Chris Carlson 2024 Saskatchewan Whitetail Hunting
Talking with Chris Carlson of Big Lake Minnesota about his experiences during his 2024 Saskatchewan Whitetail hunting trip with Chaparral Hunting Adventures.
So I’m from Big Lake Minnesota and I’ve been hunting big game my whole life so basically 50 years and I just love it more every day.
Well whitetails are big back in Minnesota where I’m from. That’s by far the most popular big game so um you know, like a lot of kids back in Minnesota, when you start out big game hunting your first opportunity is deer hunting, so that’s been the trophy I’ve been after my whole life and it I think it remains my number one choice, I love chasing whitetails.
I hunt all over North America. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve hunted moose, I just got back from a moose hunt in Alaska, Caribou, Elk, Whitetail and Mule deer and I’ve been able to travel as far as New Zealand and done some great hunting there so I feel very fortunate.
Back home, you know I think it depends where you’re at. I might be a little unusual in that I go to great lengths to to manage my property. I’m fortunate enough to have some pretty good hunting land in Minnesota. By and large hunting whitetails in Minnesota does not compare in any way to what we have here. I have some land that I work very hard to manage and we have some pretty good hunting. I think you know people come here because this is known as some of the best whitetail hunting in the world. Certainly in North America. The size of the deer, the opportunity that you have to kill just a really cool world class Buck. Your odds are are better. So it’s you know, there’s no secret that’s why people come here and it’s definitely some of the best in the world.
I first came to Chaparrel two years ago and we met Greg and his team and then came back again this year so this is our second trip.
I’m in camp because I got a tagged on a buck that I killed yesterday. Day four about 3:00 yesterday afternoon I was able to harvest a nice buck so I’m in here where it’s nice and warm and getting caught up and I’ve got a couple buddies that are out hunting and hoping that they have success.
I’ve never been up here during this first week. I normally come later in November. We wanted to try the muzzle loader season because we use muzzle loaders back home, we’re familiar with them. I’m shooting a Best of the West 45 caliber that is a really accurate gun, a gun that I have a lot of confidence in. So part of it is the primitive weapons, it’s certainly a little more of a challenge than a high-powered rifle but also it’s a lot nicer sitting in the woods right now than it is a month from now. It can be really cold, so we thought well let’s try it and I know that they have good success, Greg’s had great success this first week in the past so we wanted to give it a try.
I would say my assessment of the population is that it’s improving rapidly. I was here 2 years ago and we knew that we were coming in after a couple tough winters and Greg was very upfront about that, that they had a couple tough winters. He’s also you relatively new in the business and they been implementing his Management program and it takes time. It’s incremental. I would say there’s there’s a significant increase in the total number of deer, number bucks and quality of bucks today versus 2 years ago. I know we did have a mild winter but I think a lot of that has to do with Greg’s management practices.
I’ve probably hunted in Saskatchewan for deer a dozen times and I’ve been here when it’s below zero the whole time. This is by far the earliest I’ve ever been here and the weather has been pretty mild, but I still brought my cold stuff right. I mean we’re not in the heater bodysuits but I’ve got my heavy stuff on because you’re still sitting still. I’ve got to admit, and maybe I’m getting soft and old, but it’s pretty nice. We are seeing a lot of deer, the bucks are moving and it’s you know significantly warmer than it normal is. I pretty much brought the same stuff but I’ve been leaving some of it back in camp. You know I’m not wearing the heavy face masks and we’re not in the heater bodysuits and you know I haven’t used nearly the hand warmers that I normally do. It’s been pretty nice.
The first two days I had some nice bucks, couple bucks. For me, if I’m not stirred by that buck when they first walk in, if I don’t say oh wow, oh wow right or that’s a good one. If there’s not something about that encounter that really gets me going, I know it’s not the right buck. If I have to talk myself into it, it’s not the right buck. I had a couple good eight pointers, I mean mature deer big bodies, but that really wasn’t what I was looking for, so I passed, and then I ended up seeing that same one of those same bucks the next day too so I think that was confirmation and I wasn’t supposed to shoot it.
I don’t think I’ve been surprised by anything because I’d been here before met Greg worked with his team, had you know, pretty good understanding of how they run things. That’s why we’re here because they do a great job. I haven’t been terribly surprised, but pleased right. Because one of the things that we look for is how they manage the deer and in talking with Greg and his team they understand these deer. They understand the aging process. They understand how important that is. The communication to the team. I think maybe the only surprise has just been there’s been more deer than I thought, right. We’re seeing more deer total.
Oh, you know the accommodations are great, right. You know, I would say starting with kind of a family style meal over in in the house, it’s just awesome. Bernice is world class, she’s maybe one of the nicest ladies I’ve ever met and just a fantastic cook. Immediately we made to feel at home. Great conversation, I love that setting. It feels very much like family and the bunk house is great. There’s there’s nothing else we need. You know we’re here to kill deer but it’s nice to have, you know, a great spot to come and hang out and this place has been awesome.
I think the big difference between Chaparral and some of the other outfitters is in their approach to deer management. Greg’s got a great understanding of how to manage and grow big whitetails, right. He understands the importance of age structure and that these bucks have to get old to get big, it’s as simple as that. You cannot kill the small bucks and you know to be honest with you, there are a lot of really nice people. There have been a lot of great outfitters that I’ve hunted with through the years, great accommodations, but not everybody takes the same approach to managing their deer. Greg is very candid about this minimum and that he enforces it. He takes time to educate people on what a mature buck looks like. How to score ’em on the hoof, what to look for. He explains the why behind it, which is a big part of it. For me that’s what I’ve been looking for. To be honest with you, I would pay more and would stay in lesser accommodations, just to have a chance at a world class whitetail. Here we have great management, a great place to stay, and fantastic people. So to me, I think it’s a great combination. The big differentiator for me is Greg’s approach to whitetail management. He really gets it and that’s refreshing.
