Bearpaw Season - Fall 2016

[bearpaw]

BUSY SUMMER
We've had an extremely busy summer remodeling, upgrading, and building structures to benefit our hunts and business. I have not been on the forum as much as usual and I owe the  admins and mods a huge thanks for taking care of everything so well! We still have infrastructure upgrades that we are planning for next summer, but we are getting closer to where we want to be with our infrastructure and equipment.

A FEW MORE FIRES
Last summer we were fighting fire ourselves all night and we saved half of one of my leases, we ended up getting several good bucks off that ranch last fall even though half of it burned. I had hoped this year would be more normal and it probably has been, but unfortunately we've had a couple more hunting areas burn (and probably some of our trail cameras) in August but we're lucky with the depth of choice with our hunting areas and I don't think we will be impacted much at all.

CURRENT HUNTS
We have three hunts going on right now, two of my guides have a bear hunter each in Washington and one of my guides is hunting bull elk in Utah. We've seen numerous bear and missed three shots, but no bear on the ground yet. My other guide has passed numerous bulls waiting for a good one, but we know it's just a matter of time.

UTAH BULL DOWN MINUTES AGO
Guide Nick just called a good Utah Bull into 40 yards and a very happy lady hunter just dropped this Utah bull. Nick just got the head packed out and texted me this photo from his phone, better camera photos are coming soon. Congrats to a very happy lady hunter!
   

[bearpaw]

Guides are out resighting in the guns right now, I'm thinking there are bear photos coming soon. FINGERS CROSSED!   

[jgeorgio]

Awesome bull, good luck to your hunters and guides!!

[bearpaw]

BUSY SUMMER
We've had an extremely busy summer remodeling, upgrading, and building structures to benefit our hunts and business. I have not been on the forum as much as usual and I owe the  admins and mods a huge thanks for taking care of everything so well! We still have infrastructure upgrades that we are planning for next summer, but we are getting closer to where we want to be with our infrastructure and equipment.

A FEW MORE FIRES
Last summer we were fighting fire ourselves all night and we saved half of one of my leases, we ended up getting several good bucks off that ranch last fall even though half of it burned. I had hoped this year would be more normal and it probably has been, but unfortunately we've had a couple more hunting areas burn (and probably some of our trail cameras) in August but we're lucky with the depth of choice with our hunting areas and I don't think we will be impacted much at all.

CURRENT HUNTS
We have three hunts going on right now, two of my guides have a bear hunter each in Washington and one of my guides is hunting bull elk in Utah. We've seen numerous bear and missed three shots, but no bear on the ground yet. My other guide has passed numerous bulls waiting for a good one, but we know it's just a matter of time.

UTAH BULL DOWN MINUTES AGO
Guide Nick just called a good Utah Bull into 40 yards and a very happy lady hunter just dropped this Utah bull. Nick just got the head packed out and texted me this photo from his phone, better camera photos are coming soon. Congrats to a very happy lady hunter!
   

In case anyone is interested, I have two elk hunts available on the same ranch next year, this area is producing 330-380 bulls pretty consistently. Two days ago a similar bull was killed on the neighboring property. I have another ranch with over the counter tags where we have been 100% on 270-330 bulls. Keep in mind 100% success never holds forever, eventually we are bound to have an unsuccessful hunt, but it's pretty darn good elk hunting on either ranch and that's why we have had such good success with our Utah elk hunts. If you are interested send me a pm.

[bearpaw]

They are still driving back from the hunt, another text from Nick corrected me, the shot was only a 24 yard shot, those close ones are the most exciting. Nick said he measured the bull twice and came up with about 376 both times.   

[bearpaw]

Awesome bull, good luck to your hunters and guides!!

Thank You! 

[Mark Brenckle]

Following along! Great bull to start off the season! 

[bowhunterforever]

Awesome bull, good luck to your hunters and guides!!

[Gringo31]

 

[bearpaw]

Hunter Becomes The Hunted
We have a couple friends who come turkey hunting every spring, the boy "Hunter" was about 6 years old when they started coming, now Hunter has graduated college and working a job. This spring Hunter's friend Spencer came on the turkey hunt for the first time. While they were all here we talked and laughed about last year when Hunter and his Dad were stalked by the cougar while turkey hunting, the cat was literally crouched down and stalking in close, luckilly they looked behind them and spotted the cat, they both started waving their arms and hollering and the cat ran off, but it scared the livin dickens right out of both of them.

Spencer called last week and wanted to know if we had room for him to come do an unguided deer hunt. He started his deer hunt yesterday, the morning was a bust, lots of tracks but no bucks, he headed to another area in the evening. This is an area that I've sent numerous hunters who have been successful, it's just one of those spots that always has game. He hiked about 1.5 miles into the heart of the area, all along he saw nothing, heard nothing, and there were almost no tracks of anything, which is strange for this area. He finally found what he thought was a good place to watch where there was some deer sign, but as darkness neared the quietness was nearly deafening. As shooting hours ended he gathered up his stuff, threw on his pack and started walking back to his truck. As it darkened he turned on his AA maglight and continued walking.

