2022 Trad Harvest Thread

[3ChordTruth]

Congratulations BillyJack, nice shooting. And chalk up another one for those vintage Bear Razorheads, very cool!

[Bisch]

Originally Posted by BillyJack1975

First kill with the new Sarrels Blueridge this morning. Ron French wood arrows and vintage Bear razorhead breadhead. Will see if I can get the medium sized sow to taste better than she smells!!


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Congrats BillyJack!!!!! That’s the way to break in the new stick!

Tamales is your answer!!!!!!

Bisch


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[SwampGhost]

Congrats Billyjack!

[Briar Friar]

A stud Jack opossum got into the chicken run this morning… and got slayed. No harvest here…I aint eatin it…tamales or not.

[12ring]

Me & a buddy are both new to traditional but he got another pig this morning.
Brings his total to 2 pigs, 1 bobcat!

[Phillip Fields]

Congrats

[Trumpkin]

I hope that Possum didn't hurt you before he passed Mr. Briar. Hear tell they're mighty fierce .

[Bisch]

Originally Posted by 12ring

Me & a buddy are both new to traditional but he got another pig this morning.
Brings his total to 2 pigs, 1 bobcat!Attachment 1089483

Congrats to your buddy Derek!!!!

Bisch


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[Bisch]

Way to take the chicken eater out Byron!

Bisch


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[12ring]

He schlocked another one!

[DRT]

He's on a roll! Congratulations to him!!!

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[DRT]

Congratulations Briar. Those dangerous game hunts are often the most fun!

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[Bisch]

Congrats to y’all 12ring!!!

Bisch


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[DRT]

14 yard shot, 75 to 100 yard recovery.

Y'all put up a prayer or ten for Mr. Randy Madden's wife and he and the family. They need them and she needs God's healing touch.

We love you brother and pray God will heal her body and spirit.

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[Bisch]

Congrats again Gary!

Bisch


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[Horsehide]

Nice pig Gary.
as for Randy, he and his whole family have been in our prayers for awhile now.

[BillyJack1975]

Practice paying off! Congrats

[Trumpkin]

Congrats Gary! And yes, the Madden family needs more prayers. Thank you for the reminder!

[Briar Friar]

Good shooting and good push Gary!

[RickBarbee]

I guess this counts.

Today.

A twofer.

Rick

[Bisch]

They count! Congrats Rick!

Bisch


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[Phillip Fields]

Congrats Rick.

[BillyJack1975]

Congrats, that’s one way to beat this heat!

[Bisch]

Stuck a few redfish, sheepshead, and gar in La the last 2 nights!







Bisch


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[RickBarbee]

Awesome Bisch !!!

Rick

[Phillip Fields]

Congrats Bisch.

[SwampGhost]

A good trip Bisch

[Cenizo]

Elk City, Idaho with Weitas Creek Outfitters

[Bisch]

Congrats on that beat Cenizo!!!!

Bisch


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[DRT]

Originally Posted by Bisch

Congrats on that bear Cenizo!!!!

Bisch


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X2. How about some details?


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[Phillip Fields]

Congrats on a great bear Cenizo!

[BillyJack1975]

Congrats on a beautiful black bear!

[Horsehide]

Nice bear Cenizo.
Always good to see your fletching turning bright red!

[JakeM]

Nice bear! Black bear is on the bucket list, hopefully with my recurve

[Cenizo]

Originally Posted by DRT

X2. How about some details?


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Just checked back online as I'm now about half way through catching up on emails LOL.

Bought the hunt last May, but had to push it to this June due to family issues and then knee surgery last summer. The outfitter I went with was Gary Haight with Weitas Creek Outfitters (idahooutfitter.com) out of Elk City, Idaho. His wife, Sue, picked me up at the airport in Lewiston, Idaho. Gary is a traditional bowhunter himself, so he really understood what was needed to allow for a good opportunity with a recurve.

As some of you know, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana experienced some pretty severe rain and flooding over the last few weeks. A few hotels had washed away the day I arrived and the highway was closed. This actually turned out to probably help my hunt as the weather kept animal activity down until I showed up and brought some San Antonio warmth with me... The first morning was spent prepping baits, verifying equipment, and checking cameras. The camera showed a two big boars, one black and one brown. Gary decided to go ahead and have me sit right then and there since there was good activity, so we set up the bait and quickly got the chair set according to the wind. Literally set the chair down behind a tree at 20 yards. Felt completely naked, but Gary (in his 30+ years of experience) has seen the bears be spooked by the scent and things being out of place far more than actually seeing the hunter. At 3:30pm, two small bears that we had seen on the camera came towards the bait, but soon circled behind me. I could tell that they were trying to smell if anything was at the bait, but were unable to discern my scent. Both started moving towards the bait with me directly in their path. The first of the two saw me and gave a look of "What are you? Can I walk past you? Are you going to whip my butt?" as he crept forward. At 5 feet, I had enough of his curiosity and told him to get lost. He promptly did a 180 and booked it about 50 yards before stopping, sniffing the air, and then disappearing with his brother.

6:30pm rolls around and I catch a glimpse of another black bear slightly to my right, this one significantly bigger than the others. He takes his time coming in, stopping and sniffing the air every few steps. About 50 yards from the bait he takes a turn and starts walking straight at me. At 20 yards I can tell that he sees me and has a bit of the same curiosity as the smaller bear. At less than 10 yards he stops and stares at me for a little, continuing to try to figure out what I am. After a few moments he goes back down the same path he came in on, but takes a turn towards the bait and makes his way to it over the next few minutes.

