Saskatchewan Trophy Whitetail Hunt with Bobby
Where are you from and how long have you been a hunter?
I’m from Melbourne, Florida, born in Georgia, but raised in Florida. I’ve been hunting big game probably 50 years. I’ve been hunting, I’ve mainly been a Whitetail hunter all my life. So I’ve been hunting Whitetail probably for 50 years.
How important is hunting to your lifestyle?
I’ve hunted on WMAs, which would be your wildlife management ares they have in Florida, and then I’ve hunted on private land. Back in my day when I was a young man, I did a lot of sweat equity. I do a lot of ranch work, work on tractors and different stuff and in fence work. That in turn instead of money, I’d get a chance to go hunt there on these private ranches, which was very beneficial is you know the game you could kill on a private ranch versus on public land, you know. I’d always, that was my goal. I didn’t have I didn’t have the money to join the ranch leases. So, I’d always work my way in by doing something else, you know what I mean? Because my goal was, I love to hunt, you know? So, I would do, I was one of the type of people, I do all kinds of stuff just to be able to get out there, you know?
Why come to Saskatchewan to hunt Whitetails?
Well, number one, the biggest Whitetails there are, are up here. Land of the giants is where we’re at. That’s what you come here for. Looking for that, for the biggest Whitetails to me there are is up here in northern Saskatchewan compared to a Florida Deer. I mean, don’t take me wrong, you still get that same that same charge of energy from shooting a Florida Deer versus a Saskatchewan Deer if you’re a Deer hunter. You know, that passion’s there always. But, bigger is better. You know what I mean? That’s the way most people think. And I mean, I want to come up here to experience that, shoot these big giant Deer. And then, of course, me being from the south to get up here in this winter wonderland of hunting, like I tell my friends down there, they say, “How can you take the cold?” I’m like, “Once you go up there number one, you’re prepared for it.” I said, “Well, once you go, you get hooked on it instantly.” I said, “You’re in, you know, it’s like a bucket list hunt to come here in northern Saskatchewan.”
Why did you choose Chaparral Hunting Adventures?
Well, I’ll be honest with you. What made me choose Chaparral is me and my cousin were hunting up some different places. And my cousin which I hunt with all the time up here, he’s hunted up here since 1996 in Saskatchewan. We had looked it up and what I’ll be honest with you, what intrigued us because I wouldn’t say we call ourselves trophy hunters, but we were after a real big buck. So, we seen the thing with Chaparral. I didn’t see it at first. He approached me with it and looked it up and seen where they had set the bar here at 150 and above and we’re like, man, that sounds like it’s got our name on it. Then, of course, we looked at everything with the five star lodge and the five star food and all that. We’re like, how could we go wrong? You know, I’m 65, he’s almost 68. We’re like, we need to treat ourselves somewhere where they’re going to feed us and take care of us with lodging and all because we’ve been to places where it was a lot rougher, you know, rough. But, we decided at our age, now we want to come to somewhere where it’s first class, you know what I mean? And that’s that’s how we picked it. You know what I mean?
What were your impressions upon arrival at camp?
Oh my god! When we got here and I seen everything, I just couldn’t believe it. You know what I mean? Like I like I told Greg and I’m in there kidding around one night. I said, you know, I said, “If Chaparral, if that don’t, you know, I said, if that don’t light your fire, your woods wet when you come here, okay, there’s something wrong with you.” You know what I’m saying? If you can’t look around here and come out of here with a grin on your face, there’s something wrong with you because I mean it’s here and just, you know, open your eyes and look around at what you got and you’ve been other places, there’s no comparison.
Did you pass on other deer before taking your trophy Whitetail?
I shot my buck on the third day. I really didn’t pass on any bucks, but I’d seen some smaller bucks and I’d seen a couple of eight-pointers. There was an eight that Greg said, you know, he’d like to maybe harvest if you felt like harvesting that one. And I had no problem with that, but I said, “Well, it was only the second day.” And we were talking about that. And I said, “Well, I’m gonna have to wait a little bit.” So, I end up seeing something bigger, which I showed you the pictures of in of what I had shot the third day. I was, you know, and I mean, I’ll be honest with you. If you’re going to, you know, to get the bigger bucks, sometimes you have to wait till the very last minute of the last day. You know what I mean? I was happy with what I shot. You know what I mean?
How did you know this was your shooter Whitetail?
I don’t know. You’ve been up here and you looked at him and here’s what I say, you know? I mean, he was within what Greg said I could shoot. And you know, sometimes for me myself, I’m as happy maybe with a 155 inch deer as I would be with 185. Don’t take me wrong. I’d love to always kill a giant, but it’s for me it’s it’s not about killing. It’s about hunting. You know what I mean? It all adds up to that one great thing.
Where you expecting to see this Whitetail?
