Hunting Washington Forum
Classifieds & Organizations => Sponsor Classifieds => Topic started by: bearpaw on August 09, 2020, 09:35:31 PM
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Fall is nearly upon us, this year I decided to watch some of our whitetails a little closer but I was a little getting trail cams positioned and didn't get them in place until late June. It's interesting to compare how developed some bucks antlers are compared to other bucks.
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We've got a couple bucks with deformed horns, I'll call one of them broken horn jr and another broken horn sr. I cropped the photos to get a closer look.
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A quick name to distinguish this guy, we'll call him non-typical.
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Great plots!! I have two around with deformed rights, pretty common, thanks
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I have to laugh at some of the interaction with the turkeys!
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A couple of the bucks about one week later. Nontypical is a little different than any buck I have taken, if I have time to hunt for myself this fall I might have to look around for him when some of the other hunters have finished their hunts. He's the bottom photo.
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These two bucks were running late with their antler growth.
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I have to laugh at some of the interaction with the turkeys!
Great Pics,
I got to watch a buck giving it to a racoon in the front yard recently. Those little bucks are pretty funny when they get all wound up.
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Awesome, I hope you have a GREAT fall season!!!
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Bobbyg they are a lot of fun for sure!
Thanks Fred, I'm pretty optimistic about Idaho, last year we hammered the bulls in southern Idaho pretty hard but there were so many bulls that got away that I think it's going to be another great season. We've been seeing a ton of elk calves, winter was mild and the cows really did well reproducing. Washington, well that's another story, who knows if Dimslee will let us hunt or not? We have some WA hunts lined up but I hope we don't have to postpone any of them to next year. This spring I had to postpone 21 turkey hunters to next spring! That's a pretty significant hit on business. In Idaho we had a bang up spring bear season, several of the hunters have rebooked for another hunt, Idaho adopted special rules so outfitters could operate, Idaho is so much more hunter friendly!
Back to pics, this buck has some potential to be pretty cool if he survives a couple more seasons!
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Comparison of Winter Wheat / Winter Peas / Oats
This year I planted oats, winter wheat, and winter peas in individual plots next to each other. We've reached some conclusions after watching the wildlife usage of these plots next to each other. The winter wheat is great for a late fall season deer draw but not that much usage the following spring and summer. Perhaps if I didn't have oats and peas growing next to the winter wheat this spring it might have had more appeal, but the deer and turkeys favored the oats and the deer also favored the peas during the spring and summer. The peas never got more than a few inches tall due to deer grazing pressure, the oat seeds have already been completely removed from the stalks by turkeys this late summer, meanwhile the wheat seeds are only partially eaten. For next year I'm going to plant half as much winter wheat, I still need some winter wheat for a late fall draw after clover attraction drops off this fall. I'm going to plant more oats and double the peas in the spring. After reading this article I may mix the peas and oats together and throw in some turnips to make the same plot attractive longer into the late fall.
https://www.qdma.com/austrian-winter-peas/#:~:text=With%20regard%20to%20planting%20dates,winter%20pea%20in%20pure%20stands.
I realize there are wildlife mixes you can buy but buying bulk individual seed at the farm supply is cheaper and I can pick which seeds I want in the mix. I don't have a lot of time to keep up on sensitive crops so I'm defaulting to crops that grow well with minimum upkeep and soil maintenance in my area and that seem to be the most attractive to the deer and turkeys I am feeding.
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Peas are nitrogen fixing too, so you should get better grown of your grasses when you mix the two.
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Comparison of Winter Wheat / Winter Peas / Oats
This year I planted oats, winter wheat, and winter peas in individual plots next to each other. We've reached some conclusions after watching the wildlife usage of these plots next to each other. The winter wheat is great for a late fall season deer draw but not that much usage the following spring and summer. Perhaps if I didn't have oats and peas growing next to the winter wheat this spring it might have had more appeal, but the deer and turkeys favored the oats and the deer also favored the peas during the spring and summer. The peas never got more than a few inches tall due to deer grazing pressure, the oat seeds have already been completely removed from the stalks by turkeys this late summer, meanwhile the wheat seeds are only partially eaten. For next year I'm going to plant half as much winter wheat, I still need some winter wheat for a late fall draw after clover attraction drops off this fall. I'm going to plant more oats and double the peas in the spring. After reading this article I may mix the peas and oats together and throw in some turnips to make the same plot attractive longer into the late fall.
https://www.qdma.com/austrian-winter-peas/#:~:text=With%20regard%20to%20planting%20dates,winter%20pea%20in%20pure%20stands.
