2009 Hunting Report
2010 New Mexico Mule Deer
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We had 8 Archery hunters with us in New Mexico. Everyday the hunters saw 10-20 bucks. 3 of our hunters had several shot opportunities but failed to harvest a buck. Our other 5 hunters all harvested nice bucks.
Late Season Deer 2009
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Archery Deer: We had 2 late season archery deer clients both filled out on nice Mule deer bucks. Our own Fred Eichler hunted our Whitetail area and shot a beautiful heavy horned 8 pt that will score around 140" P & Y.
Rifle Deer: We had 3 rifle deer hunters for late season rifle deer. All three harvested nice bucks, making our Mule deer hunts 100% this year!!
Late Season Cow Elk 2009
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Our late season cow hunts have started and we have had 10 clients as well as our own Fred and son Jeb. We were 100% on shot opportunities and 10 out of the 12 harvested cows.
Rifle Elk 2009
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First Season we had 7 hunters in camp. All clients saw Bulls and 5 out of the 7 harvested with a big 310 bull being the largest taken. We also had a few guys with bear tags, but with the cold weather, it made bear hunting tough. We saw a few bears, but just couldn't get shots at them.
1st 5 days of Second Season This season was rough for a few reasons. First the weather continued to get hot and the temperatures reached 80 degrees for three of the 5 days. The other reason it was tough was we had three of the 8 clients miss 6 x 6 bulls and 2 other clients both saw bulls, but did not get shots. The good news is that we did kill 2 bulls and 2 deer. In summary we had 8 clients in camp, 7 were elk hunters, 1 was deer only and 1 of our elk hunters also had a deer tag. So on elk we were 2 out of 7 on kills, but 5 out of 7 on shots on bulls and our two hunters with deer tags both shot deer. So we were 100% on deer.
Last 5 days of Second Season we have 3 elk hunters and 1 deer hunter. Despite some rough weather, out of our 3 elk hunters, we killed two bulls and our deer hunter shot a beautiful 28" wide 5 x 5 Mulie.
Third Season... This week we have 9 elk hunters and 1 deer hunter. 1st day started off with a bang with 2 bulls taken the first morning and over 120 elk were seen. We had 2 more bulls taken including one 300+ Bull. Our deer hunter also harvested a great Mule deer buck. Photos coming.
4th Season... This week we had 2 hunters. Todd and Nick from Iowa. Todd harvested a nice bull on the first day of the hunt with a non-typical palmated left main beam. Nick passed on 3 different bulls legal including one really nice 5 x 6.
Rifle Antelope 2009
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We had 4 Rifle Antelope Hunters this year. Our first two antelope hunters both harvested beautiful goats the largest being 16" long. The other 15". Both shot their bucks on the first day of their hunt. Our 3rd hunter Bryan from Florida was guided by Jake and Bryan harvested a B & C Buck that roughs out at 86". He is 17" long and massive. Also, Dale from Kentucky was guided by Fred on his doe tag.
Bear 2009
Bear season. So far we have had 3 bear tags and our oldest son, Jeb, shot his first bear. Our client Clint from Utah, shot a nice chocolate bear and our own Fred Eichler shot a nice cinnamon bear. So far we are 100% on bears and have seen over 17 different bears last week.
Muzzleloader Elk 2009
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This year we had 4 muzzleloader hunters. On the second day one passed on a 120 yard shot and 1 hunter shot a monster 7 x 6 that green scores 354" and another hunter tagged on a nice 6 x 6 bull. The rest of the week was one of the roughest as far as misses as far back as we can remember. One of our remaining Muzzleloader hunters missed a nice 6 x 6 at approximately 100 yards. Our other muzzleloader hunter missed a monster 370 class bull at approximately 80 yards. Although we were 100% on opportunities, this is the first time we have not had 100% harvest on Muzzleloader Elk.
Archery Elk 2009
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First week of archery elk was awesome. We had 4 guided clients and two shot elk the first morning, one 5 x 6 bull and a cow. Our third hunter missed one shot at 23 yards and one at 35 yards on a nice 5 x 5 bull. Our forth hunter passed up multiple shots at cows and 1 shot at a small 4 x 5 bull. We also had 2 non-guided hunters. Both missed shots, one missed a bull and the other missed a cow. So we were 100% on shot opportunities first week on both guided and non-guided hunters!!
