Bearpaw Season - Spring 2014

[bearpaw]

Thanks coombs338...


For my afternoon hunt I was unsure where to go, I actually headed to one place but changed my mind so turned around and headed back to another place. We got to where we were going, I was getting ready to make my first call at that place and we heard a gobble before I called. We started working that gobbler and it sounded good for 30 minutes to an hour but finally he shut up and the next time I heard him he was on top of the hill near some strutting zones. Fred and I decided to hike to the top, sneak in close and check out the strut zones. The first three spots we saw no birds, we snuck up to spot #4 and I peeked over the rocks and was face to face with a jake at 8 to 10 feet. He started putting and running frantic, several more jakes moved from behind the rock, I told Fred it looks like they are all jakes, watch for a long beard. None of the other jakes had actually seen us but they were excited because the one jake took off, by now we could see about 12 jakes all within 10-15 yards putting and running in circles, suddenly a bird gobbled in the trees just out of sight, I started calling frantically and three more birds run out in front of us, we could see two were long beards and Fred whacked the bird with the thickest beard at 10 to 15 yards, I could see the other long beard had really white feathers and I wanted him for a fan mount. Fred had just filled his 2nd tag so I said, "Hand me your gun I'll shoot the other tom!" Fred quickly handed me the versamax and I whacked the other tom. So it was another pretty exciting hunt, Fred killed his 2nd bird and I even got to take a nice bird. I love it when a plan comes together.

Kurt was hunting with Ray and they killed another long beard that evening. Day 2 was a real good day we ended up taking 4 birds before lunch and 3 birds after lunch, so 7 birds on the second day. Sorry but no pics of Kurt's bird.

[bearpaw]

Day 3 brought lots of rain... 

Kurt was tagged out but Cheryl still had both her tags and we had two new hunters in camp, another husband and wife, Ben and Alicia, but it was quiet and the morning hunt was a bust.

In the afternoon guide Ray posted Cheryl and Kurt in a blind where we had seen a really large gobbler with a 10 to 11 inch beard. The big gobbler didn't show but about 2pm another good tom came in and Cheryl smacked him. Her bird sported a 9 3/4 beard which bested both of Kurt's birds, his largest was 9 1/2. Guide Ray headed to another ranch and later in the evening Cheryl smacked another tom with roughly an 8 inch beard. Great shooting Kurt and Cheryl... 

In the afternoon guide Brian's hunter "Ben" killed a real nice long beard and guide Daniel got Alicia onto a group of Jakes. She had said she was shooting the first legal bird she saw and Alicia was not joking, she dropped a jake with one shot from her 20 gauge, I think the smile in her photo tells the story well! Great job Ben and Alicia! 

Sorry I don't have pics of Cheryl's 2nd bird or Ben's bird, I will try to get them rounded up and post later.

[quadrafire]

Really like your dining room. That is awesome!!!
Good work on the birds

[bearpaw]

Really like your dining room. That is awesome!!!
Good work on the birds

Thanks much.

More birds to post as soon as I can get photos rounded up. 
It's been really good hunting and I've noticed a lot of jakes, we had a pretty good hatch last year, there's going to be a lot of toms next year. If we have another good hatch this summer and another mild winter, our turkey numbers will be in great shape again.

[whackmaster]

WOW what a great time Bearpaw has a 1st class operation.
It was so fun very nice place to stay and hunt if you're thinking
about a turkey hunt this is the place to go Bearpaws wife is a
awesome cook too.
thank you so much for the turkeys it was a blast cant wait till next year

CL

[bearpaw]

WOW what a great time Bearpaw has a 1st class operation.
It was so fun very nice place to stay and hunt if you're thinking
about a turkey hunt this is the place to go Bearpaws wife is a
awesome cook too.
thank you so much for the turkeys it was a blast cant wait till next year

CL

Thanks, it was a real pleasure meeting you and having you here for the hunt. You did some great shooting with your bow, looking forward to next season already. 

[bearpaw]

Les who has been hunting with guide Daniel missed 3 or 4 birds the last two days but was determined and hung in there, he was able to get a double this morning. Congrats to Les on his double.

[bearpaw]

Mike had some bad luck and missed a few birds the last couple days but he connected with a jake this morning before they had to leave, way to hang in there Mike and get it done, congrats, it was our pleasure. Looking forward to seeing you and Less again next year.

We are out of hunters until the weekend, then we'll be hunting again. 

[bearpaw]

OWLPOCOLYSE

That's what I dubbed this weekend.

