Bearpaw Season - Fall 2014

[wsmnut]

Great stuff Dale.  Thanks!
Go Get'em Ray!

Wsmnut

[bearpaw]

Another Bear Missed At Close Range
Two bear spotted, shot fired at the close bear just before noon, bear did not act like a hit and we could not find any blood. The hunter shot her gun again at lunch and hit the target, hopefully she will have better luck on the next bear. 

Another Bull Spotted
Going after another bull this evening, hoping it comes together again. 

Photo from last night:

[elkoholic1]

 

[bearpaw]

FITZ'S BEAR HUNT DAY 2
Last night Daniel and our lady hunter were set up on the same berry patch again and two bear were working the berries. One bear was the white muzzle 200ish pound bear that she had missed twice on the first day of the hunt and the other bear was a new bear we have not seen before. They watched and listened, every now and then they would get a glimpse of one bear or the other, finally right near the end of shooting hours Fitz had her chance at the new bear. WHAMMO she put him down, Daniel watched the bear as he kicked around and then headed in the brush after him. By the time they were set up for photos it was pretty dark and the flash didn't work on the camera so the best picture is the picture of the rug/hide this morning. The bear (a big old barren sow) measured right at 6 feet, probably weighed somewhere around 240-250 pounds, definitely one of the larger sows we've taken. The third time was a charm, congrats to Fitz, sometimes I almost think misses are meant to happen because in the end she got the best bear seen. 

[bearpaw]

The elk hunting has been good, yesterday more bulls were found and called in, the hunter had a shot at a 3x3 so he decided to take the shot but didn't get him. This brother has had close range shot opportunities at 5 bulls, it seems he is just not meant to kill an elk this year. The other brother who killed the 4x5 has been giving him a pretty hard time, all in good nature of course.

There were thunder showers overnight and it cooled down, with the weather cooling down it should be another good day. I'm hoping a lethal shot comes together.

[boneaddict]

Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2014 9:07 AM
To: dale@bearpawoutfitters.com
Subject: BEST HUNT EVER!

Mr. Denney,

Just wanted to thank you again for the amazing hunt you and your staff provided. I hope to hunt cougars with Brian soon! Attached are a few pics.

Respectfully,
Mack Roberts

[/quote]

Whoa, that's a nice bear.

[irishevox]

Everytime i look at your success at guiding it makes me regret not doing that ranch hunt last year.

[bearpaw]

Lucky Number Seven

We got into elk again yesterday evening with the other brother Dave. Nick called and the bull slowly came in, first they could see the tops of the horns and then finally the bull was within sight, the 5x5 bull stopped and started to feed on a bush only 20 yards away, Dave released his arrow but it reflected off a small limb he hadn't seen, the bull trotted off 10 yards and looked back. Dave notched another arrow but just as he drew the bull trotted out of sight. The reality started to hit Dave, he had just watched bull number six walk out of his life, he wondered if that would be his last chance at an archery bull?

Suddenly they could hear another elk coming, they held their positions and waited. Dave only had two arrows left because he had lost numerous arrows earlier in the hunt, he knew if he got another chance that he had to make it count! As the elk came closer Dave could see horns coming so he knew it was a bull. As the bull moved closer Dave drew, another 5x5 bull stepped into full view and stopped to feed on the same exact bush as the last bull, this time Dave watched for a clear shot and released, the bull lunged forward and started to run but then slowed and stopped again only 30 yards away, Dave knocked another arrow and started to draw and then the bull slowly tipped over. Dave was overjoyed, he could hardly believe he finally had a bull down!

Last night was an epic night for the family, their first bow hunt ever and both brothers had killed bull elk. We had a huge dinner, king salmon, buffalo roast, bbq buffalo steaks, baked potatoes, salad, ice cream, and cheesecake. We stuffed ourselves and then ate some more. Everyone reflected on all the different events of the hunt, all the elk seen, bull moose, mule deer bucks, and misses, yes Michael got in a few more jabs about Dave's misses. 

