Jackson says Northern Cree Outfitters have exclusive access to 15,000 acres of the Red Pheasant Reserve in the Meadow Lake area. Because these are Indian lands, Jackson says they are able to issue their own hunting licenses and establish their own hunting season. He describes the hunt area as a variety of mild hills, thick woods and brush, valleys, river bottoms and lakes. Jackson says Northern Cree Outfitters manages the area well and keeps hunting pressure low to give the bucks time to grow. He says their efforts have paid off with plenty of big deer roaming their area. In fact, of five hunters in camp during his hunt, all but one took deer scoring from 140 to 162, and the hunter who struck out passed on numerous bucks in this range.
He warns, however, that this is hard hunting from dawn to dark in temperatures as cold as 18 degrees below 0. The hunting is conducted from ground and elevated house blinds that keep hunters out of the wind. Blinds are supplied with heaters, but Jackson says he and his wife were comfortable wrapped in a sleeping bag. The blinds are placed in strategic areas about 150 yards from a bait pile, and are far enough apart to ensure the deer in that particular area will frequent one bait site.
Jackson says this is not a "razzle-dazzle" hunt. There are no frills, and everything is down to earth. "This is a hunt for a serious deer hunter who wants a good location that has not been heavily hunted and a chance to take a big, free-ranging Saskatchewan whitetail," he says. The cost of a six-day hunt with Northern Cree Outfitters is $3,500 and includes accommodations in........(continued)
