"Saskatchewan Giants"
Well here we are again just getting home from Saskatchewan, Canada where I just shot the biggest buck of my life! Okay guys and gals, you want to hunt in Canada but don’t know where to go, three words BAITMASTERS Hunting Camp!
I not only bagged the biggest buck of my life, but on this trip Pat had just as good of luck! We had two giants in the airplane on the way home! On October 14th we met cameraman Mike Law at the airport where we jumped on a plane to Edmonton, Canada having no idea what we were in for! Arriving in Edmonton, we met my cameraman Doug Klunder who resides in the sunny state of Florida to pack up the truck and drive 4 ½ hours to meet Brian and Sylvia Hoffart. Arriving at camp, Sylvia had a delicious home cooked meal sitting on the table waiting for us!
The next morning, we were up early and on stand where we sat all day! Doug and I saw quite a few nice bucks in shooting range but just not the Canadian buck I had come to BaitMaster’s for. The second morning, which was my brother Jared’s birthday, Brian and guide Dennis decided to put cameraman Doug and I in a different spot where they had spotted a giant 10 pointer crossing the road. We sat all day long where we had a lot of fun together on stand joking and enjoying our time in the woods and we had quite a few nice bucks in on us but it wasn’t until ½ hour before dark and it seemed like someone flipped a switch and they were coming out of the wood work!/p>
We had 5 nice bucks in front of us milling around when I spotted him! Who’s him, well that would be Mr. GRAND DADDY himself or as I referred to him that night as the ROCKSTAR and the BIRTHDAY BUCK!! I spotted the deer in front of him which was a 140” 8-pointer that I was going to shoot until I saw something moving behind him and HOLY COW is all I could say! I picked up my Nikon’s and took a quick look and had to put them down and rub my eyes because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! A beautiful dark horned 10 pointer was closing the distance! Two of the bucks that were in front of us had gotten into a fight so one of them ran off in the direction of MY buck so instead of following the 140” 8 in he turned and walked directly to our right chasing the other buck off! He milled around it seemed like forever until he finally started making his way in! I had my Mathews bow up and ready and then all of a sudden he took a 90-degree turn and walked directly away from us!
All I could think was “he’s not going to come in and offer me a shot!” He walked about 50 yards through some thick brush and was thrashing around making a scrape and rub. We began loosing camera light because of the lush, dense forest we were hunting in, but about that time, he turned around and in he walked! He came in offering me a 24-yard shot! I hit him in the boiler room and I knew it!! He ran off and not even 30 seconds later we heard him crash! Let me tell you, that’s when I bent over in my stand and just about had a heart attack! I knew that I had just shot the biggest buck of my life and better yet he was laying just 60 yards away! As soon as he crashed I got on the radio to try and contact Pat who was hunting a mile away from us. I couldn’t reach him! I then picked up my phone and called my dad and at this point I was between crying and not being able to breath! The feeling of this hunt was absolutely indescribable! When Brian showed up he had to literally hold on to me as I was coming down the tree because I was missing every other step! I just wanted to get down and get my hands on that monster! We followed his blood trail to him and there he was!! My 182” typical 10 pointer lying there on the ground! We left him there and drove out to the road where we knew Pat and Mike would be coming through! When they got there I told them that I had shot a nice 10 pointer in the 140’s and they were so excited! But I guess it wasn’t until we actually got to the deer that there mouth’s just dropped because they couldn’t believe their eyes! Okay so I had a little fun with them, add about 40” and now were talking, but it was fun to see their faces!
Pat’s day was pretty productive too as they had deer all over them! Pat was not filming for our show but for Whitetail Revolution’s Show on Versus Network and their rules were he had to hunt off the ground! Now for many of you, you know that hunting whitetails off the ground with a bow can be a challenge! The following day, Pat saw a lot of nice bucks but there was only one that would do the job. He ended up harvesting a beautiful dark horned 157” 10 pointer off the ground, with his bow! Now that’s a trophy! The buck came in and gave him a 25 yard shot! He only ran 70 yards and down he went! Great job Patrick!! Another giant buck on the ground! We were tagged out and heading back home to Minnesota with two Canadian Giants on the airplane!
Stay Driven,
Pat & Nicole