Bearpaw Fall 2010 Season

[bearpaw]

Bear Season
Unfortunately two of my bear hunters cancelled at the last minute. So we only have 1 guided hunter and 1 unguided hunter out this week. On the first day 12 bear, 3 cougar, a bull moose, and several good bucks were spotted. All the close bear were smaller ones so they were passed. We finished the day with a grouse for our efforts.

On the second day, 4 bear, a bunch of deer, two cow elk and a 5x5 bull elk were spotted. The unguided hunter watched the 5x5 for over a half hour, next week I have a bowhunter for elk so hopefully this bull hangs around the same area. Again smaller bear were passed yesterday, but just at dark last night a big brown was spotted with the guided hunter. They left that bear where he was at and are headed out this morning hoping to put the hurt on him. Anthony figured he was at least 250 and a really pretty shade of brown. My fingers are crossed for the day.

If anybody wants a cheap bear hunt, I will resell the two bear hunts that were cancelled for $2500 for both hunts, that's only $1250 each, we normally get $1950 for a bear hunt.

[bearpaw]

Yesterday was eventful.

Anthony and the guided hunter saw the big brown they were looking for, the bear was on the move, every time he stopped Lars would get on him and the bear would move again. Finally after watching the bear move along for over 100 yards, it stopped and Lars took the shot at 308 yards. (about the max I like to shoot at bear)
He missed and the bear disappeared. Just to be sure Anthony went and checked for a blood trail, but nothing. They came back to the house and we did some shooting, the gun would only hold about a 2 to 2 1/2 inch group at 100 yards so we swithched him into a 7 mag that he and brian both shot a 3/4 inch group with. Anthony and Lars went back out for the evening but only saw a sow with 2 cubs and some deer, they are back this morning after the bear they missed yesterday.

The unguided bear hunter has been hunting a place where he has shot 3 bear in previous years with us. We had scouted it out and there is a real good bear working the brush in a big canyon area so Bill is hunting that canyon. So far he has seen deer, elk, and bear sign but no actual bear. The guided hunter has been seeing all of the bear, but I knew it was just a matter of time and Bill would get his chance. Last night Bill watched the good bear for a long time slowly getting closer, it was a little out of range so Bill didn't shoot, thinking it would keep getting closer. Just before dark it went behhind some bushes but didn't come out before dark, so Bill is back there this morning after that bear.

I commended Bill for doing the right thing and not shooting beyond his comfortable range. As I explained, most bear shot at long distance are not recovered and that ruins the opportunity to get that bear. Because the bear did not get wounded or spooked out of the area, there is a very good chance Bill will get him.

I will keep you posted if we are able to close the deal on either of these two larger bear we are trying to get or if we lower the bar for a smaller bear.

On another note: we scouted up another two point bull elk and a new wallow yesterday, can't wait for archery elk to start, we have several elk scouted up.

[bearpaw]

Yesterday was another exciting day on the mountain. Lars had just sit down to start glassing early in the morning and he spotted a nice bear 103 yards below him. He quickly got on the bear with his rifle and sent a 7mm bullet by special delivery, unfortunately it was a miss and the bear scrambled to safety.

Anthony spent a couple hours making sure there was no dead bear or blood trail and they finally gave up. When they came in for lunch I could see Lars was bummed out, I told him that he should shoot on the bench again just for a confidence builder and I tried comforting him that the third time is always a charm.

He shot a good group and they left for the afternoon hunt. This time they went to a new location to try something different. They had been glassing for quite some time and suddenly they spotted a bear working the brush and slowly moving toward them. Anthony had the video going as they watched the bear get closer and closer.

Finally at about 150 yards, Lars took the shot, you can see the bullet impact in the video, knocked the bear on his butt, then the bear tried getting up, Lars sent another round for good measure, but the bear wasn't going anywhere. They had seen 12 bear in 4 days, passed several small ones, missed a couple big ones, but... as it turned out, the third time was a charm for Lars... I love it when a plan comes together.

