Bearpaw Season - Spring 2016

[bearpaw]

Didn't see any bear this weekend but had to snap a photo of these elk for sale  and an awesome sunset!

[RadSav]

Posting to tag.  Waiting for the opening day bird pics!  Hope there are a lot of happy hunters


If you find any big bulls  "For Sale"  let me know - wife drew multi-season.

[bearpaw]

We've got 10 hunters in camp, 3 Mike's, 2 Jims, Cheryl, Kurt, Fred, Doug, and Charlie plus a wife non-hunter. Opening day was great, every hunter saw multiple longbeards, they killed 8 birds the first morning, and missed four, so 12 birds were shot at before lunch. We had a leisurely lunch and headed back out for the evening hunt which turned out to be nearly as good as the morning hunt, 5 more birds hit the dirt with no misses, so we finished the day with the "LUCKY 13"! 

Doug was done first, guide Brian and Doug used the cover of darkness to get Doug in close to the roost, some of the birds flew down, the first big gobbler strutted within easy range and Doug smoked him, another big gobbler saw big tom #1 go down and took the chance to"settle an old score", tom #2 ran over and attacked poor old tom #1 in his time of need. Doug said the feathers were flying off big tom #1 and tom #2 wouldn't hold still for a shot. Finally, before tom #1 was completely plucked, Doug was able to put the smack down on tom #2. So it was wham, bam, two toms slammed, I love it when a plan comes together!
  

Guide Brian dropped off Mike V in a blind on a ridge the birds always use. Early in the morning Mike V nailed a dandy longbeard but stayed on the ridge. Brian went to get Mike V for lunch, as he was driving in to get Mike a nice tom was standing in the road not far from Mike, the tom turned and ran up the road, as luck would have it the tom ran right up to where Mike was sitting, the tom stopped and Mike hammered his 2nd tom. Nice going Mike, we''ll take a little luck any day.

Guide Ray had Mike L and Charlie, they set up in two spots close to roosts. At daylight the birds flew down and Charlie missed 4 times, oooooops! They hunted a bit more and decided to jump in the truck and drove a few miles to a different property and set up by the wedding arch. "The landowner had married his wife on the property under that arch". It wasn't long and a tom strutted out by the wedding arch, Mike L took careful aim and whammo, big bird down, he shot right through the wedding arch, we'll call that bird the "wedding tom".

In the afternoon guide Ray and Charlie spotted a nice tom working a field edge, they snuck up through a creek bottom and crawled up to the field, Charlie drilled that tom. Good going Charlie! 

I put Fred in position well before daylight with a dozen long beards roosted close. Mike S and I headed over to a different roost about 1/4 mile away. At daylight our birds  came off the roost but went the other way into the neighbors place so we headed over to some other birds we had heard, the problem is they were in an open field and henned up, I couldn't get them to come. We headed around a different way to try and get closer but ran into some jakes and had to freeze, finally the jakes went out of sight so we inched closer but the jakes came back so we were pinned down again. As we sat there another group of 6 jakes came around the hillside marching right toward us, Mike decided to take one of the jakes, BOOM, that jake goes flopping down the hillside, I said "Lets stay still, maybe the tom will run over to take advantage of the downed bird!". We sat and watched as 25 more jakes came running over to see "what happened to Bill", but the hen and tom stayed out in the field. It was pretty cool watching 25 jakes running around their fallen brother "Bill", and then they all took off running across the field. We messed around the rest of the morning but only got onto jakes and hens. Fred had a couple toms fairly close but wasn't sure they were quite close enough so he didn't shoot. We loaded Mike's jake and headed back for lunch.

In the afternoon we put Fred in a little different spot and Mike and I went after a tom that guide Daniel had seen by a waterhole. Mike and I were headed to the waterhole and spotted four toms in a pasture. Mike put a sneak on the birds and dropped a nice tom to finish off his hunt. We took photos and headed back to see if we would see the tom at the waterhole, along the way we saw fresh bear tracks and woohoo a pile of bear poo "the earliest I've found fresh poo". We made it back to the waterhole and sure enough the tom was there, we watched him a while and snapped a few photos and then went back to the house to clean our bird.