The bear moves the large branches off of the buried bucket and rips the lid off as he sits on a fallen tree trunk. He dips his head, gets a mouth full of the dog food, grease, candy, and bread mix, then picks his head up and sits down while chewing. Every time he put his head down to get a bite, his back legs would cover up his chest (it's amazing how limber they are). This made for a pretty difficult shot as the only clean shot would occur as he is sitting down (kind of an awkward angle and moves the vitals around). After a few minutes, I finally figure out the timing, get my bow up, and draw back as his head is in the bucket. He sits back to chew, I put the silver insert on the spot I had picked out, and then let her fly.

Hunting deer in south Texas brush, I never get to see an animal running away, and only rarely actually get a great look at the hit. Seeing that arrow go in his side and then slide out the other side as he ran was an entirely experience. I was able to watch him run over the ridge 70 yards away. The shot looked a little forward, but should have gotten the heart and maybe a little bit of lung. I radio to Gary, but another guest who was helping Gary on the hunt answered and came up on the 4-wheeler to help me track. We found the arrow and were able to follow a solid blood trail to the point where the bear ran over the ridge. We proceeded to follow the blood through some pretty nasty deadfall to about 200 yards from the shot site. I began getting pretty nervous as I didn't believe a solid lung shot bear would make it that far and we had not seen any spots where he had coughed up blood. I had a feeling that the arrow had hit the heart and was too far forward for lungs, but that we would find him laying dead just past the next set of brush. Tim decided it was best to pull out and wait for Gary to bring one of his hounds just to be sure.

Tim and I wait about 30 minutes for Gary to get there with one of his best hounds, a black and tan named Tuffy, and two pups that Tim had brought to get started on a few chases. We go back up to the bait and get Tuffy started on the blood trail where we had stopped earlier. Within 5 seconds we hear her bellowing and stopped just another 20 yards in front of us. We walk down and there he is, piled up. The shot was right where I had thought, at the back side of the shoulder. What I didn't expect was where the arrow exited. Somehow, the arrow had gone in and turned downwards, leading to an exit at the offside elbow, away from the lungs but getting plenty of heart. Unlike many other guided hunts, I actually helped skin out and quarter the bear. Took me off guard at first, but it was really cool to be able to work on it together and be part of the whole process.

The bear ended up squaring just under 6' and weighed around 200 pounds (mid June is the time where the bears in this area are the lightest as they've been primarily eating grass and are in the middle of the rut). We ran the hounds over the next few days with one bear being bayed and another treed. Those dogs were absolutely amazing. The bayed bear must have been an absolute brute (never got eyes on him), because he ran into the absolute nastiest stuff in the area (1:1 slope with extreme vegetation) and wouldn't tree to the two dogs that stayed on him after 20 miles of chase. The treed bear was a 6'+ chocolate boar that we had pictures from the day before. He ran 40' up a white fir that was about 10' in diameter after over 10 miles of chase.

I highly recommend this hunt and outfitter for anyone interested in a bear or mountain lion. Gary and Sue are great people in some of the most beautiful country I have seen. This is hunt that is in a remote area while still getting to stay in a nice (not plush) cabin with a hot shower and home cooked meals. Gary takes mostly bowhunting clients and traditional shooters take up a large portion. I will be going back for a lion in the next few years.

Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/jASH6nHdH9UxN6Zh9

[DRT]

Great write up Cenzio. Sounds like a great trip. On the ground and exposed shooting a bear is pretty wild.
Congratulations again!!!

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[Bisch]

Awesome write up Cenizo!!!!

Congrats again!

Bisch


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[JakeM]

Awesome write up! Sounds like a heck of a trip and one id like to go on

[Hunter Todd]

Congrats on a great bear Cenizo. I've hunted with Gary on several occasions and you are correct, he and Sue are two the best people I've ever met. He goes above and beyond to make sure his hunters have success. Also, Tuffy is one awesome dog! Congrats again on your bear.

[12ring]

Finally shot a decent sized pig w the curve. +/- 100# sow. Shot was 10 yds from a treestand, 1/4 to me. Hit high but perfect angle down. 50-75 yd recovery (in major briar thickets).
Was cut up, sweaty, & too tired for good pics, lol. Plus my light was playing out. These cheap heads seem legit. Resharpen great & they even have bleeder blades. Hard to beat for $20 a dz!

[DRT]

Now that's a nice summer evening. Great shooting.

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[Bisch]

Way to go Derek!!!!!

Congrats!

Bisch


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[tradtiger]

Good job! Should eat just fine!

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[JakeM]

Nice shooting! Im going to have to try those broadheads for some pig hunts.

[SwampGhost]

Congratulations on the hog! I have some of those heads but haven’t shot anything with them yet. Can’t beat that price

[Bisch]

First one for me in a while!!!!!





Zeke had no problem finding this one!!!!



Bisch

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[BillyJack1975]

Congrats, looks like that new bow is a keeper!

[DRT]

Way2go Bisch! Way to get back on that horse. Er, Blacktail.

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[tradslam]

A consolation to no brown bears last night.

[Bisch]

Way to go tradslam!!!!

Congrats on a black bear!!

Bisch


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