Hunting Washington Forum
Classifieds & Organizations => Sponsor Classifieds => Topic started by: bearpaw on October 22, 2022, 09:53:33 AM
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This has been the busiest year of my life, I have always heard when you get older things start to slow down, lol, some things might be slowing down, but I've been busier than ever before. We've been working on ongoing projects between hunts and my son started building a new log home which I've tried to help whenever I can.
One of the toughest issues this year has been guides, meaning several of my guides have gotten new and better jobs because they are willing to work, thus they have no vacation to come and guide for a few weeks. So I've been guiding way more than usual and trying to do a lot of my paperwork late at night! :bash:
We had a great spring season but I was a little worried about fall due to low ungulate numbers in so many areas. The good news is that the fall season has gone a little better than expected so far and we've gotten a few nice critters, success is still lower than I like on several hunts, but we are getting through it the best we can. The guides that were able to work have done a great job at getting hunters on as much game as possible.
We had a few nice animals spotted early that we hoped to find:
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Sounds like you are doing a great job! Hope there is a big bull moose out there for the wife! Heading back over Nov 17-26! Good luck the rest of the season, drinks lots of coffee!!
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Sounds like you are doing a great job! Hope there is a big bull moose out there for the wife! Heading back over Nov 17-26! Good luck the rest of the season, drinks lots of coffee!!
I hope there is too for her! :tup: :tup:
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More
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More
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Very nice
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Good animals to be excited about.
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We started off with bear season in August, first morning out I came across a water trough a bear had been cooling off in, we must have just missed him, the ground was still sopping wet, the first two days we jumped a couple (I thought might be bear) but didn’t see them. It was a good year for bear, there was a ton of berries.
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On the third day we still hunted along an old mountain road, we were only 30 minutes into the morning and my hunter heard a noise in the brush, we stopped and watched and listened for a long while, after 5 or 10 minutes a nice blackie walked out of the thick brush, pulled down a lone berry bush and was busy eating berries, he was broadside, Charles was on shooting sticks it was perfect, I whispered take him, mentally I had that bear about half skinned and then I noticed Charles was trying to pull the trigger but nothing was happening!
He tried recocking it but no luck, he tried recocking again and again, and then it grabbed another cartridge out of the 10 round clip of his AR, so he dropped the clip out, meanwhile I'm watching the bear, with all the metallic noises going on he had quit eating and was looking right at us, when the clip dropped out of the gun that was it, the bear ran as fast as he could straight away and into the thick brush to never be seen by us again. We finished the hunt with some exciting moments, he saw a moose, elk, deer, turkeys, lots of wolf tracks, a bear, and learned a fair amount about spot and stalk bear hunting.
Next Hunt
Zach took the next bear hunter out and they had a good vantage point. Right off they saw a yearling that came within 30 yds, Bill decided to pass that bear since it was the first day. They saw a good bear at moderate range but Bill didn't have enough time to get on him. late in the hunt they saw the little guy again but not enough time or he would have been in the crosshairs that late in the hunt. So another hunt with no dead bear!
The Last Fall Bear Hunt
We had three guys for a weekend, I don't normally take anyone for that short of a hunt because it's just not enough time. We tried to make it happen, we saw deer, elk, wolves up close and personal, a cougar (season doesn't open until Sept), but no bear taken, so we finished August bear with our heads hanging in shame!
Washington Archery Deer
I had to leave for Idaho, Zach had one archery deer hunter, they saw quite a few deer deer and numerous bucks and closed the deal on the last evening, I think it was his first archery deer, congrats Mike, well done! It's unfortunate, when we were bear hunting we saw a giant whitetail with probably a 23 or 24 inch spread three times just before archery deer opened, but could not find that buck after Aug 31!
Bear Time
Meantime a bear started coming in to the apple tree in my yard, they had to put a strobe light on the tree and the side of the shop to keep it scared away all night, that did work and we were able to pick our apples weeks later when they ripened!
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Meanwhile in Montana Derek was plotting to get one of those mule deer in the trail cam photos I posted with our one and only bowhunter in Montana this year. Brandon has hunted with us numerous times in Idaho, Washington, and once in Montana rifle deer hunting. This time he wanted an archery buck!
They stalked a lot of good bucks but most of the time couldn't get close enough, the dry weather was not perfect for stalking, lol. Finally on day three the stars aligned and Brandon made an excellent shot, the arrow went to the right spot and Brandon had his buck, it wasn't the big one they were after, but Brandon wasn't going to pass up an opportunity at this buck either. Congrats to Brandon and Derek!
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Because yesterday was the Montana rifle opener I'm going to skip forward to yesterday.
Ben and Johnny were our first Montana rifle deer hunters, Derek was expecting a slow day, they glassed a bunch of deer and spotted a good one that they nailed right off, Derek did some quick work and they were back after it, with a bunch more deer spotted and another successful stalk they ended up tagged out by 10am with two very happy hunters! Great job to Ben, Johnny, and Derek!