He remembered Hunter telling him after the cougar incident to always look back just in case something's following you. He shined his light back behind him and immediately saw two yellow eyes which really startled him. Fortunately he had his 1911 pistol which he pulled out and then proceeded toward his truck while watching the yellow eyes as much as possible. The eyes kept following him, he thought they were about 50 yards from him, he quickened the pace, but the eyes stayed with him. He walked faster, by now he was more than halfway back to the truck and the eyes were still following him, this was really starting to scare him bad, he can't lose the eyes, they are always right there following him, now in complete fear of his life he fired warning shots and the eyes disappeared. He doesn't know if the animal followed at a greater distance or if it left completely, but he made it to his truck. As soon as he was inside the truck he called his dad and shared the frightening story. At dinner he relived the story with everyone and I stayed up later talking with him after everyone had gone to bed. He decided to sleep in this morning and just take it easy before going hunting again. We have another game plan for him today in a different area far from the yellow eyes. He is still sleeping for now.

His light wasn't strong enough to see the animal, he doesn't know for sure what it was, but we have numerous friends who live not too far from there and a pack of wolves have been near this area all spring and summer. Horses and cattle have been chased through fences and an entire herd of goats have been wiped out, none are alive, they have all been killed. The way the eyes kept following I'm pretty sure it was a wolf, several friends and my son have had the exact same experience with wolves that followed close for long distances as if studying their prey deciding whether or not to attack. In fact one neighbor was followed and attacked 1 or 2 years ago, that story is posted on this forum, he shot one of the wolves as it leaped at him, he hit the wolf and it ran off but he had a chunk of meat and bone to prove it, WDFW confirmed it was a wolf and that he shot in self defense.

[bearpaw]

Congrats To Ed
Ed has seen a few bear the last few days but none of them had gave him a good shot opportunity. This morning Daniel and Ed were set up and another bear showed itself at 325 yards. The guys closed the gap by about 75 yards and set up for the shot. They waited and waited but no bear, he must have slipped away in the brush. They were thinking about moving to another spot and suddenly they spotted the bear's head looking out of the brush at about 220 yards, then the bear walked out broadside. Ed drilled the bear but it took off as if it hadn't been hit. They watched and listened, about 30 seconds later they heard a last little moan and then silence. Daniel figured the bear was dead but they gave him some time and then went and found it. Ed's shot was right through the middle, the bear had made a death dash and dropped. Congrats and good shooting Ed!

[bearpaw]

The Short Story
The elk were talking pretty good. Nick and Wendy had spotted their 3rd bull a good one up on top of the mountain and they were going after it, halfway up another bull bugled to their right, Nick spotted the bull with his optics and quickly determined that number four was a better bull than the number three bull they had been after, but number four was 537 yards out, way too far for Wendy's 7mm-08. They quickly set up and Nick called the bull to within 24 yards, Wendy was shaking so bad with excitement as the bull came right up to them, but she managed to hammer the bull perfectly, he only ran 40 yards and dropped. Her family was there to share in her excitement, it was a great day on the mountain for the whole group. Congrats Wendy!

[bearpaw]

Spencer had a good sleep and headed out after lunch today to try Plan C, he was only gone a few hours and returned with a bloody arrow. He said he hit the buck good and it walked off and seemed wobbly, he said he didn't see much blood and didn't keep following the buck. I told him that was best, the buck will have a chance to die and I sent Daniel with him to help blood trail the buck. My fingers are crossed that they find the buck!

[bearpaw]

Spencer had a good sleep and headed out after lunch today to try Plan C, he was only gone a few hours and returned with a bloody arrow. He said he hit the buck good and it walked off and seemed wobbly, he said he didn't see much blood and didn't keep following the buck. I told him that was best, the buck will have a chance to die and I sent Daniel with him to help blood trail the buck. My fingers are crossed that they find the buck!

Daniel followed the limited blood trail and tracks for a pretty fair distance until the buck stood up from his bed and ran uphill, he stopped and looked back, Daniel could see that the arrow hit low in the brisket apparently missing all vitals. The deer ran off so they checked the bed, very little blood, we all figure that the buck will most likely heal up. Spencer is out hunting again today in a different area where there is a lot of sign.

[bearpaw]

Ray is 80 years young and has enjoyed a lifetime of good hunting experiences. He talked his daughter into letting him take his grandson "Christopher" out of school for his first bear hunt. Ray wasn't even hunting, he brought his grandson to hunt and he's hoping to turn both of his grandsons into hunters so they can enjoy the good things in life like he has experienced. They arrived last night, got a good nights sleep and headed out this morning with Daniel to shoot a bear. Within the first hour they could hear a bear working below them. They watched several minutes and finally the bear walked out, Christopher missed the first shot but nailed the bear on the next shot. The bear was hit hard but not dead, then they spotted it again and Christopher finished it off, he had his first bear within an hour of his first day of hunting. Even though it was a short hunt it was an exciting hunt and I think this young man may be hooked on hunting. He is going to have a half mount done of his boar bear taken with his granddad. Next year it sounds like the other grandson will come bear hunting with granddad!

Good going Christopher!