All posts by Frank Biggs

Successful Hunters 2009

Derek’s Gerber Res. Youth Hunt 2009

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I do love it when things come together for father and son hunts.  A couple of months ago I got an email from Derek, that his son had a Gerber Reservoir Youth Tag for Antelope in Oregon for 2009.
I had my old spots when I use to hunt down there and I also touched base with one of my old hunting buddies to verify any additional information on the area that we use to hunt.
Derek and his son would be hunting the last part of the season in the Northern Sector.

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Day’s successful 2009 Gerber Res. Youth Hunt! 

Frank,
“I want to thank you for the waypoints for the Gerber youth hunt.  
We went down Thursday night and had only 3 hours to drive the flat and spot. 
Saw nothing and no sign at all!  I had talked to ODFW and they had not been able to find antelope in the Sycan flat or Klamath marsh area during the fly over.  Talking to some locals on the road they to say they have seen very few lopes in the area.  I told my son that we better take any buck that we can come across. 
Friday morning he went to the waypoint you had sent.  He told me that there was no water hole there but we some sign in the area.  I skirted the edge of the timber along the open flat and finally spotted a herd of 14.  I got my son to re-group with me and he was able to get along the edge of the timber and came out about 75 yards from the herd.  I had not closely spotted the herd as I did not want to spook them.  He picks out the largest buck and dropped it on the third shot.  They had trotted off so he was leading them by 6” on the first 2 shots.  The lope looked ok from a distance but ended up be a juvenile so the horn to ear ratio looked good to my son so he took it.
The area looked like a great area to explore more and maybe hunt again with a bow.  Hopefully the lopes have just moved to the rivers edge or up on Winter Ridge due to the hot weather.  Also all the dry lakes were full, so there is water everywhere.”

Thanks,
Derek Day

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California Bighorn Sheep Pictures – John Day River Oregon Area

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 Oregon – California Bighorns

These pictures were taken on 05-12-09 while on a scouting trip for other animals.  The wind was blowing more than 40 knots, causing many problems of getting good pictures in open territory.   My partner Steve and myself stalked within 40 feet of the 11 Rams in these pictures.  It was a great feeling and the Rams did not get disturbed during the stalk.  We were very low keyed in the stalk and used the wind to keep things down.

These Rams do live on private land, but I am sure whoever draws a tag for the area could work something out.

We also spotted Ewe’s about 9 miles away.

 Bwana Bubba

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BLM Hunting – Without Trespassing

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One of the great things about the Western United States is that there is a great deal of public land.   This would include National Forest, State Forest and B.L.M. lands that we can hunt, fish and do other activities on.   One of the big problems is that there is a great deal of BLM that is Checker Boarded.  checker-board-effect.jpg

A Small number of Sections of BLM in Oregon…

National Forest isn’t quite so bad with this form of land management.In Oregon there are some great blocks of BLM that is almost impossible to use, as it is surrounded by Private Land.   Having study this a great deal, will tell you that thinking you can jump from corner points to corner points isn’t going to work.  No matter how far you can jump or pole vault you will cross the air space.   Wyoming was one of the first states to make it a law that you can not cross this way. One of the largest Ranches in the Madras area that ran great numbers of sheep would stop anyone that hunted near their lands on the National Grasslands.  Knowing where you are at all times helps.  Thank the Government for Global Position System!  With the modern Topo GPS and a paper map along with you, you should never be hunting illegal.You do not want to place yourself in a predicament with even the thought of Trespassing.  If a landowner in the State of Oregon feels that you have Trespassed, by either sight, vehicle parked close to his land, or someone else making comment, you could have an OSP Officer at your door issuing a Trespass Citation.   Even if you weren’t in the area, you may still have to prove that you weren’t and usually hire an attorney.  Some ranchers feel that public grazing lands permitted to them is for their private use.  This is not the case of long term family owned ranchers.  Most of them have no issues with the public hunting and fishing on land that they might have grazing permits on.        I was once told by an OSP Officer that I should find somewhere else to hunt.  I told him most National Forest has grazing permits also, so you suggest that we do not hunt at all correct!  He also said that they allow latitude to the ranchers, that we are not allowed.   Nothing wrong with that at time, the Wild West still lives.The Public land is there for our use under the conditions of the law and usage laws.I have done battle along with many others that I know over this issue while in the field hunting and even scouting.   There are lands that are opening that have public and private within the compass of the area.  If there is a fence, cultivated lands, or signs stating private property, don’t even think about trying, you will lose and if hunting you will come under criminal trespass.There are those areas though that do not have fences and it is quite open as if it all the same property.  You can find this type of open range in the South Eastern part of Oregon, such as in the Steens Mtns.  The BLM is slow to make changes with this land arrangement as I am sure there are many legal issues to tend with.   So with this problem of Checker Board BLM land it allows ranchers to use it all and the public is locked out of it for the most part.You can still hunt the land that does touch public roads and the hunting can be quite good in areas of game and agricultural lands. I have used GPS’s for a long time have had great areas in the John Day River country with every BLM block tagged for my use.   I have found ways to stay off of the private land during my hunts and fishing trips.    I am sure in a lot of cases if you research and find who owns the land in the Checker Board BLM sections that you might just get access from the landowner.   Especially during archery season, as in many cases does not interfere with the rifle season that they might hunt.   