I realize there are wildlife mixes you can buy but buying bulk individual seed at the farm supply is cheaper and I can pick which seeds I want in the mix. I don't have a lot of time to keep up on sensitive crops so I'm defaulting to crops that grow well with minimum upkeep and soil maintenance in my area and that seem to be the most attractive to the deer and turkeys I am feeding.
Dale
Thanks for this update. I am in the same boat and have been experimenting for the last couple years on what grows best with minimal upkeep. I will be planting oats this fall to see how they do in my neck of the woods. I wish they were perineal as it makes it even easier....but hey you can't win them all. I will inner seed with clover and peas as they have been proven winners at my place and the clover coves back every spring. I have also had great luck with a sucra grass blend that the deer and turkeys love and is a perineal. Last fall I planted a rack master blend with a bunch of annual root vegetables and the deer loved It. The beets, turnips and daikon radish were a big hit.
thanks for posting the pics too. I love watching the bucks grow this time of year. :tup:
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Here is something you might add to your plots, sweet clover. It is a biennial so will get a second year that is 5-7 feet tall and a insect factory, excellent nitrogen fixer for the next crop and great thermal cover for the second winter. Great deer and turkey pics, have watched turkeys chase deer off of something they want, thanks
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Sorry about that, it actually grows vertical, not horizontal
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Comparison of Winter Wheat / Winter Peas / Oats
This year I planted oats, winter wheat, and winter peas in individual plots next to each other. We've reached some conclusions after watching the wildlife usage of these plots next to each other. The winter wheat is great for a late fall season deer draw but not that much usage the following spring and summer. Perhaps if I didn't have oats and peas growing next to the winter wheat this spring it might have had more appeal, but the deer and turkeys favored the oats and the deer also favored the peas during the spring and summer. The peas never got more than a few inches tall due to deer grazing pressure, the oat seeds have already been completely removed from the stalks by turkeys this late summer, meanwhile the wheat seeds are only partially eaten. For next year I'm going to plant half as much winter wheat, I still need some winter wheat for a late fall draw after clover attraction drops off this fall. I'm going to plant more oats and double the peas in the spring. After reading this article I may mix the peas and oats together and throw in some turnips to make the same plot attractive longer into the late fall.
https://www.qdma.com/austrian-winter-peas/#:~:text=With%20regard%20to%20planting%20dates,winter%20pea%20in%20pure%20stands.
I realize there are wildlife mixes you can buy but buying bulk individual seed at the farm supply is cheaper and I can pick which seeds I want in the mix. I don't have a lot of time to keep up on sensitive crops so I'm defaulting to crops that grow well with minimum upkeep and soil maintenance in my area and that seem to be the most attractive to the deer and turkeys I am feeding.
Dale
Thanks for this update. I am in the same boat and have been experimenting for the last couple years on what grows best with minimal upkeep. I will be planting oats this fall to see how they do in my neck of the woods. I wish they were perineal as it makes it even easier....but hey you can't win them all. I will inner seed with clover and peas as they have been proven winners at my place and the clover coves back every spring. I have also had great luck with a sucra grass blend that the deer and turkeys love and is a perineal. Last fall I planted a rack master blend with a bunch of annual root vegetables and the deer loved It. The beets, turnips and daikon radish were a big hit.
thanks for posting the pics too. I love watching the bucks grow this time of year. :tup:
For fall planting we've planted winter cereal rye before and it was a great attraction, easy to grow also, I think that would be better than oats in the fall as frost won't kill it. Oats are great for spring planting, deer hit it good in spring, turkeys just love the seed come late summer.
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Here is something you might add to your plots, sweet clover. It is a biennial so will get a second year that is 5-7 feet tall and a insect factory, excellent nitrogen fixer for the next crop and great thermal cover for the second winter. Great deer and turkey pics, have watched turkeys chase deer off of something they want, thanks
I've considered it before, perhaps I should lightly overseed some into the mixed plot I am planning next year, or do you think it does better on it's own?
I've heard it attracts bees too which turkeys love, but it seems like I heard it can become invasive, any opinion on that?
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This doe we rarely see in daylight, she is mostly nocturnal when bringing the two little ones into the open. They look pretty small, I think she was one of the later does to drop her fawns.
Second Photo, another good shot of non-typical!
Third photo, two bucks bedded in the oats.
Fourth photo, a random turkey in the air, turkeys are so amusing to watch!
Fifth photo, I have been watching for this guy, he is here looking for the fawns!
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Within two to three weeks after placing the trail cams there is quite a lot of difference in antler growth on the young bucks and the older bucks, and the fawns are growing rapidly too.