[bearpaw]

On opening morning guide Daniel set his hunters "Virginia Jim" and "Oregon Jim' in two different locations. It was looking good for Oregon Jim and his wife but the birds went a different direction and the morning was a bust for them, they never had birds within shooting range. Virginia Jim was posted at a place where the birds like to cross a fence. Mid morning a nice tom come strutting in and Virginia Jim nailed him, nice shooting Jim! 

In the afternoon Daniel hunted a different property with both Jims. Virginia Jim didn't have any shooting opportunities but Oregon Jim had good luck and nailed a good bird, so the Jims finished the day with one bird each. Virginia Jim had hunted with us about 15 years ago, he was working on a "Certified State Slam, that's a bird from all 49 states that have turkey with submitted paperwork including references certifying all the birds." He killed a bird with us then and he has told us that he finished his Certified State Slam and is one of only 3 hunters who have completed a Certified State Slam. Now he is working on the 2nd Certified State Slam and hopes to be the first person to complete two Certified State Slams. He is hunting nine states this spring, he hunted Montana the first of the week, he hunted with us, and tomorrow he is headed to Idaho and then to Oregon and California.

My wife Tara had two hunters, Cheryl and Kurt, she had them both hunting in good spots, Kurt missed a couple times but Cheryl only saw hens on the morning hunt. In the afternoon we had them both move just a little but still hunting the same general area. Kurt saw a lot of hens but didn't see any toms in the afternoon. It wasn't long after getting in position and Cheryl had a big tom come in and she hammered that bird. About an hour passed and here came another tom, she smacked another good tom so her hunt was finished. Nice going Cheryl! 

We finished the day with the "LUCKY 13" and five of our hunters tagged out!   

[bearpaw]

2nd Day of Season
We had five hunters left in camp who needed 7 birds. We strategized where everyone should hunt for the best odds of success. Guide Daniel took Oregon Jim to the waterhole where we both had seen a nice tom and he took Virginia Jim back to the fence line where he had killed his bird the day before. I set Fred up on the same roosted birds as the opening morning, and Ray went back to the newly named "Reload Ridge" where the birds were missed the day before. Kurt hunted the same area as Cheryl had killed her birds.

Oregon Jim smacked a good tom at the waterhole early. Meanwhile Virginia Jim had fallen asleep waiting for the birds to come off the roost. He suddenly awoke with a tom a few feet from him, he was surprised and so was the tom, it took off running to get under the fence, Jim missed him twice, then the tom turned direction, Jim fired his last cartridge and dropped the bird at 60 yards with hevishot. He said he was so rattled that those first two shots were probably way off, he knew that last shot was his last chance at that bird and made it count. Nice going JIm! 

Guide Ray took Charlie and Mike L back to the newly named "Reload Ridge". When the birds came off the roost and came to the guys they missed twice but made the third shot count. Mike was tagged out, now Ray could concentrate on Charlie. They went to a different property and spotted a good tom working his way up along side a pasture. They worked around and got in position, the tom walked within range and Charlie dropped him which finished his hunt, nice going Charlie! 

We had Fred watching the same birds as the day before, but once again they avoided coming within range so the morning was a bust for Fred. Guide Brian picked up Fred early and took him over to a different property, it was the right move, within two hours Fred had two nice toms and they were headed back for lunch. Meanwhile Kurt waited and waited but saw no toms, only hens. Everyone was finished now except Kurt, we had lunch and decided to get Kurt right back out hunting. He saw three toms but not within range. A couple hours went by and three jakes came by, two of them were lined up so Kurt tried for a twofer, he nailed them both with one shot, sweet, I love it when a plan comes together. All 10 hunters were tagged out by 4pm on the 2nd day, I think that's the best hunt we've ever had.

