Bearpaw Season - Fall 2019

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

That's awesome!  Good work to all and the Texan from Texas Damon.!!!!
What an awesome hound pic!!!!!! That's what's it's about is the dogs!

[bearpaw]

I got the next cat, which was Kathy's tom, so now we had two down, one for each of us. Daniel got the next cat for his hunter Gilbert also from Texas, now Daniel was ahead of me again.

Daniel and Branden actually each found a tom track that morning but Daniel's track was fresher so that's the cat we went after, we only had one hunter in camp at that time. The cat covered a little ground but as soon as he started zig zagging I figured they must have jumped him, he tried to make it over the top of the mountain but the dogs closed the gap and the cat made a quick dash down the mountain, at the bottom he went up a tree. It was a good chase and no dogs were harmed, that's always a good thing. Gilbert was ecstatic about his cat, this was his fourth cougar hunt, two hunts to New Mexico and one hunt with us last year when we got rained out of any decent hunting and only saw a couple small tracks, he decided to return with us this year and we got it done for him. Congrats Gilbert, that tom was worth the wait!

[bearpaw]

That's awesome!  Good work to all and the Texan from Texas Damon.!!!!
What an awesome hound pic!!!!!! That's what's it's about is the dogs!

Quite a few of the hunters we get are or have been hound hunters at some point in their life. Damon owned coon hounds his whole life, it was his goal to get a lion with his lever action, he enjoyed watching the dogs, and we had some good conversation about hounds during his hunt. He has promised all his grandkids that he will take them either hound hunting for bear or cougar. Last spring he brought his oldest grandson bear hunting with us. I think he said the next grandson wants to cougar hunt so we'll probably see him again next winter. You have to admire him for making sure all his grandkids get a chance to go on a western style hound hunt.

[bearpaw]

In Memory of Ruby
I wasn't sure if I was going to write about this or not or when, but Ruby was such a special little dog that it wouldn't be right not to make a post in her memory.

There are dangers when hunting, when operating equipment in rough country, when hunting in extreme weather, when hound hunting, and especially when hound hunting big predators in extreme weather, there are dangers for the hunters and for the dogs, we try our best to hunt smart and to minimize dangers to people and dogs, but sometimes irreversible things happen and after they happen you look back and wished that somehow you might have done something differently that could have produced a different outcome or prevented something from happening even when circumstances are simply out of your control.

I think the element of danger is one of the attractions to hunting big predators, it's not that I want to see anything bad happen, exactly the opposite is true, but it adds a little challenge to make sure nothing goes wrong, I hope that makes some sort of sense. Any guide's first responsibility is for his hunter's safety, it's our responsibility to keep their trip as safe as possible. In my mind a hound hunting guide's second responsibility is the safety of the hounds. We look over the dogs after every chase and make careful calculations regarding which dogs are ready to hunt again and which ones should have another day/week(s) off to rest.

Hounds are like athletes, they are driven internally to perform at extreme levels and they love it, but sometimes hounds like athletes over do it and then they require time to heal sore muscles, sore feet, injuries from running through heavy brush, or injuries inflicted by the game they so love to chase. Recently Brian ran into a nasty female lion that left it's marks on every hound that day, marks on Ruby, and nearly caught Brian if Ruby hadn't of grabbed the cat as it ran towards Brian, and then the other hounds grabbed the cat and saved Ruby, it was a team effort that resulted in the dogs all surviving, even though they all had bites and scratches they have been all healing and doing well.

Ruby was only about 20-25 pounds, half Jahg Terrier and half Irish Terrier, but her heart was larger than she was and she was Brian's (my son) near constant companion, she literally went nearly everywhere with him, he taught her manners, blood trailing, track trailing, and she seemed the best at all of it and had her own little personality that everyone liked. Through the years she has made countless friends of our hunters, she has found numerous wounded deer and elk, and has bayed 300+ pound wounded bear and caught cougar by herself. When we knew an animal was hit but couldn't track it ourselves you went and got Brian and Ruby and if the animal left any amount of blood trail, she would find it. When a nasty old female lion made a dash at Brian this winter it was Ruby that grabbed the cat first, then the hounds jumped in and saved her. A few years ago I watched a wounded lion shake her in it's jaws like a rag doll, we got the lion killed, but I wasn't sure she had enough blood to make it off the mountain, amazingly she did and she recovered tougher than before.