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Here is something you might add to your plots, sweet clover. It is a biennial so will get a second year that is 5-7 feet tall and a insect factory, excellent nitrogen fixer for the next crop and great thermal cover for the second winter. Great deer and turkey pics, have watched turkeys chase deer off of something they want, thanks
Man that is some steep country!! :chuckle: :chuckle:
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Those last couple bucks are pretty nice. :tup:
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That one on the right a few pictures back is a tank. Looks like you'll have lots of happy customers, Dale. Good luck!
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Still have tons of photos to look over. Broken Jr and Broken Sr came back and gave me another good look at their antlers.
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1. A new little buck showed up, he is really skinny, I had not seen him previous to this photo, he must have something wrong going on
2. That little buck is showing some respect
3. Pair of average bucks
4. Two pretty nice ones
5. Another little fella
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That one on the right a few pictures back is a tank. Looks like you'll have lots of happy customers, Dale. Good luck!
Last year we cut back again on hunter numbers, even fewer than the year before, so more of the bucks would get a little older, it's looking pretty positive, we are planning another year with more limited hunting, now if the cougars don't eat them all we hope to have another good season. On the bright side, a couple cats got in trouble and got removed. The predators are so bad that we are now taking less than half the number of hunters that we used to hunt on all the same properties. But by cutting back on hunters repeatedly at least we are seeing some results in spite of the high predator numbers.
We see cats every year, if I could convince all the hunters to buy cougar tags we could probably lessen the problem and have even more bucks again to hunt!
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Here is something you might add to your plots, sweet clover. It is a biennial so will get a second year that is 5-7 feet tall and a insect factory, excellent nitrogen fixer for the next crop and great thermal cover for the second winter. Great deer and turkey pics, have watched turkeys chase deer off of something they want, thanks
Man that is some steep country!! :chuckle: :chuckle:
Nothing like northern Idaho, that's for sure! :chuckle:
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Dale, Are you getting lots of predators on your cams. I have a pic from my last cam check that has three cats in one photo. Lots of cats and even more bears.
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Dale, Are you getting lots of predators on your cams. I have a pic from my last cam check that has three cats in one photo. Lots of cats and even more bears.
It depends where I put the cams, where I have these cams getting these photos not so much, but I could move them to where there will be plenty of predator photos. I'm going on a recon tomorrow or the next day and hope to place some more cams, but I'll be focusing on getting deer photos.
Years ago (whenI could run hounds in WA) I caught a B&C cougar for a hunter not far from your place, and I used to lease a hunting property just south of you, there are a lot of bear and cats in all that country around you.
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Even though I have the cameras in an area I wouldn't expect to see a bear I guess it was inevitable one would show up.
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IMO antlers are pretty much done growing, what we see now is mostly what we are gonna have this season.
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Just nailed this guy, Utah archery spike hunt.
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Always look forward to this thread, only problem is most of the pictures won't load, anybody know why?
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First morning opening day buck, Clayton had four nice mature bucks come by the blind right at daylight, he decided to take the non-typical buck, one arrow did the trick, congrats Clayton!
The buck was a really big bodied buck, I think he was the oldest WT buck we've taken in WA in a few years.
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This is a photo of Clayton's buck when he was in velvet and still growing.
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Nice job!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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Awesome!!
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Mike nailed a nice Washington blackie shortly after sunrise in the morning, way to get it done Mike! :tup:
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Zach's bear hunt was a birthday present, last night guide Ray got him on three bear, Zach put the crosshairs on this one and dropped it, Happy Birthday Zach! :tup:
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We had a great week of hunting despite hot weather and smoke. One archery deer hunter got his buck the first morning, two bear hunters tagged bear, and the third bear hunter had his chance at a nice bear but unfortunately missed yesterday, he did however get a fall turkey for this year's Thanksgiving dinner, so he is going home with some meat in the cooler. We have some archery elk hunts coming up and have elk spotted for the hunters to go after. We also have a couple more fall turkey hunters coming who will be chasing birds and we have a ton of birds on the properties. I'm hopeful for another great week of hunting.
We've also seen a couple real nice mule bucks scouting this week, so will hope we can get on them come rifle deer season.
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Nice bears. Great smiles. Well done, Dale.
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Awesome week Dale, looks like some really happy hunters!!
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Joseph and Matt tagged out on the first day of their fall turkey hunt, it was Joseph's first hunt, nice shooting and congrats!
Hello Dale - we had a great hunt today. Tara and Ray were fantastic; what a great first hunt for Joseph! Thanks to you, Tara and Ray for everything!
