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  Ed Tibbals 5 pointer, 2005   Other pictures will be as links so page will open quicker.  Be sure and go to the Success Reports 2005 to get the complete stories and all the picture links.  This newsletter is printed here just as it comes off the press to be mailed via snail-mail.  It is printed here on November 8, 2005, at least 3 weeks earlier than the snail-mail version.

 November ‘05 Newsletter

First, only those with email addresses will continue to get frequent newsletters.  Those with postal addresses will get just the annual newsletter, this one.  So send me your email address so I can bore you more often.

     We had a good season, taken as a whole, with some great days and some tough days throughout.  The weather is always a factor.  This year it rained and snowed through most of the deer season, then was Indian Summer during elk season, just about opposite to what would bring optimal success.  Go to the website, to Success Reports, to read all about it and see pictures.

Brief Synopsis of the Deer Hunt

We killed a 30 1/2 inch old heavy buck, a 29 inch old and heavy, another young 29 incher that scored 180, a beautiful 26 inch with a 6 inch drop tine and a cheater point, an average 26 incher, a nice 24 incher, and some smaller bucks. We missed some pretty good bucks, too.   As usual some of the biggest bucks were seen during elk season, after deer season was closed.  Guide Tom saw “the best trophy buck I’ve seen in my life” standing 125 yards and staring at him for 5 minutes.  Massive, carrying his mass clear out to the tips of his tines, perfect 4x4 with brow tines, deep forks, and a ten inch heavy drop tine.  “The buck of a lifetime!” says Tom.  We had some tough days of deer hunting and generally didn’t see as many good bucks.  Saw a lot of forkhorns, so the future looks good.

The Elk Hunt

The first hunt we killed 7 out of 10 including two six-pointers.  One of the three that didn’t kill missed three shots with a rest at a huge 370 class bull at 320 yards, standing shot.  Just elk fever.  I had seen that bull during deer season and I can testify that he is one humongous bull elk.  Just made me so disappointed that we had a good chance at him and didn’t get him. On the second elk hunt seven of our eight hunters either passed on elk, got shots, or killed an elk.

Moose Hunt

I had two moose hunters and both of them killed good trophy moose.  The biggest moose we saw, one that would spread more than 50 inches, wasn’t killed, so you guys put in for moose and let’s get him next year.

Bear?  At my camp?

We see bears frequently but I don’t hunt specifically for bears (too boring to sit on baits) and it seems the few elk or deer hunters with bear tags haven’t been the ones to see bears.  Moose hunter Peter Spears and guide Cole spotted a big black bear lying right on top of the carcass of a 6 point bull Gary Soens had killed a week before.  When we field dress an elk we take the quarters and backstraps off, leaving the ribs, guts, and backbone intact.  This bear was actually sleeping on the carcass keeping the ravens away and periodically laying back his head and groaning, “I can‘t believe I ate the whole thing.”  Quite comical, says Cole and Peter.  So that evening they went into Alpine and bought Peter a bear tag.  The next morning they put a long stalk on the bear and killed it.  Great bear!

Bill Biffs Bull, Chases Him Down

Bill Sprague killed a big 6x5 bull on the first day. The bull went down in a heap. Guide Tom and hunting partner Mike congratulated him with high-fives all around, then went down to the bull. It got up and took off.  Bill says, "I chased him 800 yards before putting him down. What a hunt!"   pic

The Ingram Report?  Again?

I apologize for giving the Ingrams so much press time, but their hunts always have such stories to go with them! Brian killed a really nice 24 inch buck, score about 170, but the size of this buck isn't the story, as a 170 buck here is fairly average. This buck was a real trophy as measured by the experience. Brian spotted him at the base of a cliff surrounded by shale slides way up on Maniac Mountain (you gotta be crazy to hunt there).  We were 630 yards away and watched him for some time before deciding that it was the fourth day of the hunt and, as Brian said, "I really like to kill bucks. Let's go get him."  I got this great pic of the buck at 630 yards through a Swarovski spotting scope, holding my digital camera at 4x zoom up to the 60 power spotting scope lens. We made a long stalk through a meadow, then tall timber, then cliffs, then shale. Brian finally set up about 100 yards from where the buck had been, but no buck. We thought he might have left during the stalk, but I sneaked up the mountain further to look behind the one small bushy pine tree at the base of the cliff, the only bush within 100 yards. Sure enough, the buck was there. I motioned Brian up and he came and shot the buck at 75 yards in his bed. The buck then tumbled for 400 yards down the shale slide and only broke off one brow tine. To hear Brian tell it, it was a ten inch brow tine, but Brian started out as a fisherman and ended up as a hunter, so he has a tendency to stretch the truth quite a bit. Fantastic place to kill a buck!!  In this pic Brian's buck is at the top left at the base of the small cliff.  I took the picture while we were glassing, before we spotted the buck.

