and they were already like their tails weren't up or anything, but they were making their way up over the Ridge already.
Speaker 1:Like they were going.
Speaker 2:I hate to be that guy, but like if somebody asks like, hey, can I come bison up, I'm like what kind of sled do you got?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I well, no, it's fair enough, it's true Cause if you want to see him.
Speaker 2:You're probably like there's going to be other people with two strokes and get bison. Yes, gonna hear them, they're gonna hear them, yeah yeah yeah, so you're just gonna have to come up with a different way of finding them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I haven't figured that out yet so do you guys use much, uh, four wheelers with tracks on them? Uh, there, or I've seen a couple guys- yeah, um, but never hunting.
Speaker 2:I've always seen them logging with them like oh, yeah, yeah, hauling out logs out of the bush and whatnot. Mainly a few side by sides, but yeahides, but yeah mainly the slides Cause even like where you're going on these trails like they're not marked trails.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like you're bushwhacking, you're going into deep snow, yeah. And the tracks on quads and side-by-sides they don't do as well.
Speaker 1:And you're not going as exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you're not going as fast and whatnot.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:I've never. I've never seen one hunting, but I have seen them you know up on the trap line and whatnot. I've seen that stuff. But yeah, really cool idea. I've seen them a lot on plows too, which is pretty neat. So, uh, yeah, uh, we grab our day packs and we start hiking in and, just kind of what, we thought we ran into an open Creek that we could not find a way to pass over.
Speaker 1:Um, but we did there was like with you and him on it. Oh no, you guys were walking. Yeah, that's right, cause I was going to say hit it wide open. But yeah, you guys walking I know you don't want to be all just roll up your pants and exactly, it's still cold, right um, yeah, this creek was like six feet wide yeah, and pretty deep.
Speaker 2:I was like I ain't getting wet at the beginning of the hunt. I can tell you that at the end sure not at the beginning, right now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, uh, we did find a spot to cross. It kind of frozen over a little bit and uh. So what we wanted to do was we kind of wanted to come up in behind the ridge and kind of sneak up behind them if we could. So, uh, we figured we were three, four kilometers away from them. It turns out we were just under four kilometers, so we hike in four. Um, it was 10 o'clock in the morning when we spotted them through the binos, and then it took us an hour and 45 minutes to get there on foot which is pretty good. Yeah, that is yeah.
Speaker 2:So we get up there and we don't see anything. We go right to where we had glassed and there's tracks and fresh shit everywhere and well, like I said, we knew they were there. Right it was just a matter of where they were going now, yeah, so, um, we followed their tracks right in and, uh, I had my 4570 and uh, lever Action Trapper Edition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah Cool, and my buddy had his 300 win mag and with a scope on it, and, um, we were hiking in there for quite a little while and weren't seeing anything, and it was thick brush up there.
Speaker 1:They must leave that many bison, though in the snow they must leave. Oh, it's like a highway, yeah.
Speaker 2:It was hard getting up to them. But, then, once we got to where they were, it was like, oh, this is awesome.
Speaker 2:It was like waist high, you know like a trail waist high. So it was super easy to go in after that and, uh, we just wanted to be as quiet as we could. So we got up there and we were quiet a little while and then McGinnis actually spotted them. First they were bedded down in this like little gully off the ridge and uh, so we got on our hands and knees at that point and kind of figured out what we wanted to do. We were like 300 yards from them at that point put the binos on them and we could just see a few of them.
Speaker 2:Um, and then we started crawling on our stomachs and, uh, we got up to 82 yards.
Speaker 1:That's close 82 yards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I said to McGinnisnis, I was like, uh, do you want to take the shot? I said I don't care who does. And uh, he looked through his scope and his scope got all messed up from being in the back of the skimmer oh, okay, so lesson learned there.
Speaker 1:Don't put your gun in the skimmer, I guess because yeah, was it like fogged up and stuff not really fogged up?
Speaker 2:but his crosshairs were upside down and he couldn't figure it out. And he's like man like I wouldn't even take a shot 15 feet away.
Speaker 1:So you don't know where it'd be hitting.
Speaker 2:No and I was like do you want to use my 45 70s? I was like open sight. He's like I've never shot one. He's like you have just. Uh, by by that I mean a 45 70. He's never shot before. And he's like just you're comfortable with it. You do it.