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Those are some great looking birds.
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Jealous of those birds. I have yet to bag one.
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I wait every season for the turkey pics. Can't beat the smiles.
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The boy is having his first tom mounted, not the best plummage, but there's only one first bird. Sounds like they will be coming back for spring bear, that's another great father/son hunt for them to do.
We started the archery elk hunts yesterday, pretty hot days lately and very dry, no bugling at all yet, it's going to be a tough week, we'll have to hunt water and do some spot and stalking, saw a good mature bull yesterday but was unable to get close, some other hunters bumped him so we are giving him a break for a day or so. Saw three smaller bulls when scouting the day before, but they are full on hiding today. Be glad when the busy holiday weekend is over and the weather forecast says a cool down is coming, I sure hope the elk get more active. Fingers crossed!
Regardless of some tough hunting conditions, I can still tell you, it's very good to be hunting again! :IBCOOL:
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Good job so far :tup: I enjoy this thread every year
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We've seen a few bulls but not a single one of them will call or even seem interested in being called at. One guide and hunter tried stalking three unresponsive bulls yesterday but got busted before getting into bow range. Another guide and his hunter saw a herd with 21 cows and two young bulls but no response. In the evening they set up a blind in a feeding area, three cows and a 1x2 bull came by, Joe made a great quartering away shot at 31 yards on his first elk, the bull went 10 feet and keeled over, liver and lungs both had holes through them, great job Joe!
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:tup: keep the updates coming. Lots of happy hunters.
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They saw a good mature bull with a few cows the other day that some other hunters busted, we let him rest for a couple days, they are after him this morning, fingers crossed! We had 29 degrees this morning, I'm hoping this cool down gets a few of the bulls fired up.
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Right on thanks for the updates. Hopefully it will be a good day! :tup:
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Tyler got to see the 6pt herd bull at 65 yards but the bull was looking from behind a tree, no shot, then the bull moved off and Tyler swapped gears, he decided to take a big cow, he hit her just behind her left shoulder and the arrow exited just in front of her right shoulder, she only went about 60 yards and dropped, great shooting Tyler!
We just got her hung up for the night, had some quick chili dogs, now it's time to hit the sack!
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We got this bull a few days ago, it was kind of a crazy day, there were hunters everywhere so we decided to watch from a good vantage point. After about 3 hours six cows and calves came running down the canyon to our left and cut up over the ridge, they were still running when they went out of sight with their mouths open and tongues hanging. I was getting ready to move to another location when those cows came so I said we better stay here longer. It couldn't have been 10 minutes and here comes a bull down the backbone of the ridge straight in front of us. We watched him come for about 400 yards and then he dropped off the left side towards where the cows had gone. Now a second bull was coming down the ridge, it came straight toward us and then stopped at 707 yards, too far for my hunter, so we tried to close the distance but the bull was too fast and got over the opposing ridge before we were within range. I told Gary we better check further around the ridge in case there was another bull. Sure enough a bull was halfway up the ridge staring at us, he immediately dropped off down the gully, we went as fast as we could and got within range when he was about halfway up the opposing ridge, Gary missed the first shot but then settled the crosshairs and dropped the bull. I love it when a plan comes together! Congrats Gary!
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Guide Derek has numerous really nice Montana whitetails scouted out this year. All our Montana deer hunters want mule deer, we don't have any whitetail hunters, so Derek set up his brother in a blind and his brother nailed this dandy buck the first day he hunted. The second photo is a trail cam photo we got of the same buck before season opened.
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Lookin good Outfitter and Guides! :tup:
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Here’s a recent archery buck taken on a Montana hunt. Several larger bucks were seen but this guy presented a great shot opportunity.
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The day before Washington moose season Daniel spotted this bull while scouting. They hunted all day the next day in the area and in the evening Daniel finally spotted a horn in the brush, the bull was bedded in heavy cover, they waited a long while but the bull wouldn’t stand, finally Daniel got him to stand and CJ hit him in the right spot, he put two more there and finally the bull tipped over, great shooting CJ and congrats on a nice bull!
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That's a monster. Congratulations.
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My son drew an Idaho goat tag, he scouted in Aug and Sept and saw some good goats including one he figured was about 9”, but he was waiting for the hair to grow longer for a good mount. Last weekend he went after a goat but was unable to get close enough and when they got up on the ridge where the goat was at they couldnt see much because of the way it lays. Another friend went with him this weekend and he took his long range gun that could shoot across where he had seen the goats the previous weekend. They spotted a good goat this morning, he nailed it with one shot at 601 yards. The horns are right at 10 inches.
