Bearpaw Season - Fall 2015

[bearpaw]

We've killed numerous 150's to 170's bucks, nothing for the book yet, a few of those got away! 
We just finished a hunt where the guy wanted a 200 class buck, unfortunately he told me that after he arrived. That's a pretty tall order that we rarely see, maybe 1 to 3 this year and they all got away. He killed a 160-170 buck next to the last day of his hunt and left a bit disappointed. Numbers get thrown around so much these days on TV and in magazines that most people don't realize how unique even a 180 buck really is!

I will do some catching up on this topic soon, I've just been busy as heck hunting, we've really had a great season overall so far, unfortunately even on the good years there always seems to be a handful of hunts that don't turn out like we wished they would. I guess that's why they call it hunting and not shooting or getting! But overall it's been very good hunting. Here's a hunt I just finished:

THE WOUNDED BUCK - DAY ONE
I just finished another mule deer hunt, we passed 16 bucks the first day of this hunt including a 4x4 with a fresh leg wound, as bad as I wanted to kill that buck since he was wounded, I honestly had to tell the guy I thought we could do better. That evening we missed #17, a nice buck with heavy antlers even with the outside edge of his ears. We had spotted the buck with a couple other bucks just before dark, we jumped back in my rig and we rushed around as close as I dare and then hoofed it over the ridge top, unfortunately I had driven too close and I think they heard the rig, when we poked our heads over the rise they were all looking right at us and boogied, they stopped a ways out and we missed, darn it. We watched them run a mile and hook up with another small herd. We beat feet around, quietly and out of sight, and got within range again, but it was close to the end of shooting hours and with the dark shadows and bright sunset in the background my hunter couldn't see the buck in his scope, we decided to back off and come back at daylight, I figured the buck would be somewhere in the big basin.

THE WOUNDED BUCK - DAY TWO
It was overcast the next morning, I figured we had that buck in the bag. We slipped in on foot and was waiting as it got daylight, bummer, no deer at all within sight, not even a doe!    We hoofed it around to several canyons managed to scare off a nice whitetail buck that we couldn't get a shot at and then headed back to the rig mid morning. We cruised around and spotted the rest of the morning and then had lunch with my hunters wife back in town. I had a pounding head ache for some reason but some Ibuprofen and Pizza Hunt seemed to cure everything. We headed back out hunting as it began a light drizzle, I told my hunter I could feel it was deer killing time. The deer were really moving we had seen 47 does and 17 bucks that day, we suddenly spotted #18 buck, my hunter got in shooting position, the buck was frozen broadside in the open and looked good enough so I told him to take his time and make a good shot. WHAMMO, "I think you missed" I said as the buck ran into the brush, but then I noticed the buck started to falter as he went out of sight. "I hit him" Todd stated and we watched closely for a few minutes until we decided he must be down. We approached cautiously, I went to the right where I could look into the brush from the other side. "Here he is!" I hollered to Todd and we both approached the fallen buck. Todd had hit him perfectly. "Look, it's the wounded buck from yesterday" I stated as I saw the wound about 6 inches above the right front hoof. "He's a little bigger than I thought he was!" We set up the buck got some nice photos and then I quickly gutted him and we were out before dark. Todd said it was his best buck yet and plans to mount it, so that was good to hear. I love it when a plan comes together and best of all we utilized the freshly wounded buck after all. 

[bearpaw]

TIM'S DOES IT AGAIN
Tim has been hunting with us every year for about 10 years. He comes the same dates every year except for two years he was in the hospital fighting for his life. One year he had gotten bitten by a tick, a few days before the hunt his wife called practically crying and told me he was in the hospital, wouldn't be able to hunt, and wasn't sure he would make it. He mostly recovered although after effects are causing him to slowly go blind. He hunted the next year and then the following year he was hit by a car while riding his bike. WOW, the poor guy nearly died again and was unable to hunt. But since then he has made it every year. We've been successful every year on a buck and a doe, except last year the buck he shot the last day ran off with no blood trail, I recovered the antlers a week or so later and sent them.

THE DESTINY BUCK - DAY ONE
I met Tim before daylight for the hunt, he put his gear in the truck and we headed for the hunt area. I asked him how he's been doing, "I'm just a little older and blinder!" he joked, even though I seriously knew he was being brutally honest. We usually drive around, visit while we hunt, stop a lot and do a lot of glassing, then when we spot a good one we either shoot it or stalk closer, we react however we need to react to try and make it happen. This year was no different except I noticed it did seem Tim had a little harder time seeing the deer. Sadly his situation is irreversible, his eyesight is slowly and surely dissipating! But still, when I'd spot deer he would either use his binoculars or his rifle scope and search for them, eventually he would see about 50% of the deer that I spotted if they didn't run off. About 11 am I spotted a good 4x5 muley buck that was bedded down with some does. We got about 180 yards from the buck and set up for the shot. Tim searched while I tried to explain exactly where the buck was laying, he could see some of the does but could not find the buck. After several minutes the buck stood up, awesome Tim spotted him, he moved around a little, fed a couple minutes and just when I thought Tim was going to shoot the buck layed down again. 

