 Elk and Mule Deer Hunting Journal
2011 Hunting Journal Looking back on th 2011 season, I would have to say it was about as much fun as a person can have at work! The more years we hunt this area, the more inpressive places we find, and the more we learn about the animals in their habitat. This translates to a lot of great action for the hunters. We had two hunters take bulls that scored over 350" B.C., and another two bulls that score over 300" B.C.. One of the nicer bulls was taken in the archery season by a hunter from Oklahoma. We had spotted the bull early one evening from a high point. It was evident he was a BIG heard bull with cows. Our stratage was to get in close and bugle as if he was being threatend by a smaller bull. We got within 30 yards of him in heavy timber, and when I used the bugle the bull cut me off with a return bugle before I could even finish. It was so loud that we had to check if our hats were still on our heads. It took another ten minutes of me bugling and the bull cutting me off, before the bull decided the he was going to put the hurt on this unwanted intruder. The bull came in, plowing through small timber so thick that all the hunter, Jeff, could see was a frontal view of the chest and two 14" brow tines. The shot was good and the hunter, Jeff, was able to take home a knarly set of Montana bull elk antlers. The 2011 rifle season was awesome, barely a day went by that we weren't seeing shootable bulls. The third week of the season brought three hunters from Wisconson, a father son team, Don and Cody, and their friend, Steve. Don and Cody, with Jeff as their guide, got on a big heard the second day of the hunt. Two bulls were grazing at 200 yards with about 80 elk surrounding them, both shot and two bulls fell, only one bull was just pretending and got back up and ran off with the heard. The next day, Steve harvested the biggest bull of the season. We guessed the score around 370"  The last week of the season, Thanksgiving week, we had a family from Minnesota. John, Nora, and their 17 year old son, Brett. John bought our hunt that we donated to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet in Plymouth, MN and decided to bring his family along. By the time we ate the turkey, Thanksgiving evening, they had filled their tags and were done hunting. In all we had 17 rifle hunters and harvested 11 elk. God blessed this season greatly and we at Beaver Creek Outfitting are 'anxiously waiting next season. 2010 Hunting Journal Full of twist and turns, the 2010 season will not soon be forgotten. The season was full of excitement from the first morning of ar chery season to the last days' sleigh ride ,in the pick-up, on the way home. The first hunters we had were a couple from Iowa. They had bought the hunt to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. By the end of the hunt, Shana had brought in a beautiful 6x6 bull, just a few inches shy of Pope & Young. A wonderful article describing the hunt and the camp was written and published in the January 2011 edition of an Iowa Sportmans' magazine. http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/9deb8b7c#/9deb8b7c/11 Another of the archery highlights included a huge 7x7 bull circling at 50 yards, in the open. The hunter, Keith, was caught in the open and was unable to draw his bow without being seen. Beaver Creek Outfitting also had the pleasure of taking Andy Ross, from Maximum Archery, hunting for a big bull and a good show for television. We were able to get him close enough for a shot, but there are no guarantees in bow hunting. Andy ended up going home without the big elk or the makings for a show. Hopefully he will have better luck when he, and his camera man Mike, come back in 2011. Returning from Texas, a pair of our repeat hunters, Ed and Tracy along with a guest of theirs' from Michigan, were with us for our first week of rifle season. All three men were successful at taking bulls and Ed also harvested a cow with the B tag cow license he drew. Tracy had taken a 4x5 bull in 2009 and wanted at least a 6x6 this year. Throughout the week, Tracy passed up smaller bulls in hopes of getting the monster he wanted. On the last day, a big growling bull showed himself and Tracy took him down with a beautiful shot. Second week of the season proved successful as well. Kurt and Mary, from Minnesota, were back, and Kurt was going to set the records straight. The year before, Mary shot a good bull, but this time Kurt was determined to be the one taking home the prize. Kurt dumped a modest 5x6 bull on the run with an amazing shot, through thick timber, at 75 yards. Kurt and Mary plan on returning in 2011 to try their hands at bow hunting. We are excited for their