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Nice Goat! Congratulations! :tup:
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About time to update this thread I'm thinkin .......
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:chuckle: Yeah, sorry it's been a crazy busy October season with some unusual twists, we just got the last of the elk camps packed out and I'm busy catching up on paperwork and trying to fill some cancellations for upcoming cow elk hunts, a couple Utah mule deer rut hunts, and fill up remaining hunts for late whitetail season in WA.
I'll get some photos posted ASAP. :hello:
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Great goat, congrats!
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Awesome goat, congrats!!!
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Guide Russell holding a buck taken a few days ago on our Utah hunt. Two hunters hunted a half day, spotted 9 bucks, killed two bucks, spotted a bigger buck on the way out.
Anyone looking for a mule deer hunt this year should consider this hunt, deer are rutting right now, I have four tags available, we can hunt until Nov 10, cost is normally $4950 but I’ll reduce it by $500.
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We still have a few late whitetail hunts available too, cost is $2950, includes lodging, meals, and guide. We mostly hunt from blinds, anyone can do this hunt, you do not have to be in top physical condition.
This buck taken in early bow season on first day of his hunt!
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I have one outfitter tag available in Idaho for a guided cow elk hunt. Cost is $2550 for a 1x1 guided hunt, lodging, meals, and guiding are included, we also have horses to use when needed. Season ends Nov 15. If you are ready to go cow elk hunting call me at 208-852-6494.
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Here’s a cow taken this season in Idaho.
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We have one more good bull available on our Montana buffalo hunt.
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Here’s a bull that was recently taken!
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This Father and son enjoyed our fall turkey hunt, it”s going to be a great thanksgiving for the whole family!
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This dang bear keeps sneaking back in to our deer feeder, we’ve chased him off multiple times but he started coming in only at night so we can’t chase him off, boy he’s really getting fat off the deer corn! I wished somebody would see him away from the feeder and shoot him!
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This is one of my drop camps for mule deer, there were 6 hunters, 5 of them killed bucks, that’s pretty good, they were from Louisiana and put the Cajun sneak on the mule deer! :chuckle:
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First day of early moose season CJ nailed this Douglas bull with guide Daniel, congrats!
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Nice animals dale, I'm curious why you stop your tarp on your wall tent there? We usually carry our down to the ground for a little extra storage, but is there a certain reason why you stop there??
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Nice animals dale, I'm curious why you stop your tarp on your wall tent there? We usually carry our down to the ground for a little extra storage, but is there a certain reason why you stop there??
In my area high winds can occur so in addition to staking around the bottom of the tent we have ropes angled off the top of the walls to the ground to hold the tent down. I’ve put tarps on that hang past the walls but if heavy snow slides off it can cause problems if you don’t get the snow off sagging tarp ends. I try to keep it all worry free so nothing can happen regardless of weather or failure to do something. I usually put more rafters than the tent manufacturer suggests too.
Last week we had one camp that was out for a week unattended after the hunters left before we could get it picked up, even though we got a foot of snow the tents held up.
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Herb was more than excited to get his first elk tonight, guide Tate got it quartered and hanging before they hiked the 3 miles out to the truck. In the morning we’ll retrieve it with the horses. Congrats Herb!
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I'd say he looks happy!!
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Bill nailed a 6x6 wall hanger this morning in Idaho, one shot to the heart did the quick trick, congratulations Bill! :tup:
(if you look close some of the tips are chipped, the buck took a couple bad flips on a steep rocky hillside)
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$4500 for a mid size bull. I guess that is reasonable for most people. Not bashing just seeing what the price is for that hunt. What is the charge for a b&c bull? Want to get my Dad on a shooter.
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$4500 for a mid size bull. I guess that is reasonable for most people. Not bashing just seeing what the price is for that hunt. What is the charge for a b&c bull? Want to get my Dad on a shooter.
We charge a set fee for an elk hunt, sometimes hunters get a spike, sometimes a 6x6, sometimes something in between, and sometimes nothing, they are paying for an elk hunt, we don't charge extra if they kill a bull nor do we charge extra if they are lucky enough to get a big bull. That is our pricing policy, there are some outfitters who hunt free range areas that do charge extra if you kill a big bull so you should ask about that, but most don't.
Generally speaking it's high fenced elk hunts where you pay for the size of the bull that you kill. I'm not looking down on these operations, I'm just trying to explain how pricing generally works for different types of elk hunts.
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We’ve got three or four big old bulls available that we need to shoot in November. A couple of them are pretty mean so we need them gone! Two of them are over 10 years old, some years we don’t ever get this old of bulls to shoot. Give Dale a call or text if you want one of these giants! (208) 852-6494
Price reduced $1000 from $7950 to $6950.
