Grizzly Size Feet

Mar 02 2010

After 55 years of hunting both by foot and horse I have covered many rugged miles. Packing out of the high country with 100 pound plus packs over rugged granite mountain ranges didn’t help. Lets face it I have had a rugged and rough western life of straight up and down terrain. My old feet are worn out from use and abuse. I finally went to a foot doctor some years ago and he said my nerve endings are fray from abuse. This along with having an extra wide foot makes finding proper fitting foot wear impossible.

I don’t have a long foot it’s like size 10 1/2 or maybe 11. But I do have an extremely wide foot like a grizzly. It’s so wide that I can’t find boots that can match the width of my feet. Over the many years I purchase the widest boots possible and just wear them until they widen out from use. Back when I was in my twenties and thirties that wasn’t that big of a deal. My feet were rugged and tough. A pair of leather boots lasted only a year before I worn them down. Now days its hard on my wore out feet to break in narrow boots. In fact lets face it the boots now days are heavier build and don’t break down and widen out!

Lucky for me Lathrop and Sons came along with their expertise on footwear. Guy Eastman and Nate Simons (research editor) used Lathrop and Sons boot all last fall. Now those two put a lot of miles on boots in fall. That’s a fall  lasting over 5 months! After wearing them all hunting season you can’t get them to part with those Lathrop fitted boots. If you follow the Eastman hunts on TV you know because of the backcountry terrain we hunt its a must to have rugged boots that fit. The Eastman crew is so impress we talked Lathrop and Sons in to a Eastmans’ Hunting TV Shows sponsors.

What sold me was not only do they sell top of the line brands of hunting boots but have the ability to fit problem feet. This expertise comes from the senior Lathrop as a foot doctor. Using his medical knowledge they make  hunting boots fit. For those of use who hunt in rugged terrain day after day Lathrop developed special insoles. The whole point of the insole is to give you a more comfortable fit while bushwhacking thru the backcountry. And for an additional fee Lathrop and Sons will fit your feet to special build boot. They have several levels of service in fitting boots.

That’s where I come in with my 4 X foot. I’m sending off a tracing of my grizzly wide pad and they are going to make up a pair of boots that will finally fit. In my way of thinking next to optics you need comfortable footgear. If not, you can’t going those extra miles in search of trophy big game. I will let you know how it turns out. So Stay Tuned! In the mean time check out lathropandsons.com

Arizona Hunt

Feb 13 2010

It’s been a couple months since I did a blog. I often wonder if anyone really reads them. Let me know if you enjoy these.

I didn’t connect down in Arizona while hunting mule deer. In fact, I only found two 170-class bucks with the biggest one a 29” wide in the high 180’s. I was holding off for a 190 plus B&C gross buck. I did see a lot of small four-point and forked horns harvested, and one buck that was maybe 180 with a 30” outside spread. The hunt was D-I-Y and I went right up to the last hour of the season.

The second to the last day it snowed a bit and I figured those old bucks would come out and rut, but only smaller bucks wondered out of the brush. We camped out in tents and the weather wasn’t too bad. We had Thanksgiving dinner by the campfire and Nate Simmons, our Video Production Manager and Research Editor of EBJ, cooked a turkey dinner by headlamp. That’s hunting!

All in all, I did have excellent success by taking two trophy bucks this fall, one in Wyoming and a 190-plus buck from Colorado. See my last blog for photos.

On the home front, our snow level is 30” behind at the house. This makes for lousy sledding, but we’re hoping February will show us more of the white stuff. Of course, the wolves are all round the place and I see tracks every morning. Those two Bull Moose are back this winter and doing well. With the lack of snow, the moose are having a better time keeping away from the wolves. The winter has also been warm with only a week or two in the 20 below range. Lately, it’s been in the 40’s up here and I told Bertie, my wife, the grizzlies would be coming out soon. I know with this warm weather they are thinking it’s time to start moving around.

