Dale hunted out of Ameri-Cana's Battle River Lodge near the town of Coronation, Alberta, about 2½ hours southeast of Edmonton. The hunting around Battle River, in Unit 203, is a mix of rolling farmland, wheat fields, parklands and prairies. Ameri-Cana hunts mostly on private land, where they've hunted for over 25 years. The mule deer hunting is largely spot-and-stalk, with a vehicle used to cover the large open areas. The whitetail hunting is from heated tower blinds, and they usually erect six or seven stands for four hunters. Although there is some minor competition from residents who win permits in limited entry draws, Dale says Frederick has access to private land others can't hunt. Frederick's success rate on mule deer is 80 to 90 percent, with trophies up to the 200-class. Success rate on whitetails is 50 to 60 percent on animals generally scoring 140 to 160.
Dale notes he failed to take a whitetail on this hunt, but says that was simply because he did not spend enough time hunting that species. Dale gives Ameri-Cana Expeditions an across-the board excellent rating and notes that he arranges all his hunts with them. He gives the total cost of this combination hunt as $10,200, which included licenses and trophy fees. Had he taken a whitetail, he would have been assessed another $1,000 trophy fee.
(Postscript: We called Frederick to verify a few of the details above and learned he still has two openings left for mule deer/whitetail combination hunts this fall, two for whitetail only at $7,400, and one opening for Canada-prairie moose.)
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