Livin' the "Non-Typical Life" during the winter lull! - FEBRUARY BLOG
Written by Erik Labrie
The NTN Team started 2019 off with a bang! Catch our brand-new episodes on The Hunt Channel and on the NTN YouTube channel anytime, anywhere!
Throughout the year of 2018 Non- Typical Nation grew exponentially in both fan base and internally within our team atmosphere. A core group of tight-knit outdoor addicts is what ensures all the great things that happen at NTN continue to happen. Our team spent countless hours, travelled countless miles, searched high and low for the goal they had set for each and every adventure whilst attempting to capture as much of each on camera to share with the world. In the passed year we have grown to become more commonly goal orientated have the opportunity to take a potential giant leap forward. To say that big things are coming for Non- Typical Nation would be an understatement!
On the real-life side of things, the boys have all been finding their own unique ways to stay active in the outdoors and entertained, not to mention sane, during the long winter lull. Western Canada has experienced extreme cold this year, but it hasn’t seemed to slow any of them down.
High hopes for this coming fall and a plan to shake things up and make a big move on a target deer has Jordan Phillips ready to see the snow start to shrink. He’s been lucky enough to fill a portion of his free time doing some friendly neighbourhood Coyote control. Balancing that with some hard water fishing and now the beginning of shed hunting season, you’ll rarely find Jordan without something in hand and an adventure in mind. One last opportunity for a Northern Saskatchewan Wolf hunt lies ahead before spring gets too carried away. Archery Mule deer and his target Whitetail are the focus for 2019. After watching this particular deer for 3 years, a new plan has been drawn out to finally put Jordan in a shooting opportunity on a great trophy class buck.
Paul Martens found the earlier part of coyote season to be on the slower side this year, thankfully the cold temperatures brought up the productivity of calling and of course, with that, opportunity for some much-needed predator control. The deer in Paul’s area have been dropping antlers for a few weeks now and finding some right in his backyard only fuels his want and need to get into some serious shed hunting, once the snow allows for it of course. As for the fall, Paul is looking to strike a draw Elk or Moose tag. However, this year he isn’t taking “No” for an answer as he also has a northern territories hunt in the planning just in case the draw system isn’t so kind.
Tommy Lazurko has been busy these winter months with a different kind of preparation for the upcoming years. The early steps of puppy training and his new German Shepherd pup have kept Tommy’s hands full since the end of last season. He is excited to get the new scouting buddy out looking for sheds in the next couple weeks and begin scouting for the upcoming spring Black Bear season. Having guided in the spring the last few years, Tommy is pumped to set a bait of his own this year and finally arrow his first Black Bear with a bow. The 2019 fall plan is dependant on the Saskatchewan Big Game draws, they are published later in the year. Until then, Tommy finds himself waiting for the snow to melt and the newest Badlands Packs system to come out for him to test this summer.
Now on the tail end of the cold season, Brody Teale considers the previous fall a less hectic time of year than this winter has been for him so far. Brody spent his December filming some Wolf trapping for a future episode with a close friend. But as the holidays approached, he and his wife prepared for and in early January welcomed their second son Rhett Oliver. Despite having their hands full with a newborn, Brody and his wife Amy have still found time to make it out and fill their Ice Fishing limit on the beautiful Lesser Slave Lake. Spring Bear is one of his favorite seasons and Brody simply cannot wait for the bears to begin wondering out of their dens.
For Charlie Read, being a dad comes before anything else, lucky enough Charlie has been able to spend a lot of time on the hard water on a few different lakes in Northern Alberta. Anyone can “fish”, but Charlie is one of those people that can consistently “catch”. Family and friends gather around Charlie out on the ice, he likes to think it is because of some sort of luck, but anyone that knows Charlie knows that he probably does more talking than actual fishing. He hopes to get out there a bunch more before the spring breakup. As the spring approaches Charlie is focused on training himself with his new Bear Grizzly Recurve. After hunting with a compound bow for the last 5 years, Charlie has stepped towards the greater challenge of a recurve bow. As always Whitetail will be an opportune and heavily focused on animal for Charlie, but with the priority points to draw an Alberta Moose tag this year he might find himself changing plans.
After a great fall season of Bighorn Sheep hunting and Moose guiding, I (Erik Labrie) was struck with the unfortunate event of my new truck full of hunting and filming gear stolen while finishing up the November guiding season. Early in the new year I purchased an ice fishing shack to set up on Lesser Slave Lake, only minutes from my house. I have been able to make the most of my limited gear by ice fishing as much as possible and filling the warmer days with long sled trips scouting and exploring a new potential Elk hunting area. As the spring approaches I am ecstatic to begin replacing and fine tuning my hunting and camera gear. With the thought of Sheep still hot in my mind I am torn, not on whether to go, but rather which direction and which species of sheep to chase, either as a guide or hunting for myself.
Spring seasons are approaching quick, not as quickly as we would all like, but coming nonetheless. Soon enough we will all be trying to balance our shed hunting, scouting, hunting, and prep work with the rest of our busy lives and responsibilities. Big things are set to happen for Non-Typical Nation in 2019 and 2020. Stay up to date with all of our social media platforms and don’t forget to catch our episodes still airing weekly on The Hunt Channel, they can also be found on our YouTube and Facebook. Look for this blog every month for any updates and the inside scoop on the NTN Crew! l