It looks like I’m going to have a knee replacement the 1^st of April. A real April Fools Deal. I’m waiting until the March Steelhead fishing is over. This year is the best steelhead fishing of the century. The counts are the highest in modern history! With the new knee, I’ll be going back into the high country to do some backpacking for mule deer in my high country holes. I have come up with some lightweight gear for us older guys who want to keep on hunting for trophy big game.

After this fall of hunting antelope I got some great feedback from hunters who used the tactics in my book to take some good trophies. The book went into its second printing after only 90 days! Must be a lot of hunters pursuing trophy buck antelope. If you’re interested in a book on D-I-Y big antelope bucks, go to eastmans.com to grab a copy.

So far the winter has been good to the antelope herds and if it keeps up, the little guys will be out in full force next fall. However if we get heavy spring storms, it can still wipe out the old aged trophy bucks. So cross your fingers for a mild spring out in the plains.

I’m in the middle of creating my own personal website. It will have all my big game photos for sell, plus several posters and note cards. I will be including a video clip once a month on a hunting tip. I’ll also post more information on some of my hunting picks for units. Of course, it will be linked to the Eastmans’ site, so you can access it from there, too. I will let everyone know when it comes on line.

I will try to do better updating my blog in 2010, but I just don’t know how many hunters really read it. I’ll let you know how I do on the South Fork of the Clearwater for those hard fighting steelheads. Catch you in a few weeks. Mike Eastman

Halloween

Nov 02 2009

Halloween: Trick or Treat

It’s the season for trick or treating and there’s no exception here in Wyoming. Up at the house we have our own special goblins that come around checking for treats. The other night we were visited by some Halloween goblins, and they weren’t little children dress up as spooks. The general deer season had just ended and the gang moved in to clean up the leftovers. Yesterday morning I was going down the road and run into wolfs! Two large adults accompanied by some young pups. The family group was walking up my road. I think they were checking for gut piles. One little pup puffed up his thick winter hair making him look like a small cub bear.  Then in the afternoon, I was out and about and ran right into a pack of 4 wolfs! Before I could get my camera out the gang was on top of the ridge and heading up the creek. They didn’t stick around for a photo op.

Last night it snowed a bit and those tricksters were nosing around the house. My neighbor Delmar, saw the wolf pack standing by my gate about 9:30 looking into my house. That goblin wolf pack had picked up another trickster. Walking down the road was a small, three-year-old grizzly with the wolf pack trailing not far behind. The grizzly walked up to my neighbor’s doorstep and looked around, then went back on the road and wondered pass my house with the wolves in toe. He wondered up to my wood burn pile and made sure there weren’t any goodies buried. Then they all wondered on down the creek. Three miles down the creek drainage the grizzle found a little pay dirt when he came to a pickup bed containing some elk blood from hunting season. Fortunately he only stood up and looked into the bed. What a surprise it would have been if the owner had come out in the morning to get into his pickup and there was a grizzly sitting in the bed. But by morning he moved off over the mountain. I know when cow elk season starts in a few weeks he will be back for sure!

If you want to know the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear footprint, take a look at these photos. A grizzly track has toes that string straight across the front of the pad. A blackie’s toes curve in a half circle around the pad. This grizzly isn’t large like the big old boy that lives in the neighborhood. But young grizzly bears usually are the most aggressive and apt to get into trouble with human contact.  This young bear has been hanging around the area the last few months and could be one of the problem bears the game and fish transplanted into our area.

Well, trick or treat Wyoming style!

Last stop Arizona for late mule deer hunting the end of this month. I’ll let you know how we do. Mike Eastman

