Hunts in Manitoba with Lea Meadow Outfitters

HUNTS WITH LEA MEADOW OUTFITTERS - Our fall moose hunt this year was great with a lot of quick starts when it came to hunter success. The weather was generally decent with a skiff of snow in the first week but no significant rainfalls. We had a few windy days that affected calling and made things interesting on the water but over all it wasn't that bad. Two hunters, Larry Driver from FL. and Kevin Haseltine from MN. came in with myself and the guides on set up to the main camp and their help in setting up camp was greatly appreciated.

Once main camp was set up we loaded up the boats and headed to the down river camp to set it up as both hunters were going to hunt from this camp with guides Bryan Minnis & Bob Hyshka. Camp set up took most of the day and I cut wood while the boys set up. I left the camp around 5:30 PM while the guides were putting the finishing touches on the camp. The two hunters were just going to go for a walk along the shoreline while the guides worked on the camp. Needless to say I was quite surprised when they radioed me later at main camp at 9 PM saying that both hunters had shot their moose. Both hunters had walked north from the camp along the shore line and Larry had decided to sit and watch the island which is across from the down river camp while Kevin continued walking north bound. In a very short time Larry saw a nice bull step out of the bush and start swimming towards him. The bull kept swimming towards Larry until he realized that something wasn't just right and immediately swam back the direction he had just come from. When the bull got back to the other shore Larry fired knocking the bull down. With the shot Bryan and Bob got in the boat and went to Larry's location. While they were talking to Larry, Kevin came running down the shore line and indicated that he had been watching another bull feeding in the channel behind the island just off its north point. Everybody jumped in the boat and motored to the north point of the island where they cut the motor and drifted around the point and found Kevin's moose standing in the water. A short time later it was all done for both hunters. Another 2 hunters that were off to a quick start were Sam & Drew Switzer of MO. This father/son duo opted for a two on one hunt with guide Scott Smith out of our Broken Horn camp. Within the first 45 minutes of the hunt Sam had knocked down a nice bull not far from camp. They had the bull processed and back in camp in enough time for an evening hunt that same day. Drew did not get a shot that day but before it had ended they had seen another good bull and two cows. It appeared that it would only be a short time before Drew would get his chance at a bull. However that took some time and hard hunting before Drew got his chance. Six days later he anchored a 50" bull which was a fitting end to this father/son hunt. Our 2nd week also started off with a bang with lots of sightings and bulls going down quickly. Wayne Ives and Marty Athy of IL. hunted from our down river camp with guides Bryan Minnis and Bob Hyshka. They left main camp at mid morning to go down to their camp and when they arrived the action was fast and furious with several good bulls being sighted.

Marty had not been feeling well and had laid down as soon as he had arrived but it wasn't long before the boys had him up in his camp shoes orange vest and hat and into the boat as there was bulls swimming in the water, on the island across from camp, and on the shore line across from camp. Marty settled on a 50 inch plus bull on the opposite shore making a great shot that dropped the bull within a few feet of the water's edge making for an easy pack job. All of this was captured on video. Later that evening Wayne & Bob had been set up calling when they called in a bull just under 40 inches. Wayne decided to pass on this bull but they took lots of good video as it appeared that this poor love struck bull was thinking about mounting the decoy that Bob had set up as it came to within a few feet of the decoy. This bull was the 5th bull that the hunters had seen on their first day of hunting. The other 4 bulls had all been within sight of camp with the 50 inch plus bull being taken. Not a bad start for the first day. On the evening of the 3rd day of the hunt Bob & Wayne spotted a large bull with 4 cows but it was too late in the day to try a stalk on him. They were back in the area at first light the next day and began a long stalk into where they had last seen the bull and cows. They thought it was all over when a cow spotted them just a short distance away from her, but for what ever reason she didn't spook. A little later they spotted the big bulls rack in the willows and had to be patient until he presented them with a shot. The bull still had 3 cows with him and all the extra eyes & noses made it more difficult to wait undetected until the bull gave an opportunity for a descent shot. But with patience and lady luck on their side they did get their shot(s) and the big bull went down to stay. This bull was a Boone & Crocket contender with a 55 inch spread, wide palms, good fronts and long points. This was the largest rack of all the bulls that were taken in 2010. We had two other hunters, Tim Renze & Ron Bernholtz from IA, join us for the 2nd week and they too started off quickly with Tim and guide Ed Beamish taking a 45 inch bull in behind main camp in the first couple of hours of hunting. Ron & guide Russ Dickieson hunted out of the up river camp. For those of you that had hunted with us before, Russ is Jim's son, with both of them having guided for me in the past. Jim couldn't make it up this year as he had two knee replacements and work done on his shoulder. He assures me however that he will be back guiding next year as soon as he gets his new equipment broke in.

