Bearpaw Season 2009

[1bowhunter1]

Dont know how I missed this tread....Coolest one i've seen this year!!  You have one tough job.  Are you hiring?

[bearpaw]

Dont know how I missed this tread....Coolest one i've seen this year!!  You have one tough job.  Are you hiring?   

I know I will be considered a liar, but it actually is a very tough job, if you knew all the details of everything that must be done to run a continuous guiding business, you would think I am totally insane for doing it for so long.

No matter how hard you try, there are always some hunts that do not go as well as you wished. The hardest part of the job is having an unsuccessful hunt. That is harder on the guide than the hunter.

Nontheless, I would not trade my good experiences in the business for any other persons experiences.

I have kicked around the idea of letting Pathfinder Jr shoot a meat buffalo sometime.

That would be a fun experience for him taking that large of an animal. Send me a PM someday when you think he is ready...

[bearpaw]

Here's one example of why the job is worth it and why I wouldn't trade the good memories for any others:

Recieved 11/19/09
Dale,
What an incredible hunt in Montana! We now have 6 hunts together: 3 bears, a Whitetail buck with a bow, 2 Merriam turkeys, a cow elk, and now a Mule Deer and a Buffalo.

I never would have made a 400+ yard without you telling me where to put the cross-hairs. Wind and snow is something that you cannot practice very well at a shooting range, and that is one of the few reasons I like hunting with Bear Paw Outfitters. You have always put me on animals early in the hunt and coached me through the experience. You have to remain calm, and having someone watch and talk you through the shot really helps. To now get a trophy mule deer is another chapter, and dream that I wanted to fulfill. To feel like I have developed a friendship out of our experiences is even nicer.

The buffalo is a fun meat hunt. I would highly recommend to anyone that they use a bow for the hunt. Their size is absolutely incredible. To think that I shot a 750 - 800 lb cow was incredible. It looked so small compared to the bulls. It was not until I got up next to it that is struck me how impressive an animal it was.

Thank you again for taking care of me. We always have a lot of laughs and I look forward to seeing you every chance I can. I am now thinking about all those antelope on the 87,000 acre ranch in Montana. I don't have an antelope yet and with all the trophy bucks there it just makes sense to do that next.

Wishing you and Tara Happy Holidays, and a fantastic rest of the hunting season.

*****************************************
Unfortunately all the letters I recieve are not this nice. There are some hunts that are not successful. Not all of those hunters will accept the lack of success in a reasonable manner. Additionally, if a truck breaks down and the wrong guy misses a couple hours of hunting time and then that person is unsuccessful, he may not be to pleasant to deal with. I call it the 3% rule, it seems that out of every 100 hunters, there will be roughly 3% that think you did things on purpose to sabotage their hunt. That to me is the toughest part of the job, dealing with the people who think you didn't want them to have a good hunt.  

*****************************************
But the good times greatly outweigh the bad times and that's why guides are willing to work so hard at what they do.   

[1bowhunter1]

That makes alot of sense!!  Thanks for that...Now are you hiring?  

[bearpaw]

I am not sure what the economy will provide for next year so I am not sure how many hunters I will have. Send me a short resume and I will put it in a handy file for later reference. Once the economy gets better, I will most likely need more guides, and when in need I look in that file. Thanks for your interest.

[sporked horn]

I think being a guide would be more of an emotional roller coaster than being the hunter, as you have nothing tangable to give someone, there's that little bit of luck and no matter how hard you work the hunters ability will decide.  Do you get to do much hunting, or are you pretty much slammed for time during the season?  Those are some great stories by the way, I hope I can hunt with your outfit sometime soon.

Dan

[Gutpile]

I know I will be considered a liar, but it actually is a very tough job, if you knew all the details of everything that must be done to run a continuous guiding business, you would think I am totally insane for doing it for so long.

No matter how hard you try, there are always some hunts that do not go as well as you wished. The hardest part of the job is having an unsuccessful hunt. That is harder on the guide than the hunter.

Nontheless, I would not trade my good experiences in the business for any other persons experiences.

Liar? I dont' think so. Unreasonable expectations from hunters would drive me nuts. People complaing about every little thing would drive me nuts. There's no way I could be a guide. I suppose most of the clients are good but some must just be horrible. Guys pay a lot to take a guided hunt and even if you try your hardest it may not pan out. If they bitch and moan it would be tough to take knowing you did your best. If they tag out but still moan about everything it'd be very hard to handle. My guide experience sucked. By reading this thread it seems like you offer a much better service. It looks like you actually "hunt". Aside from that just the time away from home and family would be very dificult. That alone would be to much for me. 

I can just see it. Bitching about weather, food, lack of animals, animals too small, country to thick, too rough, etc etc etc. I'm a business man myself and some folks arent happy unless they're mad.

Can't wait to see you 2010 thread.

[bearpaw]

Actually I love hunting and enjoy the vast majority of people, you can't blaim anyone for wanting to have the best hunt possible for their hard earned money.

We still have a number of hunts to do this year, so I hope to post more photos on this thread....

[buckhorn2]

Thanks Dale for taking the time out to keep us up on where and what you are doing. Reading about your hunts and your clients makes it almost feel like being there. Happy Thansgiving to you and your Family. PS. Hope you don;t have any trouble with your hounds and wolves sounds like they are getting more aggressive to hunters and there dogs all the time.

[bearpaw]

We are supposed to start cougar hunting Dec 1, snow is predicted just before season opens, so my fingers are crossed......

One of my guides has two cow elk hunters out today, one already filled out and the other guy missed a few elk over the last couple days, hopefully they get tagged out today with elk on T-Day...

[bearpaw]

Just recieved word that they just tagged out on the second cow elk. 
I guess Anthony stalked them to within 80 yards bedded down, but he couldn't get a clear shot, she finally got up and ran up the hill to 175 and stopped, he smacked her in the shoulder, one shot.   

I think it's goose hunting time tommorrow, will find out tonight.

[bearpaw]

The weather has changed, much of our snow melted off and there is no snow in the immediate forecast, so I am trying to postpone the first two cougar hunters to a later time... 

[rainshadow1]

No kidding, it was looking REAL good for a minute, then it rained up to 5500, lots of rock visible on top.

Hope we get a brutal snowpack this season!

[bearpaw]

Here's the photo's of my son Brian's moose. He and Anthony had spotted two bulls at about two miles and were hiking in to get a closer look. They had only gone about 1 mile when they spotted this bull at about 1/2 mile away. They took a good look with the 60X spotter and decided this bull wasn't as wide as the other two bulls but had better paddles. Brian wanted the better paddles so using timber for cover, they stalked to within about 300 yards of the bull which was courting a cow. They didn't want to chance spooking either animal so they stopped at the edge of the timber and set up for the shot. Brian was shooting a 257 WTBY which is sighted 2" high at 100 yards and is still 1" high at 300 yards. He held dead on and put three quick shots right through the bull's lungs. He said there three silver dollar sized holes right through the lungs and one of the shots broke a shoulder bone. All three bullets exited the animal. He was using 100 Grain Barnes Triple Shock. After they took lots of photos the work started. The one photo shows Anthony packing both hind quarters, Anthony said that's the heaviest load he's ever packed out. They got the whole bull out in two trips but were exhausted. Brian said he could hardly push the clutch in to drive home.

[mulehunter]

  Nice job!  Someday my turn!

Mulehunter