Mid Fall Update Mule Deer

Oct 12 2009

Just got in! After putting in 14 days of hunting in Colorado and Wyoming, the first thing I did when I got home was put the tape on the Colorado buck. I came up with 183, or so, in the velvet!  I was expecting around 190. How could I miss judge him that bad? I mean he had 6.5 inch bases and the other two mass measurements where 5.5 each. So I thought I was getting old and needed to wear my glasses all the time. Then as I was driving to the dump yesterday I began thinking about this low 180 buck. When I spotted him, I figured he would be pushing the 190 gross mark, but my measurements came out to only 17.5 inch of mass to a side. Then like a bolt of lighting it hit me. (You probably already figured it out.) I forgot the fourth mass measurement! I raced home in the old Ranger and through the tape on that sucker again. Voila! The old boy’s 4th mass measurement is 4.75 inches giving him over 22 inches of mass!!! That puts him right at 191, or so, and if you wanted to add the two extra points off his burr, he grosses 194 plus or minus. That made my day! The old buck was about to strip his velvet off. It isn’t soft, but more like dried on the antlers. However, the taxidermist was able to save it. Oh by the way, this is the first velvet buck I’ve harvested since the 70’s, so I’m mounting him.

While in southwestern Wyoming, I took a cheater buck in the low 180 gross with a 27″ spread. Ike, my son, was along and harvested an old, old buck that still had some velvet on some of his points. He really likes the old boy; it’s not your standard trophy buck. Of course, he is wider then mine and has bigger bases. So Ike teases me that my buck fits inside his, and his also has 5-inch bases. Saw several mid 180 gross bucks during the hunt. On the first day I saw one pushing the 190’s, but the old boy give me the slip. Fun stuff hunting with your son!

The knee surgery didn’t take and the doctor says I need a knee replacement. I wish he had told me before he went in and ground on it.

Wyoming got caught with a heavy snowstorms and the temperature dipped down into the teens. In the high country they must have got a couple of feet.  It’s been snowing up here at the house all week and is down in the 0 degree mark this week.

The last three days we’ve had a grizzly hanging around the house. He went up to my wife’s truck and smelled around it. Got the shoot gun handy!

I have a great high country bull elk tag, but afraid the herds have migrated out to the winter ranges. Next week I’m heading for my Wyoming antelope unit for the last few days of the season. Three weeks ago I spotted a good buck! We’ll see if I can find him again. This unit was my second choice, but still found many high 70 B&C bucks! And the one I’m after, I think, will go over that 82 mark. This strategy of a second choice tag is out lined in my new book “Hunting Antelope On Public Land. You can order it from our web sit.

Looking forward to my Arizona mule deer hunt the end of November. Hope they get some snow. I will keep you posted on the hunts. It’s winding down for me.

Until next time, Mike Eastman

09 Hunt Winner 7×7 Timber Bull

Sep 21 2009

The EBJ 09 hunt winner, Todd Smythe, slammed a heavy-beamed 7×7 as the bull walked across a high country meadow bugling all the way. The Eastmans’ video crew captured it all on film, and I was along to share the experience. For sure, a classic high country hunt for a herd bull that was hot into the first phase of the rut. On the third evening, the old boy came out of the black timber on the opposite side of a meadow to play in the mud. With some cow calling from us, he slowly made his way to where we had set up. Very exciting! It took over twenty minutes for him to make his way to our side of the meadow.

With a 7×7 bull walking straight for him and video cameras bearing down on his back, Todd handled it like a seasoned hunter. Cool and calm, he waited until the mudded up bull turned broadside then with his new Savage 7mm magnum rifle and 160 grain Nosler, he slammed the heavy beamed 7×7 timber bull right behind the shoulder. A perfect shoot even under pressure!

On the first day we found at least a dozen bulls running together. The bulls were bugling, however the rut wasn’t quite on yet. After seeing all those bulls on the first day, that night Todd was running on adrenaline making the first night sleepless. Later while packing the bull out, he told me his wife has picked out a special spot for the trophy bull. I was thinking yea right, in the garage next to the tires. No! Above the big screen TV in the living room. Now that’s an understanding wife! Watch it on Eastmans Hunting TV in 2010. Good stuff!

