Re: Bearpaw Season 2010

[Phantom Gobbler]

Dale,

Great thread of how the season is progressing in your areas.  Looks like you are having some grand hunts!

I didn't hunt north Stevens County this year, but one of my buddy's did and he said the numbers of birds is still way down.  He only had two gobblers to work with in two days of hunting.  One came in behind him and he missed the shot.  With the other bird, he ran into two other hunters and had to back off.

Keep up the great service by keeping all us us informed.

[bearpaw]

Phantom, there's no doubt numbers are down. However there are plenty of public areas with birds to hunt for hunters who want to do a DIY hunt and there's still more birds than any other area in the state. It's also wise to knock on a few doors to try and get hunting permission. I think the hunting is better right now than it was on the opener, birds are talking better and moving around a lot more.

The main reason we get so many birds is because I lease a number of really good properties. Yesterday I had a hunter on his last day and he got a bird shortly after they came off the roost, sorry I didn't get a picture.

This morning we set up a different hunter on a bluff where we know the birds like to strut. He sat until about 11 AM when he heard a gobbler moving toward him sounding off. He finally spotted the bird a nice tom. The bird went out of sight in a low area on its way coming toward the strut area. Malcolm is shooting a reproduction muzzleloader shotgun with a flash pan and no choke, its a straightbore, so he really needs a 20 yard or closer bird. He saw another bird moving his way too from a little different angle so he was really ready. Pretty quick one of the birds head come into view as it was approaching, he saw that it definitely had a red head and fired. As it turns out the bird he got was a jake and the big tom flew off, but none-the-less he is very happy with his first turkey.

No kidding this gun is at least 5 feet long...

Almost forgot:  This is a 20 guage straight bore that also shoots round balls, he said these guns were popular in the old days because it was a dual purpose gun. I thought that was interesting.

[NWTFhunter]

Way to go Colton !!   That smoke pole is huge !
Great story Dale, hope to make it back over again and help.

[Machias]

Nice gun!!

[Gringo31]

 

[Phantom Gobbler]

Great job and story with the traditional smokepole!  When the smoke cleared the Jake was a floppin!!   

[bearpaw]

One of my landowners just called me, there is a jake in the barnyard with an arrow sticking out both sides. I haven't had any bowhunters on that property so we think someone must have arrowed him from the county road.

What's amazing, the bird is moving around and feeding pretty much like normal. Probably a bummer navigating through brush or going to roost if that arrow hangs up on the way.

I'm out of hunters right now or I would try to get him today.  
Hopefully the arrow falls out and he heals up, or maybe someone later in the season will take him. I hate to see him just die.

[bearpaw]

The arrowed jake is still alive and sort of "well". We nearly got him this morning, but he outwitted us as did another nice mature bird at another location when the hens took him away. 

We will be checking on the "arrowed jake" again this evening.

[Gringo31]

I should dig up pictures....

I have a buddy near kettle falls that had a hen walk onto his property with an arrow sticking out of her.  She looked like she was hit going dead away and the broadhead came out of her just below where a beard would be.  She carried it around for months and I gave him a hard time about "just kill her already".  He said he could see it slide back and forth when she would eat.  One day, he found the arrow.

I don't have the pics but I'll see if I can get them.  He has sent some of them off and they were in a hunting mag about 10 years ago.

[bearpaw]

The "arrowed jake" lives on, maybe he will lose that arrow, it does not seem to really have much affect on him. We have a lady in camp hunting now with two tags, she wanted to get that "arrowed jake" so we set her up in just the right location where we thought he would show up. Needless to say the "arrowed jake" never showed but another jake did so she took him. This morning she is hunting for a mature bird we have watched and patterned. My fingers are crossed for her on the big tom now.

Will post more pics when I get them on my computer.

Birds are still talking much better here than they did on the opener.

[bearpaw]

Well she didn't get the mature tom, the birds came off the roost and the hens took him away...

How many times does that happen. So Anthony took them over to another ranch about 1/2 mile from the "arrowed jake". Guess what, they are spotting and here he comes, arrow sideways, and bird otherwise healthy acting. Since he won't even think about calling they planned a stalk using a small brushy draw. As bad as she wanted to get that bird they couldn't get quite within range. So, the "arrowed jake" lives on....

I'm out of hunters for a while so we will see how long the "arrowed jake" lives. 

Here's pics of the jake she got. Her husband is no longer in trouble for shooting two mature birds on the first two days they hunted.

I have to add, we had a lot of fun with these two people...LOL

[bearpaw]

Yesterday was a good day:

We slipped in with the headlights off, stopping about 100 yards short, parking the trooper in the morning darkness, Jim loaded his shotgun, we put on our masks and gloves and started carefully working our way around the edge of the big field. Our destination was a favorite little hiding spot right where the birds hit the ground when they come off the roost on their way into the field. This is one of our all time classic turkey killing hotspots. The birds usually roost within 100 yards of the field, they feed in the evening before going to roost and again first thing in the morning when they come off the roost. Best of all, we had not hunted this ranch for a week, I knew it was gonna be good.