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I started our last two Utah deer hunts on the 9th with two days of season left, as luck would have it, it was very cold, heavy wind, and snowing most of the day on the 9th, the deer were not moving very good, I only saw 44 deer and only two bucks that day. Nov 10 was the last day of our Utah CWMU deer season and we still needed two bucks for my hunters and then maybe I might get a chance to hunt if we filled them out early? The storm was still throwing snow flurries at us and the temps were in the teens and later in the low twenties but at least the wind had mostly backed off, so the deer were moving better. We passed a few small bucks on our way to look for a large heavy 3x3 we had seen the day before that was a couple hundred yards on the wrong side of the fence. There were a dozen does in some cover on our side of the fence so I was hoping he’d be with that group of does
Unfortunately he was still in almost the same spot on the neighbors property but another 3x3 was with the does, we stalked within 336 yards but Kriss couldn’t get steady, so we let the buck walk out of sight and figured we would make another move on him. That was working good until a couple does busted us and took off running, they blew up the whole group and they all took off.
We watched the group move into another canyon and tried stalking again, as soon as Kriss crested the ridge looking for them another doe busted and took the whole group to another big open side hill. There was no way to get close, they knew they were safe, the closest we could get was about 656 yards and Kriss needed a 200-300 yard shot at the longest, so we left them and figured we would check back later.
Meanwhile Eric was making a move on a decent buck which he hammered, so with one buck down. Kriss and I decided to go after another 3x3 that had been passed, now because we weren’t seeing any 4x4s and it was closing in on noon, we needed to notch his tag soon or risk not getting a deer. We hiked out where we thought they should be but nothing, I told Kriss to go all the way to the road in the bottom of the canyon and I would go back and get the Viking and pick him up in the bottom. He jumped the deer on his way but all he saw was does, they crossed the road where I was going to pick him up just before I got there, he told me what happened so I suggested we continue down canyon and go around in case the buck went a different route, we only went about 200 yards and the buck broke up the hillside out of the wash, “wait for him to stop” I bleeted loudly and the buck paused, whammo, a sure hit and the buck summersalted backwards and started rolling down the hill. We had about a 20 yard drag, I gutted him and deer number two was done.
I dropped off Kriss at his truck and said goodbye, he offered to go hunting with me but I told him I’d be fine and to get his deer to the processor. Amazingly I had 4 hours left to fill my own tag. I had not shot my 257 Roy since loaning it to another hunter so I broke off a 1/2 “ piece of black electric tape and put it on a small piece of paper in a sage bush and backed off, I ranged the paper at 118, good enough. I took two shots and checked, there was one bullet in the top and one in the bottom of the tape and only 1/2” apart, gun was dead on at 118, good enough.
On the way back Eric was just wrapping up the ending to his video of the hunt, Eric asked where I was going and offered to help me, we discussed some of the bucks we had all passed but I told him I wanted to try and find a 4x4 until the last hour when I would shoot any meat buck. I told him I’d be fine, I was headed out the ridge past where he shot his buck, nobody had hunted that yet, Itold him to get his buck home and taken care of, so we said our goodbyes and parted.
As I worked out the ridge I spotted a few does, next I pulled up over a little top and glassed a large area, down in the bottom I spotted two doe and a fawn, one doe was looking at me, next I spotted a bedded doe then a bedded buck at 406 yards. He was in some sage but looked like a 3x3, so I just kept glassing. After 5 or 10 minutes one of the does moved toward a patch of junipers and out of sight, the buck got up and chased her into them, dang it, he was a 4x4 and bigger framed than I thought, bummer, I could have shot him in his bed!
I decided to hike down the ridge toward them, I went about 100 yards and realized I had left my glasses behind, oh well I would get them later, I stopped and glassed but nothing so I advanced another 50ish yards and glassed again, nuts, the buck and doe were in the wide open but had not seen mr yet, so I slowly got down, I was in an uncomfortable position, steep hill, no good rest, my shooting sticks broken and I hadn’t got a replacement yet, so I put my day pack on a short sage bush but it wasn’t a good rest, I wiggled around, layed down sideways on the hillside, rifle on the pack,, very uncomfortable but rifle was pretty solid. I waited while the buck passed behind another juniper, he walked out following the doe, he paused, I ranged him at 416 and give him 3-4 inches over the back, whammo, thwack, the sound of a bullet hitting, but at the recoil I lost the deer from in the scope and didn’t see the hit, I dropped the rifle and put up my binos, I spotted all the does going over the ridge but no buck, I glassed back to the area where the buck was but could not find him, next I headed down to look. After crossing the wash I wasn’t exactly sure where he had been but found him in about 15 minutes, that was a relief because I didn’t know for sure I had hit him. He’s not a real big buck but I caped him to add to my collection of mounts. I think the most satisfying thing was that we all three found a buck we wanted to shoot that day, it was a good day on the mountain! I love it when a plan comes together!
