Bearpaw Season - Fall 2017

[bearpaw]

The doc didn't tell you he needed to open your cut back up so he could stitch it? That's what mine always says lol "it's already closed I'll have to open it so I can close it"

I always decline.

On a more positive note are your Idaho cow elk hunts a draw tag or OTC?

The doc said I waited too long to stitch, I knew it would be borderline but I had work that needed done.

The cow hunts are OTC, tags are still available in Idaho or Utah.

[bearpaw]

The doc didn't tell you he needed to open your cut back up so he could stitch it? That's what mine always says lol "it's already closed I'll have to open it so I can close it"

I always decline.

On a more positive note are your Idaho cow elk hunts a draw tag or OTC?

The doc said I waited too long to stitch, I knew it would be borderline but I had work that needed done.

The cow hunts are OTC, tags are still available in Idaho or Utah.

Tags are only available in Utah, Idaho is sold out!

[bearpaw]

We've been busy with moose hunters in Idaho, mule deer hunters in Montana, and late whitetail hunts in Washington, animals are hitting the ground, hunting has been real good for us.

Due to extreme winterkill on our usual ranch in Montana we are not hunting it for at least a couple years, we did find a new excellent ranch further east that was not impacted heavily by winter. It has mostly mule deer, some whitetail and elk. Because we acquired the ranch late in the year we only were able to book two hunters. Unfortunately just before their hunt one of their father-in-laws passed away, so they had a funeral to attend and only 1.5 days to hunt, they said they were going to shoot the first horns they saw and head for home. Within 5 minutes of Joe dropped his buck, they gutted it and started hunting again they only went a few hundred yards and Travis dropped his buck, by 8:30 am the first morning they were completely done and left very happy. Nice shooting Joe and Travis we look forward to hunting with you again next year! 

[bearpaw]

Due to blue tongue a couple years ago I cut back our number of whitetail hunters in half last year and this year. The strategy has paid off, both early and late season so far we've had 100% shooting opportunity with only one hunter leaving without a deer and that person was on two bucks, so it's been excellent hunting. Guide Daniel and his hunter pose with a nice 5x6 taken during the late hunt, 4 more bucks have been taken, and we have a few more hunters who just started hunting, I'll share more photos when I get them.

[Skyvalhunter]

 

[bearpaw]

Well it's been 30 days since I tried to lop off the finger, just as the doc said it has healed pretty well. There's still a lot of numbness around it but I've been working it a lot and have most use back. 

Sight Your Gun Before Hunting
It's been pretty interesting this entire season. We've had some great shots made but we've also had nearly all the best trophies missed due to improperly sighted rifles. I recommend shooting your weapon after you arrive at your hunting destination before you begin hunting. In November two moose hunters refused to shoot their rifles and both missed moose, one hunter missed seven shots at two good bulls on the third day and the last day of his hunt. Another moose hunter missed four shots at probably the largest moose we've ever put a hunter on, a day after missing he finally shot the gun and discovered it would not even hit paper, he was hunting only for a trophy moose, there were only two days left to hunt, he passed several more small to medium bulls but we never found another large bull, 71 moose sightings on that hunt, 34 bull sightings. Those two moose hunters went home without a bull because they refused to check their gun. I can't stress enough how important it is to shoot your gun!

Wolf Worms In Washington
Our other moose hunters in Idaho and Washington shot very well and were successful. One thing that has become very obvious, it seems every NE Washington moose we've taken the last few years is infected with wolf worms, the lungs are filled with cysts and even the hearts are infected with cysts now. Some lungs were so infected this year we are not sure how the animal was able to breath. At the same time we are not finding any wolf worms in Idaho, we don't have near as many wolves there, nothing like the high wolf population here in Washington. We saw wolf tracks in several of the Washington moose areas we hunted, the wolves know exactly where the moose are at and not only are wolves eating our moose, I think the worms they spread are probably impacting our moose too! Here's a photo of a Washington moose and his heart, I wished we would have taken a photo of the lungs, the lungs were totally riddled, I mean full of wolf worms.

[bearpaw]

Here are four more mule deer taken on one of the ranches we lease this year. Congrats to the four hunters, some great shooting on some great bucks! 

[bearpaw]

Cougar and Cow Elk Hunting
We usually start cougar hunting in December. The first week or two can be a challenge with snow conditions but we usually get some real good cats. This year is no exception, we have a group of three hunters, two cougar hunters and one cow elk hunter, we killed a cow elk on Dec 1 and had passed a couple smaller cats, today we killed a nice 140-150ish tom cougar. We have one more cougar hunter in camp, hopefully we'll get him filled out shortly. I will post some photos when I can.

[Rainier10]

I'm just here because I am going to be there next week. 

[Gringo31]

Need some Ruby pics!

(or is it Rudy)

Love the cat pics the best...  Good luck! 

[bearpaw]

This is yesterday's tom photos! We found 6 cats today and ran another tom today but he headed into some low country with no snow and the tracks weren't fresh enough for the dogs to follow without snow, we lost him, we'll be back out tomorrow after another cat.

[bearpaw]

Need some Ruby pics!

(or is it Rudy)

Love the cat pics the best...  Good luck! 

I'll make it a point to get some Ruby pics! 

[RB]

Wow nice Cat! 

[MooseZ25]

One of the two moose that I was on this year had wolf worms too Dale.  This one came out of the Black tail drainage.  The game department says they are safe to eat.   What are your thoughts on that?

[Axle]

One of the two moose that I was on this year had wolf worms too Dale.  This one came out of the Black tail drainage.  The game department says they are safe to eat.   What are your thoughts on that?

 
Not to jack the thread - but what if you grilled a burger and left it pink in the middle?

I know this isn't the right thread for this - but wolfbait did strongly warn about this. I know many are concerned.

Perhaps another thread in this topic would be appropriate.