Speaker 1:And I was like, okay, so I opened sites at 82 yards with that big of an animals, with with the 45, 70, I know it's a big gun, but it's still leave your action with the round bullet. That's kind of a fair shot, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I'm comfortable with the 45, 70, no further than 150 yards, that's me.
Speaker 1:I've heard of people putting a scope on them and shoot like upwards of 250 the bullet that size and how many grains it's going to drop.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, right, yeah, I was using 400 grain yeah, I was using 400 grain and 350 grain okay, yeah yeah, and I switched every other yeah, yeah, um. So yeah, we're at 82 yards and they're all bedded down. At this point, wind was in our favor the entire time. That's another thing too, right, like they get any kind of scent of human and they're gone.
Speaker 1:That's the thing, too about hunting herds, right Is that? You're not. It's not one animal, it's the whole group. You know, whether it's elk or bison or what have you, it's yeah.
Speaker 2:And from the moment we get up there we're looking for soldiers too, because bison are like a soldier group they'll have like their main herd and then they'll have like four or five soldiers in the hills like literally roaming around keeping a lookout, really oh yeah, wow, so we're looking for that.
Speaker 2:That's pretty neat, yeah so we didn't see any of that wind was at our face the entire time. So it it couldn't have been more perfect. So we get up to them at like I think it was 1250. And I know these times because I'm in reaching my wife and my, my buddies, I'm like we're on bison, like you know, I'm looking at 30 right now and they're all like oh you know, keep me updated and all this.
Speaker 2:So, uh, yeah, it's like 1235, 1250 at this point and, uh, we're 82 yards away and I'm sitting there and we, we sat on them for quite a long while and McInnes had to console me a few times Cause I was like, all right, I'm just going to get up and I'm going to, you know, I'm going to pick one. And he's like, well, they're all bedded down right now. Like you don't want to hit one and wound another, I was like no, no, like I'll obviously wait and make sure I only get one. And then he, but he had to talk me down like a few times because, because I was like man, like you know, it's almost one o'clock, uh, it's going to be a hell of a pack out.
Speaker 2:And you know we both had to work the next day. We're in the middle of nowhere we're, you know, we're four hours from home at this point. Plus we got to clean this thing. So I was like you know time's ticking, and so we're sitting there for quite a while, and not that I was impatient, I was just being realistic.
Speaker 1:I was like.
Speaker 2:McGinnis, we got to make a move here. And he's like no, you're right, we do. And I was like what? Okay, crazy I was like, yeah, I was like I'm going to go up to the right, you stay here, I'm going to go up to the right and see if I can find one that's on its own, like you know, even 10 feet away from the group.
Speaker 1:Because I mean, you guys weren't after a trophy right, you're after some meat?
Speaker 2:No, I don't care what it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys, you're after meat, yeah exactly. Antlers horns size. We're grocery shopping Regardless. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Grocery shopping. The two that I was staring at from 82 yards away and they were looking right at me. They could see me and they could see me moving, but they couldn't smell me, so they didn't know what I was at. They were big bulls and I was like, ah, like I know you're a bull, I'd like to shoot you, but I'd probably hit three and four behind you too. Like you know, I don't want to do that. So, uh, tell McGinnis. I was like I'm going to go up and I'm going to try and get closer to the right and see if I can pick one that it's on its own. So I get 50 yards away from them.
Speaker 1:And I just looked back and again as I give them the thumbs up.
Speaker 2:I was like I found one, I'm going to pick one. And sure enough, there there was a cow and I kind of figured she was a cow, but she didn't have a calf with her, she didn't look pregnant and she was probably 10, 15 feet away from the rest of the herd, bedded down by herself, and she was asking for it. Really I was like that's the one. I'm sorry, sweetheart but, this is it. So, uh, I watched her for a little bit and I really wanted to make sure that she didn't have a calf. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I would feel horrible about that. Yeah, um, it's legal, but I would have. I would have felt horrible and anyways, cause there was a lot of calves in this herd and I just wanted to make sure that she didn't have one, and uh, so I watched her for probably 10, 15 minutes and you know she wasn't watching any of the calves. None of the calves were looking at her.
Speaker 1:So I was like, okay, she didn't seem too concerned.
