The 2003 season for my Guiding began much like other years, with mild temperatures and a skiff of snow on the ground. One of my hunters that I was again slated to Guide for that hunt was Greg Walker from Pennsylvania, and he had again booked with AWGS for his customary 12-day hunt.
Whether it’s South Texas, Iowa, Old Mexico, or the beautiful country north of Smoky Lake, Alberta, Canada, packing always sparks excitement for any of my big hunting trips. Everything from several layers of clothing worn for my 10 hours a day on stand, to my all-important grunt tube, is very necessary.
I’d like to have a dollar for every time I heard a Whitetail hunter say, “I can’t wait until gun season opens, so I can even the score with that big buck that gave me the slip in bow season”.
This magazine, “Big Buck”, actually played a key roll in getting my friend – Mike Bablitch, and myself to merely stop talking about a hunt to the Canadian Provinces. It was time to sit down, get serious, and look at booking such a hunt.
Ahh! This was too good to be true. I had just settled into what looked to be the perfect deer stand. From my perch on the ridgeline, I could see 450 yards of snowy Alberta countryside to my left, while to my right stretched a 250-yard trail through an aspen woods.
In the atrium of the Nisku Inn, I sat relaxing in the open-air Jacuzzi, watching the hunters empty out of their rooms all around me. They reminded me of ants emerging from their holes, carrying loads much larger than themselves. Gun cases, duffel bags and more duffel bags. And on each face was a look of eager anticipation.
I’d seen ads in Buckmasters Magazine for Alberta Wilderness Guide Service and decided to give them a call. After a few conversations with Terry Birkholz and Dave Bzawy, I found myself booked for the last week of November 1990.
With the unknowing, the buck fight taking shape in the poplar thicket sounded like a dandy. Large branches snapped like so much dried kindling as the two “combatants” attempted to intimidate each other. Occasionally, the heavy footfalls of two posturing bucks could be heard. No doubt the sounds were carrying a great distance in the early morning calm.