Bearpaw Season 2009

[bearpaw]

I almost forgot to mention, another big buck showed up in Washington. We had two hunters on 3-Day unguided hunt, hunting one of the ranches, the first guy tagged out on a young buck and on the last day the other guy got two shots at what he described as a buck with horns sticking forward 12 inches past his nose. My wife and guide Ray went and looked for blood and buck the next day just to be sure the buck was missed, they found nothing. These guys have hunted with us before and while I am sure they saw a really good buck, the description sounded a little excessive, but it no doubt must have been a great buck to excite them so much, fingers crossed for that one to show himself again.

[bearpaw]

Steve's Antelope Hunt
We spent the first day just covering as much of the 87,000 acre ranch as possible trying to locate a mega buck. I told Steve he would have more of a hunt if he killed his buck on the last day anyway. Judging from his look at that remark, I didn't think he agreed with that philosophical approach. 

We saw hundreds of antelope and several 14+ the first day but nothing that was exceptional. On the second day we decided we better shoot when we saw a good one. Steve missed two 14ish bucks that day so I told him we had to shoot the gun to check the sighting, two misses usually means the scope is off, guess what, 5 inches high at 100 yds. 

On day three we headed into the field knowing the gun was on the mark. I spotted a group of antelope a couple miles away and we worked in for the shot. We belly crawled the last couple hundred yards and were as close as we could get, about 330 yards. Steve took a careful prone shot but missed and the antelope headed out.

There were three bucks that looked pretty fair, especially since it was the last day of the hunt, so we took the long way around and managed to get on them again. This time we crawled to within about 220 yards. Steve had another good rest, we looked at the three bucks, picked the best looking one, and whammo, he hit the buck good, the buck ran a short distance but was having trouble and stopped, Steve anchored him with another shot in the spine. Turned out the first shot had taken part of the heart, that buck was a tough one indeed.

Buck measured 13 1/4 on both sides, although the buck was the smallest of our season, Steve had one of the most exciting hunts and was very happy in the end. We visited an old homestead, we had a stand off with an agressive porcupine, we watched muleys and prairie goats during awesome sunrises, and we experienced breathtaking sunsets, life just doesn't get any better. 

Gotta wonder the last time that old car was driven....

[bearpaw]

Dale's & Anthony's Antelope Hunt
Well we finally had a half day off and a chance to try and fill our own tags. Anthony and I headed out for the ranch, suddenly a flash of a deer, wow that was a close one, we almost hit another deer. During the last hunt with Steve I had smacked a 3x3 mulie which took out half my headlights, hood, and fender. 

To add insult to injury the day after the 3x3 accident, we happened into another road full of deer and smacked a muley fawn. 

Luckily the fawn didn't take out my remaining headlights.... but later that same morning we got a flat that we had to change, dug out the spare and it was flat too....   Fortunately I had an emergency air compressor along and we were able to get the flat aired up, later at the tire shop I found out that the valve stem had a slow leak.

Well today we made it out to the ranch without any major setbacks. Upon reaching the property the first thing we saw was a herd of antelope all bunched up next to the road, upon closer look with the spotter, I saw the reason they were all buched up, a coyote was working them trying to get at one of the fawns. Unfortunately about the same time I spotted the coyote , the coyote spotted my truck and headed out, I didn't get a chance to offer up any lead poisoning....

We spotted numerous herds trying to find a crooked horn that I had seen a week earlier or a really good buck. We were running out of time for our only chance to get antelope so Anthony decided to take a doe. We had 1 hour left to hunt so we checked out another area. At last we spotted a herd with 3 pretty good bucks. We put the sneak on them but they were on the move and everytime we we thought we were getting close it turned out they were just as far away, finally after a couple miles we hurried to the end of a rise and crawled out, there they were walking away at about 200 yards, I spotted the unique buck that had suckered me into walking so far, I tried to control my heavy breathing because the crosshairs were all over the antelope, I was scared to death I was going to miss, finally another sigh and it felt good, I tried to carefully squeeze the trigger, boom, I watched the buck go down in the scope.

Wow, I kicked back on the ground in relief. I said to Anthony "that made me walk a long ways, but I got him in the end".   (You would have to view the video to hear what I said, dang it, I didn't realize he had it on.)

