Post by: bearpaw on April 07, 2014, 12:51:04 PM
Colton age 15 and his dad hunt with us often, this would be his last year to participate in the youth Turkey Hunt and he hunted with my son Brian. On opening morning Colton filled his first tag with a nice gobbler without much of a beard, none of the long bearded toms presented a shooting opportunity so he smacked the one shown below, nice fan but not much beard. On Sunday Colton filled his second tag with a hen sporting a 6" beard that he will be mounting lifesize. Nice shooting Colton, 2 shots 2 birds, a very successful last youth hunt.
Abby age 10 had a last minute change in plans, her team won a spot in the playoffs so she had a playoff game on Saturday and couldn't come hunting. I scouted Saturday night and put numerous birds to roost. Abby and dad arrived in the evening and we planned the hunt for Sunday morning. At 4:30 am we had breakfast and by 5:35 we were in position waiting for the birds to come off the roost. The birds were sounding off pretty good, 10 to 20 gobblers one after the other. Abby had never turkey hunted and even her dad had never heard this many gobblers in one flock.
We had seen them in two fields, one above the roost and one below the roost. I had opted to hunt above the roost, but as luck would have it all the birds came off the roost and glided into the lower field. We quickly repositioned ourselves to a location where we could try to call them in the lower field.
I give them just enough turkey talk to spark their interest and we waited. Pretty soon here come a group with a big long beard in the lead and the rest 50 yards behind. The longbeard was just out of 20 gauge range so we waited, soon 8 more longbeards and a few hens were at 30 yards. I give Abby the word and I heard her take off the safety as she raised her gun, she took aim and WHAMMO, one gobbler down, I told her to reload as two gobblers attacked the downed bird. Abby tried for gobbler #2, oooppps no shot, I looked at her gun and noticed it wasn't fully pumped, I told her to close it again and then she hammered another longbeard. Awesome, great shooting Abby, two shots, two downed longbeards.
Congrats to Colton and Abby! :tup:
I can't hardly wait for the general spring season to open.
Post by: h20hunter on April 07, 2014, 12:53:16 PM
Post by: combs338 on April 07, 2014, 12:53:33 PM
Post by: bearpaw on April 07, 2014, 01:09:42 PM
Seeing two great kids having fun is so very satisfying, the youth hunts really are a blast for everyone involved.
Post by: mulehunter on April 07, 2014, 01:27:28 PM
Post by: JKEEN33 on April 07, 2014, 05:26:08 PM
Post by: hunting4sanity on April 07, 2014, 05:42:11 PM
Post by: whackmaster on April 07, 2014, 06:17:00 PM
Post by: bearpaw on April 13, 2014, 01:54:58 PM
These hunts are normally $1450 each but I'll sell these 3 hunts for $1250 each since it's short notice. Meals, lodging, and guiding are included.
Post by: Gringo31 on April 13, 2014, 02:05:30 PM
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on April 13, 2014, 02:17:50 PM
Post by: bowhunterforever on April 14, 2014, 01:40:18 AM
Real good start to the season! :tup::yeah: :tup:
Post by: Gringo31 on April 14, 2014, 09:59:25 AM
Post by: Machias on April 14, 2014, 11:35:13 AM
Post by: bearpaw on April 14, 2014, 12:02:01 PM
Post by: bearpaw on April 16, 2014, 03:07:05 AM
After lunch I worked another bird by another property boundary, another hunter on the neighboring property ended up shooting that bird on the boundary so we moved on, saw some more hens and jakes and was able to roost a big tom at dark. Going after him in the morning. I will post more photos of other birds when I get more time to get the photos off the cameras. Good luck to everyone. :tup:
Post by: Machias on April 16, 2014, 03:38:48 AM
Post by: RadSav on April 17, 2014, 05:01:15 PM
Post by: Machias on April 17, 2014, 05:24:12 PM
Post by: bearpaw on April 17, 2014, 05:27:00 PM
Post by: RadSav on April 17, 2014, 05:36:10 PM
One more picture since my little sweetheart is so photogenic :chuckle:
Post by: bearpaw on April 17, 2014, 05:40:13 PM
Just make sure we are on the books for three bowhunters next year :tup:
One more picture since my little sweetheart is so photogenic :chuckle:
Nice picture, yep, I have all three of you marked down. :tup:
Post by: FSTaxidermy on April 17, 2014, 06:12:23 PM
Post by: RadSav on April 17, 2014, 07:23:35 PM
One more picture since my little sweetheart is so photogenic :chuckle:
The Bear Darkhorse, that is ;)
Post by: bearpaw on April 17, 2014, 07:56:20 PM
Post by: Wea300mag on April 17, 2014, 08:00:00 PM
Post by: MLBowhunting on April 17, 2014, 09:15:17 PM
Post by: RadSav on April 18, 2014, 12:27:50 AM
All these jakes we are seeing will be mature birds next year, so it should be another outstanding hunt.