Photos in the order they were killed.
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North Idaho Cougar Hunts
We have snow early in our north Idaho area and no hunter this next week. My son went scouting yesterday and found a few cat tracks. If anyone wants to come and hunt for a cougar this week or next week we can fit you in. These early hunts are usually some of our best cougar hunts. Call Dale 208-852-6494. Our hunts are $4950 plus sales tax and license. We guarantee our cougar hunts, if you don't get an opportunity to take a cat you can return for another hunt for half price, not many outfitters do that!
A couple past successful hunts!
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Washington Late Whitetail
We have 10 bucks down and 100% success so far, with the current weather I expect continued great success for our next group of hunters as well. No big bucks so far, a lot of average 4x4 bucks and an 84 year old on his first deer hunt got a spike, he said he will be back next year. Jeff and Chuck hunt with us every year, here are their bucks!
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As a practice do you encourage your clients to hold out for better bucks or is this a shoot the deer you see hunt?
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As a practice do you encourage your clients to hold out for better bucks or is this a shoot the deer you see hunt?
It's entirely up to our hunters to shoot what they choose to shoot on any of our hunts, we never tell anyone they have to shoot anything. Some hunts are more likely to see better quality animals and on those hunts we may suggest passing animals but I am very cautious about that, it can be a double edged sword when you suggest passing animals that your hunter wants to shoot but then if they don't get an animal you obviously offered bad advice. For the most part we advise size and let the hunters choose if they want to shoot or pass.
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North Idaho Cougar Hunts
We have snow early in our north Idaho area and no hunter this next week. My son went scouting yesterday and found a few cat tracks. If anyone wants to come and hunt for a cougar this week or next week we can fit you in. These early hunts are usually some of our best cougar hunts. Call Dale 208-852-6494. Our hunts are $4950 plus sales tax and license. We guarantee our cougar hunts, if you don't get an opportunity to take a cat you can return for another hunt for half price, not many outfitters do that!
A couple past successful hunts!
That's a great guarantee! Do you hunt with dogs only? How many days are the hunts?
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North Idaho Cougar Hunts
We have snow early in our north Idaho area and no hunter this next week. My son went scouting yesterday and found a few cat tracks. If anyone wants to come and hunt for a cougar this week or next week we can fit you in. These early hunts are usually some of our best cougar hunts. Call Dale 208-852-6494. Our hunts are $4950 plus sales tax and license. We guarantee our cougar hunts, if you don't get an opportunity to take a cat you can return for another hunt for half price, not many outfitters do that!
A couple past successful hunts!
That's a great guarantee! Do you hunt with dogs only? How many days are the hunts?
We offer 5 day or 7 day hunts with hounds in Idaho.
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One of our deer hunters in Montana, he missed a monster on the 2nd day of his hunt but nailed this old buck the next day, congrats Bob!
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November Velvet! As is usual with bucks that don’t rub, this Montana buck had no testicles!
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Poor guy or IT?
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David from Las Vegas finally drew a moose tag, we spotted 19 moose, one real good bull that was too hard to get to, and the last bull was a hike he could manage, we closed the distance and got to 249 yards, Dave shot him bedded, he stood and tried to walk, then Dave finished him off. It was a fun hunt and Dave went home with a head for the wall and lots of good eats. His brother Clayton and son Max were there for the entire hunt too!
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Nice Bull, Idaho?
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Nice Bull, Idaho?
:yeah:
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Congrats to Jeff for filling his Montana deer tag with guide Derek! :tup:
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Another nice buck taken this season, congrats to Bridger!
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Yesterday Brian, Branden, and the hounds got it done, the cat had crossed roads multiple times, it’s always fun working out in your mind which set of tracks is the freshest so you aren’t wasting time. Brian said he wasn’t sure where the cat had crossed last, he picked a spot and loosed the hounds, they caught the cat in a few hundred yards, sheer luck on that pick, lol! Fred and his wife only got to hunt a couple days but had a great time, congrats Fred!
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Ah cat season. Keep knocking them down Dale. I love cat season.
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Awesome seasons so far!!!
