Bearpaw Fall 2010 Season

[bearpaw]

Just a little side note, I hear comments all the time about how all the rich folks go hunting with guides. Like most of my clients, Bill is another working class guy, a retired maintenance worker from an electrical plant. He has a modest retirement and is just now starting to go on hunts he has dreamed his whole life about. He called me over two years ago and asked what his chances were of taking a mountable elk. I told him it's tough to go on one elk hunt and expect to get a trophy class bull. I told him about my best elk hunt and suggested that rather than hunting up to 10 or more years like the average elk hunter to try and get a nice bull, go one time on the best hunt you can afford. He has been sending me $500 payments for the last 2 years whenever he can afford to send the money. On Wednesday he shot this bull, the look on his face shows it was worth it. This was a once-in-a-lifetime hunt literally, he worked his whole life to do this someday when he retired. I am just happy to have been able to make this happen for Bill.

But, I think I have created a monster, he has already booked my best Montana mule deer hunt and is going to make monthly payments out of his retirement checks so he can afford to go on the mule deer hunt he has dreamed about his whole life. Next fall I will post his deer pictures, because like our best elk hunt, we have had 100% success on our best mule deer hunt.

Great advice and story!!  I'm sure that is rewarding to put guys on good animals, especially guys like Bill who set a goal, worked hard, and made it happen.

It is one of the most rewarding things about being a guide, however, it is a terrible feeling when you are unsuccessful. This may be hard to beleive, but I think it's harder on the guide than the hunter when you are unsuccessful.

[bearpaw]

just got this message from Bill, thought you would enjoy...

Hi Dale:
Sorry you couldn't  make it,  the hunt was the most exciting and fun hunt I have ever been on.  We did ground sitting, spot and stalk and stand hunting. Everybody was great especially Kim, who went above and beyond to get me a nice elk.
 
I will have to say that you missed some footage that would make any hunter's heart race.  Kim let me start Monday. We started in a stand and saw lots of elk, but only one that might be considered a shooter. It had real pretty white tips, but Kim said this was not a first day bull.  Went back out that night and had 100 + elk in field but no shot.  The second morning we walked in by the corn field to ground sit.   We had elk bulging not 80 yards from us but the wend was wrong and we could hear them running.  They went over toward the ranch owner and he shot a nice elk with his bow.  We sat awhile and then move to where you see me in the picture.  From there we watched 4 late bulls come from the corn and cross about 90 yards from us.  One was a nice 6 X 6 but had a broken rack.   That night we sat by the corn in a stand and saw small bulls and a few cows.  Saw tons of ducks going in the corn(exciting).  The third morning, because there was only one other hunter, we did a spot and stalk.  Got out there before shooting light and the elk were bulging about 100 yards from us.  We knew the one we wanted, not by sight, but sound. At the end of his bugle, he sounded like a bear growling.  They were going to cover early, but we crawled within 80 yards of the "hoss", but could not get shot due to the terrain before he went to cover(a heart pounder).  Later that morning we tried to intersect three more bulls that were reported to us. Got to them just as they went into the reeds and could only see the tops of their racks.
That night(3rd night) we went back to a stand that Kim thought would be good based on the elk pattern.  Sure enough, here they came, over 100  of them with probably 30 bulls.  Kim found what he thought was the best(he has a great eye for that).  It is a game of chance which way they would feed, and it was in our favor that night. Most of the elk were going away from us, but about 4 bulls seem to be headed our way.  My bull started at about 380 yards and when he got to 293 yards I shot him.  I did Bearpaw outfitters proud, as I did not miss.  He didn't go down, so Kim handed me another shell, and I about reamed out my chamber trying to get it in, as I was shacking so bad.  Hit him the second time, and it looked like he was going down but wanted to shot third so he would not suffer.  I let Kim put the third shell in my gun!
 
Thanks so much.
Bill

[wsmnut]

Dale,
     Thanks for everything regarding the Idaho deer hunt that my wife and I just finished.  We had planned and saved for a year for this and it more than met our expectations.   The opportunity to see new country and learn from experts was terrific, and the food and accommodations were top notch.  Seeing deer and moose everyday was quite a change from Washington!  You and your staff made us feel completely comfortable, which was just what my wife needed on her first hunt.  She was on cloud nine even before she tagged that beautiful buck.  She talked all the way home about the hunt and about doing it again!
That is the measure of success for me.  Can't wait until next year.  Our best wishes to Ray and your Mom.

Thanks,

wsmnut

[Michelle_Nelson]

Congtats wsmnut and Mrs. wsmnut for harvesting some really nice animals!

[bearpaw]

Dale,
     Thanks for everything regarding the Idaho deer hunt that my wife and I just finished.  We had planned and saved for a year for this and it more than met our expectations.   The opportunity to see new country and learn from experts was terrific, and the food and accommodations were top notch.  Seeing deer and moose everyday was quite a change from Washington!  You and your staff made us feel completely comfortable, which was just what my wife needed on her first hunt.  She was on cloud nine even before she tagged that beautiful buck.  She talked all the way home about the hunt and about doing it again!
That is the measure of success for me.  Can't wait until next year.  Our best wishes to Ray and your Mom.

