Bearpaw Season - Fall 2012

[elkhunter1977]

It's very useable!... I usually have mine made into sausage and pepper stick.

[bearpaw]

It's very useable!... I usually have mine made into sausage and pepper stick.

Definitely good meat, a roast well cooked is just like a beef roast, not gamey at all. Whenever I have a hunter who does not want or cannot take home the meat of any animal, I have numerous people that we donate the meat to. Even a lot of the cougar, we pack the meat out for people who want it. Cougar is also very good eating. 


Bear Report:
Bear hunting has really slowed down with all the elk hunters in the woods around here. A few hunters I know are still out for bear but not having any luck, that includes a guided hunter in camp right now who is hunting with Nick, but I just got a lead from a landowner friend on a bear that started hitting an apple orchard at his place last night, so maybe our luck on this hunt will change for the better.

[fvh40]

OK 
Thanks

[bearpaw]

The Wrecked Hunt!
We have been doing our last guided bear hunt but the last several days have been tough, the bear have felt the pressure of hunting season and they have been staying out of sight. After another unsuccessful short morning hunt we printed off some B&C and SCI score sheets and Rob who is also doing guide school with us went to work at judging and scoring trophies for the next 5 hours, all part of what we do in the guide school.

For the evening hunt we decided Rob should hunt at my friend's apple orchard so Nick and Rob went to meet my friend to watch the orchard. Nick was turning off the highway into my friend's place when some clown rear ended the Durango, they figure the guy was going 65 to 80, he hit his brakes and slid quite a ways but hit the Durango's trailer hitch as they turned and it spun the Durango a full turn and a half on the highway, the Durango suffered some damage but the other car was pretty bad, they took the other car away with a wrecker and handed the other guy a ticket. Luckily nobody was hurt in the wreck and the guy had insurance. My friend called me with his cell phone and said "The way this hunt is starting I can't wait to see how it ends!", we both had a good laugh at that. 

After the police were done Nick and Rob jumped in my friend's truck and they headed to the apple orchard, they got settled in for what was left of the evening and they patiently waited.

About 30 minutes before dark a beautiful chocolate brown bear strolled in at 40 yards and started eating fallen apples. A very excited Rob put his crosshairs on a bear for the first time in his life, his rifle wouldn't hold still, it was as if the rifle had a mind of it's own, the crosshairs were all over the place, but Rob did his best and was able to pull the trigger, his shoulder shot hit the bear squarely in the neck and the chocolate brown dropped.

I wished it had been a boar but she is a dandy for a sow, the best head I've seen on a sow in quite a while. I checked her teeth and she is the second oldest bear we have taken this year, I would guess 10 or older and she scaled 240 pounds, pretty good for a sow. As for Rob, he is a happy camper, he said he's happy he hit the bear given the excitement of shooting at his first bear at such close range. He said he's having his taxidermist do a half mount of the bear, the hide is in great condition with heavy hair, it should look great. Congrats Rob...

Chocolate Brown Down

[bearpaw]

Durango Damage
Amazingly the hitch took nearly all the impact, bent it pretty good and damaged the bumper and the right rear light area, there might also be frame damage as hard as it was hit, the impact sent the Durango in a spin turning a full 1 1/2 times on the highway, lucky no body was coming from the other direction. According the the guys the other car was likely totaled with damage from the hitch, all the way down the entire side of the car from front to back. They took the other car away on a wrecker.

The moral of the story, "If you going to be rear ended, do it in a Durango!". 

[Dhoey07]

That's the main reason I always drive with my hitch in!! Glad everyone was safe and that's a dandy bear 

[bearpaw]

5x5 Bull Passed, 2 Cows Missed
We have two guys archery elk hunting in Idaho. One guy (his first elk hunt ever) missed two cows yesterday, he is not selective and will take any elk, hope his yardage is on target next time. The other guy has killed a 5x5 bull before with us in Idaho, this morning he passed a 5x5 bull. I hope that decision works out in the long run! At least they are in elk and getting shot opportunities. Another larger 5x5 was spotted this morning that was way out of range, not sure yet if they are going after that bull or not. My fingers are crossed for pictures! 

[bearpaw]

6x6 Idaho Bull
More bad luck on the elk hunt, another lost opportunity on a big 6x6 this time. 
Still hoping for photos....

