Bearpaw Season - Fall 2015

[JimmyHoffa]

They use the trucks to make their profits.  Lots of the consumers that want trucks are fixed on a few brands and will pay the extra.  The smaller cars get sold near cost.  So the trucks subsidize the cars.

[JJB11B]

those 7.3 fords are worth a Mint here in my area, farmers love em. Rarely find them for sale. I got $9500 out of my 99 F350 with 235K miles on it when I traded it in, and it needed massive transmission work....but back to Dales hunting stuff.

Those cats are awesome! I would love to do that someday!

[bearpaw]

After Ken got his cat we concentrated on finding a tom for Adam. On day 4 all we found were female tracks, on day 5 we found tracks of 5 cats, one definite tom, another pretty nice looking track, and 3 definite females. We decided I would work on the 2nd best track while Brian tried to work out the bigger tom. The problem was that the bigger tom was down in the low sage brush country and close to private ground. He walked that track while I put my dogs on the next best track. Our plan was that hopefully he could find the bigger tom before we caught and killed the cat we were chasing.

I walked the dogs up the track a few steps and the dogs all opened up barking, I released the hounds and the chase was on. The track had drifted in some places and a few times the dogs struggled but eventually worked it out every time. They were now covering ground pretty fast. I went to the nearest summit and listened, the dogs were way up the canyon, their howling was barely echoing out. We drove around to a different summit on the other side of the dogs, I had to make several runs breaking trail and then we were able to get everyone in to where we could hear the dogs better. We decided they were treed but couldn't tell exactly where they were. We decided to just take off walking and when we got closer we would be able to go directly to them.

We were getting close, I had the video camera out when we spotted the cat 100 yards away. It was climbing all over the tree and the dogs were going wild. We closed the gap to 50 yards and the cat jumped, with dogs in hot pursuit the cat headed to the bottom of the canyon. They treed the cat again in a few hundred yards and we approached again, we got to within about 50 yards and the cat jumped again heading down canyon with dogs right behind. In a few hundred yards the cat treed again, this time he went farther up the tree. We approached quickly, Daniel leashed the dogs, Adam prepared for the shot, and I had the video rolling. "He's a little better cat than I thought, take careful aim and put a bullet right through his chest, shoot again if he doesn't fall out!"

Adam made a good shot, the cat jumped but wasn't making good time and soon went down within 100 yards, Adam and Daniel approached the downed cat cautiously and Adam finished him off. We took photos and then headed down canyon with the dogs and cat. Brian never did get the bigger cat going and came with his snowmobile to a road down the canyon from us. We all loaded onto his Phazer and dog box sled, 5 hunters, three dogs, and the dead cougar, that was about 1300 pounds, a real test of that machine! 

Adam and Ken were on cloud nine after having both killed nice cats and getting exactly what they wanted for their mounts, a tom and a female. Congrats guys on a great hunt!

[WapitiTalk1]

Love reading about your adventures sir. Really appreciate you taking the time to write them up 

[bearpaw]

We went cat hunting one day after xmas with a friend, no luck finding a tom but it was a fun day as usual. Found a fresh wolf track, we had a rifle and wolf tags but didn't get to see the wolf. I sure wished I could have set some traps around that stump the wolf stopped and peed on!

I must have just missed seeing a female and yearling cougar, it was snowing pretty good and there was no snow in the tracks, the photo shows where they jumped off the road!

We had one little mishap where our friend took an alternate route! Obviously he ate a little crow over that!

[Mark251]

Great story and pictures!  Dale, thank you for your posts 

[Jonathan_S]

Awesome hunts!  That Redbone female has the funniest look on her face 

[bearpaw]

Blake our hunter just dropped this 130 pound Tom. The cat had treed once then jumped, the dogs treed him again, Brian and Blake pushed their way through waist deep snow to get to this cat. Brian leashed the dogs and Blake shot the cat. It jumped again, they pursued a short distance and Ruby the terrier bayed the cat and Blake finished it off. I love it when a plan comes together. 

They will finish photos, skin and butcher the cat and head out to the snowmobiles where I am waiting with Blake's parents.

[cbond3318]

Outstanding !! 

[bearpaw]

Dad taking photo of mom while we wait. The guys are over a mile up the mountain from us where the snow is much deeper.

[bearpaw]

Two snowmobiles were in the shop so I gritted my teeth and ordered a new Tundra! Today is the first day with it, we are breaking it in right. This thing is incredible, totally awesome for what we do, it stays on top of the snow better than any machine I've tried.

[bearpaw]

those 7.3 fords are worth a Mint here in my area, farmers love em. Rarely find them for sale. I got $9500 out of my 99 F350 with 235K miles on it when I traded it in, and it needed massive transmission work....but back to Dales hunting stuff.

Those cats are awesome! I would love to do that someday!

I got the 03 Ford back on Friday, rear main seal was gone and a bolt behind the oil filter was leaking. They also did a few other minor things, the bill was a little under $1200, ouch! I drove it and it seems to run as good as before so hopefully there was no engine damage. Wife thinks I should keep it, I actually like driving it better than the dodge, but the dodge does get better mileage and seems to have more power. Might keep both trucks!

[BOWHUNTER45]

NICE ...Good job Blake !

[GrainfedMuley]

Blake our hunter just dropped this 130 pound Tom. The cat had treed once then jumped, the dogs treed him again, Brian and Blake pushed their way through waist deep snow to get to this cat. Brian leashed the dogs and Blake shot the cat. It jumped again, they pursued a short distance and Ruby the terrier bayed the cat and Blake finished it off. I love it when a plan comes together. 

They will finish photos, skin and butcher the cat and head out to the snowmobiles where I am waiting with Blake's parents.

Dale, is that one of those bad so-called assault rifle he is holding?  Or is it OK because it is cammoed? But that does bring up a question that I had never thought about. Is there a minimum caliber for hunting cats? I realize a .22lr is out of the question. Just wondering.

[jackelope]

.22 centerfire is minimum in Washington. Not sure where Dale is or what the law says there.