Two days ago Brain went hunting just to run a few young dogs and take photos if he found a good track, there was just a skiff of snow so we are waiting on more snow before we have any more lion hunters come. He found the track of a good tom and let the hounds start the track and let Ruby go along too. There was a big open hillside and as half expected the hounds lost the track with the lack of snow. Somehow Ruby managed to follow the lion through, this wasn't the first time that's happened, she's done it a few times through the years, but today was different, she didn't know it but this big cat had little fear of a single small dog.

She caught the cat after two or three miles in the rough Idaho mountains, Brian could tell she caught up with the cat and headed up the mountain, but he was too late getting there, as he approached he could see where the cat had scampered off from Ruby's half eaten body. I've been in the same position a few times in my life with favorite hounds and know how tough these situations are in every respect. One of the first thoughts is to get more dogs and go get the lion, but with little to no snow what if another single or only two dogs catch the cat again, will the same scenario occur again?

Brian called as soon as he could and my wife and I listened to the bad news, but we all agreed, conditions were in the cat's favor, it was probably smarter to let him go this time.

Ruby will be missed, she was a special dog that can never be replaced by any other dog.
Happy Hunting Ruby!



(here are a few of Ruby's trophy photos)

[92xj]

Damn it, that is sad and must have been super hard walking up on.
RIP Ruby, you were amazing.

[bearpaw]

We had a good year hunting but I was so busy this year with hunters and making improvements to our facilities that I hardly had time to add photos to this topic, I'll try to catch up on a few of the hunts. Here's two more Idaho bulls including a nice 5x6 taken with guide Branden during rifle season, great job guys.

[TheStovePipeKid]

Rest in peace Ruby. Chasing cats through the big mountains in the sky.

[bearpaw]

Damn it, that is sad and must have been super hard walking up on.
RIP Ruby, you were amazing.

Rest in peace Ruby. Chasing cats through the big mountains in the sky.

thanks guys, your thoughts are much appreciated

[bearpaw]

Another 5x5 Idaho bull taken with guide Tate during rifle season by Byron from West Virginia.

[Rainier10]

Really sorry to hear about Ruby. She was a great dog and a pleasure to have in camp with us. I can’t imagine the pain and loss you, Brian and your entire team are suffering.

RIP Ruby.

[Machias]

So sorry to hear about Ruby.  Sorry Brian had to walk up on that scene.   

[wsmnut]

Really sorry to hear about Ruby, Dale.  She was a treat to play with.  Please give our regards to Brian.

[bearpaw]

Thanks everyone, Ruby was a great loss, she will be missed immensely, but never forgotten, she will definitely be one of our most memorized dogs. We've talked some already about how to try and replace her as best as possible, she did perform a very important task with her excellent blood trailing abilities and it's important that we try to get that void filled. Probably going to be another small type of terrier.

[bearpaw]

Guide Derek packed out the head and rack of this bull after they quartered and boned it. My wranglers were busy packing a camp so I took three horses in the next morning to pack out the rest of this bull. I loaded both rear quarters and the boned out meat from the front half of the elk all on one horse, he's a stud of a horse, if I had realized the front quarters were shot up so bad i probably would have only taken one pack horse, I didn't even bother packing Atlas. When off trail packing like this I quite often just let the horses follow me out, it's easier getting through brushy areas and these horses are great about following each other.

One time this year I was packing a bull out in Utah through a real tough rocky steep stretch, I had mostly the same horses, Zeb didn't want to go any further, he's big hooved and has more trouble in big rock than smaller hooved horses, but I wanted to get through the worst of it before dark and he didn't want to budge any further, so I just tied his lead rope to his saddle and left him standing there looking stubborn! We didn't even get out of sight and he started following again, I just left him loose the rest of the way out, we were both happier! 

[bearpaw]

Guide Derek with a nice bull he got for himself when he had a few days in between guiding hunters.