Yeah, that makes me pretty darn excited for next year. In 1.5 days I had over a dozen jakes in my 30 yard shooting lane. I'm betting there is going to be some good fighting and strutting going on during the opener next year. Only 360 some odd days left to wait :IBCOOL:
Post by: bearpaw on April 18, 2014, 06:30:42 AM
"Yes, I heard him, let's finish our pictures and then we'll check him out." But then I heard bird #2 again and he was much closer, "Drop the turkey, we'll finish pictures later!" We scrambled to get masks and gloves back on and sat down next to our dead turkey. I began calling and bird #2 kept coming. He made about 3/4 of a circle around us, just out of range, finally we had him at about 40 yards and Mike took the shot, unfortunately we must have missed the head and neck and the bird flew off, we followed hoping to find him dead but no such luck. We returned to bird #1 and finished taking pics and then walked back to the truck, we loaded up and headed for a different hunting spot.
I only drove a few hundred yards and we spotted another group of birds, there was a big gobbler strutting with them across the field. I glassed the birds as we formed a plan. We drove a ways out of sight stalked across another field, through a canyon, and up a hillside and were pleasantly surprised to find the birds were close. I give them a little sweet talk, everything worked out perfectly and Mike smacked bird #3 at 35 yards, more handshakes and photos and we headed to the house to clean the two nice toms.
When cleaning bird #1 I found that Mike had hit him hard in the chest and then we knew why the beard wasn't as thick as it had appeared the night before. About half the beard had been cut off by the shot. Nonetheless, Mike sacked up two awesome toms, congrats to Mike on his exciting hunt.
Post by: combs338 on April 18, 2014, 07:05:03 AM
Post by: bearpaw on April 18, 2014, 07:06:40 AM
For my afternoon hunt I was unsure where to go, I actually headed to one place but changed my mind so turned around and headed back to another place. We got to where we were going, I was getting ready to make my first call at that place and we heard a gobble before I called. We started working that gobbler and it sounded good for 30 minutes to an hour but finally he shut up and the next time I heard him he was on top of the hill near some strutting zones. Fred and I decided to hike to the top, sneak in close and check out the strut zones. The first three spots we saw no birds, we snuck up to spot #4 and I peeked over the rocks and was face to face with a jake at 8 to 10 feet. He started putting and running frantic, several more jakes moved from behind the rock, I told Fred it looks like they are all jakes, watch for a long beard. None of the other jakes had actually seen us but they were excited because the one jake took off, by now we could see about 12 jakes all within 10-15 yards putting and running in circles, suddenly a bird gobbled in the trees just out of sight, I started calling frantically and three more birds run out in front of us, we could see two were long beards and Fred whacked the bird with the thickest beard at 10 to 15 yards, I could see the other long beard had really white feathers and I wanted him for a fan mount. Fred had just filled his 2nd tag so I said, "Hand me your gun I'll shoot the other tom!" Fred quickly handed me the versamax and I whacked the other tom. So it was another pretty exciting hunt, Fred killed his 2nd bird and I even got to take a nice bird. I love it when a plan comes together.
Kurt was hunting with Ray and they killed another long beard that evening. Day 2 was a real good day we ended up taking 4 birds before lunch and 3 birds after lunch, so 7 birds on the second day. Sorry but no pics of Kurt's bird.
Post by: bearpaw on April 18, 2014, 08:29:59 AM
Kurt was tagged out but Cheryl still had both her tags and we had two new hunters in camp, another husband and wife, Ben and Alicia, but it was quiet and the morning hunt was a bust.
