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Title: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on August 19, 2021, 11:33:46 AM
It's been a crazy summer, we are making lots of improvements throughout our business that will yield many benefits over the long term. At the same time mother nature has provided some challenges, this photo is only three days ago, this forest fire barely missed one of our main base camps and home in Idaho, it was a close call. Fire is still burning on two sides of us within a couple hundred yards of our place, so we are hoping the winds do not get bad again because the fire could run again and get across the new fire line. On a lucky note there are several homes located right in the burning path where the fire went through, sprinkler systems saved every home.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on August 19, 2021, 11:34:30 AM
Brian has a pig named Wilbur, someday the plan is that Wilbur will be ham & bacon, but he told the fire fighters if the fire gets the pig but they save the house, he'll share the pig with them!  :chuckle:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on August 19, 2021, 11:41:17 AM
We started our fall bear hunts last week, we were after a bear for three days with our first hunter, we think it was the same bear in about the exact same spot every day, we spotted him three different times but he never gave us a clear shot, unfortunately our first hunter went home without a bear.

This week has been better, our next two hunters have done well, Ronnie nailed a boar the first day, Aaron passed a little bear on the first day, and this morning Aaron put the hammer down on an older sow. Congrats guys, I love it when a PLAN COMES TOGETHER!

Ronnie with the First Bear
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on August 19, 2021, 11:44:25 AM
Aaron with the second bear
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on August 19, 2021, 12:46:31 PM
WAAAAY too close!!

So looking forward to your fall thread.  Good luck!!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on August 21, 2021, 05:29:16 AM
Thanks Fred, hope you have a great fall season!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on August 21, 2021, 05:31:59 AM
This dark chocolate quietly appeared about 15 yards behind Adam, he turned and dropped it, well done Adam!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 01, 2021, 10:08:55 AM
Last week the hunters saw three bear but didn’t get any shots off and unfortunately went home empty handed.

This week on the first morning the hunter hit a large Bear hard that we had located and were watching for. We spent the rest of the day looking for that Bear but could not find him. Every now and then that unfortunately happens, all you can do is try your best to find the animal. We hunted bear again yesterday with no luck.

Today Mike wanted to hunt turkey, he took a shotgun, so far this morning he missed a tom but nailed a hen. Congrats Mike! Now the hunt continues!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: pianoman9701 on September 01, 2021, 10:17:48 AM
Nice to see all of your happy hunters, Dale. You're really making memories for these guys.  :tup:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 01, 2021, 10:27:06 AM
Unfortunately I think we are starting to see impacts of blue tongue. We found a dead deer in a waterhole and saw another very sick doe that could barely walk. Obviously we don’t know for sure it’s blue tongue but deer are being found dead in many locations now. At least 8 deer were found dead within the city limits of Colville this week.

First photo dead deer in pond
Second photo sick doe
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 01, 2021, 10:31:11 AM
Guide Zach found a covered up buck this morning. It’s mostly eaten, we don’t know if a cougar or bear found a dead deer and is eating it or if a cougar made a kill, both seasons are open and both predators will cover their cache, so Mike is going to watch that kill this evening, it might provide a great cougar or bear opportunity and snce it’s a natural kill it’s legal to shoot a bear at it too. Hopefully it gets visited before dark.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: pianoman9701 on September 01, 2021, 10:34:03 AM
Unfortunately I think we are starting to see impacts of blue tongue. We found a dead deer in a waterhole and saw another very sick doe that could barely walk. Obviously we don’t know for sure it’s blue tongue but deer are being found dead in many locations now. At least 8 deer were found dead within the city limits of Colville this week.

First photo dead deer in pond
Second photo sick doe

Well, that's tough. I hope the cooler weather will bring some relief and some RAIN. Maybe that'll help.  :dunno:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 01, 2021, 10:34:56 AM
A nice moose spotted a few days ago…
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 01, 2021, 10:39:32 AM
Nice to see all of your happy hunters, Dale. You're really making memories for these guys.  :tup:

Thanks John, it's one of the benefits, being a part of those memories.

