Newsletter 27 12-4-2009
Howdy,
Well, we've gutted our last deer for the fall so I figured it was time for an update. Overall we had a good year in terms of success although hunter numbers were definitely down due to the economy.
I started the season with 2 mule deer hunters. We saw good numbers of deer each day but the big ones proved elusive and we finished with just one small buck. A couple of my guides, Dan and Brad, had better luck with the mulies and each tagged good representative bucks for the area. I included pictures of them with their bucks in the deer portion of the photo gallery.
Next up was an archery moose hunt. That ended well with a good representative bull on the 4th morning. Not the biggest bull in the woods at 34" wide but still a good archery trophy. I've added pictures of that bull as well as pictures of another bull I called in this fall while elk hunting in the moose section of the photo gallery.
Thanksgiving week was our traditional whitetail week with 4 hunters. The week started off slow but things heated up beginning Thanksgiving morning. We took a nice 130 class 4x5 that morning. Unfortunately, one of the hunters came down with the flu and wasn't able to finish his hunt but the two remaining hunters both shot bucks on Friday. The first was a really old buck that was clearly on the downhill slide. He had great mass and brow tines but then seemed to run out of steam and grew short points. He was a 4x4 and grossed about 120. The second buck shot on Friday was a really good looking 5x5 that grossed 146. Jake, my oldest son, got into the action on Friday as well by taking a nice 4x5. I took a day off and then managed to shoot a buck myself after sitting for only about an hour. He would have been a good mid-140s buck also but apparently something bigger in the area put the boots to him and broke off most of 4 out of 11 points. There are pictures of all of these whitetails in the deer photo gallery of the website. While dropping a couple heads off at my taxidermist I got to see two local bucks he just took in, one grossing in the 170s and the other in the 190s. Incredible bucks with amazing mass and it was a good reminder that you never know what these thick north Idaho woods are hiding.
I'm gearing up for lion season now which opens 12/14. The dogs are chomping at the bit. I was fortunate to be able to sell all of my lion hunts this year. I still have lots of room for spring bear hunters in May as well as for next fall's deer season.
I've added pictures from this fall to the moose and deer sections of the photo gallery. All of the new pictures are at the top of the first pages. I hope you all had some memorable hunts this fall and I wish you all a Merry Christmas!