fly

Thanks for the kind words. Seeing a bear has been on the list for years. Nothing in the Rockies, Smokies, or Tetons. Finally near the end of the trip in Yellowstone we saw bears and a lot of them! We saw 7 in all. look closely and you'll see cubs with the sow. No Grizzly emerged on this trip, but that's okay. The rams were a fantastic finish as we were driving out of the park.

Thanks William. Yes sir Bob, the one and only lake trout I have ever caught. Same for my son. We bakes them with lemon later that evening.

Yellowstone Pictures

Great trip! Pictures from Great Tetons here and Yellowstone in the next thread. I took over a thousand pictures so selecting a few of the best was tough.

I hope to see a Griz! I've never seen one in the wild and this is as close to hunting one as I'll likely ever get. I'll post pictures when I get back - hopefully I'll get a lot of wild life. I'm still bummed we didn't get drawn for black bear Bob.

I remember the days when a one year old was running around. Enjoy it! Welcome back.

My 2 kids and I are headed to GTNP and YNP this Saturday! Going to bike, hike, fish, swim, and live out of my travel trailer for two weeks as we move from campground to campground. Even booked an old time wagon ride cookout complete with a cowboy escort. Any one have any make sure to do events let me know!

I looked into hunting the grizzly bear in interior Alaska and had a plan under way for a year. At the end I had about 2 thousand saved when the guide I was dealing with retired! The entire 2 week trip (10 days hunting) was going to be about 12 thousand + taxidermy costs (another 4 thousand for a full mount). I visited the Alaskan forums and read the bear hunting reports. The success rates for this particular guide were above average but out of the 4 or 5 trips I followed one was not successful. I hear all the hunting shows as the unsuccessful hunters (hunting brown bears) indicate they will be back next year, or that just being there was worth it. NOT ME BROTHER! I cant afford to go twice and I can spend a week camping in Alaska for a fraction of the cost. Anyway, I decided to retire the idea once I found out the guide retired. The thing about Africa is that game is so plentiful that you'll be coming home with something. It's on my radar just like a black bear hunt on Steve's Alaskan island.

Awesome Leo! You are the African King! So surely you have read up on the African plains game. How many species have you harvested and how many do you have left? Do you go to the same place to hunt each time or do you mix it up? While I hear a lot of bad reports about Alaskan guides and services, I have yet to hear anything but positive reports about African outfitter services. What's your take on this?

How did I go this spring up in Alaska?

Overall, I am very happy with it William. I agree that something is a little off with the snout and you may be right about the mold. I don't know enough about taxidermy to make the call. However, I feel the eyes are the most important part of a mount and Ben at Log Home Taxidermy in IL nailed the eyes. I also like the coat and pose. I'm probably going to add some sticks or rocks to the base.

Great news!

I went with a full strut. I think it was about 500 dollars some years ago. I prefer the freeze dry heads over fake ones.

Well, what's the verdict? Paid $550.00 - took 5 months.

Thanks everyone! The good Lord has blessed me with some remarkable creatures as well as the external ability and internal passion to hunt them.

Awesome finds everyone! Sorry it took me so long to get back here. I just woke up! Must have ate the wrong shroom.

I'm bet pleased with my newest addition! Loving having coffee in the morning's siting in this corner!

Found these larger yellows in the same spot this morning before work. Hope they come up next year.

Hope ya get another 24 at least!

I have found a few here and there but only one hillside that they come up on year after year in the hundreds. However, many many people know about them and they key is to get there the day they come out. Three groups were out the same morning with bags filled more than mine. Went again today to get any left overs - didn't find any at all. You can tell they had just came up that morning as some hadn't even straightened out yet.

Morels finally came up yesterday. Just small grey's. Most years the grey's are gone by now and the yellows are up. Sauteed in butter last night. Love em!

safe journey steve!

I was in the market for binoculars a couple years ago and purchased the Zeiss Conquest HD 10x42 on sale for about $800.00. I tried several other brands but honestly couldn't tell a huge difference looking at items in the store with plenty of consistent light. What I recently discovered by accident is that wearing sunglasses while comparing binoculars really intensified the quality differences. I was watching eagles on a sunny day and had my 10X42 bushnell binoculars for my son and my Zeiss 10x42 for me. My son asked to try mine so I let him. An eagle came by and I rushed to grab the Bushnells and forgot to take off my sunglasses. I was shocked at how dark everything was. I then tried the Zeiss (with my sunglasses on) and WOW! Huge difference. Anyway, I don't know if this is a standard thing to do, but it seems it would help compare the performance of glass in low light conditions when you are stuck comparing in a store.

My 11 year old uses the Remington 1100 20 gauge automatic youth model. It came with a full choke and is a great little turkey gun. I bought a deer barrel (smooth bore IC choke) and he uses it for deer also.

One of the best places in the country to chase long beards - welcome!