The old man connects with a Colorado velvet buck, a goal of mine for many years. This year I snagged a Colorado mule deer tag. This unit typically doesn’t have many deer. It’s mostly an elk unit.  However over the years while hunting elk, I have seen a few 190-plus bucks hiding out in the steep canyon walls and timber ridges. That rugged area makes spotting and stocking a buck difficult. Well I was lucky! After a hard-hitting rain and hailstorm, I jumped an old timer on a timbered ridge. He was moving up thru the timber from the rugged canyon below. After the storm, the velvet buck was heading for the top to bed. I was slipping along checking out the timbered ridge and we met each other in the cover of timber. This smart old buck was moving through and using it for cover. Not much for a spot and stock hunt. More like a spot and shoot. With two of his front teeth worn down to the gums and looking at the back molars, I aged him at nine or ten.

In my book Hunting High Country Mule Deer I explain how to field judging a buck in five second. It took me less then that to determine it was a great trophy. He’s one of those bucks with no out standing features to his rack. Having tall backs, good fronts, four-inch eye guards and 24 inch plus main beams, he is truly a symmetrically typical mule deer.

The last time I harvested a velvet buck was in the seventies. I was able to save the velvet on his rack for the mount.

Did I mention I have a Late 12 A West Mule Deer Tag in Arizona? It took me eleven years of giving Arizona Game & Fish license money. I just about had given up on that draw. For me it’s shaping up to be an interesting fall of hunting. And just when I figured I was going to slow down! Next two weeks I’ll be hunting antelope in Wyoming and Southern Colorado. Will post when I get time. Mike Eastman.

Field & Stream Outdoor Icons

Aug 16 2009

Just got back last Sunday from doing lectures at three Bass Pro Shops. It went will and I thank all of you Eastmans’ Journal fans for showing up. I did a talk on trophy antelope hunting and it went over excellent.

Several weeks ago Wolf Creek Productions show up at my doorstep. To get to my house here in Wyoming you need to pack a lunch. Will they are doing a series on the Outdoor Channel along with Field and Stream. Steve Gruber the producer told Guy Eastman that the production of the series Field & Stream Outdoor Icons will look beyond what viewers see each week and explore more in-depth the personalities that come alive.

In my case they compiled information on all four generations of Eastmans. Plus what I do when I’m not filming or hunting. They did a lot of interviewing with my family and went with me while I filmed an Osprey nest one morning near my house.

I gave them some old 1957 vintage footage. Dad guiding in Alaska, me at fourteen bugling in a six point bull, and floating across the Snake River at 30 below to hunt trophy mule deer. Good Stuff!

It will air next week.  Times are: WED 2:30A ET | FRI 6:30P ET | SAT 10A ET | SUN 3:30P ET you mite check it out if you get the Outdoor Channel. Or go to the web http://outdoorchannel.com/shows/outdooricons/episodes.aspx

Update on my knee. I hate needles but went in yesterday and got a shoot into the knee joint. It has helped not limping around and ready for the fall. I will be leaving the middle of the week on a Nevada trophy antelope hunt. Looking forward to this DIY public land hunt. Not accustomed to hunting with a rifle for antelope bucks in August oh will! I have been putting in for 8 years in Nevada for this tag! Guy my son is all ready down in his Wyoming antelope unit scouting and hunting with a bow. The 2009 season is now on! With all the rain we should see some great horn and antler growth. Up here at 7500 feet last night it frosted and I can smell the fall just around the corner. Will touch base after I get back from the antelope hunt in Nevada.

Good luck on hunting this fall. Fair Chase is the only way to hunt and take big game! Mike Eastman

Bear update

Jul 12 2009

It’s been some time between blogs. I gave up on the black bear hunting a few weeks after my last blog. The last day of the season I run into a bore and sow grizzly that looked at me and ran off into the timber. That wasn’t more them 500 yards above the house.  That same morning I found the tracks of the black bear I’ve been looking for the last few years. He has a pad of 6 1/4 inch wide! The old burin made it through the spring hunting season. I did pass on a small brown and black colored black bear this spring. It was only 4 1/2 feet long probably a three year old. With no dogs or baits, it’s hard hunting, you just have to move around the area morning and evening and glass the openings and burns.