Second week of Archery Elk. This week we had 4 clients and our own Fred Eichler hunted as well. Out of 4 clients, 1 missed 3 shots at a nice 6 x 6,one missed a 300 plus bull on video and another missed a good 6 x 6 at 40 yards and the 4th client saw multiple bulls but never had an opportunity. . Our own Fred Eichler shot a young 7 X 6 bull on video and we still have a few days left for our clients. We also had 3 non-guided clients this week. While Fred was showing them around he pointed out a big 6 X 6 raking a tree. At the end of their hunt they had seen elk without having an opportunity for a shot, one client did harvest a turkey and coyote with his bow.
3rd Week of Archery Elk. We had 4 guided clients this week. All had close calls and bulls within 35 yards. 2 clients had no shot opportunities, while one hunter missed 3 shots and the other missed 1 shot, ranging anywhere from 20-40 yards.
4th Week of Archery Elk. This was a week of some great encounters and two nice bulls taken. One great 7 x6 and one nice 6 x 6. All hunters saw numerous elk Our non-guided hunters were into elk everyday and had some super close calls but could never get a shot. On our guided hunters, two of them had several close calls with big bulls anywhere from 12 to 50 yards, but no shot opportunities. One of them passed on a cow elk at 15 yards. Our third guided hunter, Jerry from MN shot a beautiful 6 x 7 bull on his 4th day. Lastly, on the last morning of the season, guided by Luke Robb, our own Michele Eichler shot a beautiful 6 x 6 on video. Sept has certainly been a month of lots of close encounters, lots of misses and some nice bulls taken.
Archery Antelope 2009
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First week of Archery Antelope was awesome out of 7 hunters we harvested 5 Pope and Young Bucks and 2 hunters missed multiple shots at trophy bucks. Our own Fred Eichler also harvested a nice Pope and Young buck bringing our total to 6 Pope and Young bucks in the first 2 days of season!! The weather looks great and we are looking forward to skinning some more antelope. All in all 100% opportunity on trophy bucks made for a great 1st week.
Second week was awesome also. We have 7 hunters in and we harvested 3 Pope and Young bucks the first day with one hunter missing on a nice buck. 2nd day we had 2 more Pope and Young bucks taken and another miss under 25 yards. Day Three we had another miss at 20 yards and on Day 4 we had another smaller buck taken. Making week 2 100% on multiple shot opportunities, 5 Pope and Young bucks taken, 1 Smaller buck and our last hunter missed at 20 yards and passed on a small buck.
Our 3rd week of Antelope hunting was rough. It rained almost everday, out of six hunters we took one Pope and Young Antelope. Two other hunters had bucks in range but it just didn't happen. Our only non-guided client, harvested a Pope and Young buck on his second day. So only two Pope and Young bucks during this 4 days of hunting. Making our total for the season so far, 14 bucks taken, 13 of which make Pope and Young!!
4th week we have 5 clients and even though it rained the first 3 days there were light rain showers. We harvested 3 bucks, one of which makes Pope and Young, we had one missed at 35 yards and 1 small buck was passed. So now we have taken 17 bucks total 14 of which make Pope and Young.
Click here to view 2009 Turkey Success Photos
Nebraska ArcheryTurkey 2009
As always Nebraska Turkey was an amazing success. Out of 16 hunters we harvested 32 Birds with a bow. Another 100% The weather was a little rough, but there were lots of birds and lots of arrows flying. Congratulations to all our Nebraska Turkey Hunters!
ColoradoTurkey 2009
So far we have had 4 hunters. The weather has been just horrible with only a couple of sunny days, the rest included sleet, snow, rain and cold temperatures. However, even with the tough weather, Troy from Kansas harvested a beautiful Merriams gobbler with his shotgun. Outdoor Dan from Iowa shot a beautiful Gobbler for his TV show Outdoor Traditions. Jacob from Denmark had a great opportunity on a huge Gobbler but unfortunately after two shots the bird slip his shot and our last bowhunter had some super close calls and saw lots of birds but no shot opportunities. We now have Scott and his son Derrick here from Texas and the weather has turned nice. We are hoping this will really turn the birds on.