Bearpaw Season - Fall 2022

[Skyvalhunter]

Especially when they are tiping

[bearpaw]

Three more bucks taken yesterday in Montana. Elizabeth got her first mule deer and her dad Bruce got his best buck yet, Derek wanted Bruce to wait for a bigger buck and Bruce had passed a big whitetail, but Bruce wanted this one. I received a really nice message from Bruce who also said they will both be back hunting with us again.

[bearpaw]

They got a nice whitetail just at the end of the day last night, but it was too dark for decent photos by the time they got the buck set up, they were going to take better photos this morning that I haven't got yet.

[Twispriver]

 

[pianoman9701]

Some nice muleys.

[bearpaw]

 Ben made a 525 yard shot dropping this Montana buck in his tracks today! Way to go Ben! (top photo)

Wayne put the hammer down and notched his Montana tag today too, Wayne and Ben both filled out on the first day of their hunt! (bottom photo)

[bearpaw]

Brandi and Lance packing in an unguided Idaho drop camp.

[bearpaw]

Taking the hunters to their drop camp, horses waiting at the camp.

[bearpaw]

Packing out a buck from the unguided drop camp.

[bearpaw]

We are having a good Washington whitetail season, so far every hunter has left with a buck, except for one dad who left after his daughter got her buck in a day and a half of hunting, they had some family event to get back to. We are on our last hunt of the season now, we have 6 guided hunters in camp to finish the season, two have killed bucks already, one guy has passed a few bucks, two others missed this morning, and one guy just started hunting with no opportunity yet.

I do wish we were getting some bigger deer, it seems like the majority of bucks are spikes, forks, or younger 4x4’s. We will have some bucks left over to grow up because I cut our bookings to about 35% of what we used to hunt.

The guy who has passed a few bucks drilled a coyote, hope we get a couple more of them before we are done.

Nobody has gotten the cougar that has been on the trail cams multiple times!

[carpsniperg2]

What are the tags on the tails of the horses?

[HntnFsh]

What are the tags on the tails of the horses?
[/quote

Beat me to it.

Horse license plate. ]

[bracer40]

Tagging along...you guys are doing a great job.

Thank you, we have had some nice critters taken this year, I really wished we could get everyone a good animal, I think the hardest part of being a guide/outfitter is sending some of the hunters home with nothing. That's harder on the guides when no animals are taken than it is for the hunters!

I can say yes to that sentiment! Glad to see some success this year! I’m counting down the days!

[bearpaw]

What are the tags on the tails of the horses?

Beat me to it.

Horse license plate. ]

  yes, more or less a license plate... 

We put the name of each horse on his tail at the beginning of season, at various times several different guides help with the horses, we can say "go get Ringo or Charlie or whomever" and they get the right horse and bring him to the hitching post. If you look closer there are labels on the back of the riding saddle seats and labels on pack saddles, that way the right saddle that's fits and is adjusted to each horse goes back on the same horse, plus we can tell one of the guides "go get Zeb's saddle" so the labels save a lot of time when you are saddling multiple horses. The saddle trees in my saddle shop are also labeled. The wranglers who work with the horses every day don't even have to look for names, they remember which spot most of the saddles are at.

[bearpaw]

Ken and Terry braved -20 wind chill and a brutal storm to get their bucks. The deer were staying hunkered down in draws and areas of cover trying to get through the storm, two or three better bucks were seen but they didn’t offer much time, these bucks presented the best shot opportunities, congrats Ken & Terry! You guys beat the Montana weather!