Webster’s definition of accomplishment: Something done, achieved or accomplished successfully. My definition: Surviving the harshest, most brutal conditions that Mother Nature can throw at you in one of the toughest places in the country to harvest a big whitetail, “The Edmonton Bow Zone”. Finally after 7 trips to “the zone”… after losing the biggest buck I have ever laid my eyes on and multiple trips hunting in some of the coldest weather I’ve ever dealt with where temperatures reached thirty below zero, I finally tagged a bruiser!
I’ve been very fortunate to harvest some giant whitetails in my life, some much bigger than my first buck from the bow zone, but I’m not so sure that any of them gave me more of a sense of accomplishment than this one did! There’s not many places that I have hunted whitetails if any, that will not only put every piece of your gear to the test, but also test you both your mental and physical toughness. Until you’ve climbed a tree when it’s minus thirty out and endured the bitter cold of the Alberta landscape, you just have no idea. This is more than a hunt, it’s a combination of hunting and survival.
Having been there before I knew what to expect and with the coldest week of the year predicted for my trip I knew my mind had to be better prepared than my gear. On a recent trip a few years ago, the temperatures went from zero on the first day to minus thirty by the 3rd morning and stayed that cold all week, and I never missed a morning or evening sit for 8 days. With those kind of conditions, you better know how to stay warm! I’m not sure I could have done it without my Ravenwear clothing and I would highly reccommend investing in a suit if you ever make a trip to The Zone. Start off with layers of Under Armor 4.0 and wool underneath, along with pac boots, neck gaiters, wool hats and gloves and plenty of hand warmers and you should be good to go, if you can still move with everything on. I felt like the little kid from the movie “Christmas Story” everytime I left the cabin!
I have never hunted anywhere that is as quiet as the bow zone either. I’m not sure what it is about this area but it is Dead Quiet! Every little sound also seems to be amplified at these extreme temperatures and you can’t get away with anything that makes any noise whatsoever, the slightest sounds seem to travel endlessly and you don’t dare make a peep with a deer in bow range or its all over! I have had to literally draw my bow every 20 minutes to keep it from freezing up and popping when I drew, the brutally cold effects everything. This is no place for cheap, noisy gear and I wouldn’t even try hunting out of anything but a Lone Wolf treestand in these extreme conditions.
230″ Giant I hit in “The Bow Zone” – Biggest deer I have ever seen in the wild!
The Bow Zone isn’t the place to go if your wanting to see alot of deer either, numbers are low and you may only see a couple mature animals in a week of hunting, but it just might be the biggest buck you’ve ever seen in your life! That’s what happened to me a decade ago, on the second morning of my first hunt there, when I had a 230” non typical giant within bow range of me for over 5 hours! Needless to say I have been hooked ever since even though I didn’t make a lethal shot on the biggest buck I have ever laid eyes on! Six trips later without filling a tag and countless, sleepless nights thinking about what could have been, I guess you could say I have had a score to settle with the zone!
What a spread on that monster buck!