In the afternoon guide Ray posted Cheryl and Kurt in a blind where we had seen a really large gobbler with a 10 to 11 inch beard. The big gobbler didn't show but about 2pm another good tom came in and Cheryl smacked him. Her bird sported a 9 3/4 beard which bested both of Kurt's birds, his largest was 9 1/2. Guide Ray headed to another ranch and later in the evening Cheryl smacked another tom with roughly an 8 inch beard. Great shooting Kurt and Cheryl... :tup:
In the afternoon guide Brian's hunter "Ben" killed a real nice long beard and guide Daniel got Alicia onto a group of Jakes. She had said she was shooting the first legal bird she saw and Alicia was not joking, she dropped a jake with one shot from her 20 gauge, I think the smile in her photo tells the story well! Great job Ben and Alicia! :tup:
Sorry I don't have pics of Cheryl's 2nd bird or Ben's bird, I will try to get them rounded up and post later.
Post by: quadrafire on April 18, 2014, 09:21:48 AM
Good work on the birds
Post by: bearpaw on April 20, 2014, 05:50:21 AM
Really like your dining room. That is awesome!!!
Good work on the birds
Thanks much.
More birds to post as soon as I can get photos rounded up. :tup:
It's been really good hunting and I've noticed a lot of jakes, we had a pretty good hatch last year, there's going to be a lot of toms next year. If we have another good hatch this summer and another mild winter, our turkey numbers will be in great shape again.
Post by: whackmaster on April 20, 2014, 06:29:34 AM
It was so fun very nice place to stay and hunt if you're thinking
about a turkey hunt this is the place to go Bearpaws wife is a
awesome cook too. :tup:
thank you so much for the turkeys it was a blast cant wait till next year
CL
Post by: bearpaw on April 20, 2014, 06:47:54 AM
WOW what a great time Bearpaw has a 1st class operation.
It was so fun very nice place to stay and hunt if you're thinking
about a turkey hunt this is the place to go Bearpaws wife is a
awesome cook too. :tup:
thank you so much for the turkeys it was a blast cant wait till next year
CL
Thanks, it was a real pleasure meeting you and having you here for the hunt. You did some great shooting with your bow, looking forward to next season already. :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on April 20, 2014, 07:10:41 AM
Post by: bearpaw on April 21, 2014, 11:19:24 AM
We are out of hunters until the weekend, then we'll be hunting again. :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on April 28, 2014, 12:38:46 PM
That's what I dubbed this weekend.
On Friday morning we moved in close and set up 100 yards from a nice tom I had roosted the night before. While we were waiting for the gobbler to come off the roost I heard a bird land in a tree behind us, I thought it must be a raven or grouse or something moving around, meanwhile the tom continued to gobble, suddenly a great horned owl flew out from behind us, over our heads and straight to the gobbler, it attacked the gobbler in the tree. The gobbler dropped to the ground and we saw gobbler and owl jumping and running in circles. The gobbler escaped into the brush and the owl flew back into the gobbler's roost tree. I waited a few minutes and decided to call, the gobbler answered a few times and then the owl swooped down again, another big ruckus and the gobbler got away in the brush again and the owl flew back up into the tree. This time I waited a couple more minutes and tried calling again, the gobbler would not reply to my calling. Then after a few more minutes we saw the owl swoop down again after the gobbler and we heard the gobbler gobble a couple times as he was leaving the area. I think this gobbler got away but I'm not certain that he did. My hunter John, went birdless that day and we told my 2 other hunters who arrived that evening (K357** and cementfinisher) about the OWLPOCOLYSE attack.
The next morning, Saturday, we had all three hunters set up in different locations. K357** killed a 9 3/4 gobbler in the morning and we roosted several birds Sat night for the next day. Yesterday morning (Sunday) we had all three hunters set up in different locations again, K357** killed a 5" jake (one of the biggest jake's I've seen), John killed a 9 1/4 tom and missed a jake, and cementfinisher experienced another OWLPOCOLYSE attack. I had cementfinisher set up fairly close to the roost waiting for the bird to come off roost, suddenly another owl attacked his bird knocking it from the tree, it hit the ground, ran a ways with the owl after it and flew up into another tree. This tree happened to be within range of cementfinisher so he wisely shot the turkey and the owl flew off. It believe his tom measured 9 5/8", slightly smaller than K357**'s first bird which seemed to please K357**. :chuckle:
You can see in the photo of cementfinisher's tom that he has lost his tail feathers in the past and they have grown back again, likely to predators. I'm wondering, has anyone else experienced owls attacking the birds they are hunting this year?