Speaker 2:So I was like, okay, sweetheart, you're coming home with me tonight. So, uh, I stand up, and the rest of the herd took off and she stood up and I just put one. And she stood up and I just put one, and she staggered.
Speaker 1:And then I just put another and she dropped like a sack of potatoes oh yeah and I just looked back at mcginnis and he saw the whole thing and, man, you wouldn't believe how fast that herd took off and just disappeared and how quiet they were yeah, like, but you're lucky they didn't come at you, because I know sometimes the buff like well, like their cousins that are buffalo but bison, it can be the fight or flight. Oh, yeah, like.
Speaker 2:Sometimes they'll be like all right, that's it, you're getting it the the yukon herds have killed quite a few hunters really yeah, quite a few wow there was one death for sure since I've been there, it was 2018, yeah one guy got killed after shooting one. He thought it was dead and it wasn't and it mauled him to death. Yeah, and then the year before that the a guy I knew from the gym got mauled but he lived. But it like ripped half of his ear off, ripped his, ripped something else off his body and then actually a co-worker.
Speaker 2:An ex coworker of mine's brother lost his pinky from one Cause. His his horn got caught in his ring and ripped his pinky right off. Got mauled bad but he lived.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:And then one another guy I know, his wife got like full on, charged and hit and like flown like cartoon style, Jeez yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're dangerous yeah.
Speaker 2:But yeah they, they heard the two shots and they were gone. Yeah, Not, nobody stuck around. And you know, towards the end of the season too, I figured they hear something like that. They know what's going on, so they kind of get out of there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, and maybe towards the beginning of the season too, where they're kind of thinking of its mating season still too, they might be a little more protective too. That's just my personal thought yeah, that makes sense they took off on this one, but me and McGinnis we yeah. So we dropped her. It was a good, clean kill. We waited 30 minutes before we went up to her, just in case for stories like that.
Speaker 2:We waited 30 minutes and and we did have to put another one in her just to, just to be sure, and we did, um, yeah, so we, we had a big moment. We, you know, said thank you, cause it's a big sacrifice for the animal. You know, we don't take any of that for granted. We're really appreciative, you know. And, uh, we took every ounce of meat off that.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, like before we started, you showed me the picture of the carcass and you guys, you did. There's nothing for the wolves.
Speaker 2:Nothing left, you guys got everything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so how long did it take you to and cut it up?
Speaker 2:yeah, so, like I said, we waited the 30 minutes and then, um, uh, went up to her and, uh, that's kind of when the realization took in. We're like, oh man, we got a lot of work ahead of us. I've cleaned three bisons, so this would have been the fourth, and mcginnis has done countless moose, countless caribou, it's all kind of the same thing right, you know yeah and uh. We had her cleaned, skinned, quartered on the tarp in just over two hours. That's pretty good.
Speaker 1:We were pretty happy with that and it was a beautiful day.
Speaker 2:It was like plus I think it was like plus two or plus three sunny day, beautiful spot. Man, I'll show you a photo. We're like on the top of this ridge and like huge mountains and a lake behind us, like it was just the most beautiful butchering spot. We were able to flip her over on her back and we had like a little bit of a slant that it was super easy to work with.
Speaker 2:So all the guts just kind of fell out naturally, it was real, real good. Uh, shout out to Morkiniv, morkiniv, morkiniv. I don't know if I'm saying that right. It's a. It's either Finnish or Swedish blade. Okay, yeah, $17. Yeah For this knife at a gas station and both of us were using it and we didn't have to we didn't have to sharpen our knives one time.
Speaker 2:I've had that knife for probably eight years and I've used it on a lot of animals and there you can buy a higher end too, Like you can buy like $200 one, but any gas station in Whitehorse you can buy them for $17.
Speaker 1:Really, and they are the best.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they're just a fixed blade with a little rubber handle on them they're. They usually come in yellow, green or orange or blue, like something that really stands out.
Speaker 1:And they're in a. They're in a plastic sheath.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, they are the best. Yeah. And they didn't lose their edge once Like we. We both used one and like.
Speaker 1:I got nothing but good to say about it.
Speaker 2:So you don't need those high end knives? No, we did use a bone saw as well.