One of the reasons for the long span between writings is I had knee surgery on that bad right knee. It has been holding me up for the last 15 years. Back then the doctors told me it would be a hit or miss operation. Now they have new techniques that can get to the problem with little trauma. He had to remove most of the cartilage and I had worn some of the bone off in a couple places. Unfortunately, in a few years I will need to replace it with a fake joint. The healing has taken longer then I was hoping. I’ve been laid up for seven weeks with fluid in the joint, but I’m hoping this fall I can do some backpacking for trophy mule deer in the Tetons. I will wait and see if it comes about.

Speaking of hunting, I have done very well in the draws. I hooked a Nevada antelope tag in an excellent unit. Gee, it only took nine years of putting in to draw. Also snagged a Colorado antelope tag on my first time putting in! Then here in Wyoming I drew on my second choice for antelope in a good unit. That makes three antelope tags and I’m still waiting for the Montana antelope results. In Wyoming, I finally drew a limited quote elk tag in a great unit!  My son, Guy Eastman has taken several 330 plus bulls out of the unit over the years. It does have a large grizzly bear population that keeps hunters from wondering to far off the roads. I’ll be hunting the bow season during the rut with the old recurve bow, but I’ll always have the rifle season for a back up plan. The unit has only a 30% draw for residents, and with my bad luck, it took me six year of applying to get the tag!

In the next issue of the EHJ, I wrote an article on scouting for buck antelope and horn development. I think it’s going to be of interest to most antelope hunters. Antelope have the strangest way of developing their headgear. It’s different then any other horned North America animal. And a hunter can key in on this horn development when it comes to scouting way before the season. That issue will be out the first of August and is the annual D-I-Y issue.

The rivers are still running high and the reservoirs here in Wyoming and Montana are full. The drought could be over!  In fact most of the reservoirs in Wyoming haven’t seen this much water since about 1996, or so.  I’m going out on a limb here, but I say that we should see great horn and antler growth this summer. Looking at the country, we have a lot of feed on public land for big game. I noticed that out on the BLM grass is growing in country that normally doesn’t grow grass at all. I think even those desert mule deer will have great antler growth this year.

Fall is just around the corner, less then 90 days so get ready! Mike Eastman

Looking for Blackie

May 21 2009

 

It’s been a while sense I’ve checked in. Had some work done on my bad knee and I’ve been a bit laid up the last few weeks.

 

It’s bear season and I’ve been poking around looking for the old black bear that I have been hunting last two seasons. Talked to some timber workers this morning and they spotted him four days ago. I know it’s the same bear because of his size. The bruin is as big as a good grizzly! Now these lumberjacks have spent enough time up here to know the different between the two species.

 

Speaking of grizzlies, I came rolling back into the homestead after hunting this morning, and Bertie was out doing some yard work. As soon as she saw me she blurted out “did you see the grizzly this morning”? What grizzly?  That was all it took for her to start laughing. While you’re out running around the forest a brown colored grizzly wonders thru the country. I had just missed him by 20 minutes this morning when I left the house. I found out the place just above me had a brown bear two days before eating lawn grass. I’m thinking it’s the same bear he just moved down the creek away. I haven’t seen much bear sign this spring on the creek. I think because the elk didn’t winter on my creek this year, there’s no winterkill to attract the bears.

 

 

If you have been reading my blog, I wrote last winter about the two bull moose wintering on my creek. Good news! This morning I spotted both bulls feeding in the swamp, plus a cow with a yearling. The one bull already has good paddles! Wolfs didn’t down those old boys. What luck! I haven’t seen them for at least a month, then, here they show up. I might pack my still camera with me tomorrow while bear hunting. If I can get a photo of the old bull, I will post it so you can see him in the first stages of his antler growth. He’s living in a swamp just above the house.

 

 

Guy, Ike and I were invited to hang out at the grand opening of Cabela’s in Billings, Montana store this Saturday. As I was heading down the creek to the main highway I ran right in to a male and female wolf working their way up the side hill. They were only 200 yards above me and stopped to give me the old eye. Finally they moved up the mountain and to the timber. Both were gray colored and nether one had a collar.