Yes, that's snow in some of the photos, it was cold and snowing yesterday, hunting was tough, we probably got lucky by getting the 4 birds that we did get. Congrats to K357**, cementfinisher, and John, it was a blast (pun intended) hunting with you. :tup:
Post by: MtnMuley on April 28, 2014, 01:28:25 PM
Post by: baldopepper on April 28, 2014, 01:51:14 PM
Post by: K357** on April 28, 2014, 02:14:37 PM
Post by: bearpaw on April 28, 2014, 04:13:28 PM
On your properties up there, what percentage of Rio's do you feel you have?
I've seen more birds this year that have a Rio appearance than ever before. There are 3 properties in particular that we see this trait. Other properties not so much.
Post by: MtnMuley on April 28, 2014, 04:21:43 PM
On your properties up there, what percentage of Rio's do you feel you have?
I've seen more birds this year that have a Rio appearance than ever before. There are 3 properties in particular that we see this trait. Other properties not so much.
Thanks. I noticed a few more this year as well around Colville and Chewelah. We got one across the river this spring, but they seem to be more prevalent on that side. Congrats on the great start to the season.
Post by: bearpaw on April 28, 2014, 04:26:07 PM
I've never heard of great horns taking on anything as large as a turkey. Actually raised a couple of them when I was young (we were into falconry and, quite frankly, they were great at keeping housecats away from our birds). I'm wondering if perhaps the owl had a nest somewhere close. They are extremely aggressive when you get anywhere near their nest (I've had them whack me more than once and it's damn scary as you don't hear them coming). I'm sure it's possible they were looking at the gobbler for a meal, but I'm more inclined to think perhaps it was a protective attack.
We have a lot of owls and I thought all the largest were great horned. I'm not an owl expert, so I guess it's possible it was a different type of large owl. These exact trees are normal turkey roosts year after year, never seen it happen before here or at other locations. Wished I would have had my video camera.
Not to shabby for my first time turkey hunting!!! :IBCOOL: :chuckle: Can't thank you guys enough!! My time there with you guys was definetly top notch!!
Thanks very much, hope to see you again. :tup:
Post by: quadrafire on April 28, 2014, 08:13:36 PM
For me, if I didn't bag a bird, but had that experience with the owl.........That would be the greatest. Thanks for sharing that story :tup:
Post by: ribka on April 28, 2014, 10:15:09 PM
Post by: bearpaw on April 29, 2014, 05:59:19 PM
Post by: ribka on April 29, 2014, 10:10:21 PM
Post by: bearpaw on April 29, 2014, 10:38:37 PM
Post by: Machias on April 30, 2014, 11:04:32 AM
That is why I hunt........... For all the varied experiences. That is awesome!!!!!!!
For me, if I didn't bag a bird, but had that experience with the owl.........That would be the greatest. Thanks for sharing that story :tup:
:yeah:
Post by: bearpaw on May 02, 2014, 12:59:21 PM
(sorry, the cell phone footage is not very good, the cougar is right on the edge of the timber in the video)
Post by: bravo on May 03, 2014, 07:57:16 PM
Post by: bearpaw on May 03, 2014, 08:02:27 PM
My 13 year old son says NICE BIRDS . i think he is getting excited about hunting season . Thank you for a good thread filled with good times.
Awesome, glad to hear he is getting excited. :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on May 04, 2014, 08:55:59 PM
We just started another turkey hunt today, jakes were called in and passed, a long beard was missed, a coyote was called in, one black bear was seen (first this spring), and a cougar was called in to 75 yards, he stopped for a moment, then turned and disappeared into the bush. A mixed bag of entertainment for sure!
This group of 6 unguided hunters came from all parts of the country for a get together and turkey hunt the last 2 1/2 days. Hunting has been tough, they did manage to kill a 3 year old 9 1/2" 20.5 pound tom with 1 1/4 spurs. They also had the excitement calling in the cougar and seeing the bear, missed a bird, called a few that wouldn't come within range, and passed several jakes. I'm sorry they didn't have better luck but I guess that's the way it happens some times. I invited them back for a fall hunt if they can slip away from work.
Post by: bearpaw on May 04, 2014, 10:07:20 PM
Kevin (dad) and Hunter (son) come up every year and stay at our place for an unguided turkey hunt, they've been doing this since Hunter was about 5 or 6 years old. He's nearly finished with college now so in all these years they have become really good friends. This year on the first day of their hunt they saw a cougar, the first cougar Kevin had ever seen and he thought that was pretty cool.
