Well season one is over for me and now begins season two.
I spend the time from Sept till now, split between guiding and hunting. I start off with the intention of doing no guiding and only hunting, but that doesn't happen in reality.
This season was no different. Well actually it was much different from other years. Here are some highlights. And people wonder why we do this.
I had two clients booked for a Sept. hunt for moose and black bear.
One of them was going to bring his jetboat to hunt from the river.
The first day while instructing me on how to avoid running a ground,{I have been operating boats longer than this guy has been alive] he ran us 20 feet up onto a gravel bar, at full throttle.
We were between the edge and the middle of nowhere.
He said the boat weighed 6000lbs, and after 7 hours of us pushing, crying and whining, I believe it. Two on board were former heart attack victims. That left me and my young assistant to muscle this tub off the bar. Of well we made it to camp safe and sound.
Next day the boat blew a head gasket. We managed to get it back to the launch and off to the shop. $2400 repair bill.
While it was in the shop, I phoned home. I was expecting a second pair of hunters after these guys finished. It seems the business partner of one of the guys got shot. He was having an affair. His wife found out. they argued. he went to sleep in the camper in the yard. She loaded his double 16 ga. opened the door and shot him twice. She then went back to the house and reloaded and shot twice more.
The other client found someone else to come up with.
We were camped in wall tents. @ 3:30 in the a.m. I got up to water the shrubs. As I was standing there admiring the northern lights, I heard a rustle out in front of me. I lit up my surefire and what to my bloodshot eyes should appear.......... a grizzly. Hmmm! I have a flashlight in one hand and well you get the picture. Oddly he didn't seem scared of either of my weapons.
I backed into the tent and woke my partner. We armed ourselves with our rifles, and went back outside. My two clients each had their own tents and they were across the clearing and 40-50 feet apart. These guys snore and that was the reason for this sleeping arrangement. We watched as the bear circled our camp, always just on the edge of our imaginary fire line. After a few minutes he wandered off. When we were satisfied he wasn't an imminent threat. we fired the truck and made a racket with the horn. As far as I know he didn't come back. Just as an aside, I have used bear spray, and conditions must be right for it's use. I will gladly take a Ruger Redhawk in 44 mag over the spray any day. It may not stop the attack, but it will certainly raise the ante to get in the game.
We got the boat back in time for the first two to hunt the river for two days. They never did kill anything. We saw bulls and bears everyday, just not big enough.
The second pair of clients came up. One ended up with a bull moose, not big, but his first. he was thrilled. Especially since we watched as I called it from a mile downriver and then across the river to us. My client was on vibrate by the time the bull reached the beach. He shot it about 150feet from the shore.
While we were dressing it a pack of wolves came down the bank. I spotted them first at about a mile away. They came steadily. The boat was on the bank and 4 of us were skinning the moose. the wind was directly down the beach to them and they didn't stop till the first two were at 90 yards, broadside. Three shooters ............no kill.
Not surprising. None of these guys had seen a wolf in the wild. In ten days we called or saw 3 dozen wolves in gun range. Not one killed. Some shots inside 100 yards. Very frustrating.
Home for a few days and north again on a deer hunt.Last day of the hunt one of the guys found a buck he wanted. With a little planning he got to where he could get a shot. The buck was lying down and when he hit him, the buck jumped and disappeared over a little rise. BTW the rise was at the bottom of a very steep valley a couple hundred yards down.
Yep we found the deer. He had made the thirty or so feet to the top of the rise than died and rolled and tumbled down another 70 feet through all the tangles of rose bushes and buck brush. The shooter and I dressed it and got the packboards loaded for the trip up to the rim.
Oh yeah on the way up for this hunt, they took the tranny out of their Dodge Diesel dually. and day two, one of the ATV"S decided to puke.
I came home and planned to go again the following week. While I was home, I went for some med tests and ended up with a rush job for a pacemaker.
As I was being rolled into the ER, I started to laugh. I was thinking about the week before with the deer on my packboard. If my ticker had quit, Paul would have had to pack that buck and me out of that hole.
Anyway this is a long post and if anyone is still reading this, I'm fine, haven't felt this good in years, and I can start shooting in another two weeks, so it's round two. Predator calling. I have some wolf hunts planned and of course wiley coyote always needs thinning. Then there is Arizona in Feb. for predators. I love that hunt. 20C when it's -40 here.
Coyotes, cats, and grey fox. Gotta like it.
Round two!!
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