Tim lost him, he searched and I tried to explain where the buck was laying, quit a bit of time passed and finally the buck stood up again, "I got him!" Tim exclaimed. The buck moved around a little and I told Tim to take his time the buck wasn't going anywhere. BOOM, I seen the bullet hit the buck, a fairly solid hit but not perfect, a little low, the buck ran behind some trees then stopped, after a couple minutes he bedded down again so I knew he was hit fairly good. Tim couldn't find him so the only option was to move closer. We slowly started moving closer but the buck seen us and got up and darted a short distance then layed down again. This time we were able to get into a little draw and work closer while staying out of sight. Soon I could see the deer's antlers sticking up, we moved to the side a bit and inched closer keeping a tree between us and the bucks vision path. We got within 50 yards and then moved slightly to the side so Tim could see the buck to finish him off, but he couldn't see him! We inched closer, suddenly the buck looked toward us, dang, but the movement caught Tim's eye and he settled the gun on my shooting stick, BOOM, the buck jumped up and headed straight toward us, Tim raised the gun, I dropped the shooting stick as I prepared to try and grab the oncoming buck by the horns in an attempt to save us getting gored. BOOM, Tim shot again at less than 10 yards and hit the buck, it veered sideways, BOOM Tim shot again and that dropped the buck but he was still alive, although unable to get up. We moved up closer and I told Tim to shoot again which he was reluctant to do, he loves deer meat and hated to spoil any more meat.

REFLECTIONS
In a couple minutes the deer finally expired while we were lamenting on what might have happened had that buck got to us. Would I have been able to grab the horns and prevent injury or would I have been gored? Gladly we will never know! I don't think I've ever looked at a buck so long and watched him the way we did before shooting. Then to have the wounded buck jump up after he spotted us and run straight at us after getting shot again, when he knew we were there, one has to wonder exactly what was going through the mind of that buck? At any rate this buck was destined to become Tim's buck and thankfully no hunters or guides were harmed in the making of this story! One thing is for certain, I know what some of our conversation will be during next years hunt! 

[Mark251]

What a great season!  Congratulations Dale 

[wsmnut]

Great stories Dale!  Thanks for taking the time to tell us a bit of them.

[Duffer]

Way to go Tim!

I'd love to meet him one day

[RadSav]

Bearpaw training video

[Bean Counter]

 

That guy's got bigger stones than I!!!

[GrainfedMuley]

He should go to jail for animal harassment. What was the benificial reason why anybody would do that? Ecxept a redneck try to find his gonads.

[bearpaw]

Bill traveled from Alabama to get a Shiras Moose for the North American slam he is working on. On the first day of his hunt he missed a good bull and on the second day he took this bull, not as big as the first day bull, but still a decent representative bull. Yesterday we all went trout fishing for rainbows and brookies and then grouse hunting with a 100+ year old antique .410 shotgun. Later last night we had an awesome fish fry and some tasty grouse mcnuggets. Life is good! 

[bearpaw]

Number 39
On the first morning of Richard's hunt the first deer we saw was a dandy, probably a 160ish buck, we agreed that if we didn't see a better buck we would be back to look for this one, we looked at 23 bucks the first day of his hunt and #1 was the best. We even looked for #1 again last thing right at dark. On the second morning we checked for #1 again but no luck. We looked at another 15 bucks but none were as good as #1. By noon we were wishing we had not passed #1 because none of the other bucks we had seen had as good of tines as #1. About 1pm we decided to take a lunch break, we were headed down  the mountain when I spotted two does. Pretty soon there were 7 does and then a decent buck popped into view. We looked him over close, he wasn't as good as #1 and he was a young buck his horns were not very heavy. We had definitely passed numerous older bucks, but this buck had pretty decent forks and if Richard could get steady enough he decided he might take a shot. I set up two shooting bags and Richard settled the crosshairs on the buck. The buck was right at 405 yards, the wind was blowing almost straight toward the buck so I didn't think we needed to compensate much for that. I suggested holding between 6 to 12 inches over the back, his 300WSM was sighted dead on at 200. We watched for about 15 minutes as the buck was facing us feeding, finally he turned a little and took a couple steps left, I told Richard to get ready, I was waiting for him to take another step, he wasn't completely clear of the brush, BOOM, the buck dropped like a sack of potatoes. I wasn't expecting the shot yet but Richard said it felt good so he shot. We later learned the shot hit the base of the neck and took out the spine, that did the trick, the buck never got up. We drove back to the top of the ridge and hiked around the top and down the ridge the buck was on. It was real steep ground so I opted to bone out the buck after our photo session. I cleaned off the bones well, loaded my pack and headed up the ridge, I'm not the same man I used to be in my younger years, LOL, it was a pretty heavy load and I stopped to rest many times. But we were back to the truck before dark and headed home with a buck in back. The buck was the 39th buck we looked at, he wasn't as good as #1 but he was good enough for Richard and that's what counts. Congrats Richard on a fun and successful hunt!