Yesterday they went to an entirely different area, gobbling was pretty slow so they went driving around looking at some new country. They stopped the truck and decided to walk a ways up the road and try calling for a gobble. They didn't really expect to hear a gobble so they didn't bother taking their shotguns, they figured they could go back to the truck for guns if they heard a gobble. They walked a ways and Kevin called, nothing, but there was fresh turkey tracks in the mud so they decided to walk a little further and call again. They had also noticed fresh cougar tracks in the mud and thought that was pretty neat too. They walked a ways and Kevin called again, nothing, so they walked another hundred yards or so and called again, a third time, nothing!
They turned around to walk back to the truck and there was a cougar stalking up the road toward them, the cougar keeps coming, at this point they both have visions of their shotguns sitting in the truck and wondering why anyone would leave their guns in the truck. The cougar is now only about 20 to 30 yards from them and finally stops in a crouched position, not knowing what else to do they both raised their arms and jumped toward the cat yelling, the cat turned slowly and went into the woods, he didn't run, he just sort of trotted out of sight. Needless to say this really shook them both up and it was hard for them to hunt the rest of the day without constantly watching behind themselves. That cougar incident was the talk and joke around the dinner table last night. We had a little fun joking with them about that, yet we all knew this is pretty scary when a cougar is actually stalking you and you have to make such a concerted effort to shun it off.
A total of three cougars were spotted in three different areas in two days this weekend. :yike:
They had to leave this morning so Hunter (the son) could get back and study for his college finals. They went out hunting for a couple hours this morning before leaving and Hunter sacked up a real nice 9 1/2" gobbler with 1" spurs, good job, way to go guys. A happy ending after all! Can't wait to see you next time. :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on May 04, 2014, 10:50:51 PM
After Kevin and Hunter got their bird this morning and left it was slow for a while, not many gobbles. I had two guided hunters in camp who were out hunting, Doug and Mike, and only one had a bird, Doug had bagged a 9" beauty on the first day of the hunt yesterday (Saturday) with guide Daniel. Later in the morning guide Ray moved Mike to another property and right away they sacked up an 8 1/2" long beard about noon, nice going Mike!
Unfortunately Doug missed a bird this morning and was a bit bummed about that, he doesn't usually miss, but he shook it off at lunch and headed out again after lunch for a different property with Daniel. Mike and Ray headed back to a property where they had seen birds in the morning. Doug had his chance and redeemed himself with a nice one shot kill on a young bird in the early afternoon. About 4 pm Mike had his chance and sacked up his second tom, so now they were both tagged out in 2 days of hunting. This evening we had a good time visiting and talking about their previous hunts, three years in a row and tagged out all three years, that's some great shooting guys! We enjoyed hunting with you again this year and look forward to seeing you again next year. :tup:
Post by: jackelope on May 05, 2014, 09:45:53 PM
:tup:
That cougar story was pretty crazy.
Post by: bearpaw on May 10, 2014, 12:11:31 PM
Nice to see those guys scored. It was good talking with you and those guys on Saturday.
:tup:
That cougar story was pretty crazy.
Yes, it was great to meet you. Hunting has been tougher, but still finding birds here and there.
Post by: bearpaw on May 10, 2014, 01:13:15 PM
My next hunter "Paul" was from Kentucky, he is the president of his NWTF Chapter and had been to South Dakota and New Mexico in search of a Merriam's but had not even seen a bird on either hunt. Paul and Vicky flew into Seattle a week early and spent time sight seeing in Seattle, Mt ST Helens, Crater Lake, and the Oregon Coast before coming to Colville for the hunt.
They arrived Monday evening and went to bed before I was back home from my Task Force meeting. At 3:00 AM I awoke and met Paul, we had breakfast and headed out for the morning hunt. At the first stop we had a gobble and planned a stalk. We made a big circle out around a large farm field and worked our way down a creek bottom to the roost. We stopped about 80 yards short and set up. I could hear that there were hens and multiple gobbles so I figured we better wait till they hit the ground to see what would happen.
Finally I saw several fly down and so I began calling, right away here come 3 jakes and 1 hen. They came to about 20 yards and just hung out for a few minutes before finally moving out of sight. By now I had heard another bird gobble across the creek and it sounded like a tom. I called pretty aggressively but could not get the tom to come. Suddenly I realized the jakes had come back and spotted us, pretty quick they took to flight and flew across the creek toward the tom.