WA Moose Rutting
Had a good scouting trip, saw some moose got some great video. We watched two bulls thrashing brush and grunting a few hundred yards apart. The bull on top of the ridge kept looking down into the canyon and it was obvious he could hear the other bull working over the brush. He quickly began working his way down the hill toward the bull in the canyon.

With hopes of a front row seat to a good moose battle we decided to cut the distance in half between us and the bull in the canyon, but we were cautious to not get too close since neither of us was packing so much as a dull knife. Yep that's right two of us out moose scouting, fresh bear tracks scattered nearly everywhere we went, a bear tag in both our pockets, and we both forgot to bring a gun of any kind.

The upper bull closed the gap in only a few minutes and they were soon facing each other, less than 30 yards apart. We were only about 50 yards from them and figured we were probably close enough. The bigger bodied bull had the smaller rack but seemed to be more dominant. We watched him tear up a scrape with his horns and front hooves, he peed in it then rolled in it while the other bull rubbed the brush and glared at him. Then they walked by each other, then the bigger bodied bull went back to the scrape and rolled it in again got up and they faced off again, walked around each other, but unfortunately didn't fight.

Then we must have moved a little too much because they got nervous and left up over the ridge. I got some great video that I hope to use in a moose video soon. Here are some pics of the two moose and the fresh scrape that we checked after the moose left.

[bearpaw]

Fall Turkeys Down
During the early fall season two hens may be taken. We set up this morning before daylight, at daylight the birds came off the roost and went the opposite direction. We continued to sit and watch, about 6:45 four long beards come feeding right past us. At about 7am along came a group of hens, Thomas smacked two hens with two quick shots, 6 pounds and 9 pounds, congrats Thomas! 

[saylean]

Great lookin bear!

Sucks about the durango. I caught some of a small interview with you in Washington-Oregon Fish and Gam Mag

[elkoholic1]

love the moose pics they got me all fired up to get over and hunt them in spokane god this week is a long one at work!!!    come on friday!!!!   

[bearpaw]

I am getting excited for the first week of moose here in WA. We have several moose hunters staying in our cabins who are hunting different GMU's, it should be a fun time at the dinner table in the evening, they are all holding out for respectable bulls, can't wait to see who pulls the trigger and what they take. 

[elkoholic1]

funny how plans and holding out goes out the window when you get a rut crazed bull coming inn...     thats why coach is holding the arrows and bullets so no accidents happen...  lol 

[PlateauNDN]

Durango Damage
Amazingly the hitch took nearly all the impact, bent it pretty good and damaged the bumper and the right rear light area, there might also be frame damage as hard as it was hit, the impact sent the Durango in a spin turning a full 1 1/2 times on the highway, lucky no body was coming from the other direction. According the the guys the other car was likely totaled with damage from the hitch, all the way down the entire side of the car from front to back. They took the other car away on a wrecker.

The moral of the story, "If you going to be rear ended, do it in a Durango!". 

I had a similar rear end in my suburban about 2 weeks prior to yours and the guy was in a ground scraping rice burner driving to close to my bumper and a car pulled out in front of me running a red light into my turn lane.  He hit me and lost part of his bumper and while pulling over he decided to drag his bumper with him while flooring it to get away.   No damage to me and just traded the suburban for a newer durango and love it so far.

[bearpaw]

Idaho 7x8 Bull
I wished I was posting a photo of a big 7x8 bull, Nick says it's the biggest bull he's ever called in. The bull come running in looking for action, the hunter was very excited and shot right over the bull at 6 to 8 yards. The bull ran off and Nick called him back to 22 yards and the hunter missed again. We just seem to be jinxed on getting elk killed this bow season.

Maybe tomorrow...

Utah Mule Deer
In a few days we'll be hunting mule deer on our ranch in Utah. We have a father/son hunt, Jeff is in his 60's and his dad Jack I think is 88 now. They have hunted the ranch for the last 9 years with us. They say this is their favorite deer hunt ever. Last year Jack got sick and had to quit hunting, but that is was only the 2nd time he hadn't filled his deer tag there, pretty good for a hunter of his age. I do still have a couple hunts avauilable for this ranch, season runs till Nov 10.