I'm hoping we get a good frost soon to slow this blue tongue down before it gets really bad. They say frost kills it.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 01, 2021, 10:44:24 AM
Got a good bunch of bucks I’m hoping make it through September! The photos don’t show them all but there’s 12 bucks in this one group Zach saw yesterday.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 03, 2021, 02:52:50 PM
John saw this buck on the first morning of his hunt, the archery opener here in NE WA, but there were some smaller bucks in the way and he didn’t have a shot. At lunch we discussed the options and he wanted to go back to the same blind, that evening he saw the same buck again, this time the buck was alone, twang, the buck only made it 30 yards, end of story! Nice shooting John!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Fatherof5 on September 03, 2021, 03:00:02 PM
Nice job! I love seeing the pictures that are posted every year.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 11, 2021, 07:39:57 AM
We are elk hunting now, elk have not been talking much yet but Daniel had a raghorn bull come in totally silent that his hunter drilled and we had another 6x6 bull come in yesterday but the hunter didn’t use his rangefinder and shot right over the back of the bull. Unfortunately the hunters had to leave early due to a medical emergency in his family. Two out of three hunters this week had shots so in spite of a lack of bugling we had a pretty good week. Here’s the Raghorn that Ken drilled, good shooting Ken!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 11, 2021, 07:51:05 AM
We packed in a new drop camp this week to a new area that we haven't hunted much in the past. I packed a 6x6 bull out of there two years ago that one of the guides and his hunter had gotten. Zach scouted it this week and found plenty of fresh elk sign, so we have the camp set close to where the elk are at now, I'm hoping we can get the hunters in there Sunday, hopefully they are fairly quite in camp and they have some great luck. I don't know yet if they really know how to call or not, I guess we'll know that after they hunt for a week. Even if they can't call, there is some good game trails to sit along and some excellent glassing and stalking potential. Fingers are crossed for them to have a great hunt.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 14, 2021, 07:55:19 AM
Yesterday on the first day of the hunt, another 6x6 bull was called in, the bull was screaming and tearing up brush, unfortunately the hunter missed at 18 yards!

On a brighter note, our bear hunter from Michigan nailed a 5-9 blackie on the first day of his hunt with Ray. Good job Ray and Larry!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: TheStovePipeKid on September 14, 2021, 09:14:03 AM
I'm not sure you can ever live down missing a 6x6 at 18 yards. I bet it's an experience he'll never forget though. Good luck out there Dale, great pics so far.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 15, 2021, 11:36:15 AM
Yesterday several very good bucks and bulls seen but no arrows released.

This morning Brian called in this bull, he was screaming and tearing up trees, the hunter from Wisconsin stuck him where it counts, bull down!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on September 16, 2021, 10:19:17 AM
Nice bull, congrats!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 19, 2021, 03:01:08 AM
Reece nailed a nice blackie on a fall hound hunt, nice shooting Reece!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on September 20, 2021, 08:28:38 AM
Hide looks in pretty good shape.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 23, 2021, 09:44:57 PM
Reed from Michigan arrowed a 5x5 with Russell, the bull was coming straight on, he released at six yards, bull left a serious blood trail and didn’t make it very far, good going guys!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on September 24, 2021, 06:57:08 PM
Brandon from Michigan stuck this spiker, his first elk, this morning, it only went about 15 yards and dropped, nice going Brandon!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on September 27, 2021, 08:20:00 AM
Nice!!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: silverdalesauer on October 08, 2021, 10:06:05 PM
Brandon from Michigan stuck this spiker, his first elk, this morning, it only went about 15 yards and dropped, nice going Brandon!

Let's Go, Brandon!  :chuckle:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 13, 2021, 09:34:05 AM
Brandon from Michigan stuck this spiker, his first elk, this morning, it only went about 15 yards and dropped, nice going Brandon!