I let the whole thing settle down a bit and tried calling the tom again, no luck. I whispered to Paul that I thought our only chance was to go to the tom, I thought he had the whole flock with him and he wasn't going to leave them. So we put a stalk on and got close. The jakes had joined up with the tom and hens and they happened to spot us, we kept still and their curiosity brought them closer, then a couple hens started getting curious too, pretty soon the whole flock was coming closer, we held tight, I could see the tom was the last bird, I whispered to Paul to get ready, I called a couple times, the tom moved into a better position and Paul dropped him. Awesome, we were less than an hour into the hunt and one mature bird down! :tup:
We hunted the next 1 1/2 days, we called in a couple gobblers to only 20 yards but the way they came in Paul did not have a clear shot and they split before he could shoot. We saw another 30 or 40 birds including some jakes but was unable to get another mature tom. Paul was very happy with the bird he had and Vicki wanted to see Grand Coulee Dam and drive the North Cascades Hwy before leaving so they left before lunch on the 3rd morning. It was a great hunt and we had some really good conversation, Thanks Paul & Vicki!
Post by: bearpaw on May 10, 2014, 11:00:25 PM
Our next hunter "Mike" had never taken a turkey. Mike dropped a double bearded Jake on the first day. Second day he saw a couple toms but they didn't get them and the day ended up a bust. On day three Mike saw a couple toms but couldn't get the shot. Finally on the evening of the third day a group of 12 jakes came within shooting range and Mike sacked up another Jake. Great shooting Mike, hope to see you again soon.
Post by: bearpaw on May 11, 2014, 07:40:27 AM
Alex arrived yesterday afternoon and we nearly got a bird last night but we knew right where that bird roosted so we set up before daylight this morning. The bird was gobbling loudly on the roost but went off the roost away from us. I called hard and it sounded like he came back our way but then moved away down the canyon. As he sounded farther away I decided we better move and so we moved about 100 yards to a new position. I called and nothing. Suddenly he gobbles and he is right over where we had just moved from. Oh nuts, who's great idea was it to move! :bash:
I had no choice but to try and call him from that spot to our new setup so I started calling and I called and I called, that bugger really liked our first set up and was expecting us to come to him. Finally he moved off the ridge back into the canyon and away from us. His last gobble was going farther away so we moved around, relieved ourselves, and got comfortable again.
I heard another distant gobble and decided to call hard again. I give it to him loud and hard, again and again. Nothing, he wouldn't reply back. So we waited and waited, finally I saw his head poke up about 45 to 50 yards away. Then he moved up where we could see his whole body but wouldn't come any closer. I give him a little soft enticing sounds but still he stayed his distance, I was getting as nervous as the pacing bird that was going back and forth in little circles, I was afraid the bird was going to split so I told Alex to take him. Alex pulled up, the bird saw the movement and stretched his neck up trying to see us and Alex mowed him over, whammo, big bird down at 40-45 yards. He's not too heavy about 16 pounds or so, but 9" beard and about 7/8 spurs, missing a tail feather but other than that a beautiful bird. Congrats to Alex on great patience and a fine shot. :tup:
We are having some coffee then going to see what else is stirring in the bush. :tup:
Post by: HUNTINCOUPLE on May 11, 2014, 07:54:20 AM
Post by: jackelope on May 11, 2014, 09:03:39 AM
Post by: bearpaw on May 12, 2014, 10:46:11 AM
Well we've had a pretty good run on birds for our hunters but yesterday we had a hunter leave with no bird. Justin's time was limited to 1 1/2 days of hunting, he did pass some jakes and did get a shot at a bearded hen, but we couldn't find a mature tom and he simply had to get back to home and work. I asked him to come back for another weekend but it sounds like that will be tough for him to do. Hope to see you next year Justin. :hello:
Afternoon Hunt A Bust
Alex hunted again yesterday afternoon and last night but it was a bust, we saw some hens but I couldn't find any birds that wanted to gobble so in the evening we set up to intercept some birds on their way to the roost, but I chose the wrong spot to sit and the next thing we know they had gone to roost behind us. Because they are roosted right next to another property and I expected them to fly off the roost onto the other property in the morning we will wait and try to go after them again this evening.
