In BC, an out of province hunter may be accompanied by a BC resident who has held a BC Resident Big Game licence for at least three years. The non-resident Canadian may only do one hunt in any year, for a period not exceeding 21 days, which must be consecutive. So my hunting licence here is good for the period 10-30 Sep. I started with Larry on the 10th (Opening day of elk season), then went to the Yukon because temperatures here were unbelievably warm. Now I am back in BC and it is the 27th, kind of getting down to the wire.
Yesterday we went down along the Nechako River, with rifles and fishing gear. We did not have occasion to use the rifles, but we did catch some nice rainbow trout, which are on tonight’s menu. I also caught half a dozen squawfish, which put up quite a good fight but are apparently not very palatable table fare, so all of them went back into the river. I had caught my first ever squawfish on the Nechako last time I was here a couple weeks ago, and made it my business to find out a bit more about this species. As it turns out, the American Fisheries Association or some such body decided that the name squawfish is politically insensitive to some folks, so the new name for this species is Northern Pikeminnow. (Which, frankly, is a ridiculous name, since the fish is neither a pike nor a minnow. But then again it isn’t a squaw either, I suppose.)
We returned to the house for a bit and had intended to go to another spot for the late evening hunt, when a torrential downpour changed our plans. Our evening meal was a glorious pan-fried pike, with fries and salad. And some wine. (And today’s lunch was pike sandwiches) Larry and Mary had caught the pike up at Chetwynd, and the flesh was quite pink in colour – and very tasty indeed. And since I need an inordinate amount of beauty sleep, which nevertheless seldom achieves its purported raison d’etre, I turned in early.
Larry banged on my camper door early this morning, and after a coffee we were off in search of game. We saw one good-sized bull elk, but he was short on antlers. A legal bull needs to have at least six points on one side, and this guy was a very large spike-horn, so he walked. We also saw a goodly number of mule deer does and fawns, but no bucks. We did a circuit down near the river, and got thoroughly wet from the vegetation, there having been quite the frost last night. And now we have had our pike sandwiches and a cup of tea, my boots and pants are hopefully drying out somewhat, and a bit later we will be out again for another attempt to fill at least one of my tags. Please wish us luck!
And here are a few more pictures from the trip so far:
wood bison alongside the Alaska Highway south of Liard Hot Springs
on top of one of Keno's mountains
my first ever grayling
with my buddy Phil the Whiskey Pig
Doug
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