[Ray]

Good looking hunts Dale. Those antelope hunts sure turned out good. It's quite a treat to get one with the bow. That's a nice looking bruin too.

[mulehunter]

Sweet!!!  Very excited!

Mulehunter   

[bearpaw]

THANKS for the comments. We would like to have killed just a little larger antelope, but as I always say, "Anything with a bow is a trophy". Unfortunately we missed the two big bear and the bear taken was just an average sized 175 on the scale. But Lars is having it life-sized so no doubt he is very happy, and that's what counts. Most importantly everyone is having fun and we have had some really great people so far this season.

[ribka]

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully next year can book a hunt with you.

[LittleJohn]

Thanks for posting !!!! I look forward to your posts every time.

[carpsniperg2]

thats great right there

[PAW66]

Dale,
How did Bill do?  Was he able to close the deal?

[bearpaw]

Sorry for not getting back sooner, Bear season has been good to us so far and we picked up a few more last minute hunters so we are busy now.

On Bill's second to last evening he was watching a waterhole, he had a 30 yard encounter with a yearling bear and there was a lot of fresh sign in the immediate area so Bill decided to go back to the same place the next morning (his last day). Bill was in position watching when he spotted a nice black bear, the bear stopped and Bill put a 160 grain 7 Mag into the shoulder area, the bear faltered but took off on a dead run into the brush. Bill could hear the bear over across a small draw making a huge amount of noise breaking brush, but it wasn't going anywhere so he started sneaking in, he couldn't beleive the amount of noise that this bear was making.

As Bill got closer the noise continued, it sounded like the bear was going crazy, Bill was close to the bear but couldn't figure out why he couldn't see any brush or anything moving, his heart was pounding harder and harder as he got closer and closer, suddenly he realized the noise wasn't on ground level, he glanced up the closest big fir tree and spotted the bear halfway up the tree, it was moving all around the tree, breaking limbs as it moved. Bill tried to position himself for good shots, but the bear just kept moving all around the tree, he hit the bear several more times but was having trouble getting a killing shot because the tree was so thickly limbed and the bear wouldn't stop moving. Finally his 5th shot brought the bear crashing to the ground.

At this point I got a phone call, "Hey this is Bill, I shot a  200 pound bear and I need help getting it out, you won't believe the story". I sent Brian to help Bill get his bear, when they got back I interviewed Bill on video and he told us the story. It's Bill's 4th bear with us so he is going to tan this one to put over the back of a rocking chair, he already has bear rugs, and a half mount, so he is going to wait for a real bruiser for a lifesize someday.

We currently have a group of 6 in camp, so far two of them have missed bear, one hit a bear just before dark that rolled downhill and took off, it quit bleeding and we had to gve up the trail just before midnight so it unfortunately got away, two of them killed bear yesterday, one guy slept in this morning to rest up and the others are out hunting.

[bearpaw]

Another hunter missed a big brown 3 times yesterday, come to find out his scope was screwed up. Hopefully that problem is solved now.

I attached pictures of a smaller black bear we got yesterday. We had this bear at 35 yard, he seen us and ran to 50 yards and stopped broadside, I told TJ how big I thought the bear was and he smacked him with a 300 WinMag, knocked that bear right off his feet, anchored him to the ground, that is what I like to see, awesome shot. This was the guy's first bear, very happy indeed.

We also killed a brown yesterday, but those pics are on a different camera, will try to get the pics posted when I can.

One of the hunters from Mexico smoked a big coyote this morning, one shot at roughly 120 yds, need to get him on a bear...LOL, he hasn't had a shot at a bear yet, but if he can kill a coyote, a bear is in certain trouble.  Those coyote pics are also on a different camera, I will try to get them posted when I can.

[ratherhunt]

Wow nice, thanks for sharing great bears.

[whacker1]

from Mexico or New Mexico?

[Michelle_Nelson]

Good looking Bears!  Can't wait to see pictures of the Chocolate.  Sounds like you have a camp full of hunters this week!