[Killmore]

Love the short stories What state is that in? Are you doing any Montana whitetail hunts this year?

[Mark251]

Great stories...great adventures!  Thank you 

[bearpaw]

Love the short stories What state is that in? Are you doing any Montana whitetail hunts this year?

Yes we are hunting whitetails and mulies in MT, I have been busy but will post a few stories asap.

[hunting4sanity]

Great thread, lots of good critters and those fishing pics look very intriguing.  I've been to Dale's before and this thread is making me realize I need to return - soon.

[bearpaw]

Day 1
I met Len the first morning of his hunt at the motel at 6:15, we made a quick stop for coffee and a breakfast snack, topped off the fuel tank and headed out to the ranch. Len said he had shot his rifle a week earlier and it was right on at 100 yards. We saw numerous bucks right off, nearly as many bucks as does that morning. About 11 AM we headed up a small ridge, just as we got to the top a big mulie took off, this buck was really tuned up, the first time I'd seen him on the property, I think he was pushed in by other hunters on neighboring properties, he was not stopping or standing around, he was getting out of Dodge!

We watched him cross a large open area and enter a big brushy draw, I said "Let's get over there as fast as we can, circle around and see if we can get a look at him from the other side." We headed around and got to the other side of the brush, just as I spotted the buck he spotted us and took off again, Len barely had a look before the buck was gone and really no chance to shoot. I still have not seen that buck again, I guestimated him to be about a 160ish buck, too bad we didn't get a shot. We took a break for lunch and then hunted the evening seeing many more bucks, mostly whitetails. We saw three shooter whitetail bucks that day but they were all too fast, we never fired a shot. I think we finished the day seeing 23 bucks!

Day 2
The next morning early we got onto a good bunch of deer in a timber lot, we sat and watched a while and soon saw some does, then more does, then a nice heavy horned buck came into view at about 130-150 yards. Len settled the crosshairs on the buck and WHAMMO, the buck turned and ran off unhurt. We looked for blood but nothing. I suggested we shoot the gun so we headed to a distant spot on the property, set up a target and proceeded to waste a box of shells, finally after 18 shots and tightening a scope mount screw we had a bullet hole right where we wanted it.

We hunted about 20 minutes and spotted another good buck, the buck disappeared into a thick woodlot so we just sat there for a while watching for him. After about 30 minutes we could see the buck moving through the timber straight toward us. I whispered to Len to get ready and I turned and watched the buck with my binos. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Len take aim, the buck was at about 60 yards, BOOM, I watched the buck run off, but I had seen no impact! The deer didn't run that far, I could still see him moving slowly through the timber, he was settling back down. I whispered to Len, "He didn't go that far, we might get another shot!" About 20 or 30 minutes passed and a smaller buck wandered by, then another 20 or 30 minutes and another smaller buck wandered by. It was just a few more minutes and here comes the bigger buck, about 60 yards again, just a few yards from where we had shot at him less than an hour before, Len settled the crosshairs on the buck, WHAMMO, the buck flinched but ran off seemingly unhurt. I was sure he had hit the buck but I couldn't find any blood or the buck anywhere. That burned up the balance of Day 2 looking for that buck.

Day 3
I thought about it that evening, in the morning we hunted a while and then I told Len we better shoot his gun again. We went to the target area and sure enough the gun hit about 8 inches low at 50 yards! I said" There's still something wrong with your scope, you better use my gun." Len put away his gun, I uncased my gun and we went back to town to get cartridges from my room. I gave Len a handful of cartridges, then we drove back out to the ranch and back to hunting. We passed a couple small bucks and then saw a slightly better 4x3, missing an eye guard. He's not very big but we are just about out of time, if you want him you can shoot him, WHAMMO, buck down. Len said, "See I told you I could shoot!" The poor guy just needed a gun that didn't have problems, he had hit the deer perfectly it fell where it had stood. We had passed much better bucks, but Len was happy to get one down regardless that is was not a big buck. Congrats Len, I hope you can make it back next year and we'll put down one of those bigger bucks we saw.