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 »

Rock Springs MDF Dinner

Mar 24 2009

On the 7^th of March I traveled from my mountain hole 380 miles down to Rock Springs Wyoming for the MDF dinner. David Long invited me to accompany him to this annual function. The banquet is the largest of the national MDF fundraisers dinners. The residents of Rock Springs came out 500 plus strong. It was a big event and a good time. I could tell the local committee members spent a lot of time and effort on the banquet. Again “kudos” to Joey Faigl and the local MDF committee for an excellent and well-organized banquet. Looking at the regional MDF banquet events in Wyoming, I count 8 towns having a dinner and auction.

I donated one of my limited edition 20×20 photos of a public land 210-velvet mule deer buck to be action off. The photo wasn’t listed in the program but to my surprise it sold for $1100.00 to the top bidder, Robert Chandler. I had also donated first editions of my three books. Hunting High Country Mule Deer was a first edition and only 2500 copies were ever printed back in the late 90’s. The second book, Hunting Trophy Antelope was also a first edition that I pulled out of my book cache and made sure it was a low number.

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Snowmachine at Home

Mar 16 2009

It’s been snowing for three days and we now have over 12-inches of the new white stuff. Last weekend the whole gang came up and we all headed for the high country on our sleds. It was “the old guy” and 11 young aggressive snowmobile riders from down in the valley. Ike, Guy and his friends, I think, try and see who can get stuck the worst. At one point the guys had to take skis off to get one sled unstuck from the downed timber. Sounds like fun to me!

Me, the old guy, would just wait for the young guys to pull each other out. I would play around in basins full of new fallen snow, while up in the timber these guys were busy getting unstuck. It was a great sledding day with full sun, good snow and great company. The beauty of living up here is I can get on my snow machine right in front of my house and be in sledding country in no time. No trailing sleds over slick snowy roads to a parking lot. Just step out the door and off we go.

This time of year nearly every Sunday, Bertie and I travel from our house on back trails 44 miles round tip on our snow machines to attend church between Cooke City and Silver Gate, Montana. We often see wolves, moose and elk on the way. It’s a nice Sunday morning ride. After church on the way home, we often join several couples for a side trip to play in the snow high up on the mountain peaks.

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Wolves up at the House

Mar 06 2009

I have just come back up to the mountain after spending several days signing the last of my 2500 Limited Edition trophy antelope books. I signed the whole printing over the last two months and at this writing there will be only about 450 left for sell. Because they are all 4-color, numbered and signed, this First Edition will be gone in less then a month. So if you’re interested in getting a copy, I strongly recommend calling the office or go online to eastmans.com and order soon. The second printing will not be all 4-color. Read the rest of this entry »

The Bruin That Got Away

Jun 18 2008

Well folks, the Fat Lady sang on the evening of June 15 – spring bear season is done. The old bruin – that giant of a black bear boar I’ve been telling you about – won the match this time around. Up here you can’t bait black bear because of all the grizzlies – which are off limits to hunting. So when hunting black bear, you are down to spot and stalk.

There’s an old burn above my place that big boar has been calling home. I spent mornings and evenings glassing, but turned up only small blackies and grizzly. The second to the last day the big boy walked down my tracks. I guess he was giving me the old claw in the air.

I measured his paw print; it’s just over 7″ wide. I will pick up the cat and mouse game with him again this fall.

I noticed a sow grizzly with a last year’s cub pulled in just a quarter mile above my house. I’ll bet she makes this her summer home. The cow elk are calved out and the grizzly are taking their share of the young elk. We’ve also had three older grizzly cubs about that apparently were kicked out by mother this spring. They must be two or three years old took and took an elk calf down just below the house. Mother taught them well, so we probably won’t have to worry about them becoming garbage bears.

Now, about those wary wolves! I was going to Cooke Sunday when I came up on a young wolf – last year’s pup – in the middle of the gravel road. He was only a mile from the homestead. He wasn’t spooked at all. He walked up the hill about 150 yards and stood on a rock to watch me. I had no camera with me. I should fire myself for that. Never leave the place without the cameras! I live in one of Wyoming’s designated a trophy wolf areas. Only five permits will be issued for a fall wolf hunt in the area this year. But a lawsuit against the delisting of the wolves has been filed, and everybody’s waiting for the outcome. So, the hunt so it might not happen.

I’ve been working on my new Pronghorn book. I’ve got about two-thirds of it done; just finished a section on how to find watering holes and antelope near them. A section on stalking antelope and the five points to cover before the stalk is also done. There’s also been progress on a section I find particularly interesting – about hunting trophy antelope after the rut. That’s the most effective time to find a trophy buck. The format of the antelope book is going to be along the same lines as my first book, Hunting High Country Mule Deer. That one just came out in paperback a few weeks ago. It’s priced at only $14.95 and I will sign the copy for you.

Well, that catches you up on my news for now. Take care, folks.

Holy Grizzly!

May 28 2008

Holy grizzlies! The old boy, the big grizzly boar that had visited us earlier, came back this evening as it was snowing. He walked through my yard, then turned and headed down the road, crossing the creek. I got photos of him walking past and crossing the creek. The bruin, I think, is looking for some love; mating season is starting, you know.

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An Unexpected Visitor

May 28 2008

Yesterday I went up and broke through to the bear country above the house. Grizzly bears are plentiful in the country around my place, but it’s not yet legal to hunt grizzlies in Wyoming. Even so, I know of at least one huge black bear boar that has also been hanging around up there, and I’d love a chance to hunt him.

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