Four (4) More Cougars
This morning we tried to find a gobble but the only gobble we heard was on a neighboring property that we can't hunt. I decided the next best thing was to sit and watch one of the fields where we have been seeing birds. Alex and Daniel are sitting there right now, they saw two toms at 70 yards a while ago but the birds went the wrong way and the guys couldn't get a shot. I just got another text, 4 cougars came through the edge of the food plot, yes, 4 cougars! Daniel says he has them on video! That's the first cougars Alex has ever seen. That's 7 cougars we have seen in the last 1 1/2 weeks. :yike:
Post by: quadrafire on May 12, 2014, 01:23:35 PM
I may have missed it.
Post by: bearpaw on May 13, 2014, 01:53:12 PM
Did you have any spring bear hunters?
I may have missed it.
I have an unguided bear hunter who just started hunting yesterday. Also have a guided hunter coming later in the season and I have a tag myself. :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on May 13, 2014, 02:12:38 PM
In the afternoon guide Daniel and Alex went to set up on the birds that roosted behind us the night before. Unfortunately the birds were in a different location and the guys got busted getting into position and the birds flew off the property. Daniel opted to go to another property which nearly paid off, they saw a flock of jakes and two mature toms and roosted them for the morning.
Alex's Second Bird
Last night we talked about the possible options and Daniel decided to go after the two toms that were out of range yesterday morning. He moved the location of the blind a little and they got into position early. They saw some other birds and then Alex said there's a jake, Daniel took a second look and said it's a tom. Alex carefully moved his gun into position and tipped over turkeyrex with one well placed shot. We took photos, weighed and measured the bird, 19 pounds, 1 1/4 spurs, 9 3/4 beard. Congrats on an excellent bird Alex. :tup:
Post by: quadrafire on May 13, 2014, 02:46:20 PM
Post by: bearpaw on May 13, 2014, 03:01:48 PM
How's the Northeast Tick population this year Dale?
Out of all the hunting we've done we have only found 1 tick so far, usually found dozens by now, hardly seems to be any around where we've been hunting. :dunno:
Post by: RadSav on May 13, 2014, 03:30:03 PM
How's the Northeast Tick population this year Dale?
Out of all the hunting we've done we have only found 1 tick so far, usually found dozens by now, hardly seems to be any around where we've been hunting. :dunno:
Now you've done it!!! JINX :chuckle:
Post by: jackelope on May 13, 2014, 03:33:26 PM
Congrats to Alex again. That's a great bird. I wonder....is he making a trip back over to John's with that one too?
Post by: quadrafire on May 13, 2014, 03:45:40 PM
How's the Northeast Tick population this year Dale?
Out of all the hunting we've done we have only found 1 tick so far, usually found dozens by now, hardly seems to be any around where we've been hunting. :dunno:
Thats good.
I've literally been into nests of them up there turkey hunting, years past
Post by: bearpaw on May 13, 2014, 04:09:39 PM
1 tick in 4 days is all we saw too... I was shocked.
Congrats to Alex again. That's a great bird. I wonder....is he making a trip back over to John's with that one too?
I think he is having John do something with the beards and the spurs from both birds. Alex could explain better. :tup:
Post by: tarbabyone on May 14, 2014, 11:39:23 PM
Post by: bearpaw on May 19, 2014, 06:26:21 PM
On Day 1 Jason and Paul arrived and we set out on their bear hunt and my first bear hunt of the season. The first day we spotted 4 bear and Jason pounded a nice 220ish black boar. We tracked the bear as far as we could but the blood trail ran out and despite making numerous circles we could not find the blood trail again or the bear. Unfortunately that occasionally happens. On a positive note, since the bear quit bleeding there's a chance he'll heal up and be fine. Jason was bummed about not killing the bear but we convinced him to think about the rest of the hunt.
On Day 2 we found a magnum pile of bear poo, the knife in the photo is 4 1/2 inches long, I bet there is a 1/2 to 3/4 gallon of bear poo in that photo. We kept going back to that area looking for that bear but couldn't find him. We saw 4 more bear that day and we should have shot a bear that we chose to pass, I think we all looked back later in the hunt after the weather changed and said we probably should have shot that bear or maybe one of the other bear.