return. Week three was full of action with a group from Minnesota and two from Florida. Terry, from Minnesota, took a 5x5 bull and John brought in a great mule deer buck, on the same day. The next week we saw plenty of bulls, most of which by glassing the hills from our horse corrals. The hunters got some shots off, but were unable to connect. The 5th week Central Montana was hit with a freak arctic storm and we struggled to even get out of the tents. The beginning of the week the temperature had dropped to 15 below zero with a freezing wind that would chill a person to the bone. The weather improved, however, and on Thanksgiving Day the hunters were able to bag 3 elk and a mule deer. The first week of December, we packed up camp and flew it out with great weather. We would like to express our thanks to all of our hunters for the 2010 season and special thanks to the one who is the author of all things created. 2009 Hunting Journal A great success this year was had, starting with the spring bear hunt when we took two hunters from Texas, Ed and Tracy. We hunted the last week in may and broke through the snow banks to get camp set up before the hunt. What an amazing time of the year to be in the wilderness, watching new life appear as the snow dissappears. Elk were everywhere, grazing on the young grasses. I believe we saw over a thousand head of elk over the course of the week. In Montana, bear hunting is fair chase only, the use of dogs or baiting is prohibited. So the way we hunt is to horseback through and look at as much country as possible. At this time of year, bears also feed on the new grasses and sloots. Making them fairly easy to find in a sucluded wilderness environment. This was the first outfitted bear hunt in our area since 1988. Both Ed and Tracy were successful. Ed took a beautiful chocolate, and Tracy took a big solid black boar bear.    We had the oppurtunity to take archery hunters in September and had a blast chasing some of the largest bulls I've ever seen in the Lewis and Clark forest. The Campfire Productions owner, Andy Weichers, and camera man, Nick Hopp, came out and filmed a week of archery hunting. the hunt will be aired on Television starting in Jan. 2010 on the Fox Sports Channel.
The first week of the rifle season was awesome with a midweek snow storm and colder weather, it made for an excelent hunt. One morning we got on a group of eighteen elk and they were all BULLS!! "What a sight!" The returning bear hunters, Ed and Tracy, added to their years success as Tracy shot a 4x5 bull and Ed took a nice mule deer buck. The third week brought a couple form Minnesota, Kurt and Mary. Mary shot the biggest bull taken in our 2009 season. They were hunting together along with hunting guide, Jeff Perry. While riding horse back into a remote creek drainage they rode acrossed a burned off bench and saw the big bull. The three got off and tied up the horses. Jeff and Kurt were a bit shaken by the excitment of the moment, but Mary, was cool as a cucumber and downed the bull with one shot at 340 yards. Who said, "men make better hunters,"? Its a great blessing to be in this buisness and be able to meet and get to know people like the ones we had this year in Gods Amazing Creation. Thanks, Paul Ritchey and family. 2008 Hunting JournalThe best way to explain the kind of season we had this year , is to just say we were just truly blessed. Although we didn’t harvest as many elk as we generally do, we saw more elk in the area this year, and had more opportunities than we have had in the past. We also were seeing better quality bulls than we have seen before. I would say that the majority of the bulls we saw this year were over the 300 inch range, indicating that the herds are healthy and vibrant in this area. I can honestly say that out of all the hunters we had, no one left feeling dissatisfied. It was common to hear “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” We met some wonderful people and I can’t wait to go hunting with them again! It seems a journal need a good success story, when the hunter gets the big bull in the end, but this year I’m going to write about a day when the elk won. It was the 4th week of the season and we had 4 hunters in camp. There is a patch of green timber on the back side of the mountain from camp which is surrounded by the burn. There is over 100 acres of old growth timber and small new growth which always holds elk. The problem is getting them out. We devised a plan to set the four hunters we had at the upper end, then the guides would split up and walk through driving the elk from their hiding place. Guides, Dave and Joe took two hunters around the lower part and I took two hunters above on the ridge. Dave