"Let's sit here" I whispered to Jim as we hunkered down at the bottom of a big ponderosa. The sky was beginning to lighten over the mountains to the east and the songbirds were starting their morning melodies. We sat there motionless waiting for a thunderous gobble to break the silence. Suddenly, a gobble, we both looked the direction it came from, but it was a mile away and off the property. We looked back toward our anticipated roost trees and waited, and we waited, and we waited some more. Finally 2 more gobbles, we looked that direction, but they sounded a half mile in the opposite direction from the 1 mile gobble. We slowly looked at each other and then gazed back toward our "silent" roost trees and we waited, we waited another minute, and then another minute, then I heard another gobble from the half mile bird. I leaned over to Jim and whispered "I don't know what happened with these birds, we better go after that bird over there."

We carefully slipped away from our hiding spot and picked up the pace as we left the area. In a few minutes we cut the distance in half, suddenly there was a gobble in the canyon down below us, I stopped and whispered to Jim, "Oh $hit, we better go this way". I veered off the old farm road into the wet brush angling between the two birds we had heard. I figured we could choose between the most vocal bird when we got closer. The halfmile bird let loose a couple more times so we angled back straight toward him. Now we were getting within a couple hundred yards, we slowed our pace to a sneak as we approached a familiar strutting area. Suddenly another gobble and only a hundred yards away over the edge from the strutting area. "We'll set up here", I whispered to Jim as I pointed where I thought he should sit. I started yelping and was immediately answered by a loud full gobble, now my blood was starting to move in my veins.

I earnestly yelped right back and the tom give me a loud course single yelp and then a double yelp. So I made a couple short yelps back at him and waited. A minute or two went by and he yelped again this time less than a hundred yards. I was right behind Jim and whispered in his ear, "he's coming, be ready, don't move at all until he's in view and then shoot him." That was probably the wriong thing to say, I could tell Jim was as excited as I was. I yelped again, and then again, the tom yelped back, but sounded like he was a little to our left...

sorry gotta run and pick up Jim for lunch, willl finish the story as soon as I get a chance...

[LittleJohn]

Come on!!! I was on the edge of my seat

[Austrian Hunter]

  I hate "to be continued" 

[bearpaw]

hey sorry, I was busy the hunting rest of the day.


We could tell he was circling around us, I quietly turned to the left and Jim did the same in an effort to be ready for the tom. I yelped again and the bird gobbled back loudly, I knew he was all but visible, suddenly I saw his head bobbing between the bushes at about 15 yards as he veered away from us through the brush. I pointed for Jim to see him and I yelped to try and stop him. The "half mile tom" was less than 20 yards from us and was going to get away, I whispered in Jim's ear, "Did you see him, he's headed away from us, if you jump up fast, and run toward him, I think you can get a shot, do it fast". Jim jumped up ran a half dozen steps and shot, unfortunately he missed and the "half mile tom" flew away.

As we looked toward each other simutaneously I said, "Man that was close" and Jim said "That was fun". I answered back "well let's go back after that other bird" and we headed down toward the "canyon bird" still whispering about the excitement that we both had just experienced. As we approached the area we had heard the earlier gobble I began yelping every 40 yards or so as we moved along. Pretty soon I heard a course yelp back, "there they are" I exclaimed as I started another series of yelps. Several birds answered back and they only sounded 150-200 yards away so we quickly sat down right at the base of a deer ladderstand we keep in position year around. I yelped again and this time when they answered back we both could tell they were much closer. Jim settled his shotty on his knee and readied for a shot. I yelped again and as they answered back I spotted 6 jakes trotting toward us. Remembering that Jim had said he wanted any bird that would cook, I whispered in his ear "They're all jakes, wait till they get between those two close trees and then take em."

Suddenly they all stopped right behind the tree and raised their heads looking for the hen that had been calling, so I give them another few yelps. Half of then started coming around each side of the tree, I was expecting a double whammy, hopefully not a triple...

Kaboom, the biggest jake on the right side drops and the flock flushed every direction, Jim shot again and we ran out and double checked, but he didn't get the second bird. We quietly high-fived notched the tag and started up toward the big field to go back to the trooper. We couldn't have been two hundred yards from where we killed the "canyon jake" and only 50 yards from the field when I spotted a big coyote out in the middle of the field. I pointed and whispered to Jim, let's get down I'll try to call him in, we both dropped down and Jim slipped a couple more cartridges in his shotgun. I give the yote my loudest hen yelp and all he did was casually gaze our way and went back to mousing. I yelped a number of times as the coyote slowly moused his way away from us, this is one of the first coyotes I had seen that could care less about a hen.

to be continued