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Meanwhiile in Idaho we finally had a fall storm yesterday, more than half the hunters came back mid day but Paul, Chris, and their guide Russell stuck it out in the wind and snow. Russell parked up high and they worked their way down a ridge, one of the guys dropped into the bottom of the canyon, he saw a herd with cows and bulls so they all worked in that way, Chris had a shot opportunity at a raghorn 5 and dropped the bull. Russell called me with the bull down and I sent help to get it out, they got back after dark with the horses, hunters, and elk, it was Chris' first elk ever, congrats to Chris!
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Getting back to earlier in the season....
Several years ago there was two years in a row of blue tongue in the antelope where I hunt, then right after the second blue tongue die off there was a super hard winter. The next spring my wife and I drove over to survey the damage, in areas where I would traditionally spot about 500 antelope in a morning, we struggled to find any antelope, finally about 11am we saw one doe.
I quit booking antelope hunters for several years because it just wasn't good hunting. About three years ago we started taking a hunter here and there, we got a few fairly nice bucks but we had to hunt pretty hard for them so I still didn't want to pursue them too hard.
Last year after season we decided we wanted to start running more antelope hunters again and finally this year the goat hunting is really starting to get back to what it was, not quite as many numbers yet, but trophy quality is back. We will be booking more and more antelope and deer hunters. We have secured a lot more acreage this year and have to take a certain number of animals to keep the ranchers happy.
Here are a couple of the bucks from our Montana antelope season:
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Couple more
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Sounds like a good season great stories and pics
Thank you as always sharing your season
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Nice!!!
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We’ve been trying to get this bull but he has eluded us, one of the hunters had his crosshairs on a big bull a couple days ago but needed a couple more seconds, the bull walked out of his life, today’s the last day of the hunt!
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Early season hunting was hot and dry, but we called in a few bulls, unfortunately most of the bulls were missed or wounded (but only superficial wounds so I expect they are all fine). In southern Idaho the hunters only killed one cow, one young buck, and one bull calf, in northern Idaho the hunters got one good bull. Every year guys ask me about the misses in previous years, how can anyone miss an elk at a reasonable range? I tell them the excitement of a bugling bull and the size does something to people, it shakes them up and they miss. This year same thing, bulls mostly missed, but a cow or calf walks in and great shooting. But that rush of excitement is what keeps us going after those big bucks and bulls year after year!
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The bigger bull
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Awesome bull. Always love hearing how your season goes. Look forward to it every year.
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Beautiful bull. Congrats to the hunter.
Did you guys ever figure out what was wrong with the AR and why it wouldn't chamber or shoot....on that black bear hunt. I owned an AR 10 for about a year before selling it for the very reason it was loud. I don't like walking around the woods with a round chambered and when you had to chamber a round, it sounded like a 1990's ford diesel trying to cold start on a winter morning. Clank, clunk, thunk.....well you get the picture.
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Beautiful bull. Congrats to the hunter.
Did you guys ever figure out what was wrong with the AR and why it wouldn't chamber or shoot....on that black bear hunt. I owned an AR 10 for about a year before selling it for the very reason it was loud. I don't like walking around the woods with a round chambered and when you had to chamber a round, it sounded like a 1990's ford diesel trying to cold start on a winter morning. Clank, clunk, thunk.....well you get the picture.
Yes
When we stopped and got out to go hunting he didn't let it slam shut, he tried to quietly close the action. When he was trying to get it to shoot while the bear was watching, he didn't let it slam shut. IMO - AR's were made for the military, I'm not against them at all, but there can be challenges when using them hunting.
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Beautiful bull. Congrats to the hunter.
Did you guys ever figure out what was wrong with the AR and why it wouldn't chamber or shoot....on that black bear hunt. I owned an AR 10 for about a year before selling it for the very reason it was loud. I don't like walking around the woods with a round chambered and when you had to chamber a round, it sounded like a 1990's ford diesel trying to cold start on a winter morning. Clank, clunk, thunk.....well you get the picture.
Yes
When we stopped and got out to go hunting he didn't let it slam shut, he tried to quietly close the action. When he was trying to get it to shoot while the bear was watching, he didn't let it slam shut. IMO - AR's were made for the military, I'm not against them at all, but there can be challenges when using them hunting.
You ride the bolt forward and it will rarely, if ever, fire properly!!
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Beautiful bull. Congrats to the hunter.
Did you guys ever figure out what was wrong with the AR and why it wouldn't chamber or shoot....on that black bear hunt. I owned an AR 10 for about a year before selling it for the very reason it was loud. I don't like walking around the woods with a round chambered and when you had to chamber a round, it sounded like a 1990's ford diesel trying to cold start on a winter morning. Clank, clunk, thunk.....well you get the picture.
Yes
When we stopped and got out to go hunting he didn't let it slam shut, he tried to quietly close the action. When he was trying to get it to shoot while the bear was watching, he didn't let it slam shut. IMO - AR's were made for the military, I'm not against them at all, but there can be challenges when using them hunting.