and Joe split up in the drainage in order to set the hunters up in strategic locations. While Joe was taking his hunter to a vantage point, they spotted three bulls across the drainage in the new growth timber. The bulls were less than 300 yards away, standing broadside. The problem was, the hunter Joe had with him had opted to apply for a cow permit , and couldn’t shoot the bull! Joe hurried and caught up with Dave and his hunter who did have a bull tag, leaving his hunter (pondering his decision to apply for a cow tag) to watch as the elk slowly grazed through the short green timber. When Dave and his hunter got back to were they’d left the first hunter, the bulls where well over 400 yards and out of position for a well placed shot. The hunters watched as the bulls slowly disappeared into the thick green timber, but they got a good look at the horn size of the three bulls. One was easily over 300+ inches. The other two were rag horns, with one being a 5X5. They decided to get back into the original positions and continue the drive. I placed my two hunters and met with Joe and Dave and began walking through the timber. Before long we heard crashing through the small trees in front of us knowing that the bulls where on the move. I was above Dave as we walked into the dense old growth timber toward towards the end of the drive. I saw several cows head out of the green and into the burn directly toward where I had placed a hunter. They passed within 25 yards of him. All of a sudden, I heard Dave give out a yell and there at the edge of the timber, several steps from walking out to where one of my hunters could get a shot, was the big 6X6 bull. The bull was determined not to leave the green timber. Dave, armed with only a stick and some almost “off colored words” was trying to cut off the bull from turning around and heading back into the thicker timber. The only thing was, he was chasing the bull right towards me! I waved my arms and yelled. The bull lowered his horns in a threatening manner and I got the message. Get out of the way! The bull passed me by at about ten yards, went over the ridge, and was gone. Dave’s hunter, who was below us had the other two bulls pass by him, but he let them go knowing that the bigger bull would soon appear.
(Final count: Elk 3, Hunters 0) But what a fantastic day!! This year, Samuel from Virginia shot the largest mule deer buck (a nice 24" 4 point), and Pat McGuire got the biggest bull, making his record 50% on bulls harvested since he has been hunting with us for the last 8 years. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2007 Hunting JournalThree bull elk were harvested during the first week. Twin brothers from Maine hunted hard and went home with a bull apiece. One of which was a very nice 5 x 5 bull. Paul and Jerimi were able to guide Larry Bishop from Florida to within 200 yards of a magnificent 7 point bull on Wednesday evening. They started their day with a 2 hour horseback ride to a remote ridge top. As the shadows lengthened, they spotted a dozen head of elk coming out of some green timber. The elk crossed a ridge top and began feeding in an open lush meadow. The last two elk to come into the meadow were bulls. Although half a mile separated the men and elk, Larry and the guides realized that one of the bulls was significantly larger than the other. The elk were grazing and moving at a quick pace, so Paul and Jerimi took Larry on a high hurdle race through the dead fall trees on the ridge opposite the elk. Paul and Jerimi were able to quickly cut the distance between them and the elk. This maneuver put Larry into a shooting position directing above the elk. Jerimi helped Larry locate the bigger of the two bulls in the group. With a very nicely placed shot, Larry downed the big 7 point bull. Larry Bishop also harvested a nice no typical muley buck. We saw several mule deer bucks with antlers spreads over 30 inches wide. A couple of missed shots and being in the right spot at the wrong time gave these monsters an opportunity to just get bigger. Maybe next year we’ll get a shot at the trophies that have developed as a result of the big buck genetics in the Lost Fork drainage. On the fifth week of the hunting season, all the hunters were successful at taking elk. We almost had the group of hunters tag out that week but we needed to harvest one more deer. Robert Yeager from Michigan took a heavy 24 inch antlered muley that week, the largest harvested that season. Thanks to everyone who came hunting with us this year. It was a pleasure having you. Eagerly waiting for next year, Paul Ritchey Contact us at: Paul Ritchey, 606 E Montana St., Lewistown, MT 59457
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