Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot... and who's not. This week's list inclu...
On a brisk morning north of Leoville, the bush is still, holding its breath.
Frost clings to every branch and the rising sun paints the boreal forest in silver.
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Somewhere in that half-light, watching the edge of a cutline with the patience that only decades of hunting can teach, sits a man who has hunted nearly everywhere in North America a man can hunt — and still, after all these years, keeps coming back to one place: Saskatchewan.
For Charlie Vaccaro, the province has become something like home.
Vaccaro said he doesn’t bag a deer every time he comes hunting in Saskatchewan, but he never leaves a trip with Timberlost Outfitting feeling disappointed. (Submitted)
A life built in the wild
“I’m from Wyoming. I’m originally from New York,” Vaccaro said in an interview with 650 CKOM.
“That’s right in the Rocky Mountains, so I do a lot of hunting and packing in with horses, that kind of stuff. That’s why I moved there. I’m an outdoorsy person.”
He’s not exaggerating. Vaccaro’s life reads like a frontier novel: long stretches deep in wilderness for months at a time, sometimes completely alone except for two dependable horses.
Listen to the story on Behind the Headlines:
“I’m a steam fitter – a pipe welder – and we work all over the world,” he explained. “I was allowed to get lots of time off… I’ve spent months at a time in the wilderness. A lot of guys couldn’t do it, so a lot of those trips I did alone. Elk hunting and moose hunting and sheep hunting and all that stuff. And I just never could get enough of it.”
Vaccaro said he never had the bankroll of a luxury safari hunter, but he had plenty of determination, grit, and a hunger for wild country.
“I never really had the big money to do big trips,” he said. “But I saved and I did trips in Alaska and all through the provinces of Canada, right from B.C. all the way over to Newfoundland and New Brunswick… I even moose hunted in Manitoba.”
Vaccaro has hunted big game from Alaska to Newfoundland, but for more than a decade, Saskatchewan’s wildlife has been drawing him back to western Canada. (Submitted)
Across all those miles, he kept hearing the same thing: among serious hunters, Saskatchewan was spoken of with a special kind of respect.
“You could always hear ‘Saskatchewan, just great white-tail hunting,’” he said.
He eventually made the trip, and he hasn’t stopped coming back to Saskatchewan since.
“This is the 11th season now,” he said. “I attribute all my luck here to the crew here, the whole Timberlost crew. I’m just a guy that pulls the trigger.”
Hunting for the right reasons
Even after a lifetime of experience, Vaccaro still hunts with a long view.
“I’ve only shot, I think, maybe three deer here. I don’t want to shoot anything too young,” he said. “I wait for an older one that’s lived most of its life… I’ve gotten two or three nice deer here, again thanks to the crew.”
He said he’s selective with antlers, but practical with meat.
“The last day of the hunt, I might just take something just to butcher up and have something. You know, some meat in the freezer,” he said.
Vaccaro is passionate about hunting for the right reasons. He eats the meat from any animals he shoots, from deer to elk and even bears. (Submitted)
What Saskatchewan offers that nowhere else can
Vaccaro tries to explain what pulls him back year after year — what draws him north even when the drive is long and the mornings are cold.
It isn’t only the deer. It’s the way Saskatchewan feels: rugged, real and alive with possibility.
“You’re watching a football game, and every few minutes somebody gets a big touchdown,” he said. “But hunting, you’re sitting there, very quiet. Excitement and anticipation. A big buck could walk out from anywhere.”
His voice rose with that familiar spark — the spark that keeps all hunters doing what they love.
“Every second of the day that you’re in there, you’re excited. Even if you’re not jumping up and down, your adrenaline is pumping. It’s just the anticipation,” Vaccaro explained.
“Every day is something new. It’s really great.”
That’s the magic of Saskatchewan’s white-tail season. Not only the deer, but everything that comes with simply being here.
Vaccaro drives to Saskatchewan each fall rather than flying. He said it makes transporting the meat back across the border much less of a hassle. (Submitted)
Still coming back, season after season
Vaccaro doesn’t pretend he’s a young man anymore.
“I’m going to be 80 my next birthday… I got a lot of aches and pains. I have fake body parts,” he mused with a grin. “But I’m in pretty good shape, so I’m going to keep doing it as long as I can.”
And as long as Timberlost Outfitting will let him reserve a spot, he plans to be there.
“If I give him a deposit for next year… now I know I have to come back, no matter what shape I’m in,” he laughed. “Because he won’t give me my money back, so I’ll just have to keep doing it!”
For Vaccaro, Saskatchewan isn’t just another dot on the map. It’s a place that speaks to him. A place that embodies everything he loves about being in the outdoors.
And in a world that changes fast, some truths stay steady. When you find the right place, it’s hard not to keep coming back.
Charlie Vaccaro will soon be 80, but he isn’t letting his age stop him from making the trek to Saskatchewan. For more than a decade he’s made the 1,000 mile drive from his home in Wyoming to partake in what he says is the best white-tail deer hunting around. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