No, I had no idea. Like I said, I had sat there all day and I had seen nothing but some small deer, spikes, four pointers, pile of those. And then I was actually texting my cousin on the stand he was on and we were talking back and forth and all of a sudden he stepped out and I said, “Whoa, let me go.” I said, “A hammer just walked out, you know.” I said, “I’m gonna get this stud.” I said, “I’m, you know, I was ready, you know.” So I was excited and like I said, I’m 65 and I get just as excited, let’s say, up in Florida or Georgia for a small Deer as I would a trophy Deer. I mean, I still get that shaking and happiness. You know what I mean? That feeling you get. That’s what makes you hunt. If all you’re interested in is meat, you go to the grocery store and get that.
Did the extensive use of trail cams help you know the potential?
Oh my gosh! He sent us his Dropbox. I was wearing it out every day looking at it. See if he added to it. Added to it. You know what I mean? I was I was hitting that, I wore my phone out, the buttons on it, checking the Dropbox, you know, because I mean I enjoy hunting that much and I enjoy looking at the pictures, hearing the stories, you know. Like I said, to me, it’s all part of, it all comes together in one one big picture there, you know. I mean, I love it all. There’s nothing about hunting that I don’t like, you know. I mean, I love every part of it. The good days, the bad days, everything. It’s all the same, you know, to me. I love it all.
How well did you do scoring on the hoof compared
to the measurement party?
Well, you know what? I’ll be honest with you. I might have been a little bit off. Like I said, I’m more than happy, but I maybe could have waited a bit. I’m not going to say I couldn’t have. You know what I mean? But I’m happy. It’s called hunting, not killing. I mean, I could have maybe not seen anything else. You know what I mean?
Did the guides treat you well?
They fix you right up. I mean, they won’t let you do anything. I ain’t kidding. When I got up there, I’m talking right down to your backpack, your gun, carry it in there, set your chair up, get your gun out for you, and hand it to you, you know, in my blind. Now, I don’t know if they do that for everyone, but that’s what they did for me, you know, and like I say, God bless them, you know. I mean, how could you ask for anything any better than that, you know? Somebody treats you like that at a hunt. I’ve never been treated that well at a hunt. I mean, I’ve had them carry my stuff and do stuff like that, but get in there and get your chair ready. You have to get in the chair, take your gun out, take your scope cover off, put it back in your case when you’re done. I mean gosh almighty. I mean I’ve never been treated like that, you know. Made me feel special.
Did anything surprise you on this hunt?
That you get such, when you see them deer up here, and they’re so big you know what I mean. I had been looking at smaller deer all morning long, all day long, and when that big brewster stepped out you’re like, oh my gosh, you know what I mean
Anything unexpected happen?
One thing I will say about up here, if you show up here and you don’t have the cold the gear for the super cold weather, I’ve never been anywhere like here, they make sure, they’ve got extra stuff. They’ve got heater bodysuits, boot blankets, and all that. And they’re gonna make sure you go out there and stay warm and get the best experience you can. Where I’ve been, other places, if you didn’t bring it, you suffered. You know what I’m saying? If you didn’t, or you had another guy there that might have shot out and you could have borrowed from another hunter. But here, no. They got everything here to make your hunt comfortable and the best it could be. Now, they’re big on making sure you’re comfortable. So, they bring out foam pads and lay under your feet, keep you a barrier from the snow because I was hunting in the ground blind to keep your feet help give you that extra. Now, all that kind of stuff, you know what I mean? Down to the part where Steve even put a pad behind my back. You know what I mean? I get in the chair. “Ah, you know, you’re not sitting up enough, Bobby. Let me go back to the to the machine.” You know, the the Polaris there or the Can Am side-by-side and get me a pad put behind my back and stuff like that was surprising. I’m like, you know, I’ve sat in places where you went in there and the chair was froze to the floor, you know, and the seat had screws sticking up out of it. I mean, here is just, you know, the accommodations, trying to help you for the hunt, the food, the lodging, the pickup in Saskatoon. It’s just uh like I said, I don’t know how you could get it any better as far as that goes. You know what I mean?
How were the facilities?
I like this shack, it’s not a shack though. The dressing room is separate over there where you hang all your gear and all. And it’s real big where all the hunters can get in there in the morning and get dressed. When you’re up there hunting, you don’t want to break a sweat trying to get dressed in the morning and go out in this cold weather. And the big area there to get dressed and hang all your gear in and all that is just, that’s bar none when you’re hunting up here. It makes a big difference because you definitely don’t want to get sweaty and you got room in there to move around with all this bulky gear on getting ready. I thought that was impressive. You know what I mean?
What were the top 3 things this hunting trip?
Well, number one, how good they treat you, the facility and the food and all that. That was number one. Number two, the the guys I met. You couldn’t meet a nicer bunch of guys. You know, you meet guys from all over the country. You know what I mean? They were, that was super nice, you know, I mean that was, I mean that’s a plus when you go somewhere that everybody gets along, you know what I mean? And then of course third is the the Deer itself. That’s what you’re here for. So I mean the Deer hunting itself was just fabulous.