Let's Go, Brandon!  :chuckle:

 :chuckle:  I didn't get your comment at first, I've been so busy this fall I've missed a lot of the news, our hunters were joking about it and I had to ask what it was about, too funny!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 13, 2021, 01:28:43 PM
This fall we've had a mixed bag of success, some of our hunting has gone very well but some hunts have been very tough due to various factors. Nonetheless we still managed to fill some tags and get a few good animals. John dropped this bull on the first day of his Washington hunt with Daniel.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 13, 2021, 01:33:21 PM
Chad from Texas nailed this buck on the last day of his Idaho mule deer hunt with Russell.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: pianoman9701 on November 14, 2021, 08:37:22 AM
Awesome animals, Dale.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 14, 2021, 08:43:01 AM
Even though our September archery elk hunters had a lot of shot opportunities our October rifle season was very tough, here’s one of the rifle season bulls taken this year.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 14, 2021, 08:53:31 AM
Washington Whitetail season is obviously another tough season this year, going into season we knew it was going to be tough because of the blue tongue die off. We’ve actually found dead heads from several of the better bucks, it seemed to impact older bucks more. We turned away most of the hunters who contacted us this fall wanting to hunt. We figured we had enough hunters already booked for the amount of bucks we are seeing now. Our first hunt went well with 5 hunters taking 5 bucks the first day of their hunt and our second hunt went equally as well with 4 hunters taking 4 bucks. I’m really hoping our last hunt goes as well?

Photo from first day of 1st hunt:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on November 17, 2021, 11:39:49 AM
Awesome Dale!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 19, 2021, 09:21:44 AM
Washington Whitetail
Our last group hunting now are mostly long time repeat hunters, one guy decided to postpone his hunt till next year due to the blue tongue die off, the majority said they are coming anyway even if they don't get deer, this is their vacation, they just enjoy coming. So far all have had shot opportunists at small bucks that they passed, and a few guys either missed or didn't quite get shots at bigger bucks, but this group is letting the smaller bucks have another year to grow, this is the last day of season so I'm hoping they get one or two of the bigger bucks they've seen.

Kind of crazy, all the guys were out hunting and the wife looks out the front of the house at her car and there is a 4x4 buck standing in the driveway behind her car a couple days ago!  :chuckle:

Idaho Moose
Our last moose hunter nailed a nice bull on his second hunt day. Guides Russell and Brook took the horses and rode Jonas several miles in a gated area and then rode into some canyon areas where they had seen some bulls earlier in the season, they saw 5 cows and then they rode up on a bull that took off running, it had wide paddles and plenty of points, by the time the Jonas had dismounted and got on his shooting sticks the bull had made out to well over 400 yards, but Jonas was up to the task and made the shot. This was about 4pm, then the work started, and then they had a really long ride back out, they never got back until 1am and were totally whipped. Jonas said this was a hunt he would never forget and that several of his friends would be applying for the tag to come and moose hunt with us, I attached a photo of Jonas' bull.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 19, 2021, 09:31:17 AM
If anyone is wondering, the bull had testes but they were very small, I doubt they were functional, thus the likely reason he had not rubbed clean. Through the years we have taken many velvet bucks late in the hunting season, in every case those bucks did not have testes and apparently lacked the drive to rub their antlers.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 19, 2021, 09:45:42 AM
Last year Bridger got one of our best bucks of the season, this year his brother Remington hunted with us. Many of the bucks seen by our hunters this year were young bucks, despite the unusually tough hunting season and all the smaller bucks that were seen, Jake and Remington found a nice buck that Remington tagged the first week of deer season. Congrats to Remington for getting this great buck!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 28, 2021, 06:35:55 AM
A Montana mule buck taken recently.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 28, 2021, 06:39:46 AM
Another fall turkey hunt, we have an absolute ton of birds, if nothing crazy happens this winter the upcoming spring season is going to be really good again! This year was a record breaker for us, the most birds we've ever taken.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 28, 2021, 06:44:54 AM
A big cow taken this fall, we didn’t find many bulls during the bull elk season but the we were on the elk pretty good during most of the cow season.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on November 28, 2021, 06:54:59 AM
Cougar season is open in part of our areas and the rest open December 1st. The only problem is we don’t have good snow conditions yet. I’ve had to postpone some of the cougar hunts until we have better hunting conditions.

Unfortunately a couple hunters had to cancel until next year due to tight work schedules.I guarantee our cougar hunts, so if our hunters don’t get a cat or pass cats, they get to hunt again for half price.

So we have a couple cougar hunts available if anyone is wanting a cougar hunt.

I’m really anxious to chase cats again!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 07, 2021, 06:03:49 PM
Finally had an opportunity to lion hunt today, there wasn’t much snow but when Tyson stopped to let the dogs stretch he stopped in just the right spot by accident and the dogs picked up a cold trail which turned out to be a nice tom, congrats to Tom from Iowa on his well placed arrow.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: 2MANY on December 07, 2021, 06:12:29 PM
I like the looks of that.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Rainier10 on December 07, 2021, 06:15:10 PM
I love this part of your season.

Nice Tom with a bow. I like Tom’s style.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 12, 2021, 06:04:01 PM
Russell pioneers a new Bearpaw workout program!  (see attachment)

sorry no time to get on youtube, I have to get to bed so I can hunt tomorrow ....
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 12, 2021, 06:28:02 PM
Kathy and Doug come cat hunting a couple years ago and Kathy got a good Tom, this year it was Doug’s turn and he didn’t disappoint! Nice job  :tup:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: BLDtraLR on December 12, 2021, 06:30:53 PM
 :tup: :tup:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 12, 2021, 06:43:53 PM
The Subdivision Eviction
Matthew arrowed this 164.4 pounder with his longbow, the cat measured exactly 9 feet end to end after skinning, we don't get many that big, he's getting the (big) head measured after the drying period, no doubt it will go well up into P&Y.

A homeowner checked the camera footage from his doorbell in a housing subdivision and this cat was on his porch! One of our guides works as a bouncer in the local bar, the homeowner knows we run cats and asked him to try and evict this cat from the subdivision, we were happy to oblige!

The next morning there were cat tracks literally going house to house, after some investigative work the dogs were loosed and the chase was on, the dogs worked upriver, then jumped the cat which swam the river, all the dogs swam the river too and caught the cat a ways up the other side! Matthew did his stuff and the cat was officially evicted!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: teanawayslayer on December 12, 2021, 07:00:49 PM
Man that’s a beauty!!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: RB on December 12, 2021, 07:14:44 PM
Just saw this on Facebook, way to go, WOW what a Cat!  :tup:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: GASoline71 on December 21, 2021, 01:11:12 PM
That cat is a tank!  :tup:

Gary
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on December 21, 2021, 01:49:01 PM
What a stud cat!!  Congrats!  I wonder how many times in the past he has given the slip to dogs chasing by crossing the river!!!  Great job by the dogs!!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 26, 2021, 06:23:18 AM
Casey from Minnesota notched his tag on a recent hunt, when he pulled the trigger the cat just died right on the spot, only it’s tail twitched! Yep, hung up in the tree, a fair ways up a big fir tree!

A few options were discussed and it was decided he would try to shoot off the limb, after a few shots and worrying that damage might occur to the pelt it was decided to leave the cat in the tree overnight and come back the next day with screw in tree steps.

That afternoon Russell made a road trip to get more screw in steps, the next morning he climbed the tree and pushed the cat out, mission accomplished!

Congrats Casey, but next time don’t shoot quite so good, lol, we need the cat to at least move a little after the shot!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 26, 2021, 06:26:28 AM
Nothing like a snowmobile in winter fishing trip for a change of pace, fun was had by all!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 26, 2021, 06:40:10 AM
Logan sacked up a cougar with us last year and wanted a bobcat but we saw no fresh tracks so he returned this year, but had to purchase another lion tag to go bobcat hunting, in Idaho a bobcat can only be taken on a guided hound hunt if incidental to lion hunting, you have to be on a lion hunt to shoot a bobcat! This year the bobcats were moving, perfect timing, congrats Logan, that’s a sweet Bobby!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on December 26, 2021, 06:45:02 AM
Karli was not going to be outdone, this week the bobcats were were really moving, Brian found a large track and the chase was on. Karli ended up getting this very nice large tom bobcat! Way to go Karli!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on December 26, 2021, 07:23:33 AM
The Subdivision Eviction
Matthew arrowed this 164.4 pounder with his longbow, the cat measured exactly 9 feet end to end after skinning, we don't get many that big, he's getting the (big) head measured after the drying period, no doubt it will go well up into P&Y.

A homeowner checked the camera footage from his doorbell in a housing subdivision and this cat was on his porch! One of our guides works as a bouncer in the local bar, the homeowner knows we run cats and asked him to try and evict this cat from the subdivision, we were happy to oblige!

The next morning there were cat tracks literally going house to house, after some investigative work the dogs were loosed and the chase was on, the dogs worked upriver, then jumped the cat which swam the river, all the dogs swam the river too and caught the cat a ways up the other side! Matthew did his stuff and the cat was officially evicted!

He was eating good in the neighborhood.🤣

Nicely done.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: brokentrail on December 26, 2021, 06:46:45 PM
@bearpaw Any pics of your pack/packs of hounds?  I love hounds!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on January 05, 2022, 09:30:51 AM
Another unusual cougar hunt, this cat had circled all around a small area hunting, the guides split up and started walking tracks trying to figure out where to turn the dogs on the tracks. Brian was quite a ways up the mountainside and as he approached a big uprooted tree saw where the cat had been laying under the root wad, the cat heard him coming, ran out made a circle around him just out of sight and then back tracked Brian’s foot prints almost all the way back down to the truck. He got back to the truck and turned loose on the fresh track, the cat kept circling and walking on downed trees where the dogs couldn’t go, he swam a large creek, he circled the other hillside and managed to mix the dogs all up, Brandon headed up a trail to help the dogs and the cat ran face to face with Brandon, he hollered at the cat and then hollered at Sam and his dad to come up to him, and was hollering for the hounds to come to him so he could get them lined out again, as luck would have it he looked up a tree as he was following the cat tracks and there was the cat, all his hollering had scared the cat up a tree. He watched the cat until the hunters got there and Sam from Georgia got himself a nice tom! Great effort by everyone involved. Sam and his dad both said it was the hardest hunt they had ever done!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Skyvalhunter on January 05, 2022, 09:53:30 AM
Congrats on taking him down
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Boss .300 winmag on January 05, 2022, 08:44:21 PM
Tree’ed his own cat, nicely done. 👍

Lifetime hunt there.😉
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Alchase on January 05, 2022, 09:39:24 PM
Nicely done!
Thank you for sharing 👍
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Twispriver on January 05, 2022, 11:24:18 PM
That's a story that will be told and retold around the fire in your camps for years. Congratulations to the hunters and guides.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on January 06, 2022, 05:15:36 PM
Very cool!!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on January 10, 2022, 09:50:09 AM
Going after a big one today, there’s also a female with a kitten in the same area, I swear it always seems like you end up with the smallest cat in a tree. My fingers are crossed for the right cat in a tree.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on January 10, 2022, 01:50:46 PM
Good luck!!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: pianoman9701 on January 10, 2022, 04:26:13 PM
Go get him Dale.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on January 13, 2022, 06:23:59 PM
The dogs were released and took the track with hunters following. It was an average chase and after a while the dogs were treed, and finally Tyson, Zach, and Otis from Michigan made it to the tree to see what the dogs caught, fortunately it was the big tom.

As they approached the tree the big cat jumped and the chase was on again. The cat didn't go far and the dogs treed him again. This time they got photos and Otis shot the cat, it jumped and took off a short distance but went down, Zach ran over to make sure the cat was dead, Tyson let two of the dogs go thinking the cat was dead, just as Zach got to the cat so did the two dogs, the cat which had looked dead came to life and grabbed one of the dogs by the head, zach tried to stomp the cats neck to hold the cat down and make it let go of the dog, it let go and grabbed Zach’s foot, fortunately it had the sole of the boot sideways which prevented the cat from biting into Zach’s foot, they shot the cat two more times and it died letting go of Zach’s foot.

They had to skin this cat to get it out, but they estimated the weight 160 to 170, another dandy big tom. I took a snowmobile around to where they came off the mountain and picked everyone up, we had 4 people, 4 dogs, cat hide and packs all on my Tundra and dog sled that I was pulling, all was good until I spun out on a steep spot halfway back so had Zach and Tyson jumped off to wait while I took Otis back.

We got to the other machines, I started a sled for Otis and told him he could start working his way back to the truck while I got the other guys. I got the other guys back to their sleds and we all started out of there, up sped up ahead looking to catch up to Otis to make sure he didn’t make a wrong turn.

I never caught him, I got all the way back to the trucks and Otis wasn’t there, he must have taken a wrong turn. I dropped the dog sled and headed back out looking, I met the other guys and told them Otis had taken a wrong turn but figured he was in the trail where I had picked them up, they went to the trucks and waited, I headed onward about as fast as I dared, I was half afraid of finding him rolled over into a canyon or and stuck under the sled, you always wonder about the worse case scenario.

I zipped down into the canyon where I picked them all up, Otis was at the end of the road, he got stuck turning around. I got his sled unstuck and we headed back to the trucks.

We had a hearty dinner and lamented about the big cat and the day’s events. I also told Zach he is now a member of the “Foot in the Mouth Club.” LOL
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on January 13, 2022, 06:25:29 PM
More
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: pianoman9701 on January 13, 2022, 06:29:17 PM
Another happy hunter! Beautiful cat.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: KFhunter on January 13, 2022, 06:30:20 PM
That sounds like a great hunt  :tup:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: RB on January 13, 2022, 06:59:20 PM
Wow what a hunt, congratulations on a great Tom!  :tup:
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Platensek-po on January 13, 2022, 07:33:34 PM
Nice!! I’m sure some heartbeats were elevated there for a bit!! Nice write up and good job all around!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: HntnFsh on January 14, 2022, 06:12:50 AM
Wow! Incredible story and pics. Should have got one with the foot in the cats mouth!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Rainier10 on January 14, 2022, 07:52:57 AM
Man you are having a crazy cat season.  Guys treeing their own cats, cats biting boots.  I thought our trip was exciting but it was nothing compared to this year.

Thanks for the updates.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on January 24, 2022, 02:46:50 PM
I tried to talk Michael an ex-marine from New Jersey out of coming cat hunting, the snow crust is so hard humans can walk on top. He said he couldn’t change plans and hoped the good lord would provide, today was the first day of the hunt, Brian figured on hiking into some good areas and hoping the dogs would strike a fresh track and get a chase going, as luck would have it there was a heavy frost or slight skiff this morning, just enough that you could see some tracks in certain spots. Brian happened to spot something along the road so walked back to check and could faintly make out a good sized lion print, they spent an hour trying to figure out where it went, finally one of the dogs found it and even though it was going into a wolf infested area, the track seemed fresh enough to give it a try. The dogs caught the cat pretty quickly but it was a very steep hard and icy slick climb for the hunters, it took 4 hours to get to the tree, Brian said most hunters would not have made the climb, good think Michael was a tough guy. The good lord was definitely watching over Michael, as a result Michael tagged this big tom, Brian said there was a bright light shining from the heavens for them to even find the track! Proof that miracles do happen, congrats to all involved!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on January 24, 2022, 03:06:20 PM
Man you are having a crazy cat season.  Guys treeing their own cats, cats biting boots.  I thought our trip was exciting but it was nothing compared to this year.

Thanks for the updates.

Yeah you never know what can happen.

FYI- This last cat went into the same big area that you tried hiking for that one big tom that we didn't get.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Rainier10 on January 24, 2022, 04:27:28 PM
Man you are having a crazy cat season.  Guys treeing their own cats, cats biting boots.  I thought our trip was exciting but it was nothing compared to this year.

Thanks for the updates.

Yeah you never know what can happen.

FYI- This last cat went into the same big area that you tried hiking for that one big tom that we didn't get.
When you said wolf infested I wondered if it was the same spot.  :chuckle:  That was a great area if it weren't for the wolves.  Glad you were able to get the cat and get the dogs out without any run ins with wolves.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bracer40 on January 24, 2022, 04:57:05 PM
Great outcome and beautiful looking cat!
Would love to be a part of a lion hunt someday soon.  Thanks for sharing Dale!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on February 08, 2022, 10:47:26 AM
Got green measurements back on one of the cats, he will easily make the book, he has to dry a little longer before entering, and we are still waiting to hear the measurements on the biggest headed cat that was taken with a long bow, and a couple of the other big toms. We really had an exceptional year for big toms this year, found more big ones than usual.

Here's another nice tom treed a couple weeks ago, probably 140ish, we didn't have a hunter for this cat so we left him. One of my guides saw another huge set of tracks last week, said it's a bigger track than anything we chased this year.

Season is winding down now, weather doesn't look to good for more hunting, but its nice to know there are some more cats and some big ones out there for next year.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on February 22, 2022, 02:12:22 PM
It’s been a pretty dry month without much fresh snow. There were a couple small storms but our hunters who were on an “on call” basis couldn’t come hunting. We finally had a small storm in the forecast and one of the hunters could come but he got held up and didn’t make it until three days after it snowed. We hunted a couple days but only saw a couple tracks, one fresh track but it was on private ground where we couldn’t hunt. On Sunday night a small storm came through part of our hunting area, fresh snow always gets game moving. I headed to where the storm went through, a long drive but the first drainage we snowmobiled into we hit fresh tracks of a tom. He had crossed the road several times and it appeared he tried to follow some older female tracks with snow in them. It appeared he gave up and headed out a different direction.

At dawn we started the track, I was hoping the dogs would jump the cat in some nearby rock bluffs the cats really like, but three dogs got messed up in the rocks and only two dogs found where the tom left striking out for higher country. We collected the three dogs and followed the chase as best we could.

It appeared the tom was beelining for a different area, I figured he was headed to look for another female, I’m sure the Tom’s know where all the females live. Finally the two dogs were within good hearing, we let the other three dogs loose to join the race. The two front dogs jumped the cat it made a circle and treed, two of the three we released made it to the last little part of the chase.

We got as close as we could with the sleds and then Tyson, Zach, Tariq, Tariq’s brother and Tariq’s friend headed to the tree on foot in waist deep snow. I took my sled up on an opposing hill and listened and watched, I could see approximately where the dogs were treed. I was tempted to follow the guys but I’m just getting over three weeks of sickness and didn’t want to do a lot of heavy breathing in the deep snow, so I watched and listened.

Tyson went to the dogs and confirmed it was a good cat, about 80 yards away part of the dogs had a female treed, the tom had found himself a female. Two or three dogs would go back and forth between trees, but once Tyson got there he called all the dogs to the tree with the tom.

Zach was bringing in the hunters and as they came into sight the tom jumped, he only went about 100 yards and the dogs put him up another tree. This time he stayed in the tree, but was hard to see, Tariq made the best shot he could but the cat hit the ground and took off, Zach and the group followed but the deep snow was taking its toll on everyone.

Now I could see the cat on the open hillside about 80 yards ahead of the guys, it sat down watching his back trail, he could hear the hunters struggling their way along. He would move and just stay out of sight ahead of them, but finally they got a shot, but missed, the cat moved again.

I called Zach on the radio and told him to try and get above the cat and force him to stay in the same canyon, if he got over the ridge into the next canyon I was afraid the hunters would wear out in the deep snow and not be able to get there. I told the hunter to keep following the cat tracks and shoot again when he saw the cat.

I’m watching all of this from a big mountain across canyon, the cat had stopped and was hiding by a small bush, Zach was getting more above the cat and had the cats attention, I hollered at the hunters to try and go another 20 yards on the cat tracks and they should be able to see the cat and shoot, they were about wore out but made it a ways and spotted the cat which was still looking above toward Zach. This time Tariq had a good shot and drilled the tom, he rolled over and I saw his tail doing the death twitch.

We tagged the cat, got him down to the trail and i shuttled guys back to get their snowmobiles one at a time. We got some photos and headed out, the hunters had a great time and said they had good stories to tell when they get home. Tariq’s brother is coming back for another hunt next winter, we look forward to it, they were a very fun group.
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: pianoman9701 on February 22, 2022, 02:51:18 PM
Beautiful cat, Dale
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on February 22, 2022, 03:30:48 PM
When we are out hunting, this is what we are looking for, it’s like hitting the jackpot on a slot machine, a gold panner would call this paydirt!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: Machias on February 23, 2022, 02:32:30 PM
They earned that one!
Title: Re: Bearpaw Season - Fall 2021
Post by: bearpaw on July 09, 2022, 01:14:43 PM
Got a copy of the official score sheet on that bigger cat that Matt got (the subdivision eviction cat)!

Not the biggest we’ve ever taken but the best cat we’ve taken in a couple decades. Congrats to Matt!
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