Bearpaw Season - Fall 2014

[bearpaw]

We saw on average about 12 bucks per day on the Montana hunt and probably three of them were 135-150ish bucks. My hunter (Tim) an elderly gentleman from Indiana hunts with us every year. Tim has vision issues so there are a lot of bucks that he can't see until they run away which usually happens with the biggest bucks and many of the bucks I spot he never sees at all. He really likes eating wild game and shoots at least one doe and a buck every year.

Tim shot two porcupines on the first day and a whitetail doe the second morning and then we concentrated on bucks. Tim wanted to shoot a mule deer buck this year but we didn't see the right mule deer buck so he shot a nice mature 4x4 whitetail on the last day. He has trouble holding the gun steady and didn't make a good shot. I tracked the buck a few hundred yards and we saw him once but he ran off without problem, then we tracked until almost dark and then lost the tracks, we circled in the timber hoping to see the buck but no luck.

There were only a couple minutes of shooting time left, I was giving up the search, suddenly I spotted large antlers moving in the thick brush, I pulled up the binos and saw it was a big buck that hadn't seen us and he was only about 70 yards away. He appeared to be 18 to 20 inches wide with the longer tines being 10 to 12 inches, I quick figured he was a 150ish buck. I got Tim on the shooting stick and pointed in the right direction but he couldn't see the buck. All of a sudden the buck started walking straight toward us. I whispered "Can you see him, he's walking straight toward us?" Tim whispered "No, I can't see him." The buck came to within 30 yards and stopped. I moved Tim's gun a little and he said "I got him!" Just then the buck ran to the left and stopped at 50 yards again. I pointed Tim and the gun in the right direction, Tim whispered "I got him." Just then the buck bolted again and disappeared into the thick trees. That was the end of our hunt as darkness was quickly closing.

I sent Tim following a small creek to the nearest road and I went back for the truck, on the way back I think I jumped the wounded buck at 20-30 yards in heavy cover, it ran off again without a problem. It was a good hunt, we saw lots of bucks, had lots of fun, but Tim only got to take home a doe this year.

See you next year Tim! 

[bearpaw]

Bill hunts with us 3 or 4 times a year, usually for turkey, bear, deer, and elk. He just completed a cow elk hunt with us in Idaho. This yearling cow will provide some excellent eating, congrats Bill. 

[bearpaw]

Another good week at Bearpaw Outfitters, 2 moose and 2 elk taken this week by Clarence, Curtis, and Jeremiah Johnson, they will be loaded heavy on their way home. Pictures are of Jeremiah with his cow moose and cow elk that he killed the same day, that doesn't happen very often.

[bearpaw]

Curtis Johnson with his young cow elk, wow, that will be some premier table fare. Congrats Curtis!

[bearpaw]

We've been knocking down a few Washington whitetails. The recent cold weather is bringing on the rut activity, bucks are making scrapes, rubbing, and chasing does.

I had two hunters who shot 11 times at a 4 point buck chasing does two days ago, the buck was so intent on the does that he didn't care that the guys were shooting at him. In the defense of the guys shooting, they were shooting from 300 to 400 yards and had never shot farther than 100-150 in the past.

Yesterday we were on another 4x4 at close range in heavy cover, but he didn't give us a shot opportunity.

This morning one of the guys, Travis and I spotted a 3x3, Travis hit him in the front leg, then in the shoulder and knocked down, the buck got back up and the third hit got a hind leg and the buck's manhood, that was it, after that third hit in his manhood, the buck keeled over dead, he had no reason to live.

This afternoon Joe made a one shot kill on a 2x2, this was Travis' first deer hunt, congrats to Travis and Joe.

[bearpaw]

Yesterday we sacked up 3 bucks. The best was a big 5x5 taken by an unguided hunter using one of my trophy maps.

[bearpaw]

Today was an awesome day, we killed 5 bucks, here are photos of two more of the bucks.

[bowhunterwa87]

Awesome!

[bearpaw]

Another nice whitetail taken on our Montana hunt, here is the short story from Nick:

"Rattled him into 43 yards, raked some brush too. Three other smaller bucks came in first, this buck came in downwind but didn't seem to mind the scent. Pretty thick cover, lasted about 6 minutes, the buck went 80-100 yards after a heart shot with the bow."

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Lots of good action!

[bearpaw]

Doyce just smoked this 4x4 buck as it come by chasing a doe.

[bearpaw]

Kenny, a disabled hunter from California just tagged this 5x5 Washington Whitetail this afternoon. Nice going Kenny!

[carpsniperg2]

Lot's of great critters.

[bearpaw]

I just got notice of a cancellation the last 3 days of season Nov 17-19, hunting has been outstanding with 100% shooting on the late season guided hunts. We need 4 more hunters between now and Nov 19.

[Ripper]

Hey Dale, my friend Jerry and his son are hunting with you right now. I've been telling him for a couple of years to checkout/join this site and he hasn't  done it. Make sure to give him a hard time about it. Lol I heard that he got a 5x4 whitetail today, Im happy for him.