We took care of the buck, stripped off everything we didn't need and started the long walk back. Then we drove around and recovered everything, I told Anthony "that's the hardest I ever worked for a goat" he said said "ya me too." He also said "I wished I would have held off shooting the doe because the other two bucks in that group were good ones too, and they didn't run far after the shot. I guess hindsight is always 20/20.....

Here's a couple pics of my unique buck. 

[bearpaw]

Here are the photos of Jeff with his whitetail taken with his pistol at 138 yards and a photo of 85 year old Jack's mule deer taken at 150 yards. Jack also killed two coyotes, one at 220 yards and one taken at 392 yards, all with one shot each out of his 7mm-08.

[Bean Counter]

Great job on the pronghorn, dale!

[Machias]

Nice Job Dale.  That whitetail is a Dandy!!  Love the double brow tines.

[bearpaw]

Nice whitetail taken today in Washington. 5x6 with a double eye gaurd on one side and if the buck would have lived another year, he may have developed a drop tine. You will see what i am talking about in the photos. Best of all the guys got the hunt on video...

Watch it on Titan Outdoors. Chris will have the hunt on the next video he releases.

[stumprat]

Right on Dale.
Looks like another satisfied customer.

[bearpaw]

Got some cool sheep photos the other day. I think these sheep liked having their photo taken.

[bearpaw]

Today Titan Outdoors finished their hunt when Chris anchored a 4x4 at first light. Watch the hunt for Chris and John's bucks on the next video from Titan Outdoors. These are great guys with a philosophy about showing their hunts the way they happen. I thoroughly enjoyed the videos they sent me to preview and can't wait to see this hunt on their next release. Thanks Again Titan, Tara and I really enjoyed hosting you guys.

[bearpaw]

Buck Switch Is Turned On Now

Yesterday we saw 8 or 10 bucks. This morning I was going hunting in one of the more rugged areas on one of the ranches. We come around the corner and a small tree was across the road, one guy who's tag is already filled got out to move the tree, he starts pulling it and happens to notice a deer about 200 yards away. He motions to us and points down the hill, I told my hunter he sees a deer, let's get up there. We sneak up and peak over the bank, sure enough a nice buck was staring back. Wow, no rest, the tree wasn't steady, then the buck moves out of sight. We waited a minute and then started sneaking in that direction moving to the left in an effort to keep the wind away from the buck. Pretty soon we spotted a fork horn buck, then a doe, but still no big buck. We slipped around the sidehill slowly and carefully trying to find the big boy. Suddenly up jumps two does at 30 yards, one snorts as they take off, I quickly moved downhill about 10 yards to a better overlook, then the big buck moved out into the open. He was facing straight away, alerted by the doe, I was afraid we didn't have much time, I told John to shoot him right in the butt, no rest handy, so he tried an offhand shot, he missed, I said reload an shoot again, another miss, then the buck moved behind some brush, but still didn't run. He is a dandy about 20 to 22 wide with at least 1 double eye gaurd and about 6 points per side.

We waited quite some time but saw nothing, then we quietly discussed the options, John decided he was going to sit and watch the area until dark tonight. My fingers are crossed, hopefully he sees him again today.

We are seeing bucks left and right now, the buck switch got turned on yesterday.

[bearpaw]

Two unguided hunters had some action yesterday with two nice big bucks but couldn't quite get a shot. They are after them again today, they saw one of them this morning at 220 yards but couldn't get the shot again. This afternoon they are watching for them again, the bucks are busy chasing does and don't know they are around, so hopefully it happens for them this afternoon.

Another unguided hunter saw two 4x4 bucks this morning, same story, bucks chasing does and not provinding a standing shot opportunity. He is back out again in the same area trying to put the smack on one of those 4x4's. The hunting is truly hot now....

Here's another nice Washington whitetail buck with double eye gaurds taken today by a 16 year old boy, his first buck, dad says the buck is getting mounted, talk about a happy kid. He and his dad are already booked again for next year.

[coop2424]

Man that last whitetail is a nice buck.  I am hoping I can come across one like that come Friday.  Good to know that the rut is in full force.. Looks like you guys are having a good season..

[bearpaw]

Well my guy that I posted watching for the big buck that he missed this morning called me and said he had a buck down, not the big boy, but one too big to pass, so I just got it taken care of and thought I would share another photo. Turns out Randy saw 5 bucks today, 4 of them were 5x5 or better and one was a fork horn. He said he had never seen that many bucks before in one little spot.

[Machias]

Nice colored rack!