You ride the bolt forward and it will rarely, if ever, fire properly!!
:yeah:
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Beautiful day in Idaho, just waiting for the next pack out…..
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👍
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Tagging along to see what else happens. Looks like a great season so far. :tup:
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Right on! :tup:
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We are hunting cow elk currently, we've seen elk every day on this hunt but not close enough or for a long enough time to get a shot, unfortunately this is steep country, one of our hunters is 78 and either the elevation or the physical exertion got to him yesterday, he said he needed to quit the hunt and was going home, he left this morning, usually I try to talk hunters into sticking it out, but I didn't want to push Don with his age being a factor to consider. Today is the last day of this hunt, this morning Russell went after elk he spotted at dark last night, unfortunately his hunter missed a cow this morning. So the horses are still standing in the corral, but my fingers are crossed for a last evening kill!
I was too busy earlier to post about our hunts but we had a fair Idaho mule deer hunt, the first two hunts were toughest because of the warm dry weather, deer just were not moving much during daylight, the third hunt we had a good storm and it got the animals moving better. I would like to have seen a little higher success overall but we did get a few good bucks so I'm thankful for that and happy for the hunters who were successful.
The first week Drew had a dandy buck scouted, two mornings in a row he watched the buck. On opening morning of season they spotted the big buck and were closing in, unfortunately another hunter shot on a distant ridge at an entirely different deer but it spooked the big guy and we’ve not seen him since then, I’m pretty sure he went nocturnal, it doesn’t take much for older bucks to do that.
Drew”s hunter ended up settling for a smaller buck later in the hunt.
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A few hunters saw some good ones that got away and some of the hunters killed some young bucks to take meat home. This was the next good buck, Keaton tagged it with Daniel.
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Wrangler and guide Brandi packed this buck out of one of our horseback drop camps, the two guys said they were on a monster the first morning but didn’t get him and one of them shot this buck a few days later.
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Another one of our unguided hunters notched his tag on one of the best bucks of the season, Congrats Brady on getting a dandy! Well done!
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Our last southern Idaho mule deer hunt is also currently underway, this hunt is one of our best for big mule deer, the guys have been after a monster, they've seen him a few times but never able to get within good shooting distance in time. My fingers are crossed it comes together before the end of the hunt! :dunno:
This is the buck the same guide found last year on this hunt:
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Those mule deer are awesome.
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Another Montana buck down. Fred had passed a pretty good buck the first day of his hunt with guide Derek but never saw larger, he dropped this buck this morning, the last day of his hunt, not quite as big as the one he passed, but a decent buck, congrats Fred!
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Brandi spotted a really good bull that her and Steve tried to get but never got a shot opportunity, Steve took a smaller bull toward the end of his hunt. Not a lot of horn but probably much better eating!
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Cow elk season is on now, time to fill the freezers, Russell sacked up this cow this morning at first light!
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Kenny tried holding out for the big buck but never got a shot opportunity even though they saw the buck several times, tomorrow is the last day, so today he decided to take one of the smaller 4 pointers that presented a shot opportunity today, plus it’s good to share some success with a little guy when you can!
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Awesome animals!!
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Photo 1
This cat needs to go, the rancher is missing three sheep and the cat is walking right under one of our deer feeders.
Photo 2
Probably the same cat, same property, the next day, I know where somebody needs to be sitting! It’s looking right at the feeder! Fingers crossed!
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Michael missed a good buck on his Montana hunt and got to see a couple smokers he didn’t quite get a shot at, but he salvaged his hunt on the last day this morning by knocking this management buck down, congrats!
After seeing those two big bucks he says he'll be back!
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Meanwhile lion season is getting closer in Idaho. Tyson was out prescouting and found a nice tom track yesterday.
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One of our unguided hunters found the bull he was hoping for in Idaho, great job Ryan!
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Tagging along...you guys are doing a great job.
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Tagging along...you guys are doing a great job.
Thank you, we have had some nice critters taken this year, I really wished we could get everyone a good animal, I think the hardest part of being a guide/outfitter is sending some of the hunters home with nothing. That's harder on the guides when no animals are taken than it is for the hunters!
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Especially when they are tiping :chuckle:
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Three more bucks taken yesterday in Montana. Elizabeth got her first mule deer and her dad Bruce got his best buck yet, Derek wanted Bruce to wait for a bigger buck and Bruce had passed a big whitetail, but Bruce wanted this one. I received a really nice message from Bruce who also said they will both be back hunting with us again.
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They got a nice whitetail just at the end of the day last night, but it was too dark for decent photos by the time they got the buck set up, they were going to take better photos this morning that I haven't got yet.
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:tup:
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Some nice muleys.
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Ben made a 525 yard shot dropping this Montana buck in his tracks today! Way to go Ben! (top photo)
Wayne put the hammer down and notched his Montana tag today too, Wayne and Ben both filled out on the first day of their hunt! (bottom photo)
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Brandi and Lance packing in an unguided Idaho drop camp.
