Hunt Camp Cook - From The Stand

All I can say is I had a blast!!!!!

It took 3 days to get to hunt camp from my home town in North Carolina. Our destination was Yukon Stone Outfitter’s Stewart Camp, 11 miles South of Faro, Yukon. Once we finally made it to camp the weather started out cool and then turned down right cold and ugly. Our second day in camp the temperature was 4 degrees and up in the mountains it was below zero with the wind blowing.

The trip went as follows:

Day 1 – Flight from Raleigh, NC to Vancouver, BC
Day 2 – Flight from Vancouver to Whitehorse
Day 3 – Flight from Whitehorse to spike camp. We flew in a Cesna 206. It was foggy most of the way and we had to turn around and backtrack twice before we made it to camp.
Day 4 – First Day of the Hunt! Horses were sadled and we left camp at 7:30 a.m. It snowed heavy most of the day. We stayed out 12 hours, built a fire during the heaviest part of the snow storm to warm up and dry out our gloves. No animals spotted. We got back to camp at 8:25 p.m.
Day 5 – We went and glassed a new area. Saw a few cows early. At 4:00 we saw a big bull, close to 60″, and made a stalk. We came within 193 yards. He walked off with his cows and paid us no attention. The weather was very cold today, it was 4 degrees in the valley at camp. The temperature up high where we were hunting was 10-15 degrees colder!
Day 6 – We made the 3 hour ride back to where we saw the big bull. When we left camp it was once again 4 degrees. Once we got to the mountain we started glassing and spotted the bull and hour later. We had to ride the horses a couple of miles to get into position for a stalk. Once we got to where we thought he was, there was no sign of him. We hiked up high on a bluff and saw the bull had pushed his cows nearly a mile down the valley below! Boy can them things cover some ground fast!
Day 7 – It snowed all night. We had 3″ of snow in camp and over a foot in the higher elevations. We rode the horses up to sheep country to see if we could see any action. No tracks anywhere. There was lots of snow on the mountain and the wildlife was laying tight. We stayed out until 5:30 and came to camp early!
Day 8 – We woke up and we were having a blizzard. Michele said we would wait until it quit snowing before we went out since it was snowing so hard and we would not be able to see anything. We ended up staying in camp all day. It did not quit snowing until well after dark.
Day 9 – We woke up to lots of snow in camp. Everyone else in camp has tagged ( rifle hunters) out so Michele is the only one hunting. Skylar, another guide, came along with us since his hunter was tagged out. It snowed all day. We saw a one horned bull and tried a stalk. He was not interested and pushed his cows up high in the mountains. The fog got so thick at 6:30 the we could not see 30 yards so we sadled up the horses and made the 2 hour ride back to camp.
Day 10 – We woke up to heavy fog. Michele decided to wait and leave camp once the fog lifted. We helped Glenda make some meals and wash the dishes and then eveyone caught up on month old gossip from some magazines that were in camp. We left camp at 12:00 and rode an hour outside of camp and spotted a bull. We started a stalk and then DISASTER! My camera quits working. Due to all the snow, the camera had condensation and it has to dry out before it will work again. We head back to camp at 5:00.
Day 11 – We leave camp very early. We get to our glassing spot and Michele spots 2 bulls with 2 cows high on top of a mountain. We ride the horses towards the bulls and then get off to make our stalk. We get to within 147 yards, but can’t get any closer. The bulls are working there way to the valley and there is no way we can keep up with them with all the snow on the ground. We start glassing again and Michele spots a single bull up above the tree line running back and forth acting crazy. We decide to go after him. It takes us a little over an hour to get close. As we are closing in, he sees the horses and comes running towards us. We have to jump off the horses and get ready in a hurry. We set up behind some fir trees and get ready. Byron, our guide calls him in. We are set up for him to come straight in on us and he dips down into the valley. I hear Michele say. “To the left!” I look up to see the moose just standing 25 yards away behind some fir trees. With the trees in the way and tall willow bushes Michele has no shot. The bull finally whirls and runs straight away. We glassed the rest of the afternoon and see nothing. We get back to camp at 8:10.
