“Be prepared for sub-zero weather, as hopefully that’s what we’ll have while you’re here. Deer here tend to move more during cold weather and big Alberta bucks like it when it is really cold!” stated Ron Nemetchek. “You know that from our past hunts, but it has been a while since you hunted with us and I know how you Texans are about remembering things.”
“Easy now… OK, I’ll bring layers, plus pac-boots from Kenetrek that are a size too big, so I’ll have room to easily wiggle my toes. Then too, I’ll bring my Heater-Body suit, which I’ve used several times in really cold weather,” I replied. Then as an after-thought added. “I thought you said you had heated stands?”
“We do, but we might find a place where there’s lots of deer activity, where we do not have a stand set up. We usually can move in a stand quickly if that happens, but just in case it’s good to be prepared for the cold.” Ron commented. “We’ve come a long way since when you used to hunt with us years ago.”
“Yeah, I remember those early years, sitting and standing on lock-on tree stands. Our guide would drop us off an hour before first light and pick us up an hour after legal shooting light. It made for some really long, cold days.” I continued, “Too, remember apples froze into inedible rocks, same with candy bars… And then there was that time we all hunted that reservation, where the required local guides frequently forgot to pick us up at night for several hours. Plus, I remember hunting the reservation’s golf course — the only place for miles and miles that wasn’t hip deep in snow. It was one of the very few times I have ever stepped on a golf course…”
“You would have to remember and bring up that place. Things were not quite as they were represented to us, were they? Trying times! I recall your advice to me after those hunts, “Get the heck out of there!” and that’s what I did as soon as I could and learned a lot! It’s one of the reasons we now have heaters in all our blinds, along with matches and we always check the propane level when we drop hunters off and replace a tank if it is low.”
Even though I knew I would be comfortable in the heated blind without wearing several layers of heavy, thick coats, I also knew we would likely do some spot and stalking. Ron had several properties where we would drive to a point and glass from there. If we spotted a monster buck, then we would determine a route to get as close as possible. That meant being prepared for the cold and wind, and back to wearing heavy coats. I told Ron I would also spray down my hunting clothes, gloves and felt hat with TRHP’s Scent Guardian, that way I would not really have to be concerned about the wind, particularly if it changed during the day, for I planned on hunting all day long, knowing even in Alberta big, mature bucks often move during mid-day.
With that thought in mind, I headed to the rifle range about twenty-five miles from my Texas home. My choice in firearms on the upcoming hunt was a Ruger M77 FTW/SAAM Hunter in 6.5 Creedmoor, topped with a Trijicon AccuPoint, and shooting Hornady’s 143-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter.
Even though it was only about 70 degrees, I put on a heavy shirt, a thick vest, then the heaviest cold weather parka I have to duplicate the clothing I would likely be wearing hunting in Alberta’s cold weather. I raised rifle to shoulder the way I would be doing if shooting from either a blind or shooting sticks and peered through the Trijicon scope, which has a generous eye relief. I had initially positioned the scope on the Ruger so I could see a full field of view through it when raised to my shoulder, while wearing either a light jacket or simply a vest, typical of what I would be wearing while hunting in Texas.
What I saw through the scope was what I expected, with the added layers of clothing I could not immediately see the full value of the scope’s field of view. I had to really push forward with my head beyond my normal shooting position.
Moments later I loosened the screws on the rings, holding the scope in place and moved the scope backwards a little over a half inch, and again brought rifle to my heavily-covered shoulder. Perfect! I tightened the scope ring screws and quickly bore-sighted the rifle, then loaded three Precision Hunter rounds. The first shot at 100 yards was an inch higher than where I previously had it sighted-in, dead on at 100 yards. My second shot cut the first hole. I made an adjustment of four clicks down, waited for the barrel to cool, then shot my third shot, which was dead-on at a hundred. Three more rounds after the barrel cooled made a slightly bigger hole.
Before leaving the range, I made certain my bolt and trigger assembly were completely free of any grease or oil. The last thing I wanted was for the extreme cold to freeze any grease or oil, or possibly slow the forward movement of the firing pin.
A week later I arrived in Ron and Maria’s North River Outfitting whitetail camp a few miles from Athabasca, Alberta, just in time to check the zero on my Ruger/ Trijicon/ Hornady combo, which was still dead-on!
During the following five days I passed up many nice bucks, including seeing more young bucks than I had ever before seen on any whitetail hunt. As my hunt was coming to an end, at almost straight up 12 noon, an ancient eight-point buck stepped out of the river bottom into the field I hunted. Then just as quickly, he turned to walk away giving me a quartering shot. There was little time to make any adjustments and I was really glad I had moved the scope back before leaving home! I pulled the trigger as he was about to disappear. A loud “whop” followed my 225-yard shot.
A couple of minutes later I picked up a heavy blood trail, followed it through knee-deep snow for less than 50 yards to where he lay. The proper cold weather preparation had made all the difference and I could not have been happier!