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Taking the hunters to their drop camp, horses waiting at the camp.
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Packing out a buck from the unguided drop camp.
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We are having a good Washington whitetail season, so far every hunter has left with a buck, except for one dad who left after his daughter got her buck in a day and a half of hunting, they had some family event to get back to. We are on our last hunt of the season now, we have 6 guided hunters in camp to finish the season, two have killed bucks already, one guy has passed a few bucks, two others missed this morning, and one guy just started hunting with no opportunity yet.
I do wish we were getting some bigger deer, it seems like the majority of bucks are spikes, forks, or younger 4x4’s. We will have some bucks left over to grow up because I cut our bookings to about 35% of what we used to hunt.
The guy who has passed a few bucks drilled a coyote, hope we get a couple more of them before we are done.
Nobody has gotten the cougar that has been on the trail cams multiple times!
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What are the tags on the tails of the horses?
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What are the tags on the tails of the horses?
[/quote
Beat me to it.
Horse license plate. :chuckle:]
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Tagging along...you guys are doing a great job.
Thank you, we have had some nice critters taken this year, I really wished we could get everyone a good animal, I think the hardest part of being a guide/outfitter is sending some of the hunters home with nothing. That's harder on the guides when no animals are taken than it is for the hunters!
I can say yes to that sentiment! Glad to see some success this year! I’m counting down the days!
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What are the tags on the tails of the horses?
Beat me to it.
Horse license plate. :chuckle:]
:yeah: yes, more or less a license plate... :chuckle:
We put the name of each horse on his tail at the beginning of season, at various times several different guides help with the horses, we can say "go get Ringo or Charlie or whomever" and they get the right horse and bring him to the hitching post. If you look closer there are labels on the back of the riding saddle seats and labels on pack saddles, that way the right saddle that's fits and is adjusted to each horse goes back on the same horse, plus we can tell one of the guides "go get Zeb's saddle" so the labels save a lot of time when you are saddling multiple horses. The saddle trees in my saddle shop are also labeled. The wranglers who work with the horses every day don't even have to look for names, they remember which spot most of the saddles are at.
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Ken and Terry braved -20 wind chill and a brutal storm to get their bucks. The deer were staying hunkered down in draws and areas of cover trying to get through the storm, two or three better bucks were seen but they didn’t offer much time, these bucks presented the best shot opportunities, congrats Ken & Terry! You guys beat the Montana weather!
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Smart thinking. I imagine with a big group of stock and different hands that for sure is a time saver.
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Smart thinking. I imagine with a big group of stock and different hands that for sure is a time saver.
:yeah: works well
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Devon has hunted with us numerous times, he got this buck yesterday with Derek, the buck fooled them and popped out at about 500 yards, Devon’s wife was going to shoot first but wasn’t comfortable with the distance so Devon took the shot. Well Done!
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Stephanie didn’t waste any time, after Devon got his buck yesterday she dropped this old warrior today, this old boy was actually larger bodied than Devon’s buck. Great going Stephanie! :tup:
And our Montana deer hunt is completed, another great season with 100% kill!
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In Washington we finished up strong too, all the guided hunters notched their tags, and all our unguided hunters but one shot at bucks, so it was a darn good season in spite of recent deer population hardships. We never got the cougar that was stalking deer but one of the hunters nailed a coyote!
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They got a nice whitetail just at the end of the day last night, but it was too dark for decent photos by the time they got the buck set up, they were going to take better photos this morning that I haven't got yet.
They didn’t get back outdoors for photos unfortunately, this is a dandy buck, Derek shows off the best whitetail of the season, this Montana buck is a keeper!
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That is a monster WT buck, mass all the way out to the tips. Interesting to see how old that buck was.
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I don’t think we will be hearing what age it was.
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Greg dropped a huge bull bison on our Montana buffalo hunt a few days ago. He is planning a shoulder mount of the bull. We have a few more 10+ year old bulls, we don’t usually have any bulls to shoot that are that old.
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We ended up with one more Montana deer hunter for a whitetail, he saw a couple much larger bucks but had a chance at this buck and didn’t want to take a chance on not getting one of the larger bucks.
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I see I missed posting a few critters from this year, here is a really tall and unusual Idaho buck, there was a similar buck (probably related) in the same area we didn’t get, I’m curious how he’ll look like next year.
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All nice animals
Thanks Dale for posting all the pics we’ll see you soon
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All nice animals
Thanks Dale for posting all the pics we’ll see you soon
:tup: :tup:
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Travis scored on this dandy Utah bull during the late hunt. I was a little worried about them finding a good bull after all the other seasons, but they focused on remote areas to up their odds. Brian called after they killed it and I asked about bringing the horses to them, he said there were too many rocks and cliffs, the horses wouldn’t get to the bull, so they spent the next two days packing the bull out of that location on their backs with backpack frames.