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Axis Deer Hunting – Island of Lanai, Hawaii

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I wanted to put this paragraph from Darrel Colburn SFC MIL USA OSD one of our Active Duty Soldiers.    Even the Army will gave a day or two off to enjoy the family.

Mighty Bwana,
I just returned from my hunt of a lifetime on Lanai and am in the U.S. Army at 19yrs. I was truly humbled by the terrain and even more by the beauty, splendor, Island hospitality and friends that will give me memories that I will never forget. We were a party of 4 and opted for the Paid Lanai land hunt the day prior to the public drawn tag hunt on Saturday 5 April 09. We did really well and walked away with 6 animals total. I struck out on the paid hunt on the 4th, but was patient and on the 5th I made the kill that I will never forget. The rack was not big and was still in velvet, but the body was huge, we figure about 190 to 200 lbs. He took me and my buddy about 2.5hrs to carry out of baby death valley. I thank the locals on Lanai for maintaining their island and their heritage. I hope to make it back next year with my son. Big Mahalo to Mary for housing us and Kimou for the 4X4 truck.

Great story of a great hunt…   Darrel brought back memories of my days on the island of Lanai…

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Oregon Hawaiian Black Corsican

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 Hawiian Black Corsican taken near Ashwood, OR – Little Trout Creek

I was lacking a Hawaiian Black Sheep in my quest for the Grand Slam of Exotic Sheep.

One needed a Mouflon, Corsican (Pure Breed), Texas Dall (Pure White-Long Hair) and the Hawaiian Black in order to have a Grand Slam.

I had already taken a Corsican early on once I found exotics running loose in Oregon.

The Mouflon came a bit later and I took a Texas Dall in Oregon near Ashwood, Oregon.

 

During my hunt for the Texas Dall, I had the opportunity to harvest a Hawaiian Black and larger a Corsican than I already had, but past them up in quest for the Texas Dall.   I do remember that hunt as there were so many rams, I was overwhelmed.   I had concentrated on getting the Texas Dall.

 

Ok!  Getting to the hunt for the Hawaiian Black, I again was going to hunt outside of Ashwood, Oregon.    The sheep had not been in the area for a while, as their range of roaming freely was probably a 20 mile circuit.

 

I knew that when the sheep were in the area, that they would most definitely be located in the draws above Little Trout Creek, I could get in on them easily from above.   Most of the cover would be Juniper, light sagebrush and rimrock.

 

I believe that I had Chuck Megeske with me on this hunt and we headed up good old White Knuckle Road, leading up on top of the plateau.   It is the same area in which Chief Paulina is buried and terrorized the NW in the 1800’s.

 

I was fortunate to be able to find a nice ram running with a couple of other rams.

I do believe that the Hawaiian Black was the most difficult to find while hunting the canyons around Ashwood, Willowdale, Donnybrook, Madras and Clarno.

 

I was able to make a dandy 450 yard shot on the ram with my 257 Weatherby, loaded with a 120gr. Sierra Grand Slam.  

On this hunt, I was the only person to be able to connect on a ram.

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A winter Hawaiian Black taken by LT.

Successful Hunters Previous

Coriscan Sheep – Oregon Hunt

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Dave’s Coriscan Sheep Killed in the Trout Creek area of Ore.

 

Some stories are supposed to be a bit funny at someone else’s expense.

Such is this story about an old hunting buddy Dave Brill from Sandy Oregon.

Dave and I have in the past hunted many days together with success for archery deer in Oregon.