Speaker 1:But other than that, the Morkin of man, that's pretty good, I think my brother introduced me to them actually.
Speaker 2:Because I think he was using them up north and yeah, they're $17.
Speaker 1:And it works that well. Well, good, shout out. But I also love my Groman from Nova Scotia. Oh, of scotia. Oh yeah, yeah, I do, I have one of those from there as well, but I didn't use the groman on this one.
Speaker 2:I used the morcative and it was just unreal, it was great.
Speaker 1:Well, like I said, the picture you showed me, you guys, you got everything. Yeah, you know you did quite a job on that yeah.
Speaker 2:So we had a couple different ideas of how we were going to do it. Obviously we, we quartered it and uh, but it was kind of my stupid idea and I didn't think it was stupid at the time. So, anyways, we quarter it, put it on the tarps and, like I said, it was like plus two plus three, so perfect. We didn't have to worry about, you know, covering it. It's the perfect temperature. It's obviously going to stay cool. It's on top of a tarp in the snow, like we're not worried about it. Then we're like, you know, we're high five and we're like, woo, you know, did that two hours? Woo, look at us. And then we're like, oh, we've got to hike four kilometers back to the sled.
Speaker 2:And you know, maybe maybe one of us should have gone to do that while the other was butchering, I don't know. But I also kind of don't like splitting up in those kinds of situations. That's just me. Do you have to worry about wolves? I don't. I don't think you have to worry about them. I mean, there's going to be a, a wolf on it that night, for sure, but like I don't know, Like we had our guns close.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure we were thinking actually. So this was March 24th and and McGinnis said to me a couple of times he's like you know there could be a couple of grizzlies awake this time of year with how wacky our weather's been too, I was like yeah, good point.
Speaker 1:And they do see people as game. Oh yeah. And like just shot this bison too right, the gut pile and everything, so they wouldn't think anything of coming out and going at you guys to get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he planted a seed in my brain there I was like, oh yeah, you're right, and like, uh, a grizzly waking up early at that would be cranky yeah. So we kept the guns super close for that, um, but yeah, we, we got her all quartered up and then we're like, oh man, we've got a, we've got a four kilometer hike back to the sled, let's. So we did, uh, it took us a lot longer than we thought, for some reason, I don't know why, but it did. Um, so we get back.
Speaker 1:We, we carried a I see you guys, we're heading back to the sleds and, um, you know, in the back of your mind, think about the grizzlies and all that and everything. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So we, we keep in the guns tight. Um, yeah, so on our. So, on our way back to uh the sled, we we said, uh, there's no way we're going to get the sled up to the kill site, there's no way. The ridge was way too steep, uh, the woods that we walked through way too thick Creek, yeah, creek. Um, after, after dropping her and walking out, we did find a spot where we could bypass the creek, which was nice for the pack out. But if we had had a third guy on this hunt, we would have dedicated them for being like okay, you go get the sled and you figure out how to get it up here. That would have been perfect. So what we had to do is, when we were on our way back to the sled, we each carried out uh, did we do a front or a hind quarter? I think we did the front first. Four kilometers.
Speaker 2:No, just as far out as we could, to where we figured we could get the sled to. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah, and it was about a kilometer still that's heavy, yeah, yeah. And also we did the fronts first and I wish we did the rear. And also we did the fronts first and I wish we did the rear. Get it over with.
Speaker 1:You know what I?
Speaker 2:mean. So we did the fronts. The rears weighed over a hundred pounds each. The fronts were probably like 75, 80.
Speaker 1:Well, how do you?
Speaker 2:have a rough idea of how much meat you got off. Yeah, we got 375 pounds.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so what do you figure? She was live weight live weight pushing a thousand, I would say oh yes, I was gonna guess 1200.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, like being at least being conservative pushing a thousand yeah yeah, because moving her over, like flipping her over onto her back and everything like we were working, like she was heavy and that skeleton that I showed you at the end of it, like even that was very heavy, yeah, and the guts, guts were so heavy but yeah like definitely. You know, pushing a thousand, yeah, I would say probably a little more. But yeah.