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Bill nailed this bull on the last day of his hunt, they had seen a bigger bull but they were unable to get within shooting range. They had seen this bull before, on the last day they spotted him again and Bill dropped him. If you look close you can see a lot of the points are rubbed off smooth, they had watched this bull rubbing the day before. I've never seen a bull that has rubbed as much as this bull.
Lance had just spotted a big bull and was just looking him over when he got the text to come and help get this bull out. Bill said it didn't matter, that he was very happy with this bull and that's the most important thing, congrats Bill.
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Very cool
Thanks again for sharing
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This year Mike notched his Idaho elk tag early on his hunt, in addition to getting a bull, Mike also filled his Idaho deer tag, nice job Mike! Gotta love filling both tags! :tup:
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A few bulls we found this year had crazy antlers, I think one of them was posted a couple pages of so back, here’s another one with messed up antlers.
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Todd and Tim traveled from Ohio to hunt Idaho mule deer, they had a good hunt and went home with a couple nice bucks, well done guys!
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Nice👍
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The Ironic Buck
A lot of guys say you have to go deep to find big bucks, you have to exercise and be in good shape, and many hunters say you’re not going to kill a big buck by road hunting. Many hunters will look down their nose at a so called “road hunter”, they figure he’s as unsportsmanlike as it gets.
I’ve always felt like any hunting method can be effective as long as you do it well and it’s legal. In many ways different hunters are somehow limited to what they can physically do, some more than others. As a hunting guide you learn to read and work within the ability level of each hunter. In todays busy world average people just are not in the same physical condition as average people were 30 or 50 years ago.
Richard arrived in Idaho to find himself intimidated by the steep rugged terrain, it can really be quite daunting to a flat lander from sea level. Ray was quick to adjust the hunt to fit Richard’s ability level and not burn him out. They did a number of easier hunts and one evening Ray and I discussed another spot nobody had hunted yet. Ray and Richard went there the next morning, they stopped, parked and walked 80 yards from the truck and sat down to watch, within sight of the truck.
About 11am a big buck stepped out at a little over 100 yards, he had gotten up to grab a mid day nibble, Richard put the crosshairs on him and pulled the trigger, the big buck faltered and fell, it was hard to believe, a trophy buck down, middle of the day, and only about 200 yards from the road.
The phone rang it was Ray, he said Richard just shot a big buck, he thinks the buck is over 30 inches and is big bodied, it’s steep going back uphill to the truck and he said there wasn’t any ground shrinkage, he needs my help if I’m not too busy! I replied “Are you serious?”, I thought he was joking, he said he’s serious and so I said I’d get there as quick as I can. “But send me a photo?”
The photo came on my text messages, Holy smokes, Ray wasn’t joking! I was anxious the whole time I was going to meet them, and Ray was right, there was no ground shrinkage! Congrats to Richard on the buck of a lifetime!
The only downside of getting this buck, we had other hunters in camp that kept passing bucks that normally would have been shot, thinking they might see another big one like this. Some of the other hunters just couldn’t believe Richard got this buck 200 yards from the road!
Interestingly, Ray poked around and found a well used bed where the buck had obviously been living and spending a lot of time, the bed was well out of sight in heavy cover but only about 200 yards from the road. The taxidermist green scored the buck at 197, greatest outside width about 31 1/2.
(they weren't road hunting, but a road hunter going by at just the right time could have shot this buck, that's pretty ironic)
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Aww sweet very cool congrats to Richard and you’re right Dale any legal means of hunting is welcome in my book
As you said some hunters are unable to do the steep and deep type hunts and this is a great example you don’t always need to
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That is a stud of a buck, never know where they will show up.
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We are getting ready for cat season now. I invested in a new sled, we put so many miles on them each year and I don’t want to risk breaking down and having to hike 20 miles through deep snow if I break down in a remote area.
This time I decided to try a skidoo Expedition LE with the super wide 24” track, high/low gear box, and the 900 ace engine. It even has hand warmers for the passenger, lol. The suspension is much heavier, it barely squats with two riders. Much more stable on the trail with a much wider ski stance than the tundras, but not nearly as agile for boondocking or side hilling. Last year one day I was pulling the dog sled with the tundra, I ended up with four of us guys riding the tundra and dog sled and four dogs inside the dog sled, the tundra would barely handle that, I think this Expedition would have no problem at all with that load.
I’ve ridden it twice trying to get the feel of it and understand which riding situations it will work best. I’ll probably still ride one of my tundras part of the time, especially breaking trails after a big snow or into remote tough to get spots that require some aggressive sled handling. But this beast is a pleasure to ride! I had it out one day during cow elk season and one day during the moose hunt, the day on the cow elk hunt I used it to get hunters to the top of a ridge on a very steep road that the trucks can't even get close, it hauled two of us up the worst stretch without even spinning the track at all.
