Bearpaw Season - Fall 2016

[bearpaw]

What To Shoot?
Daniel, Eric, and Dustin all from North Carolina came out for their first western hunt. The big rains had started and game wasn't moving but on the first day Daniel dropped the nice bull elk in the photo in the previous post. I sent Troy (our packer) with some of the horses to pack out the bull so the group could continue hunting for Eric and Dustin who were both hunting mule deer. Guide Nick focused on a slightly different area than where Daniel shot the bull, but the rain was relentless every day all day. Dustin and Eric hunted hard with Nick, in spite of the heavy rain they found and passed several bucks trying to find the "right ones". On day four the rain changed to snow, on day five they were back in an area looking for one of the bucks they had passed, Nick spotted a buck and started to point it out when the other guys spotted a cougar right behind the buck, the cougar was actively stalking the buck and was just about to get the buck, in Idaho your deer tag can be used on a cougar, Eric made a quick decision and shot the buck, the cougar turned and ran off, the guys all looked at each other not hardly believing what they had just witnessed. As it turns out that buck had been shot before, he had an old gunshot wound from earlier in the season, I guess that buck was just destined to die and run out of lives. That was the last day of their hunt and I think Dustin wished he had shot one of the bucks they had passed but he did go home with some great memories and a story that not many hunters can tell.

[bearpaw]

Steve is a local resident and had called me after he drew his moose tag, he had been apply for about 20 years and finally drew, to say he was excited was an understatement. We talked several times through summer, I suggested he hunt on his own for most of the season and if he didn't find a decent moose on his own to give us a call and I would fit him in between hunts. Steve saw a couple yearling bulls but the bigger bulls just didn't show themselves. As soon as we had a few days open after deer season we took Steve hunting, a couple cows and young bulls were spotted the first and second day but a big bull we had seen while deer hunting was nowhere to be found, finally on day 3 we spotted this bull, worked in a little closer, and Steve nailed him at about 80 or 100 yards. I have never seen a guy more excited than Steve was to get this bull, seeing that excitement is what makes what we do so fulfilling, congrats my friend! 

[hunting4sanity]

Couple of great moose in these last few posts. Check your email Dale, I'm doing my best to draw a tag and experience that moose thing myself.

[bearpaw]

Allen finally drew a moose tag and called us right away to book his hunt. We talked a few times through the summer and finally moose season rolled around. Allen showed up the evening before the hunt and we formulated our plan for the next day's hunt. We had spotted a very large bull during deer season and guide Russell was going to take Allen after that bull. Allen is in good shape so they hiked in the first day, this bull lives about 3-4 miles from the nearest road. The first day they spotted some cows and a fair bull but it wasn't the big guy, it rained and their feet got wet and on the way out Allen developed a hotspot on one foot. The next day we hauled the horses up to the same area and the guys rode in, they saw another fair bull and a couple cows but the big guy evaded them. Some of the trail was pretty steep and a bit scary for some people, at any rate it scared the dickens out of Allen so on the third day Russell and Allen went after some other moose we knew about that were easier to get to. They hunted these other moose for a couple days seeing a couple more fair bulls and one big bull that was out of range.

Unfortunately Allen had to go home for a few days to take care of business, he came back the next week so he and Russell went after the big bull they had seen. It steep rugged country with good glassing opportunities, they saw more bulls but not the good one. The next day they returned looking for the big guy again, about 11 am I got the text, "big bull down bring horses". I loaded the horses and headed for the mountain. Russ and Allen met me at the trailhead, Russ said he didn't think it was the big bull they had seen but it was a good one, we headed up the mountain to get the bull. It was on a very steep hillside that it had rolled down after Allen shot, we tied the bull off to hold him and finished piecing him for packing out. I love it when a plan comes together!

[bearpaw]

Couple of great moose in these last few posts. Check your email Dale, I'm doing my best to draw a tag and experience that moose thing myself.

I've been buried in email and probably missed it, I'll look for it, thanks!