Speaker 1:You find a difference in eating like the cows from the bowls or not really, I find, in my experience, the cow more tender. Okay, yeah, that's what I figured, but I wasn't sure for sure, but meat care is number one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, well, yeah, I was super happy with uh with this one. Yeah, uh, I'll get to that, um, but yeah, so we carry a front each out and it was not an easy trail going through through the alders, yeah exactly Up down, up down and deep snow, yeah, um, and heavy, and we're tired, yeah.
Speaker 2:So anyways, yeah so we, uh, it's about a kilometer that we, we ditch these quarters and then we hike out, get the sled, get a little bit of water in us, a little snack, and then we skidoo back and uh ran into a couple guys that actually saw us go in after the herd.
Speaker 2:So they they did the respectful thing and didn't follow us in there, which was nice but, uh, yeah, anyways, um, so uh get up to the kill site and, long story short, it took us nine hours to do all of the pack out.
Speaker 1:Really nine hours so are you guys? Are you in spot where it's daylight for 24?
Speaker 2:yes, but this time of year it was it was about pitch black at 10 30 at night okay, yeah, so we dropped her at 1 30. Yeah, yeah, so we had that like nine hours of daylight and you guys needed every.
Speaker 2:We took every minute like we didn't use the headlamps one time actually like we were just kind of getting ready to bring it out and then we're like, oh, like I'm firing up the sled and we're going anyways, yeah, so yeah, it took us nine hours from the minute like we dropped her to get the sled bring it back. Yeah, nine hours to get her into the skimmer, that's how long it's a lot.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's the thing people like even you know here and stuff during moose season, like there's moose can shoot it, but you know that's the easy part. Yeah, it's the afterwards getting it all out and such a big animal, you know, like it's. It's a lot of people sometimes. They underestimate it severely.
Speaker 2:So I remember, a few minutes ago, I said I had this stupid idea. So my stupid idea was um, we, we quartered her all up, dealt with the quarters and then you have this huge torso right With all of your steaks, all like that big cape, which is all good meat up in there too, and like your tenderloins, your backstrap, your rib meat, all that stuff Right, and you're thinking, like you know, with the quarters off and whatnot and the guts out. You know that torso can't weigh that much, you know? And, uh, me and my buddy and another buddy, uh, he shot a really big black bear in 2018. I shot a little tiny one and he shot a big one, and what we did was we gutted it and put a pull through the rear end, out through the neck, and carried it out that way.
Speaker 1:What do you call it? Indian style? Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 2:And it was extremely heavy.
Speaker 1:Like.
Speaker 2:I I don't want to throw a number out there, but it was a big bear and I'll show you photos and you can tell me what you think but, um, and we were able to do it. Like it was hard but we did it and we carried it for two kilometers that way. So I was like, oh my goodness you know I've done this before let's put a pole through this torso and carry it that way. And and right away he's like no, we're not going to be able to do that. I was like man, me and my buddy, cooper, we did that with a big, big bear Like.
Speaker 2:I was like there's no way that that full, intact bear, minus the guts, weighs less than this bison torso. That's, you know, picked pretty clean. And he's like, oh well, maybe, but he's like I don't think. So I was like, oh well, I'll go find a log that's big enough to, you know, take this torso load. And we kind of like before we did that like we kind of picked it up a little bit and we're like oh yeah yeah, we can do it.
Speaker 2:So we I find this log like a thick log, probably like five, six inch in diameter shove it through and go to pick her up and it snaps right in half and I was like, oh okay, well, I've got to get a bigger log, I guess. So I find a bigger one, put it through, we go to lift this thing up Like we didn't even get it an inch off the ground and you got to think like now it's like nine, 15 at night, the sun's kind of going down.
Speaker 2:We're like oh no, what are we going to do now? Like cause this is now that, like this, torso is fully intact, like if we're going to finish cleaning all of the rib meat and the steaks and whatnot.
Speaker 1:That's like another hour worth of butchering, at least Right yeah.
Speaker 2:So we're like, oh man, what are we going to do? So then McGinnis was like, okay, let's tarp it. Let's tarp it, wrap it in repelling rope and see if we can drag it out on a tarp. And I was like, oh, that might work. So we we flip it over on a tarp and like, see if we can slide it with the tarp. And again we're like, oh, yeah, yeah that's pretty.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got it. So we spend, you know, 10, 15 minutes wrapping it in a tarp, wrapping this repelling rope all over it and build two harnesses so it's around our shoulders. Go to take a step.
