Alberta Traditional Bowhunters Association 

Group Hunt 2006

I was one of the dozen members that made the trip to Buffalo for the annual Group Hunt. Brent Watson and his wife arrived before everyone else and started hunting Antelope, but unfortunately had to leave when everyone else was showing up. Gary McCartney and Cal Briggs had a real nice camp set up when I had arrived. Wall tent and kitchen area tarped off. David Sherwin was in attendance, Mel Kaban was camping with Jack Kempf, Yves Blouin and Gunter Lemke showed up, Ken Bodden arrived, set up his tent and then left, he was back by 6:30 with a deer for the first kill of the week. Jason Collingridge took a day off from University to make the trip as well.

David was concentrating on a group of Whitetails, enjoying the terrain and hunting hard, left camp early and got back late. Gary and Cal were chasing Antelope to the south, stalking and trying the decoy. Mel and Jack were paired up, Mel trying to be a guide for Jack. I had the pleasure of hunting with Jack for a day, got to take a little video of him stalking and then shooting at a pretty good Antelope. Gravity and the wind played havoc with his arrows that time. Gunter and Yves were after deer, Yves spent some time trying to stalk a bunch of Mule deer that seemed to know the terrain better than him, he returned just as happy if not happier than when he set out. Gunter and myself tried a couple of stalks on Antelope, I missed an easy shot badly, with an audience no less. Jason got turned loose by Jenner after some deer and seemed to enjoy himself. Ken was offering suggestions on where to go and how to hunt different areas as he is really familiar with the area. There were a lot of chances for success on this trip, stuff usually happens and it did. Wind, arm guards, etc.

The weather changed on the Friday, cool and rain. I had the opportunity to travel with Ken Bodden and ended the morning with an Antelope. We arrived back at camp in time to say good bye to the crew as everyone had packed up and were heading for home.

The Annual Group hunt was a good time, new friends were made, new areas were explored, which is what it is all about.

Gary & Mel did a great job organizing the Hunt!

Terry Brew