[Big game archer]

Nice job guys!!

[Ripper]

Nice job thinning out the turkey population. I hope to nail my first bird this year.

[Trapper John]

Nice Birds 

I hope to get out by the end of the month, I just have to much going on the next two weeks.   

Keep up the good work Bearpaw
JC   

[Shooting Stix]

Nice birds looks like there is plenty flying around I am new to the turkey hunting concept and was wondering what type of turkey are those if I get into it I would like to get the slam

[Big game archer]

Nice birds looks like there is plenty flying around I am new to the turkey hunting concept and was wondering what type of turkey are those if I get into it I would like to get the slam

Those are merriams. There are some Rios and a lot of rio/Merriam hybrids on the east side as well, but ne corner is merriams.

[Shooting Stix]

Ok that's cool maybe one day I will get my first turkey

[bearpaw]

SECOND HUNT
First Day: We had a great group of hunters in camp, Travis from Pennsylvania who is doing the State Slam and forum member crowinghen (her husband bought her the hunt I donated to Washington State Bowhunters). I set crowing hen up at my friend's property and took Travis to another property. Crowing hen nailed a dandy tom and Travis also called in nailed a very nice tom, it was a great morning! 

Forum member buckhorn2 and his friend Justin arrived in the afternoon, they got settled in a cabin and were ready to hunt. In the afternoon I was stuck at home finishing taxes so guide Daniel took all the hunters to a different property in the afternoon and set them all up for the evening hunt. We had a master plan but it simply wasn't as masterfull as I thought and the evening hunt was a complete bust. Nonetheless we lamented over dinner about the success we had in the morning and what we would do the next morning. It was a risky gamble after no success in the afternoon but I wanted to hunt the same property again in the morning. I had seen over 130 birds including almost 40 toms and jakes just a couple days before season opened, they couldn't have all jumped on a spaceship and went to Mars! 

Second Day: UUUGGGHHHH I was still stuck at home working on taxes so guide Daniel took Travis and crowinghen to the same property and set them up for the morning hunt. Guide Brian took buckhorn2 and Justin each to different properties. I had told crowinghen that her husband could shoot her 2nd bird if they wanted. On the 2nd morning hubby slammed a dandy 9 7/8", Travis smoked another big 9 7/8",  and buckhon2 got a dandy bird with three beards, it had 17" of beard, what an awesome morning, awesome shooting everyone!

Crowinghen and hubby headed home, Travis was headed to Nebraska next so after lunch he hit the bed to rest. Guide Daniel took buckhorn2 and Justin to a different property in the afternoon. They really weren't gone very long when Justin got his 2 toms and buckhorn2 got his 2nd tom. Awesome shooting again, "I love it when a plan comes together"! 

With everyone tagged out we are now at 31 birds for the season with no one having to hunt more than 2 days. Unfortunately we don't have many more turkey hunters so the turkey success photos are probably going to slow down some now. I want to mention how much fun we've had with all the hunters this year, just awesome people!

[sirmissalot]

We'll see you in a week Dale, hopefully we can help you out with some more trophy pictures 

[bearpaw]

We'll see you in a week Dale, hopefully we can help you out with some more trophy pictures 

looking forward to it, see you then 

[bearpaw]

We had another hunter who started hunting yesterday but we were unable to close the deal on any toms. Right at dark guide Daniel and Scott roosted a bird that they went after this morning. Unfortunately at daylight the tom didn't want to play hens & toms, he took off the other way. Daniel and Scott worked around and put a stalk on the tom on a big ridgetop which nearly paid off, but the tom was one baby step ahead of them and got away.

They went to the other side of the property and made a move on a couple other birds, Scott was able to put the smack down on a dandy tom with 1"+ spurs. next they changed properties and spotted a few more birds. After a very long stalk they were within range, the tom dissipated somewhere into the cover so Scott decided to lower the hammer on a Jake. They were tagged out back early for lunch. Good going guys!