dan wrote:Whats the story behind the velvet buck?
Dan,
Went on an early season bow hunt to Manitoba a few years back. 2nd day of the guided hunt I was lucky to cross pathes with a full velvet 10pt w/ kicker. (Hunting late August/early Sept. It was always a dream of mine to shoot a full velvet whitetail. This trip was 1st guided hunt I had ever been on (a reward to myself after completion of my college degree) and I had a great time with the guides afterward scouting and hanging out at the house our group rented. Manitoba requires a guide to hunt the lower portion of the province.
Went back the following year as well and saw multiple gagger bucks (one typical pushing B&C). Made a shoulder hit on the last day of that trip on a 130" class 10pt buck - never recovered the deer but the guide called me two weeks later to let me know he was back out in the ag fields with a little limp. The area is difficult to hunt as the land is very similar to N Dakota with very few wood lots and most Ag land has cattle pasturing on it. Not to mention the trees are not very mature and hunting 12ft-14ft up was considered hunting high (small diameter trees would not let you go any higher)!
The rates at the time I went were roughly $1800 with license (roughly $200, and lodging included). Which I thought was a super deal for the quality of animals they had. I think prices way be higher now. I have not been back for 3 years now but I still talk with the guides regularly. A friend of a friend shot a 171" net 10pt Booner the year prior to me shooting the velvet buck.
"When a hunter is in a tree stand with high moral values, with the proper hunting ethics and richer for the experience, that hunter is 20 feet closer to God." Fred Bear
Hopefully you can find his set this year.