The alarm rings in the darkness. Although your sleeping bag enfolds you in its warmth, you get up and quickly get dressed. Breakfast is over in a flash and you hustle back to your cabin to start putting on layers of winter clothes. As you zip up you go through your mental checklist. Binocs, ammo, grunt tube, rattling antlers, lunch, coffee, cover scent - all safe and secure in your trusty fleece knapsack or assigned pockets. Hunting whitetail bucks in Saskatchewan has been a dream of yours for a long time, and now you are living that dream. Your partner and guide are ready so you quietly walk single file into the darkness. Although the guide uses a small flashlight initially, he doesn't need it.

After a good walk the guide stops and motions for your partner to come with him. They disappear into the darkness of the forest. You hear an owl hoot.. The silence of the forest is complete and for a few minutes you soak in the total absence of sound. Then it happens. Far off and faint, you hear a long drawn-out moaning howl. Timber wolf. Although you have never heard a wolf before, you know that nothing else could make that sound.

When your guide returns he whispers "Wolf" and you grin. The walk to your stand goes quickly as your mind spins through the excitement of hunting in this wilderness. After ensuring you are comfortable and that the little heater is working, the guide whispers "Good Luck" and in moments he is gone..

Silence and darkness prevail. You listen for another wolf howl, but all you hear is - silence. After what seems like hours, and dozens of checks, dawn starts to lighten up the eastern horizon. Finally you can see the tops of trees. When you can see your rifle you double check that it is loaded and that the safety is on, then you get into 'serious listening mode'.

You break the silence with the smashing, rasping clatter of the rattling antlers and sit silently - listening for any sound that might say "BUCK!". Although you know that mid-day is the key period for taking big bucks, you have to hunt at dawn - you just have to. A low, gutteral grunt chills your spine, freezing you, kicking your senses into overdrive. Icy steps approach through the forest and you fight to stay calm. "Let it happen." you say to yourself. "Let it happen."

Moments turn into hours, then movement catches your eye. A small spruce shudders as powerful antlers rake off branches and needles. Suddenly he is standing in an opening. All you can see are antlers. He looks away and your rifle comes to your shoulder, the crosshairs settle behind his shoulder. What happens next has to be experienced. There is only one way. Come hunt with REDWILLOW Outfitting to find out for yourself.