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It's been a busy month, with the new Idaho license system I've been busy selling hunts, buying licenses before they sell out, and still trying to lion hunt! I didn't think I could get any busier, but this bold new world keeps coming up with new ways to make a guy busier! :chuckle:
I really look forward to cat hunting, I enjoy looking for cat tracks and its such fun to hunt with hounds, to watch them work and do their stuff. Our snow was a little slow coming this year and we got a late start, I had to rearrange my schedule and hunters, but we managed to sack up some kitties none the less.
On our first hunt we chased a mature female all over the place all day long, she had really covered some country and then circled back to within a few hundred yards of where we had started her and then the dogs were treed. Branden gets to the tree first, he calls me, we have a kitten in the tree! :bash:
Well nuts, praise and pet the dogs real well and leash em up, looks like we are done for the day! Even though the dogs did a great job, that was a bummer, we needed to notch a tag that day.
Next we had high winds, the fresh snow from the day before drifted really bad, we tried to run a nice tom but we completely lost his tracks due to the drifting and another day was wasted as far as filling tags! :bash:
Next the cold weather moved in, as expected the cats didn't move much for a couple days and still no tags were filled! :bash:
Finally on day 5 of hunting we find a good track, snow conditions are good, the dogs do their stuff, we have a cat treed, all three dogs did a great job, but there simply isn't a decent shot available due to all the thick limbs. Finally the best shot position is determined and Carey pulls the trigger, the cat comes out but takes off running, Zack follows a couple hundred yards and we determine the cat is going to need to be treed again, so we release a young dog, I really try to avoid releasing the older dogs on wounded cats, that has not proved to be prudent through the years. So Duece takes the trail, he opens good but only goes a few hundred yards and comes back to Zack, so we let the older dogs go, they go to exactly where Duece had gone and start treeing again. Obviously Duece had treed the cat but didn't stay, but after the other dogs get to the tree then Duece started treeing like he should have in the first place, to top it off the cat moves around a bit and Duece sees the cat and really does a good job. Carey makes a good shot and we notch a tag! Finally we notched a tag and Duece gets a good lesson in treeing game.
Congrats Carey you got a nice cat.
The hounds are left to right: Cash, Banjo, Duece
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If you noticed something yellow, that is an eartag, this cat had been in trouble before, it had killed a housecat on a porch and the IDFG had tranquilized it and marked it.
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When my partner got a bear with one of those little tags we called it a prison tat - he left it in for the rug
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Good looking cats there!
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Chris and Carey who were hunting with me came on the hunt together but Chris still didn't have a cat so I extended their hunt even though we had new hunters in camp. The pressure was on to find more cats which Daniel did, the dogs performed their magic again, and the next day we treed another decent cat for one of the other hunters who was hunting with Daniel. We get to the tree and Arlin tries to load his carbine for the shot but it jams. Somehow two 44mag cartridges got under the little plate that lifts and guides them into the chamber. We didn't have any screwdrivers with us but we poked around and I finally was able to push the cartridges back into the magazine with the point of my EZ Lap sharpening stick and we got the gun loaded. The cat jumped at the shot, was hit hard but run downhill, Daniel and one of the hounds caught up with the cat hiding under a big downed log, Arlin made it down and finished off the cat. Good job Arlin and good job to the hounds!
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The view from my office, life doesn’t get any better! The bottom photo tells the story of the day!
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Very nice!!!
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Those are some sweet cats
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Another awesome view
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Another nice cat we recently caught with the hounds on one of our Idaho cougar hunts.
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These all look like awesome hunts, Dale. Jealous.
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I've been pretty impressed with these 550-f Skidoo Tundra's, they are very affordable and have just enough power to get around well even when pulling my dog sled, in fact not having too much power probably helps me go further at times!
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These all look like awesome hunts, Dale. Jealous.
Thanks John, it has been a real adventure, to be honest with you the size of each animal really doesn't matter that much to me, what really matters is the good times that we are lucky enough to share with so many hunters and all the friends that we have created though these many adventures and good times.
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The ranch called this 14 year old bull “gravedigger”, Derek just put an end to his career of killing other bulls!
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Dustin dropped another giant bull today, it’s amazing how big these old bulls get!
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We don’t have an exact weight but think either one was probably around 1800# to 1900#.
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Massive
What caliber rifle?
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Love the hound hunting shots!! Beautiful country!!
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What state did the Buffalo come from?
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We shoot the bison in Montana. I recommend rifles 270 or larger, but the most important thing is to hit them right and they drop like a sack of potatoes.
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Be sure to sharpen those grinder blades, should be great! Thanks