On Friday morning we moved in close and set up 100 yards from a nice tom I had roosted the night before. While we were waiting for the gobbler to come off the roost I heard a bird land in a tree behind us, I thought it must be a raven or grouse or something moving around, meanwhile the tom continued to gobble, suddenly a great horned owl flew out from behind us, over our heads and straight to the gobbler, it attacked the gobbler in the tree. The gobbler dropped to the ground and we saw gobbler and owl jumping and running in circles. The gobbler escaped into the brush and the owl flew back into the gobbler's roost tree. I waited a few minutes and decided to call, the gobbler answered a few times and then the owl swooped down again, another big ruckus and the gobbler got away in the brush again and the owl flew back up into the tree. This time I waited a couple more minutes and tried calling again, the gobbler would not reply to my calling. Then after a few more minutes we saw the owl swoop down again after the gobbler and we heard the gobbler gobble a couple times as he was leaving the area. I think this gobbler got away but I'm not certain that he did. My hunter John, went birdless that day and we told my 2 other hunters who arrived that evening (K357** and cementfinisher) about the OWLPOCOLYSE attack.

The next morning, Saturday, we had all three hunters set up in different locations. K357** killed a 9 3/4 gobbler in the morning and we roosted several birds Sat night for the next day. Yesterday morning (Sunday) we had all three hunters set up in different locations again, K357** killed a 5" jake (one of the biggest jake's I've seen), John killed a 9 1/4 tom and missed a jake, and cementfinisher experienced another OWLPOCOLYSE attack. I had cementfinisher set up fairly close to the roost waiting for the bird to come off roost, suddenly another owl attacked his bird knocking it from the tree, it hit the ground, ran a ways with the owl after it and flew up into another tree. This tree happened to be within range of cementfinisher so he wisely shot the turkey and the owl flew off. It believe his tom measured 9 5/8", slightly smaller than K357**'s first bird which seemed to please K357**. 

You can see in the photo of cementfinisher's tom that he has lost his tail feathers in the past and they have grown back again, likely to predators. I'm wondering, has anyone else experienced owls attacking the birds they are hunting this year?

Yes, that's snow in some of the photos, it was cold and snowing yesterday, hunting was tough, we probably got lucky by getting the 4 birds that we did get. Congrats to K357**, cementfinisher, and John, it was a blast (pun intended) hunting with you. 

[MtnMuley]

On your properties up there, what percentage of Rio's do you feel you have?

[baldopepper]

I've never heard of great horns taking on anything as large as a turkey.  Actually raised a couple of them when I was young (we were into falconry and, quite frankly, they were great at keeping housecats away from our birds).  I'm wondering if perhaps the owl had a nest somewhere close.  They are extremely aggressive when you get anywhere near their nest (I've had them whack me more than once and it's damn scary as you don't hear them coming).  I'm sure it's possible they were looking at the gobbler for a meal, but I'm more inclined to think perhaps it was a protective attack. 

[K357**]

Not to shabby for my first time turkey hunting!!!    Can't thank you guys enough!! My time there with you guys was definetly top notch!!

[bearpaw]

On your properties up there, what percentage of Rio's do you feel you have?

I've seen more birds this year that have a Rio appearance than ever before. There are 3 properties in particular that we see this trait. Other properties not so much.

[MtnMuley]

On your properties up there, what percentage of Rio's do you feel you have?

I've seen more birds this year that have a Rio appearance than ever before. There are 3 properties in particular that we see this trait. Other properties not so much.

Thanks.  I noticed a few more this year as well around Colville and Chewelah.  We got one across the river this spring, but they seem to be more prevalent on that side.  Congrats on the great start to the season.

[bearpaw]

I've never heard of great horns taking on anything as large as a turkey.  Actually raised a couple of them when I was young (we were into falconry and, quite frankly, they were great at keeping housecats away from our birds).  I'm wondering if perhaps the owl had a nest somewhere close.  They are extremely aggressive when you get anywhere near their nest (I've had them whack me more than once and it's damn scary as you don't hear them coming).  I'm sure it's possible they were looking at the gobbler for a meal, but I'm more inclined to think perhaps it was a protective attack.

We have a lot of owls and I thought all the largest were great horned. I'm not an owl expert, so I guess it's possible it was a different type of large owl. These exact trees are normal turkey roosts year after year, never seen it happen before here or at other locations. Wished I would have had my video camera.

Not to shabby for my first time turkey hunting!!!    Can't thank you guys enough!! My time there with you guys was definetly top notch!!

Thanks very much, hope to see you again.