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Very nice👍
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Nasim and Waseem came cat hunting last winter with their brother Tariq, who got a nice tom. This year Nasim is the one hunting, on the third day of the hunt Tyson located a nice tom, at daylight the chase was on, the dogs did great and caught up with the cat, Nasim had to make a long hike in steep country but he made it to the tree, however before they shot the cat jumped out and ran uphill, that’s unusual, they usually go downhill. The dogs caught up again and the cat treed again, Naseem had the do some more climbing but made it, the cat was in a smaller leaf tree, Nasim made a good shot and notched his tag on a respectable tom. Next year they are coming back again so Waseem can get a lion, we are looking forward to another fun hunt with you guys!
The link right above the photo of the track (that's a quarter in the toe) is a video of the first tree.
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This was a decent length tom but was very skinny as you can see in the photo. He should have been wearing one of those t-shirts that says: Vegetarian Old Indian Word for Bad Hunter
the file link above the photo is another video of the shot at the second tree
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One more photo
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Nice way to go congrats to the hunter
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We still have a few bison hunts available this winter, this is near Missoula, not too long of drive from Washington.
$2500 Yearling
$3500 Cow
$3950 2 Year Bull
$4950 3 Year Bull
$5950 4 Year Bull
$6950 5 Year Bull
$8950 10+ Year Bull
We have a couple really old bulls available, we don’t usually have bulls 10 years old, these will make great mounts and lots of hamburger and roast!
That’s an older bull in the lower photo, the older bulls usually weigh 1800 to 2000+.
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The new Skidoo Expedition 900 Ace with 24” super wide track is working out well, the other day I had 3 hunters (myself included) on the sled, and pulling a dog sled with 6 hounds inside and another hunter riding on top of the dog sled. That was about 1800 pounds total!
One thing I learned, I need to build rails on top of the dog sled so two guys can ride the sled and hang on, one forward, one facing to the back, and two guys on the snowmobile, three on the snowmobile is too hard to maneuver, it all rides better with 2 on the snowmobile and 2 on the dog sled.
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Out hunting again this morning, found a nice tom and a female That crossed in a couple places but they went in the private land so I have to let them go for now. In another drainage now and found a female and kitten, hoping for a Tom over here.
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The female and kitten
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A yearling, the file is a video, Apparently I don’t have good enough service here to get the video to load, So I attached a screenshot of the tracks
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Found another female, this female is bigger, It’s easy to see the difference in tracks from the Yearling
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Looking for cats again today, so far a couple females and I think the same tom crossed but still on private property, so still looking for the right cat to chase.
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I really do miss doing that. Idabooner and I spent a lot of time on the sleds looking for Lions.
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Boy that brings back so many great memories.
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All these tracks you’re finding are making me jealous 😂😂 found a few but it’s been a slow start in my area. Thanks for posting I really enjoy this thread
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All these tracks you’re finding are making me jealous 😂😂 found a few but it’s been a slow start in my area. Thanks for posting I really enjoy this thread
Good luck this season!!!
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We got hit by a big storm as luck would have it one of the tomes we were watching for crossed. We ran him at day light, but the snow was liling up in his tracks and the dogs struggled, by noon they had lost him, we weren't sure where he went because we couldn't tell the snowed in tracks from other tracks. The day after that we hike through the middle of the area he had gone into but nothing, couldn't find him. The next day he crossed again two drainages south, the next road we could access, this time he was hunting and made so many circles the dogs couldn't figure it out and neither could we, we lost him again.
Been watching for a few other toms, one is on private currently, one went into a large area and waiting for him to cross out, and another crossed numerous times a couple daays before we started hunting that area, we think he is currently on a kill and waiting for him to cross again.
Currently in another large storm system, this morning might be a bust with too much fresh snow to run anything.
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Snow, I'm usually praying for fresh snow, now I'm praying for it to please stop, and sooner than later!
I found another female yesterday morning (top photo) notice how she is plowing through the deep snow, but we are really trying hard to find toms for the hunters so I kept looking. Finally at last I find another lion track (bottom photo) crossing the road, the stride was very long, but I couldn't see any toes or pads, it had snowed several inches since I checked the road the day before and the tracks were full of snow, he had walked over my snowmobile track after I went through and then it snowed all day and night until I found the track the next morning. Underneath a tree I was able to tell that it was probably a very large lion.
Female tracks top, snowed in male track bottom.
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More on the way next week, a lot more! :( Stay safe out there! Gotta be brutal this year.
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I called guide Zach, he had Phillip with him, "Hey I found a female made last night and I found a tom made yesterday after I went through checking for tracks yesterday, if you haven't found anything better come over here.
I told them about the tom, full of snow, a day old track, probably have to walk it until the dogs can take it, and then it may be miles of hiking in rough country with no roads, he's headed into a roadless area. We'll decide what to do when we all get there.
I checked additonal road to make sure the tom hadn't crossed back but found nothing, my feet were getting cold and those other guys should be coming so I headed back to my truck, I was just getting in to turn on the heater and the guys pulled in. I should have changed boots but didn't, I wanted to get that track going, we were burning daylight.
