I named the buck on the right Crab Claws 3 years ago when I first caught him on camera. On December 8th, Crab Claws bit the dust during muzzleloader season to my good friend and hunting buddy, Nick Davies. Crab Claws is a beautiful typical 10 point that scored 142 & 5/8″. Again, another example of the deer we can shoot in North Mississippi while I’m freezing my arse off in Canada! Great Job Nick!

P.S. – The other one is still there!

While I was in Saskatchewan freezing my buns off in chase of monster whitetails, the son of my close friend and confidant, Tony Crouch, shot this 156″ whitetail about 300 yards from our farm in Mississippi in 60 degree weather! Figures. The Crouchs and Hoops all practice quality deer management and we have many cameras out to monitor the growth of our deer. This buck had never been seen by anyone! Congratulations Jacob Crouch!

As part of my duties as an Outdoor Connections franchise owner, I had the tough duty of taking a 1/2 price hunt to Hudson Bay Saskatchewan to inspect an outfitter who wants us to represent and market their lodge. These inspection trips are the lifeblood of Outdoor Connections as they take much of the guess work out of what you can expect when I recommend a hunting or fishing trip. On top of the inspection trip, we were also filming the hunt for our Outdoor Connection TV show which can be seen on the Sportsman’s Channel. I put a lot of research into what to bring and what to wear as the conditions can be pretty brutal.

Thanks to frequent flyer mile restrictions, I had to leave Nashville a day before I was to meet the Outfitter in Saskatoon. I left out of Nashville at 6:12 a.m. and flew through Memphis and Minneapolis to get to Saskatoon. Unfortunately, my luggage and gun never made it out of Minneapolis. Northwest Airlines assured me it would make the flight later that night so of course it didn’t. After meeting Cory Maclachlan of Highland Outfitters on Sunday morning I proceeded to Walmart where I purchased $600 of hunting clothes and headed to Hudson Bay.

Monday morning came early as we met for a hearty breakfast and than departed for our stand about 6:30. Nick would be filming me first and we suffered through a 3/4 mile walk thru 2 feet of snow in 10 below temperatures. Nothing like a good sweat to start the day. Nick and I learned several things that morning:

1. The little blackcat heaters were good only to warm your hands.

2. Lunch, water bottles, pee bottles, and wireless microphones all froze rapidly at 10 below.

3. The deer don’t always move well as all we saw in the morning were a squirrel, a snowshoe

rabbit, and a Boone & Crockett class Magpie.

The first deer we saw ended up being the best buck I saw all week. He was a cross between a cow and a buffalo. One of the problems with judging Saskatchewan bucks is their horns are dwarfed by their body size. A mature Whitetail can be the size of Albert Haynesworth. This deer had wide chocolate horns with good mass. What seemed to be missing was tine length and for this reason(and the fact it was the 1st day), we let him go. Along with 2 more small bucks and number of does this was it for the 1st day. When we got back to camp that night, we discovered a 156″ whitetail had been harvested by Ed Marianelli of Hammonton NJ. Ed was 78 years old and a hunting fiend. Dinner was turkey and dressing.

We woke up the next morning to 23 below 0(faranheit!). I kid you not. The moisture in your breath would make snow. It was beyond cold and the deer really did not move well. I saw a few does. The highlight of the day was Nick the camera man. Attempting to stay warm, we had shut as many holes on the ground blind as we could. When it is that cold with little wind, your heater puts out a lot of Carbon Monoxide that has no place to go. We almost axphyxiated Nick and he was done for the day at noon. The lucky dude. The only thing worse than freezing with someone else is doing it by yourself. Dinner was Ham and veggies. Another 150 class whitetail was taken by Jim Curtain of New Jersey.

Due to the lack of deer activity on our first stand, Nick and I moved on Wednesday to new ground blind tucked into a meadow overlooking a bait pile about 120 yards away, We had steady snow and a strong south wind which was perfect for the site. We were visited by numerous does and 2 young 8 points who will be gorgeous deer in a couple of years. Based upon the activity and sign in the area, we felt really confident even though we didn’t pull the trigger. Oh by the way, it was warm enough to snow which meant it got up to about 0 degrees. Dinner was the best Elk roast I have ever put in my mouth. Tony Yula of New Jersey took a 135 class buck.

We revisited the same stand as Wednesday and again had a great south west wind though the temperature was back in the 20 below range. Their were does in the bait pile when we got there and they just ignored us as we set up. About 9:00 a.m., our heater ran out of propane – this was not the day to do that. We were again visited by ANOTHER young 8 point who was a gorgeous deer but not ready to be harvested. Nick and I could hardly wait til our guide, Cory, called us on the radio at 12:00 so we could get him to bring us some propane. All morning long does and small bucks came in and out of the bait pile. At noon, Cory finally called us on the radio. Guess what else doesn’t work well at 20 below? I guess it was a good thing he couldnt hear us because if he had, he would have showed up on the ATV at the same time my buck showed up. Remember this is Thursday and I have been sitting in sub freezing weather for 4 days. The buck was obviuosly old, had a broken up rack, and many scars. After looking at him, I settled the crosshairs behind his shoulder and and squeezed the trigger. He hunched and immediately leaped out of the bait pile into the scrub bush. We watched him settle down in the snow and than we waited for an hour to be sure he was down. When you walk up to your first Canadian Whitetail, you are first amazed by the size of them. He was about 7 feet long and later on weighed 310 lbs. on the scale. Not the greatest rack but the guides were glad I had taken him because he was well past his prime. Dinner this night was Blackened New Jersey Striped Bass courtesy of Capt. Ron Shute and the cooking of Tony Yula. I slept very well knowing I DID NOT HAVE TO GET IN THAT *&%$@! GROUND BLIND AGAIN.

1. Got up and had breakfast at 6:00. Wished the untagged hunters luck

2. Went back to bed

3. Got up at 10:00 and watched hunting videos

4. Had lunch

5. Took a 3 hour power nap

6. Shot our interviews for the television show

7. Took another nap

8. Had dinner – Steak Night

1. Went back to Walmart in Saskatoon and returned $600 of hunting stuff that I did not use.

2. Sat in the bar at the Sandman Lodge and by myself rooted the Nashville Predators onto a shoot out victory over Montreal Canadians as 50 Canadians fans looked on wondering who the hell I was and what the hell was a Predator.

What I learned from this trip:

1. It takes perserverence, concentration, and the right gear to hunt day after day in sub zero temperatures.

2. Pee freezes rather quickly at 23 below.

3. Boot Blankets and the right layering of clothes is critical

4. Canadian Whitetails are a little more tolerant of noise and smell in the need to feed in sub zero temperatures.

5. Video equipment, wireless mikes, scent eliminator, estrus bleats, all get to cold to operate.

If any of you are interested in hunts like these, Outdoor Connections has a number of properties where big Canadian Whitetails can be chased

Tight Lines & Struttin Toms,

Lou