It was on the 3rd day that Ron and Russ took their bull. They had spotted a bull and cow just a short distance up the river from camp. With a couple of calls the bull presented himself for a good opportunity for a shot & Ron quickly closed the deal killing a real nice bull in the upper 40's. However the excitement of the hunt was long from being over. The bull wasn't that far off of the water and they returned to camp for the chain saw and other equipment. They came back and cleaned out some of the brush to take pictures & after a short photo session they began processing the bull. While they were working away they heard a "grunt/growl" noise and looked up and saw a 40 inch bull walking towards them at about 40 yards, rocking his horns back and forth. Russ could tell that the bull had a weird look in his eyes and he hollered at him telling him to leave. The bull paid no attention to any direction he was receiving and at about 25 yards he dropped his head and charged on the run at Ron & Russ who were behind the downed bull. Ron grabbed his rifle and fired a shot in the air which stopped the bull a few feet from them. They backed off from the carcass and the aggressive live bull milled around for a while until it eventually melted back into the bush. Thinking he was gone the boys got back to working on the downed bull. About a half hour later the same aggressive bull shows back up. This time he comes along the shoreline and not directly to the carcass and decides to bed between the boat and the downed moose. The moose laid there while the boys finished processing the meat and getting back to the boat. Russ decided to agitate and play with the bull a bit more by rubbing a paddle on the tree which got the bull up right away and looking to kick whoever's butt that was challenging him. Russ & Ron were able to get back into the boat without incident while the bull walked up and down the shoreline. The only way that they could get him to leave was by driving the boat right at him and even then he was in no hurry to leave. With most of the hunters finished early on moose several good moose were spotted after the tags were filled and indications are that there are some real good bulls left for next year. There were few sightings of bear and wolf and none were taken even though I was really hoping they would find the bear that ripped off one of our cabin doors and destroyed a cabin bunk. The fishing was not as good as last year but right in front of main camp was still the hot spot for walleye and northern. The water was high this year and fishing at the rapids in front of the up river camp was not great with only a few northerns being caught. In 2010 we had 8 moose hunters who shot 8 bulls, one of which was not recovered. These 8 hunters had a total of 55 moose sightings with 28 of these sightings being bulls with only two of them being spike bulls.

Three bulls that were harvested were in the 50 inch plus class with one bull in the low 40's and the remainder in the mid to upper 40's. Several good bulls over 50 inches were spotted but not harvested as well as some other bulls with lots of future potential. To view the bulls taken refer to our website at www.huntsinmanitoba.com and go into the moose pictorial section. Waterfowl Hunting With Lea Meadow This past year was one of the best waterfowl seasons that this area has seen in quite a few years. It had been a very wet summer and fall and as a result there was quite a bit of crop that couldn't be taken or was taken off very late. With lots of feed and no shortage of water holes in the fields it was a bird hunting paradise. There was lots of local ducks right from the start and they stayed here all fall and are still here as I am writing this newsletter. The Canada geese were the same with great numbers around through out the entire season. Snow geese however did not show up until later in the season with a fairly good flight of birds. Good fields were abundant and any local hunters were shot out and finished early in the season. There were fields with literally thousands of birds in them that did not get hunted and that was more common place as the season went on. I was at my brother's place in early November and a 120 acre corn field across from him was literally covered with "snows" big "Canada's" and mallards with nobody hunting them. We had only a few hunters join us on semi guided hunts where we lined up their fields and they stayed with us. But for you wanting to go this route this can be a great way to keep the hunt cost down and allow you to do your own set ups. We still have connections as well to offer fully guided hunts so if you are thinking of a waterfowl hunt for next year?? keep us in mind. Deer Hunting With Lea Meadow The general theme throughout this newsletter was that we had a terrific season this year in regards to our hunts and this held true until we started with the first week of our archery deer hunts this year. Although the wet fall was good for the birds with lots of water and crops not completely harvested, it made for poor hunting conditions for our first bow hunters in mid October. With the warm weather everything was green and there was an abundance of food out there for the deer and as a result they were very wide spread. In addition to that there was also an abundance of coyotes in the areas we were hunting as well as lots of water which changed the deer patterns and locations. There was so much water that I was forced to use my "Argo" to get to my hunting cabin, and in a couple of places the machine was floating.

I did have some good trail camera pictures of bucks that were in the area and a good field scouted out where there were a couple of real good bucks that were feeding on some standing crop that was left in the field. So when my two Michigan bow hunters came in mid October I felt positive about getting them into some good deer. However this was not to be the case as the farmer where the standing crop had been had gone into the field just a couple of days into the hunt and swathed the field moving the deer out and in the other areas we were just not able to connect with the bucks on my trail cameras. Also the hunters could only spent 4 days out of their scheduled 6 day hunt with us and as a result of all of the above they saw only a handful of does and calves. Now for those that have hunted deer with us before in mid October you know this is not normal for this time of the year as many of you have seen 50 or 60 deer while on stand during a 6 day hunt. We have had good success at this time of the year and all hunters have had a chance at a buck but with the way things were this year this was not the case. Our 2nd group of bow hunters came during the first week of November and although it was still wet, there were some killing frosts which dried up a lot of food sources and as well the bucks were in the pre rut mode with lots of scrape activity. Our 2 hunters, Jasper Thayer & "Chip" Cardinal, from NH, were with us last year and had both taken bucks home with them & had tagged out early. This year the total number of deer they had seen was down from last year but they still had good buck activity. Both hunters each had a chance at two smaller bucks which they passed on as well as a large 4 point with a broken G3 that both hunters had seen in bow range. It was not until the 5th day of the hunt however before one of them closed the deal on a buck. I had convinced the boys to sleep in this morning and try hunting midday as it has been my experience that when bucks are on the move in pre ruts you will see more deer between 11 AM & 3 PM. So on this day we got the hunters into the stand around 10:30 AM. They were hunting on the large tract of land by my hunting cabin and after only about 45 minutes on stand Jasper saw a large buck passing by his stand some 40 or so yards out with no shot. Jasper picked up his rattling horns and "clacked" them together lightly which turned the buck around and had him coming in his direction. With one soft grunt Japer brought the buck to within 15 yards and sent an arrow though his chest. The deer only went about 50 yards and piled up. Jasper had a beautiful 6 X 7 buck with an 18