We loaded everything and headed up the trail, I stopped and showed them the fresher female tracks and then we proceeded to the tom. I don't think they had realized over the phone just how badly snowed in the tracks were, they weren't excited now that they were looking at the tracks, but nonetheless wanted to go after the tom. I told them this is more of a hike than I can do, you have to promise me if we turn my dogs loose, you have to follow the tracks until you catch the dogs or the lion, either way you have to come back with all the dogs, you can't quit until you have the dogs? They agreed! OK, lets get the dogs out!
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I got “13” out first and walked her around so she could clean out her nose, she knows the routine and was sniffing everything, I walk over to the lion tracks she sniffs hard but nothing. Just like I figured, from the morning before after I went through.
We talked, the guys still wanted to go after the cat so I got out two more dogs, better only take three dogs so they are easy to keep track of. Go ahead and follow the tracks a ways with the dogs leashed and then let them go after you get away from the road, they will follow you or keep coming back to you if you call to them, until they can smell the tracks and then they'll leave you behind.
The guys made it about 100 yards and there’s a 6x6 bull dead with lion tracks all around, no snow in those lion tracks. The dogs blew up and headed out. I released the other two dogs to follow.
(the cats bed, not far from the elk kill)
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I talked to Zach on the radio "tell Phillip he must be living right, that's the luckiest thing that could have happened, saved you guys miles of walking in that deep snow". Zach said the lion tracks have no snow at his bed and he's got really big feet, we probably just scared him out of his bed when we started getting dogs ready at the snowmobiles, meanwhile the dogs are screaming up the mountain angled toward the lower front of the ridge. I told the guys I would go check around the other side, the dogs had gone over, we could no longer hear them, I turned the snowmobile around and headed down toward the front of that ridge, there's a short access road to a trailhead, i went to the trailhead to listen.
TREED, wahoo, I called the guys "they are already treed on this side". They said they could hear the dogs too and probably about 300 yards from them. They plodded there way to the tree, took some photos, tied the dogs back, and shot the lion, it was hit hard but ran straight downhill.
We all had cell service, Phillip stayed with the dogs, Zach followed and found the dead cat, he called Phillip and told him he was dragging the cat down to meet me at the snowmobile, when I call back you can turn the dogs loose and bring the dog leashes. Phillip is a capable hands on guy, we figured he could handle doing that, Zach pulled the cat down to meet me, Phillip turned the dogs loose and headed down to meet us.
We were admiring the huge cat, then dogs all came and we put them away in the dog sled, Phil soon came, we took lots of photos, then we all loaded up and headed back to the other snowmobiles.
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We got back to the other snowmobiles, Zach and Phillip headed in to get the elk head. I went to find a turn around and came back, we admired the bull a bit, then tied his head on and headed out to the truck.
The game warden came while we were finish skinning at my house, he sealed the hide and said it was the biggest cat he had checked in quite some time. He scanned the elk head for bullets, they will scan the elk kill site too. Phillip has the warden's number in case he gets questioned about hauling around a green 6x6 bull elk head in December!
We estimated cat's weight at 160ish maybe 170+ due to the full belly, I didn't have a scale handy. Phillip is going to do a life size of the cat with the elk head, that will be a great scene!
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:yike: What a cat!
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Good job wow!
Congrats on the nice cat
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THAT was awesome!!!!! Thanks for taking the time to do the write up! Heck of a cat!
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Love it great story!
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BIG Lion. Wow.
Awesome story, Dale. :tup:
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WOW! That's a big cat!
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Another couple photos I got from one of the other guys.
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What a memory for those guys!
Thank you for bringing us along... :tup:
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I love this time of year and hearing these stories. Thanks for sharing.
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Awesome story and cat. Thanks for taking us along!
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Congrats to the hunter.👍
👏
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The last lion hunt was a bust, the only cat that moved for several days was a female with kittens, mostly cold weather, wind, and drifting snow, it's possible other cats moved but with the drifting snow it must have completely disappeared their tracks. They were worried about getting home to Oregon for Xmas, the gorge was closed a day, so we stopped the hunt early and they are coming back next year.
I get a little time off for the holidays, last night I slept over 10 hours, LOL.
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Enjoy the break and holidays with your family Dale. Please say hi to Brian, Daniel and the crew for me.
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Enjoy the break and holidays with your family Dale. Please say hi to Brian, Daniel and the crew for me.
Thanks, will do!
Merry Christmas to you and your family as well!
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The last lion hunt was a bust, the only cat that moved for several days was a female with kittens, mostly cold weather, wind, and drifting snow, it's possible other cats moved but with the drifting snow it must have completely disappeared their tracks. They were worried about getting home to Oregon for Xmas, the gorge was closed a day, so we stopped the hunt early and they are coming back next year.
I get a little time off for the holidays, last night I slept over 10 hours, LOL.