On Day 3 it started cooling down and raining. We saw 1 bear in the morning and 2 bear in the afternoon. It started raining again just before dusk and Jason spotted the 3rd bear, a small cinnamon bear that Paul opted to take. It wasn't a big bear, it's a yearling boar, but a beautiful color. We all know that was a wise choice now as the weather changed the rest of the hunt. Congrats to Paul! :tup:
Day 4 was a bust for bear, it cooled down and poured rain hard most of the day and no bear were seen at all, to top it off I felt sick all day, so it wasn't a going very well. The only good thing that happened is that we had a break in the bad weather and we stumbled onto some turkeys and Jason sacked up his first turkey ever, a good sized jake. That put a smile on all our faces. Congrats on an outstanding shot Jason! :tup:
Day 5 the guys hunted till 11am before needing to leave for home. It was still cool and no bear were moving so we ended the hunt and Jason is going to try and come back for a few extra days after it warms back up. Had an awesome time with these great guys, thanks again for hunting with Bearpaw! :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on May 22, 2014, 05:18:45 AM
Post by: bearpaw on May 22, 2014, 05:22:10 AM
Post by: RadSav on June 25, 2014, 12:31:58 AM
Post by: Killmore on June 25, 2014, 08:15:58 AM
Post by: bearpaw on June 25, 2014, 08:36:06 AM
So did you fill your spring bear tag Dale?
No bear taken by me, in between work I went out numerous mornings and evenings without seeing a bear, then on the last day of season I saw two smaller black ones, I didn't shoot either of them because we didn't really need the meat and my wife wanted me to shoot another off-color brown for the bear quilt she plans to make. Funny how things go when hunting, when I had a hunter out I think we saw 11 bear and 8 were off-color bear. :chuckle:
Nonetheless, it's always fun to get out hunting and scouting. I saw quite a few really nice bucks with horns outside their ears during the last few weeks along with numerous moose and elk. With mild winters in 3 of the 4 states that we hunt I'm looking forward to a good fall season.
Post by: whackmaster on June 25, 2014, 07:28:50 PM
Looks like all in all you and your hunters had a great spring hunt
you have a very nice hunting lodge and cant wait to come back sometime
you put me on the turkeys and i had a blast wish you all the best on a big fall bear
with some color for your quilt :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on June 27, 2014, 06:17:11 AM
Hey Bearpaw,
Looks like all in all you and your hunters had a great spring hunt
you have a very nice hunting lodge and cant wait to come back sometime
you put me on the turkeys and i had a blast wish you all the best on a big fall bear
with some color for your quilt :tup:
Thanks, it was our pleasure to have you guys over for a hunt. I'm already looking forward to the next spring season too, I think we'll have even more bow hunters next spring. :tup:
Post by: bearpaw on June 28, 2014, 08:52:26 AM
I hadn't seen JoDean for a couple years so we had a really nice visit when they arrived the evening before the hunt. Right after first light in the morning we got onto a good flock of about 15 jakes and toms, the birds wouldn't call in so we did a stalk, Riley did an excellent job of being careful and quiet and soon we were about 15 to 20 yards from the flock. I couldn't see a single hen so I whispered that they were all legal birds, for him to pick out a good tom and shoot.
He was on a good looking tom and tried pulling the trigger but the gun wouldn't go off. The birds were already nervous and now they picked us out and began putting and moving away, I told him to shoot again and he tried but with no results. After the birds left we decided to return to the truck and swap for another gun. I decided to leave that property and go to another property but we spotted another group of birds and decided to go after them.
There were 6 jakes in this group, we got as close as we could but they were moving a different direction so we watched them go up over the ridge and out of sight. We moved out around and behind the ridge and got in front of the birds, suddenly here they come, I told Riley they are all jakes, just pick one of the bigger ones and take him, he pulled up and got the best one in the flock with one shot. By the end of the day we found several more flocks, JoDean filled her two tags and Riley got to shoot a few squirrels, we spent a couple hours fishing and everyone caught at least 2 or 3 trout, it was simply a great day in the outdoors. All total we saw over 30 jakes and toms, I really liked seeing that many legal birds on the last day of season.
Post by: BOWHUNTER45 on June 28, 2014, 08:56:48 AM
Post by: bearpaw on June 28, 2014, 09:02:21 AM
Looks like things went well this spring ... :tup: Still can not believe we had to miss the turkey madness :bash: :bash: That will never happen again !!! :tup:
I can't believe you missed it, it was a pretty good year, better than the previous several years. I was really hopeful for a big rebound of turkey numbers, but we've had a lot of rain the last couple weeks and I'm seeing a lot of hens with no chicks. Should start seeing more chicks now that the rain has stopped, hopefully we'll have a somewhat normal hatch.