The dad, Dave senior, in his seventies and still hunting as hard as he can, said he couldn't be happier that both his sons killed a bull elk with their bows, he said he was done hunting that they don't have room for any more elk. They all said in their wildest dreams they never expected to see so many bulls and actually kill an elk with their bows. The fact that they had killed two bull elk was just unbelievable.

I love it when a plan comes together.

[bearpaw]

2-Day Bear Hunt
We had another bear hunter in Washington that started hunting last Friday with Daniel. The pressure was on because Antonio only had 3 days to hunt, we normally set bear hunts up for 5 days. The first morning was a flop with no bear seen, In the afternoon Daniel went to a different location and spotted a bear just before dark at a little over 400 yards, too far to shoot. On the second day, Saturday morning they hunted a different area but saw nothing. After lunch they returned to the same place they saw the bear the first evening and just before dark a different bear popped out of the brush at only 20 yards, Daniel whispered "bear", Antonio turned and quickly dropped the bear. Not a big bear, probably a 2 year old sow, but Antonio was very happy, he spent the night and headed back home Sunday morning with his bear. Congrats to Antonio, hope you can make it back for a cougar hunt this winter!   

[Duffer]

Just incredible the density of bears over there this fall! Just think about the bears downed if all those misses had found their marks

Congrats to Antonio & Daniel 

[Lunchbox1981]

Awesome I have been waiting on this thread.  Always one of my favorites.

[buckhorn2]

Sounds like this will be another great season with lots of happy hunters sure like reading about the hunts and especially the salmon dinners.

[bearpaw]

Sounds like this will be another great season with lots of happy hunters sure like reading about the hunts and especially the salmon dinners.

So far this has been an excellent year, better than most, with dozens of shot opportunities already.

I'm playing housekeeper, chief cook, and bottle washer this week! I have three archery elk hunters arriving today, tonight I think we'll have king and silver salmon (thanks to buckhorn2), baked potatoes, fresh corn on the cob, green salad, with cheesecake and ice cream for desert.

Been having mixed weather with quite a bit of rain the last few days, the elk aren't talking as much. I have a hunter in camp who had a good mature bull close yesterday but no shot opportunity and three spikes were spotted at long distance. I'm hoping the weather settles for a few days and the elk fire back up, we have several good bulls in mind but need them talking, other wise we might have to go after those spikes if things are tough, I think we can get into them without having to call them. There is another big storm coming next weekend so we need to get into some good action as soon as possible.

[bearpaw]

The last week of archery season wasn't as good as the previous week, the bugle started winding down and not as many bulls were sighted. One spike was missed, another 1x2 was passed by two hunters, one large 300ish bull was spotted, a 350ish bull was seen at 80 yards but slipped away, and we killed a 5x6 bull. Still we had a great archery season with many bulls called in for our hunters.

Rob arrowed this 5x6 bull with guide Ray on the 3rd day of his hunt. The shot was a bit too far back, Ray tracked this elk for about 2 miles before it expired. This was Rob's first elk hunt, what a great introduction to elk hunting, congrats to Rob!

[bearpaw]

Utah Mule Deer Hunt
Got a call from the guides, hunters are all filled out and happy, but guides were disappointed in the size of the bucks, lots of young bucks 3x3's, 3x4's, and small 4x4's, the herd is rebounding but it would have been nice to have killed larger bucks. Next year should be really good if we have another mild winter. I'm glad everyone got their buck and all are happy, I will post some photos when I get them.

I was told one huge buck, largest we've ever seen on the ranch, was missed. The giant buck went into a large thicket, guide Ray tried pushing him out but the buck kept circling around in the brush and eventually disappeared somewhere without being seen again. To date our two largest bucks off the ranch are a nontypical 24" buck that the hunter said gross scored 204 and a 32 incher that was old and heavy. I'm hoping one of the 4 remaining hunters later in the season will get the huge buck.

Here's photos of the two largest bucks off the ranch (so far) and a cougar kill we found after the mice found him: