Bearpaw Season - Fall 2012

[bearpaw]

Bjarke nailed his buffalo bull with one well placed shot at about 50 yards, the bull dropped and never moved again. The bull was 10 years old and probably close to 2000 pounds, it was a chore to roll him right side up for photos. We used a tractor to lift and skin him.

Also shown are some of the other buffalo at the ranch, we still have one more 4 year old bull and a few cows available to shoot this winter.

[bearpaw]

After getting back from Montana we cougar hunted a couple more days for Soren, he passed a young tom and on the last day I found a big tom in the last drainage I checked, but Soren said he needed to go because he couldn't miss the plane that afternoon because he had an important meeting that he absolutely could not miss in Poland. So we let the tom go, I really hated leaving that big cat after looking so hard for a big one, but that's just the way it worked out.

A few days after Soren left I went cow elk hunting in Utah.

We hunted 1 day mostly glassing herds from the road and determining the best elk to go after. On the second day I decided shortly after dawn to go after a big herd that was about 1 to 1 1/2 miles from the road. I had the perfect stalk planned but long story short it turned into more of a hunt than expected. We ended up killing 3 elk about 2 1/2 miles from the road. I called my son and told him to bring the horses then I gutted and halved them, we covered them with sagebrush and peed near them to keep the birds and coyotes away. It was well after dark when we got back to the truck and already about 0 degrees. When we headed in on horseback in the morning it was a chilly -9 but warmed up to the balmy teens by the time we were finished packing the elk out.

[CAMPMEAT]

Nice goin' Jerimiah Denny..

[bearpaw]

Nice goin' Jerimiah Denny..

everybody is a comedian.... 

[CAMPMEAT]

Nice goin' Jeremiah Denny..

everybody is a comedian.... 

I would of loved to seen you climb up on your trusty steed !!!  :Tup

[Maverick]

Id sure love to get a big tom for a mount in the house. Great job this uear dale!

[bearpaw]

Nice goin' Jeremiah Denny..

everybody is a comedian.... 

I would of loved to seen you climb up on your trusty steed !!!  :Tup

I usually ride a big 17 hand paint horse named Dollar, I love that horse, he can pack me all day cross-country off the trails, up one Idaho mountain after another, but dang it's getting hard to mount that tall bugger. The horse I was riding in the photo is a smaller horse and very easy to get on, not to bad of a ride either and he likes to lead. On that easy ground any horse gets along fine, but up in the steep mountains the bigger horses hold up much better.

[carpsniperg2]

Glad you got some trigger time in as well dale

[csaaphill]

cool.

[Killmore]

Dale, How long is the  season open down there? Good pics, it's aways interesting following your season...

[bearpaw]

Dale, How long is the  season open down there? Good pics, it's aways interesting following your season...

Utah manages elk numbers very carefully. Some areas have seasons till Jan 31. Seasons vary a lot each year, permits are based on where they want to maintain or cut herd numbers. If a herd needs to grow, there are very few cow tags. I think Utah does a great job of management. We do most of our cow hunts from late November till Jan 31.

Id sure love to get a big tom for a mount in the house. Great job this uear dale!

Be prepared for sticker shock. It costs a lot to put on a quality cougar hunt today and most people think they are overpriced, but I actually make more money elk and deer hunting. Even at my price I am nearly booked for next winter cougar hunts. The last few years I have a lot of past hunters coming back for another cat and bringing a friend or relative with them. I also get a lot of guys who have gone on unsuccessful hunts somewhere else.

I started guiding cougar in Dec 1977, we have caught many hundreds of cats, our best year we caught I think 58 (give or take 1) of which we killed 23. That was the good old days in Washington before I-655. I used to do a guaranteed cougar hunt in Washington for $1350, boy have times changed. 

[duckmen1]

Hey bear paw
I had a curiosity question about the buffalo hunts
As far as the ranch hunts go in Montana are the buffalo free range or some type of fenced hunt.
I was unsure as I did not notice that on your website.
Thanks for the info
Will Hopefully be able to save enough money in the next couple of years for a guided hunt.
If I can keep the taxidermy bill down it will be do able.

[Maverick]

What's the price run on a cat hunt these days?

[RadSav]

I won a cat hunt back in the late 80's of which I could not go on.  Gave it to one of my customers who complained he had to pay taxes on an additional $1,500.00 income.  He did take a nice cat!  In 2000 I thought I would go ahead and finally get cougar off my list.  $6,000.00 on average quenched that thought.  Wholly smokes that's three spring bear hunts in BC!  Good to know there is a reason for that amount of inflation.  I had figured it was just another effect of television related inflation like we have seen with northern moose hunts.

[bearpaw]

Dale, How long is the  season open down there? Good pics, it's aways interesting following your season...

Season runs Dec 1 to March 31, but most of the best hunting is Dec and Jan. We self regulate the number of hunts we sell, our current goal is to kill 4 toms per year in our Idaho area plus we do some hunting in Utah.

What's the price run on a cat hunt these days?

We offer our Idaho hunts at $4950 with no guarantee or a guaranteed hunt at $6500. The guarantee is that you get half the hunt fee back if you do not get a chance at a tom. Success runs about 70% through the years on our idaho hunts. I do consider a pass on a tom as a successful hunt. This year we have had 5 hunters, 3 killed toms, one guy passed 2 toms, one guy passed two females but had no chance at a tom, so I figure we are 80% this year.

I won a cat hunt back in the late 80's of which I could not go on.  Gave it to one of my customers who complained he had to pay taxes on an additional $1,500.00 income.  He did take a nice cat!  In 2000 I thought I would go ahead and finally get cougar off my list.  $6,000.00 on average quenched that thought.  Wholly smokes that's three spring bear hunts in BC!  Good to know there is a reason for that amount of inflation.  I had figured it was just another effect of television related inflation like we have seen with northern moose hunts.

The reason cat hunting costs so much is because we have thousands of dollars invested in gear, dogs and hunting areas. I had to pay $260,000 for my hunting concession in Idaho and I have an old farm house there that cost another $90,000 so I have a $350,000 investment that has to give me a return. Plus we feed our dogs all year at $25-$30 per bag of dog food, we have 6 snowmobiles for cat hunting only, 4 atv's that get used for cats and other hunting. Add to that radio collar systems for the dogs, $1000 new tires the week before cat season opens every year on all our vehicles, tire chains, snow shoes and more gear than you can imagine, guide wages, taxes on wages, $3200 per year liability insurance, thousands in fees for a multitude of operating permits and licenses from various agencies, and a $100 tank of fuel every hunting day in each vehicle, not to mention any preseason scouting and time training dogs. We put in long days often 12 hours or more, figuring that the plumber or auto mechanic get $60 to $80 per hour for professional services, maybe all this information will help you understand why cat hunts are one of the most expensive hunts.

Hey bear paw
I had a curiosity question about the buffalo hunts
As far as the ranch hunts go in Montana are the buffalo free range or some type of fenced hunt.
I was unsure as I did not notice that on your website.
Thanks for the info
Will Hopefully be able to save enough money in the next couple of years for a guided hunt.
If I can keep the taxidermy bill down it will be do able.

The only free-range buffalo hunting areas where we operate are in Utah. As with any free-range buffalo areas the tags are extremely tough to draw, it's about like winning the lotto. I have hunted around the wild buffalo in Utah and when you find them it's like finding a herd of cattle, we drove within 50 yards of them several different times. Everyone should understand that buffalo hunting is not very challenging. No matter where you decide to hunt it's more or less a shoot, the buffalo are not very wary and you do not have to sneak up on them because the might run like other wildlife.

Our buffalo hunts and most that your read about are privately owned herds of buffalo kept within a 4 foot high ranch fence usually just like a regular cattle fence. One place we hunt is about 13,000 acres, another place is a couple hundred with scattered trees, and another is about 1000 acres. Right now I have the best deals on the smaller place. Most of the time it's no problem getting within about 50 yards no matter where we hunt.

Most hunters want to kill their buffalo in the winter when hides are good, so at this time the buffalo are staying close to where they get fed. What we did on the last hunt is put the bull and a cow out in a larger pasture away from the main herd. That way it was safe for us to do a stalk and shoot the bull. It's not real safe to go in with the main herd on foot. If we are shooting a buffalo from the main herd we usually drive out in a vehicle so that you have a safe spot where the herd cannot harm you. Often times when you shoot an animal in the main herd other buffalo will horn the downed animal and we have to herd them away with the truck, you do not want to approach on foot. Then we get a tractor or use a winch to recover the downed animal.

Hope this info helps.

Hunts Still Available This Winter
Buffalo - I still have a few buffalo, cows and young bulls, available this winter
Cow Elk - Have some landowner cow elk tags available in Utah until Jan 31
Cougar - Could fit in 1 hunter in Idaho or 2 hunters in Utah for hound hunts
Cougar - If someone wanted to hunt cougar in Washington I can provide lodging and put you on fresh tracks to call or walk down, very affordable.
Coyote - We can hunt them anytime, nows a good time with pelts prime.