 

Getting to Billings is a 2 1/2 hour car trip one way. When I arrived at 10:00 a.m. the place was packed with outdoor people. We had a great time talking to everyone and I sold a pile of my new book Hunting Trophy Antelope a DIY Guide.

 

If you’re interested in the first edition of the book they’re almost gone.  If you want one, you can call Eastmans’ Hunting Journal (800-842-6887) and purchase one of the last limited edition copies. Speaking of my book. I got a great e-mail from an EHJ subscriber who had purchase the antelope book and here’s what he said:

 

Dear Mike, I recently purchased your new book/dvd Hunting Trophy Antelope DIY.  Outstanding!!!

 I do quite a bit of reading/researching on the internet and in magazine articles.  However, I rarely sit down and read a book.

 Not yours!  I read the entire book in three evenings.  I had a hard time putting it down.  I am planning a hunt in Wyoming for 2010.  I will buy a preference point this year. I am also planning two trips to scout a couple of units, one in August and again in October in preparation for the 2010 season.  I will study your book many more times so I can better absorb and utilize all of the excellent information it contains.

 I will be using your techniques, approaches and suggestions from the book.  I have also used the MRS to help in my planning. It is an invaluable and unmatched resource that I highly recommend.  As a new subscriber to The EHJ, I cannot wait for my first issue.  You and your staff offer the hands down best web site, magazine, and TV show that can be found anywhere.  The thing I appreciate and respect the most is the ethical and fair chase approach to hunting.  I do not hunt within high fences!

 

You folks are the “real deal”.  That cannot be found anywhere.  I have very few hunting shows that I record and watch on the weekends.  Yours is my #1 show.

 I see your Antelope book as my workbook and must have study reference.  Your writing style is very easy to read, down to earth, and written in a conversational style.  No hype, just “meat and potatoes”.  That too is hard to find.

 Please extend my appreciation and give a big “atta boy” to Guy, Ike and your entire staff for a job well done with Eastman’s!  Oh yeah Mike, you get a big atta boy too!

 An “atta boy” is the highest compliment I can give.

 Thank you for writing a much need reference book which is “my bible” for hunting the fun to chase Pronghorn.  We all appreciate your efforts and high quality work!

 Take care and keep up the good work.

 Kindest regards,

Paul Sammons

Texas

 

 

 The weather has turned hot and the high country is melting and the creeks and rivers are roaring. Will keep you posted on the bear hunting. Looking for this one bear is like looking for a needle in a haystack. No baiting up here to many grizzlies. Mike Eastman

Grizzly at the House

Apr 19 2009

Last spring the 21^st of March, the grizzlies started to come out and move through our area. One of the biggest was a bruin with a 7-inch wide front pad. I got some photos of him as he moved down the creek away from my house. For about 4 weeks we found tracks of several different bears moving up and down the creek. One was a female with a two-year-old cub, which if you know grizzlies, is not one you want to run into while taking out the trash. Read the rest of this entry »

Antelope Trophy Units

Apr 10 2009

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about trophy antelope areas. There is a misconception promoted by the hunting application people that only a few units in Wyoming can produce trophy quality B&C bucks. This is so far from the truth that I feel I need to expound on the subject a bit. In my newest book Trophy Hunting Antelope a D-I-Y Guide, I write about this fallacy. In fact because of the way buck antelope grow their horns, it takes a good winter, spring and summer to develop a set of horns that make the book. It holds true for any antelope unit out west. The idea that all it takes is drawing the right trophy area isn’t true. For an example, almost every unit in Wyoming, excluding some of the eastern units, will produce book heads. After saying that, however, some states will grow bigger trophy bucks overall then others. I still believe it’s due to several factors like vegetation and severity of winters. The first key to finding a true trophy buck is hunting the same area year after year. First, you need to know the country you’re hunting and then when the stars align just right you will be right there to take advantage of that great year for horn growth. Second, use the information in my book to pick a good unit. Third, implement the tactics and strategies I write bout in my book to find that one-in-a-thousand buck antelope D-I-Y. Read the rest of this entry »