A few shots from the trail cam

It definitely looks like the the bulls have pulled into the winter range with the storms that we have been getting lately. Even a few coyotes have been hunting in the area. Hopefully, the bulls will stick around to drop their horns, and we can call the coyotes in for a shot.

Leta Ekker Bartholomew

Leta Ekker Bartholomew passed away from this life on November 20th 2007 after complications from a broken hip and subsequent surguries. Services were held on November 28th 2007 at The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints in Encino, California.
Leta is survived by her sons John Bartholomew of Westminster, Ca, David Bartholomew of Van Nuys, Ca, Gerrit Bartholomew of Santa Clarita, Ca, and her daughter Maren Ruesch (Brian) of Sun City, Ca. Leta was preceded in death by her husband of 44 years, M. Grant Bartholomew, and her son, Harrison F. Bartholomew.

Aunt Leta was one of the greatest people that I ever knew. It was a great time to attend her funeral and spend time with family remembering what a great person she was. She is in a better place and reunited with her eternal companion, Uncle Grant.

A really great tribute to her has been set up and can be seen at the following web address.
Aunt Leta Tribute
We will all miss her dearly.

Thanksgiving

It was our year to stay home and party with Mickey's family. It was a good time. We started off by doing a little hunting. Jens was able to take his first rabbit. He was pretty dang proud, as you can see.















Kendall Helped her mother prepare potatoes to take over to Gram's for the big feast. She is a good little helper for her mother.















Friday Night, me and the Boys went camping with Cole and his boys. It was way cold. We all stayed in a tent. We burnt a ton of firewood. Dayton's cow hunt started on Saturday. He wasn't able to close the deal, but we did see some elk. It was a fun start to a good hunt. He has a month or more, so we didn't want to screw it up, by killing on the first day.

A Little Video of a Fawn Poacher

This is a little footage of the bear that we treed after it poached a fawn. It wanted out of there when Tate and Trent were coming to join us at the tree. It was a fun evening of scouting for Tate's elk hunt, though we didn't see any big bulls.

Worthless Bears!

I wish that we could take care of all the fawn poachers by way of extermination. I have done everything in my power this year. It is tough to increase the deer herd when brand new fawns are being slaughtered as they lay near their mothers. It would be great if the DWR would at least create a harvest objective for bears, similar to the current regs for lions.






My nephew spotted the bear while scouting for elk. We started stalking in to get some video and listened to this fawn screaming while we slipped in. It only took about 30 Seconds from the time the fawn started screaming until it was silenced. Pretty quick work really. I would guess that an adept bear could take quite a few fawns a day, if so desired.

'07 Spring Bear Hunt

I finally killed my bear after a month and a half of hunting. I had a lot of help on this hunt. The major help was from Ricky, Deen and Trent. They were really great and their dogs were awesome. Kasidy, Mason, Triena, Punk, Jace, Chavis, Tate, Lyle, Chai and Danny all gave assistance as well.

Muzzie was my good luck dog, as she single handedly got my lion for me and together with Mattie held this big boar for quite awhile until we could get in to make the kill.

We started rigging and did not strike anything. We started our freecast a little earlier than normal because of the number of other hunters in the area. It didn't take too long until we hit the bear off of a spring and the chase was on. Because of the terrain, we couldn't get good signals on the tracking collars. Once we crossed the entire drainage, we could hear the dogs, and could tell that they were treeing. We started back across the drainage. I was already tired from the first hike.

Ricky and Kasidy went ahead to try and hold the bear in the tree. I was playing catch up with Tate. Before they could get a visual on the bear, he must have winded them, because he jumped. The dogs stayed on him and he went into a den. This was his big mistake.

It still took quite awhile for me to get there. It was in such a hole, that I couldn't hear the dogs until I got right there. The bear was so far back in his hole, that it was hard to get a look at. Ricky, being the crazy guy that he is climbed into the den to get a better look at the bear with a couple of flashlights. He was able to determine that the bear looked like a good boar.

Now that the decision had been made to take the bear, we had to get the dogs away from in front of the den, and then get the bear killed before he could get out. The nature of the den did not allow for us to get out of the way of the bear if he got out. This put a little extra pressure on me. Ricky left the flashlights inside the den to give me a little more light. I did not have the option of open sights and with the light behind the scope and the dark in front, it was pretty hard to tell what I was doing.

As he drug the dogs by their back legs out of the way, I took the shot. I had to just put it aways back from the eyes, toward the neck and shoulder, as I did not want to damage the skull. I hit the bear and he began thrashing around and growling. Then here he came out of the den backwards. I put another behind his shoulder and he would have died with that one, but his head had just came clear and if he had enough to whirl around, he would have been in our lap. I couldn't get him in the scope and since he was only four feet from the end of the barrel anyways, I just pointed and put one more in for insurance.

He was a great boar. I was very pleased. A great trophy to remind me of all the experiences during this hunt.

Lets Go!

I guess it is time to start blogging. If for no other reason to let friends and family know what is going on in my part of the world.