The Henninger Group 1998 – Hunting the Oregon Wild West
It is Brian Henninger and John Henninger’s first hunt for elk at Earl Smith Ranch. I had been able to line up Brian Henninger to hunt Earl’s place after I mentioned that Brian was a PGA Tour Pro and that he was very trustworthy and spent a lot of time on a ranch growing up. Earl and his wife Ann when they had time would play golf in the old days. Earl has since past away and Ann has move into a Central Oregon town next to a golf course.
Getting on with the hunt that Brian and John had going on at Earl’s Place. Most of this has been relayed to me from Brian of course as I was working the high ground in the unit north of the ranch. I was able to view much of the ground that the two of them hunted. Knowing exactly where Brian and John were hunting made it easy for me to understand the story. They had been hunting the most Northern part of the Grizzly Hunt Unit, near Hastings and Maupin Butte. It’s fairly easy to get into the part of the ranch. On any given day there could be 200 plus elk utilizing the rim rock top of Maupin Butte. Earl really never liked elk being a cattle & wheat rancher. If he had his way all elk would be gone from his ranch. He just hated to feed them all the time on his dime.
Prior to harvesting the two dandy bulls, I remember a story about how the hunt had gone the day before with hunting Earl’s Place. Brian and John could see a large herd making their way to the fence line, surely going to go over or through the fence. There were many branch bulls in the herd. The herd was moving from the Washington Family Ranch which Young Life ran. Young Life allowed hunting to perspective hunters that would donate money to them.
The following is my observation of the happenings. As the herd was moving to the fence to my surprise wranglers on horse pack were in pursuit of the herd. They were able to turn the herd back before going over the fence. A couple of bulls escaped the pursuit by the Ranch Patrol.
Later the next day Brian Henninger and John Henninger spotted about 5 bulls near Maupin Butte. Brian and John could see a real dandy in the group leading the herd.
Brian had the first shot and would catch the bull coming out of the Junipers. Little did he know that the biggest bull pulled up and the 5X5 moved up front? Brian got the 5X5 and John got the big 6X6 bull. About two years later Brian Henninger was able to get the monster bull and John Henninger would take a smaller bull.
I did have a little fun with this picture and had to put it back in history. Hunting Earl’s was like hunting the old west. The fences seem to be a hundred years old!
Brian Henninger – 300 Weatherby MK V