Day 12 – Day of Success! Another bone chilling morning. 12 degrees this time with the wind blowing hard. We go back to our hill and glass for moose. We spot one and once again make a stalk. We do some calling and NOTHING! We go glass again and spot a bull and a cow across the lake. Once again we make our move and once again the bull is not interested!!!!! I tell the guide he just isn’t sounding Sexy enough for the boys! We start glassing again and this time I spot a bull high on the mountain. It’s 3:30 and it will take about an hour to ride the horses to him! We ride to where we thought we saw the bull and our guide, Byron, spots a cow. We get off the horses and Michele and I start sneaking in even if it’s hard to sneak in 12″ of snow. We get to within 30 yards of the cow and then Michele spots another cow. We sit and watch them. After about 10 minutes I look up and see a set of antlers coming over the horizon. I tell Michele, “Bull, Bull, Bull!” She looks up to see the bull coming over the top of the hill. When the cow sees the bull she starts making her sweet mating call and they start towards us. We lose them behinds some fir trees and make a move in our position. They are getting closer. The cow comes out at 30 yards and stands in an opening while the bull is rubbing his chin across her rump. The cow starts moving and the bull moves into the opening. The guide grunts to stop the bull and Michele lets the arrow fly. Just as she releases the arrow, the bull takes a step. The arrow hits the bull behind his last rib and he runs 50 yards and lays down. We talk about the shot and decide it’s best to back out and come back in the morning.
Day 13 – Michele had a restless night. We loaded up the pack horses and Glenda came with us to recover the bull. Once we got to the bull Michele was estatic. This moose hunt was a very special hunt for her because a moose was the first animal ever taken by a Muzzy Broadhead and her dad loved to hunt them! We took pictures and then the real work began. We started skinning the moose and then packed it onto 4 horses. Total time to skin and pack, approximately 2 hours.
Day 14 – Our moose is down and we still have a Stone Sheep, Caribou, and Grizzley tag. We left camp and rode 2 hours down stream to look for stone sheep! We glass all day and can’t find the sheep. We get back to camp @ 6:00.
Day 15 – We head out to look for caribou. We look all day and finally at 4:00 we spot a bull and 2 cows. We do a stalk, but can only get to within 225 yards because they are in a clearing up high on the mountain. We get back to camp @ 8:00.
Day 16 – Guess what???? It’s snowing heavily again. Michele decides not to go out hunting and boy was it a great decision. It snowed heavily all day long and into the night. I hope it quits hunting because tomorrow is when we are supposed to fly out of camp.
Day 17 – We awake to low clouds, but thank God it was not snowing. They tell us to get our gear ready, but that we would not be able to fly back to Whitehorse. The hunters coming into camp were driving to Faro (11 miles away) and we would be flown there and drive the trucks back to Whitehorse. We start flying out of camp @ 9:30. At 2:00 the last hunter comes out of camp and we load up the trucks and start the drive to Whitehorse. We get to Whitehorse @ 6:30. The first order of business is to call my wife and let her know that I’m still ALIVE!!!!! While I’m on the payphone in the hotel I hear someone say, ” I recognize that voice.” Around the coner comes Jim Benton and Chris Douglas. Chris is a fellow videographer and the guy that got me into filming hunts on a national basis. He is like a brother to me now. They had also been in the Yukon hunting. We went out to supper and I got to see photos of Jim’s Boone & Crockett Grizzley he shot. It was great to get back to civiliztions and share stories with friends and to finally take a BATH!!!!!!!
Day 18 – I wake up @ 4:00 a.m. and I can’t sleep with anticipation of going home. We get to the airport in Whitehorse @ 6:30 a.m. I fly from Whitehorse to Vancouver, Vancouver to Minneapolis and Minneapolis to Raleigh. It takes me 45 minutes to get my luggage and then after paying $108 in parking fees I head home. 2 hours later I arrive in my driveway. It is now 1:36 a.m. I’ve been traveling about 19 hours when I finally get to my house!

It was a great trip and it seems to be my season for getting harvests on film! I hope it keeps up.

Kenneth Chesson

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