Speaker 1:I basically fall backwards Like I'm not moving this thing, the bones on this stuff. It's just so heavy, so heavy.
Speaker 2:So then we start to freak out a little bit, like we, we turn around and we're like heaving it like sailors and we're like moving a hundred yards in like 10 minutes and we're like, oh man, this is not good. We, we got to finish butchering this thing. Yeah, so we get the game bags out and we cleaned it up in about 45 minutes, which was pretty good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really good.
Speaker 2:And, and I showed you the skeleton like there was nothing left. We left nothing behind, so you ever see the movie 300?. Yes um, so you ever see the movie 300? Yes, you know um how the queen speaks to king leonidas, where she says come back on your shield or come back with your shield or on it. Yes, that's yeah, basically how my wife speaks to me with bison hide, like she wants the hide, so bad like she's basically like yeah, like come back with it or on it what?
Speaker 1:did she do with it? Well, the thing is I was going to ask about that if you guys kept the hide, because I didn't get it out. Oh, okay Again. So she didn't do anything so.
Speaker 2:I've never been able to get one out, except for one time.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Just because they're so heavy, yeah, dropped when it's, like you know, just a really hard area, yeah and uh. So I'm trying absolutely everything I can do to get this hideout.
Speaker 1:Uh, I tried stuffing it in my huge uh uh backpack. Not fitting at all.
Speaker 2:Uh, I tried like tarping it and dragging it out, not happening, like I tried for a long time and then I was like I can't get it out. So she was pretty upset, but but it didn't happen. Hopefully next time. Yeah. So, anyways, yeah, we, we, uh, we finished cleaning it up and we got back to the sled, basically right at like 10 o'clock at night, as the sun was going down, and, uh, we did a change of clothes cause we were soaked sweat you know wet snow and whatnot too.
Speaker 2:And uh yeah, it was an insane pack out man Like uh McGinnis carried this huge load in his backpack with like all of the meat in the game bags and then the head on top of his backpack, like anytime he had to sit down. I had to help him sit down. I had to help him up.
Speaker 1:Push him up, yeah.
Speaker 2:Man, we, we were hurting for days after this one. And yeah, like I said, the hind quarters were over a hundred pounds. Like it, it was a pack.
Speaker 1:It made the crawl in there and shot. Look like such a cakewalk. Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And even that was hard but like, nowhere near as as hard as the packout. And, like I, I told a few of my buddies the area and showed them photos of like where we went and they were like, yeah, no, I wouldn't have done that. No, not a chance. But it makes the meat take taste that much better yeah, it makes a better story, right, yeah?
Speaker 2:so, uh, yeah, we get back to the sled and then we had like three hours back to the, back to the truck. So we're back to the truck at like 2 AM, load it all up and then we get to my place. It was only like a 15 minute drive in the truck and then uh hang it all up in my shop. Uh got to bed at like three, 30 in the morning and then I had to be up for five.
Speaker 1:You never called in sick, nope.
Speaker 2:And neither did McGinnis. We both had to be up for five be at work for 6.30.
Speaker 1:I would have been tempted to use a sick day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we both really wanted to, but, oh man, that was probably the crankiest I had ever been.
Speaker 1:And you work at a prison.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I was like cranky and I was you were not putting up with the inmate shit. That day I wasn't putting up with like co-worker, which I feel bad about. But like over the radio, I was being like. I felt like people were giving me attitude over the radio and I was like you know so cranky, you're irritable and understandable for sure.
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah, I'd be like, can you repeat that with a little less attitude, please, over the rain, and then I'd apologize after, like I was just so tired, spent 12 hours getting damn bison out of the woods exactly yeah, um, but yeah, man, we hung the meat in my shop for a week and kept the shop at one to three degrees.
Speaker 2:It was perfect Like I've got a wood stove in there and whatnot, but the weather was just perfect and the shop like I, didn't have to start a wood fire or anything but like just the balance of the weather in the shop kept the perfect temperature the entire week. And.