Thanks,

wsmnut

We thoroughly enjoyed having you folks in camp and looking forward to seeing you next year. I packed out another 5x5 mulie two days ago but it wasn't as big as either of your bucks. A father and son were hunting together in the horseback drop camp and the son had already killed that buck, they were hiking up the ridge hunting for his dad and he was a little in front of his dad, up jumps a huge 30"+ at about 25 yards, I guess the son was in the way and his dad couldn't shoot. Even though they didn't get the big one, they were happy just getting to see a buck of that caliber.

[bearpaw]

Washington Update
10 Whitetail Bucks were taken on our opening weekend hunt in Washington. A father brought his 3 kids and all three tagged out, the biggest buck was a nice 20" 4x4. Even though at least a half dozen bucks were missed we still had a great hunt. Titan Outdoors put the hammer down on a 5x5 and a 4x5, watch the hunts on their next video, they put together some awesome videos that are all about Pacific Northwest hunting, mainly Washington. Their new video just released a couple weeks ago has two bucks they shot with us last year.

Note - We have a guided hunt available Oct 24-26. Anthony would be your guide and he does extremely well. We also still have a few openings for unguided hunters during the rest of the October rifle season.

[bearpaw]

Idaho Update
Our first deer hunt was awesome, only a couple hunters in the first group did not shoot, and that was because they passed smaller bucks and never got to shoot the big one. Most of the hunters killed 25" to 26" bucks including WSMNUt and his wife. In my horseback drop camp the son had already killed his deer, he and his dad were hiking up a ridge and he got in front of his dad, I guess a huge buck jump up only 25 yards away but the dad couldn't shoot because the son was in the way. They said it was over 30" and built like a box, horns grew straight out, then turned and went straight up, biggest buck they have ever seen. When I packed them out they said it was the best hunt of their life even though they didn't get the big one. Most of my hunters from the first group said they plan on doing another hunt in the future, so it was a great hunt all the way around.

Our second hunt sucked, it was for deer and elk, it has been unseasonably warm and the game has not been moving since it heated up, five hunters in camp, three bucks missed and a few small ones passed, only two bulls seen and too far away to shoot. The only highlight is that a 15 year old boy did get his first deer. I hate it when we have a hunt like this but all we can do is try harder and sometimes that simply doesn't seem to make a difference. 
For some reason all the guys say they want to come back hunting again, and one of the guys who missed is coming back to Idaho next year, must have been my mom's good cooking... 

Our third group just arrived last night. I told them this morning at breakfast that our first hunt was excellent but the second hunt was not a good one. But I pointed out that after several bad days there should be some game moving sometime soon and hunting should pick up, especially if it cools off. Brian just texted me a few minutes ago that they missed a big 25", 170's class buck this morning. Last night the hunter said he shot his rifle just before driving here to hunt, but they are going to double check the rifle on a target just to be sure it's on.

We are seeing some really good bucks this year in Idaho and we aren't getting them all, so I think there is going to be some real hogs next year.

[bearpaw]

Utah Update
The hunt on our private mule deer ranch was great as usual. The highlight was 86 year old Jack Barnickol taking another 4x4 buck. He and his son Jeff (about age 65) hunt somewhere with us every year. You may remember Jack and Jeff hunting in Montana and Utah in my Bearpaw Season thread last year. They both shot nice bucks in both states and Jack whacked a couple coyotes. Anyway every year Jeff calls to let me know if Jack thinks he will be around another year to go deer hunting. The other night I got the call, Jeff said Jack figured he was good for another hunt so mark them down for 2011 on the Utah ranch.

Mule Deer Tags - The deer season goes until Nov 10 on this ranch and I still have two landowner vouchers to get tags. The deer aren't especially big on this ranch but it's a blast to hunt, I usuallly see 50 to 100 deer daily, and most hunters get a decent buck. We have seen the occasional 28-30 inch buck but most bucks taken are under 26". You can do an unguided hunt or a guided hunt, which ever you prefer.

Cow Elk Tags - I also still have cow elk hunts available, you can do a 1 cow hunt, or a 2 cow hunt and success is usually 90% to 100% on the guided hunts. I can also arrange unguided hunts for cows if that is more what you want.

[bearpaw]

I still have a couple Idaho cougar hunts available for early December, tags are available over the counter, hunt fee reduced from $4950 to $4250.

[bearpaw]

We still have plenty of room in the November late buck season for guided or unguided whitetail hunts.

[bearpaw]

It has been an interesting week:

Idaho Is Rough Country
I would love to report that every week of season was perfect, but anyone in the business knows that probably isn't true. The last group of guys were really nice guys but most were not cut out for hunting Idaho. They all thought they could handle it but most struggled with the country. The Guides are still spotting big bucks at long range, but the hunters can't get to them. Success has dropped down and some guys left for home early, discouraged by the elevation and steep country.