On this hunt Dave wanted to harvest a Corsican sheep in Oregon.   At one time there were a great number of free ranging Corsican, Mouflon and Aoudad sheep running around the hills of Central Oregon.

So many years ago, as I might have stated before they were turned loose on a number of ranches in Oregon by Harry Hegardt.  He had made deals with ranchers for the right to hunt the exotics on their ranches with paying hunters.

 

Enough of the history of how the sheep got here!

 

Dave wanted a sheep pretty bad, so I told him I would take him on a sheep hunt in the rim rocks near Ashwood and Gateway.   I figured it would be pretty easy to get him into a sheep or two on this hunt.

 

To cover a vast amount of ground and get to the high spots and glass for sheep, we decided to use motorcycles to cover the ground and they would work great on rough dirt and heavy rocked roads.

 

After scouting for about 2 hours we spotted some sheep down on a flat near Trout Creek.

The hunt was on and it wasn’t long before Dave stalked the sheep down in the junipers and sage brush.   We had just observed the small group of sheep forging the flooding waters of Trout Creek while putting on the stalk.  Dave stalked within about 100 yards of the sheep and made his one shot kill on the ram.  Dave shot a damn nice ram for a free ranging Corsican.   In all the years of hunting Corsican’s and Aoudad’s, I have yet to see any water or barbwire fence stop them.

  Now this is where the story gets good and a bit funny.   Dave decided that he would cross Trout Creek at a different spot then the usual safe spot even during the high water.  Well the crossing was not the best and even with a big 500 Honda, Dave did not make the crossing.  The bike, rifle, pack-frame and Dave both went down in the fast and deep moving water.  He did make it halfway across before the high water faltered his engine.  I could see Dave and the bike going down the river, I quickly ran down the river bank and managed to throw a rope line onto the bike.  As for Dave, he and his rifle made it to the shore on their own. 

Well it took about two (2) hours to get Dave’s Honda running again with me dragging it all around and after putting fresh oil into the crankcase.

As you can see from the pictures Dave was able to get bike and sheep back to the truck.

Successful Hunters 2008

2008 Grizzly Unit Deer Hunt – Story

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I would like to say that this is a success story, but it could have been for a few guys.

I have always said one should listen and learn about hunting and gain knowledge.

I had a fellow sales person draw a Grizzly Unit Deer tag for 2008 and when I heard that he and his couple of buddies had done the same, I told him that I would help dial him and his buddies into an area that I have hunted a great number of times.  I also had all the BLM Coordinates, fence lines, past kill spots on large maps and loaded on Garmin GPS’s.

I told him I would share it all just to see how the hunt would go for them in the area, since the BLM has closed it off to quads.  I had given TJ the maps and also had him get some other paper maps.  

TJ left the company and I just heard from him on October 24th after I called TJ on his cell.

 This is how the hunt when for TJ & Buddies:

The guys decided that on opening day they would hunt the area around Gateway, just north of Madras between Hwy 26 and Hwy 97.  They had heard that there might be some good hunting down there.  Well that didn’t turn out very well, a lot of private land.  That area has been greatly overgrazed, which I have known for a long time of scouting and my Ranch Forman buddy Ben who has worked on one of those ranches in the area.

The second day hunting off of my directions and the maps, the guys were parked along Hwy 218 waiting until day light to venture into the unknown sage, rimrock, draws and Junipers.   As they sat in the truck waiting for light, another hunter stopped by and told them they were wasting their time hunting the spot they were glassing at first light.   “Three big bucks were killed in that drainage yesterday at first light”.  

The hunter also told them “I have killed a good buck every year in this area”  The hunter then parked at the spot along the road to drop down to the old quad trails leading up into the canyons.   They had waited to long to move out of the truck and head into the draw leading up to the ridge.   By the time they got oranized one of TJ’s partners saw the guy kill a dandy 4X4 buck.

As the day wore on as TJ told me, one of his partners up near a spring and had a good buck in his sights for more than 10 minutes.   He thought that the buck was to far and watch the buck just mill around.   I know the spot well, as I myself and other partners used it as landmark while using Quads in the days of past to get out late in the evenings.

Anyway the buck moved on and over the hill, he followed the bucks but could not get any closer.  As TJ tells me of the story, the walked off the distance.   The buck had stood there for some 10 minutes feeding at 150 yards.

This is a great opening day spot and end of the season spot.   Many deer get moved off the private ranches into the BLM.

frank