Hunting season is here for real!  We had a good mini-season in May, with varmint hunters and bear hunters.  Our varmint hunters burned up a lot of ammunition and gained the gratitude of several landowners for their exceptional harvest of ground squirrels.  Our bear hunters saw lots of game, in addition to bears.   They didn't find the right color phase or size, so no harvest of bears this spring.  Naturally, we saw several bears during the summer that were big enough and red enough! 

The end of May and again in mid-June, we had very heavy snow.  There was some impact on fawns in some areas.  Fortunately, our wildlife populations are plentiful enough to withstand a one-year drop in fawn survival.  The summer was cool enough, with the early moisture, to give us a great grass crop.

We made several improvements on the lodge during the summer.  You’ll like what you see!  We also planted some pheasants in the spring.  We’re anxious to see how they survived and whether they nested successfully.

All our antelope hunters drew their antelope licenses.  All the cow elk applicants were successful, too.  One of our hunters drew a rifle permit for the Snowies this fall.

Our archery hunters this fall have enjoyed seeing large herds of elk and nice sized groups of both whitetail and mule deer bucks.  Brian passed on a small bull and couldn't make his shot quickly enough on a big bull at about 40 yards.  Steve and Gene had a couple of bulls wreck their best plans, but then Steve killed a nice rack bull with a perfect heart shot at 40 yards just before dark.  They all passed on deer, after exciting and productive elk hunting.

I was thinking we might have lost some of our Hungarian partridge, but as the grain harvest is finishing, we’re seeing more and more coveys.  Most are 10-20 birds.  Sharptails seem to be increasing, as well.  We had hundreds of Sandhill cranes on our lease during the two week season.  The northern ducks and geese aren't here yet.  We have an outstanding local population of geese and ducks working on the corn and grain fields now.

I had a call from Steve Hayne, to tell me that the nice antelope buck he took last fall had officially scored into the Boone and Crockett records.  We hope to harvest some of that buck’s brothers this fall.

Beginning mid-October, we’ll be in hunting camp until the end of November.  We do check our messages, so give us a call and leave us a message about your upcoming hunt plans.  We’ll call you back!  At this time, we have several rifle hunters booking for big game and antelope seasons next fall.  Take a look at our schedule and pick your dates now, to get the ones you want.