Horse Wreck
I'm packing out a drop camp one night at about 1 AM, I thought I would save a second trip and loaded the horses pretty heavy, I must have misweighed one side of the pack on cowboy, anyway I was only a halfmile down the trail on my way out and the pack rolled on cowboy "the rear horse in my string", he erupted so I jumped off my horse and ran to the rear of the string, I got a hold of Cowboy who had gotten one leg hung up in the breast strap but I couldn't get the breast strap loose in time, then he really exploded and I had to let go of him, he run into the other horses, caused them to take off and they all disappeared into the darkness. For a halfmile down the canyon I could hear tent poles and gear hitting the rocks as it was thrown from packs. There's two stretches of trail that are a sheer drop off and I knew I was going to find one or two horses laying in the creek bottom with broken legs and ribs. So I started down the trail searching for lost gear with my headlamp and stacking gear in intermittent piles for later pickup. Needless to say the worst things to pick up were the box of sandwich bags and bag of 250 plastic spoons that got scattered from here to hell...  By some miracle the horses all made it past the sheer drop offs, in fact they all made it all the way to the truck, I walked all the way out stacking gear as I went, when I got to the truck, there wasn't a single pack or item on any horse, by far the worse horse wreck I have ever had... 

I looked over the horses, just one had a bad cut which I had the vet come and look at the next day. That horse is done for the season but is healing up good. I spent the next 3 days gathering up gear, some broken, some OK. On one trip in I met a friend coming out the trail, she was laughing as I told her what happened. She said she rode all the way in just to see how much gear was laying around...LOL   I guess that's just another chapter for my book of "what not to let happen". 

Stroke
I had a guy staying at the lodge who had triple by-pass surgery this summer. Anyway we had him sitting watching a waterhole but I think it was the stress of high elevation that got him, he passed out completely and was disoriented, he had forgot to bring his medication so we had to go to town to get him straightened out, and then he left early because he was afraid to finish the hunt.

Kidney Stones
This morning one of the hunters had a kidney stone attack, he couldn't go hunting and after sitting around for a few hours decided to try and drive to meet his wife in Boise. Hope he makes it OK. Fortunately he killed a buck yesterday before the attack started.

Stopped By Police
To top the week off, I am coming into town, I looked down the road and the cops had some sucker pulled over, (another cop is sitting across the street) I am thinking how stupid is that, two cops sitting along the same stretch of street and a guy goes speeding by both cops....LOL
I comfortably cruise past both cops and the other one pulls out behind me with lights on so I quickly pull over. The officer walks up asks for registration, proof of insurance, and DL. I poke around and find all the pertinent info, then he says, do you know why I pulled you over?
"NO, Was I going to fast, and I look at the road sign I am pulled over next to that says 40 MPH." The officer says: "This is a 1 block School Zone." I don't see any school, but I don't want to argue. He says I'll be right back and heads to his car. Pretty soon he comes back with a speeding ticket, he says: "You were doing 34 in a 20 school zone, but I let you off easy with 10 over, it's a much lesser violation". I said "I honestly didn't see any school zone." He says "We mark it as well as we can." I sign and he lets me loose to endanger the public again. So I drove around the block to see this school zone. Sure enough there's a 100 yard stretch that does have a light on the side of the 4 lane busy street. I have traveled this street probably a hundred times and never seen the sign or flashing lights before. There is even a school 1 block away on the street to the north.

SHOOT, last thing I needed was to finish off the week with a speeding ticket.
On the bright side, my wife had a good week in Washington and next week has to be an improvement for me!!! 

[Machias]

Glad you didn't get hurt in the horse wreck.  I can only imagine what that sounded like...err actually I know exactly what it sounds like!   

[bearpaw]

Glad you didn't get hurt in the horse wreck.  I can only imagine what that sounded like...err actually I know exactly what it sounds like!   

Well that's why I had to turn the horse loose, it was starting to get out of hand and I knew I needed to get out of the way, was hard to let go though, knowing it could turn into a disaster. Still can't believe now horses went over the edge into the creek bottom....

If something is going to go bad it will happen in the middle of the night with a packstring....

[bearpaw]

Yesterday we killed a 3x3 buck in Idaho, and another hunter missed out on another shot opportunity. Today is the last day of season, I am through packing so I saddled the pack horses and sent the guys up the trail, maybe Nick can get them into where the game is at with the pack horses, his hunter is an older fella that is not too good of a hiker and should have booked a horseback hunt. Really nice guy, he just can't hike like he used too. My fingers are crossed they connect today.

Nontheless it has been one of our best deer seasons in Idaho. I think shot opportunity was over 90% and we saw a lot of big bucks we didn't get, which means they will be bigger next year. As long as we don't have a hard winter, we are going to kill some more dandies next year. 

[Gringo31]

Great Stories Dale....

Thanks for sharing em!