The first day of the hunt Brian had passed on a heavy-horned trophy 25 inch buck at 30 feet. It was a better antlered buck, but not as good a trophy because of the spot, the stalk, the kill, and the fantastic scenery.

Kevon Scores!

Kevon Wendler said “this time” he would only take a great trophy buck.  As he and guide Tom were sneaking a ridge, Tom suddenly said, “There’s a buck.”  Kevon whirled and shot at the moving buck, without really analyzing him.  The buck went down in a heap and Kevon was roundly berating himself for shooting a “dink” on impulse.  Tom said, “I think it’s a good one.”  Well, you be the judge.  pic

Kevon says, “I am still trying to soak in the great and successful trip Tim and I made to your camp.  We could go on for pages about the big and little things that make your outfit a resounding success.”

Bartley Bags Bruiser Buck!

Tim Bartley and Kevon were guided by Tom and Grant.  The fourth day of his hunt, next to last day of the season, our last hunter.  Finally nice weather!  They peeked over a ridge and there was a buck.  Tim asked, “Is he bigger than 26 1/2 inches?  I gotta get one bigger than Kevon‘s.”  Tom assured him that it was a big one.  Tim shot and the buck disappeared.  They eased down the super-steep hill in the slick snow and mud and found a skid mark.  They continued down and down and down, over a half mile, where the buck finally came to rest in an impossible place, a steep ravine with near unscalable sides.  They got some great pics of that very old 30 1/2 inch buck.  Tim weighs about 230, so you can judge the size of the buck in the picture.  His teeth were worn to nothing.  He was probably 9 years old.  No telling how many times that buck has eluded us.  Grant and Kevon tied the horses and came down to help, and as an afterthought Grant took his lash rope.  He’s been in those impossible places before.  After pictures and congratulations the work started, caping and boning.  Then the major work started, getting out of the ravine.  It took four men five hours to get the buck back to the horses.  Without the rope pulling meat and humans up the hill they would still be down there, attracting ravens and coyotes, and we would just put up a monument.

Tibbals Tips Trophy Elk

This was Ed Tibbals’ fourth elk hunt, the first with me.  No shots previously and almost no elk seen.  Grant and I took Ed and Greg into a canyon and then we split up.  I kind of followed my nose and ended up over a ridge into another canyon.  We almost immediately spotted a bull across the canyon a mile away.  We rode our horses in “hot pursuit”, stopping about 600 yards away.  The bull happened to bed down where we could see him and I thought we might be able to get a shot.  We crossed a deep ravine and then across a timbered ridge.  We did the “Hiawatha” sneak, being very very careful to not make noise.  By great luck we found a hole in the timber where we could see the bull lying facing away from us and slightly downhill.  Range was 185 yards.  I told Ed to put it between his ears and if the bullet dropped it would get into his spine.  At the shot the bull lurched out of his bed, obviously hit.  Ed shot twice more and the bull disappeared into the brush, but I saw a tree waving from what I thought was his death throes.  It took 15 minutes to work our way over there across the steep and frozen ravine.  The bull was lying there, dead.  I gave Ed a big congratulatory handshake, whereupon the “dead” bull jumped to his feet and headed down the hill through the jackpines, aspens, and alders.  75 yards and three more shots  later we finally downed the bull for good.  Great trophy bull!  See picture at top of this newsletter.

Moose Get Goosed

Roy Roeser and I left the trailhead at shooting light on the first day of his moose hunt.  We rode 200 yards and spotted an average bull.  We climbed the mountain (now named Roy’s Peak) on foot, saw two bulls and a cow, then saw a bigger bull.  Roy hit it twice at 444 yards, then we sneaked into the timber, jumped it, and finished it off.  Really nice bull!  pic

Peter’s Moose Unique

Good bull moose, but once again, the experience is the story.  Cole and Peter sat by a pond when two small moose decided to have a good sparring match right in front of them, 50 yards.  They watched for an hour when this bigger bull came swaggering up to show them who is boss.  At 27 yards Peter shot him in the neck, dropping him instantly.  While they skinned and quartered the bull, the other two kept sparring, feeding, and watered as close as 20 yards, and bedded within 50 yards.  See pics and read about it on the Success Reports 05 page of my website.

Book Now, Space Limited

Depending on the draw I have space available for ‘06.  Go to the Hunt Contract/Price List page for details, then give me a call, or I‘ll send you some info.

Take care guys!  See you astride a good horse in Wyoming!  Jonesy

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