Speaker 2:I put two fans up there, just kind of yeah, that's the thing. I keep the air, keep the airflow and and it barked over perfect, and the meat was like purple. Like it was just it was beautiful, like even dropping it off at the butcher the guy that that does it for us he was like, wow, these look awesome and we're super happy with it. But yeah, we got 375 pounds of meat back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah so we split that 50, 50 and she and uh, yeah, so uh, the skull I got done today. I don't know if I sent you a photo of the skull.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2:I'll have to show you a photo, but uh, she had a really good curl horn on one side, and then the other one was broken right in half. Oh yeah, and I was reading in the regulations that cows will lose one horn if they're over seven years old, so she was most likely over seven years old, lose it yeah, it'll break off at seven years old if they're older than seven, chances are they'll just one of their horns will break off, really Probably from pawing or messing around Like they lose their integrity and their bone structure.
Speaker 2:I would think that is what that would mean. Yeah, but yeah it's interesting, so we figured if she was an old girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:She tastes divine man. Yeah. Like it's. We've been eating bison pretty much every day that's uh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's pretty cool. So I mean, did you guys say okay? So for next year, this is what we're going to do. We're going to bring different gear to get the mode, or anything like that. Did you guys come up with the different game plan for next year?
Speaker 2:yeah, definitely, uh, having the one sled wasn't ideal.
Speaker 1:Right, you knew that going into it. We knew that going in, yeah.
Speaker 2:But it was doable. We want to hunt somewhat of the same area. We kind of have an area picked out but we have an idea for hiking out the quarters. If we do kind of hunt in the same area that you can't get the sleds close to the kill site Crazy carpets Okay, putting the quarter site crazy carpets, Okay. Putting the quarter on a crazy carpet.
Speaker 1:And tying up the front around it. Exactly, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then harnessing it to you.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:We figured that would work pretty good, and we've heard of people doing that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. What about, like I mean, you see, like those big game sleds, this somewhere's new brunt that makes him and stuff's kind of a version of that.
Speaker 2:yeah, work too, depending something that you can pack inside your skimmer, that's yeah, that's right. Yeah, much room, yeah I do have like a pole behind skimmer that I use at home for carrying firewood just from the woodshed to the house, and maybe even something like that the crazy caribou.
Speaker 1:It's good, they pack right yeah.
Speaker 2:So we're thinking that A tough one, not like the dollar store special, but yeah, yeah. Yeah Something like that.
Speaker 1:That's a good idea, yeah.
Speaker 2:Because, carrying those quarters out, man like my shoulders and my knees were just shot for days, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:What other gear were you guys thinking Like, oh, we've got to bring this next year, do?
Speaker 2:you have a plan on getting the hide? That was the biggest one, and then, yeah, the hide maybe just comes down to if we're ever lucky enough to shoot one in a better area. Because you know some people shoot them right on the edge of a lake and they can drive their skidoo right up to it and pop them in. And I've been fortunate enough to be on one of those hunts where it's like, oh sweet, awesome spot, Throw it in the sled and let's go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but that was not the case. Have you heard of the bison going through the lake, falling through, breaking through?
Speaker 2:the ice. Yeah, yes, one of my buddies was on a fishing trip and they were fishing on the Ajak River and they found like two or three carcasses in the river Because you think about if there's ice, you know, and the bison are going across.
Speaker 1:but you get a herd of 50 or 60, that's a lot of weight and you think it would break.
Speaker 2:Definitely yeah, so I'm assuming that's what happened to these two or three carcasses he had seen in the river. Yeah, they probably fell through.
Speaker 1:I was kind of curious about that. Yeah, yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:That. So you guys had a good, you had a good season yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a. It was a good hunting season, because we've had a lot of bad hunting seasons, so it was nice to nice to have a good one. The animals are. They're definitely earned.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely, but it was, it was a hunt I'll never forget and I'm just so happy that I had someone like McGinnis't want someone like, oh it's screwed now.
Speaker 1:You want someone very optimistic, I guess you could say on hunts like that, definitely In general, but especially stuff like that, someone that doesn't get down easy, because they make it so much harder.
Speaker 2:Or panic, or panic, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, that sounds like you guys definitely have a lot of fun out there Hard work, but it's fun. Oh yeah, that's a. Sounds like you guys definitely have a lot of fun out there Hard, hard work, but it's fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah, we have a blast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, uh, that's good. Well, Caleb, thanks for coming on. I know you got more stories and you will. Uh, you'll be back on again.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Thanks for having me.