Thanks for the ride, always enjoy your hunt stories Dale. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year. Get some rest.🎄👍
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Glad you guys enjoy the posts, thanks a lot for the comments! 👍🏻
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Matthew’s lion that was taken with Bearpaw in December 2021, I called it the “subdivision eviction” in my topic last winter, the big cat was seen stalking pets in a subdivision, residents had photos of the cat on their porch cam, we chased it right from the subdivision, it weighed 164.4 and has been officially scored at 15 3/16, taken with a long bow, P&Y says its the largest cougar for this award period, Matt will get an award at the awards banquet. Congrats Matt!
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Most excellent
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Beautiful cat!
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Toad!!!
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We started a new hunt two days ago, the first day they passed a female, yesterday in the same area there was a tom, a female, and a small female that is probably a yearling, they all crossed two drainages multiple times, Tyson and Zach tried to catch the tom but it was a maze of tracks, plus the wind was drifting tracks, in the end none of the cats were found and they still weren’t sure where the tom ended up? They will be out looking for him again today, my fingers are crossed. I’m currently stuck in the office doing year end paperwork! :bash: :bash:
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Were they able to catch one for him?
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Were they able to catch one for him?
No we didn't get one, we found a couple females again but that tom didn't give us another chance. We have checked back in that area quite a lot but have not found that tom again.
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We chased another tom a couple times, I think it was the same tom both of these times, first time the dogs trailed all day on his cold tracks but the tom was covering country and never laid up long enough for the dogs to get close, we had to catch the dogs at dark and let the cat go.
I tried to find the same tom the next day but didn't find him, on the next day after that I found him again, I'm 99% certain it was the same cat, there was also a female in the area, both cats were hunting and making circles on the mountain, as you can imagine we had dogs going different directions, and again we didn't catch up with the right set of tracks.
We spent several more days trying to find that tom again, but he must be on a deer kill in an area where we can't find him.
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We passed on several small tracks and finally tried catching another pretty decent cat three days ago, dogs were taking the track great, the cat topped out going over the top of the mountain and the chase stopped cold, the wind had drifted the snow and the tracks were gone.
In the meantime we had also located a couple other decent looking older tracks so we were also watching for those cats to cross again too. Finally yesterday one of those cats was back hunting and crossed about 6 times, by chance Daniel was trying to sort out which tracks were the freshest and found his deer kill so at daylight he started the dogs near the kill. It was a maze of tracks on that mountain, older tracks from earlier in the night in the same area.
Not too far after releasing the dogs they split and we had two chases going on, one pair of dogs seemed to be headed for where the cat had crossed earlier when it was still hunting. I went up there and waited for the dogs, meanwhile the other pair of dogs were working a track up towards the top of the highest ridge, fortunately there was a road there too, Daniel went to see what was happening, he ended up getting the dogs off another older track. We now had all four dogs and went back to the deer kill to start all over again, this time most of the dogs stayed with what we hoped was the right track, one dog got off on a different track and I picked her up where that track crossed the road, we thought it was an older track so I loaded her in the dog sled box.
Meanwhile the other dogs were moving along pretty good, a couple times they got hung up at rock outcroppings for a while, cats usually jump up and over rocks that the dogs can't negotiate, usually one of the dogs gets around the rocks and finds the track and gets the chase moving again. Finally the chase made a tight little circle and went straight downhill then stopped, I had a good feeling this time, we waited a short while to make sure the dogs were locked into one spot and then headed in hoping to see the cat that had circled the mountain so many times.
On the hike to the dogs a couple other lion tracks were spotted, so we think there is another cat or two hunting that same area. Sure enough the dogs had the tom up a huge thickly limbed fir tree and Nikolas was able to get the job done. It had been a full day, but well worth the effort, congrats Nikolas!
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Nice work 👍
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I’m not really a shed hunter, but when antlers are laying in the middle of the snowmobile trail they are pretty hard to miss.
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We haven't been lion hunting in a while, its been really cold, below zero at night for the last week plus, got some snow today and it warmed up quite a bit, should be some good hunting for a few days, contacted a hunter I had on call but he can't come until after the 18th! :yike: :bash:
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Matthew’s lion that was taken with Bearpaw in December 2021, I called it the “subdivision eviction” in my topic last winter, the big cat was seen stalking pets in a subdivision, residents had photos of the cat on their porch cam, we chased it right from the subdivision, it weighed 164.4 and has been officially scored at 15 3/16, taken with a long bow, P&Y says its the largest cougar for this award period, Matt will get an award at the awards banquet. Congrats Matt!
Matt spent the weekend at the P&Y Convention, when he got there it turned out there were a couple Alberta lions that were also very large and in contention for the #1 spot, those cats and Matthew's cat were all remeasured?
Well it's official the big Tom lion that Matthew J Edwards killed with bearpawoutfitters.com just won first place. It was the biggest lion killed with a bow in north America in the last three year period. Congratulations Mathew on a monster lion officially scored in at 15 4/16" P&Y.
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Excellent! Congrats to the shooter and the Bearpaw Outfitter services! Very cool.
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Nice cat!