Colorphase bears in Manitoba at Big Grass Outfitters

colorphase

Jeff Sticks a Trophy

HE said only One!

Well his 4th trip and he gets the Color phase he was wanting 2 years ago.  7pm May 28 with his Hoyt in hand, and Rage Broad heads he nails this trophy while standing in the stand in Manitoba.  Jeff has done the time and has taken good bears while hunting with Big Grass. Hes passed on some took a good bear to then watch a monster come in later.

Does he need any more?

Not likely but once you have harvested one Bear it is like a disease you want to harvest another.  When you are not in the stand and time allows we take time to sit at the Lake of the Prairies to do some fishing..  Here he pulled in a Northern Pike on Johns Rod and even smiled for the picture.

Activity at the baits weas good Old fuzzy butt attended regularly filling his belly on Big Grass Oats and Grease and the tastey beaver bait. We hope he gains lots of weight so someone can see him this fall.

Walleye fishing

Good fishing

smaller black bear

fuzzy butt bear

Colorphase bear

Colorphase Bear

Timothy T ,Ia 5 ft Black Bear

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Tim returns to take a Black with his 45-70 and these Barnes Vor-tx bullets.. the petals rolled back when it went threw both shoulders and stopped just inside skin on other side.. what a cool thing to see with these cannon like shells.

Manitoba black bear baiting

Do you have your fall black bears set yet?  Aug 29 hunters in the woods looking for good big colored bears.IMG_8439IMG_8429IMG_8427IMG_8428

Fresh produce at Big Grass Outfitters

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There is no shortage of veggetables, and wild fruit for to be put away for later. SAskatoons for Crisps for desert after a hunt , Raspberry jam for the toast in the morning or on fresh biscuits, and potatoes to go with Roast turkey or Beef for the hearty meal before bed.

Russell Manitoba the place to be!

IMG_5864IMG_5860IMG_5861IMG_5880Can you believe all these photos? What would we do without our Iphones? 50-60 mph winds blows the flag straight out, then driving along and within 1 mile we went from not snow to 4 inches and in 10 miles 12 inches,, Connies Drive in it the place to be March 31 in gusting winds the customers are lined up for burgers, chicken, fries, and soft ice cream!!  and the last one a cyclest in Manitoba is a Chilly ride with temps dip to 10-25F during the day. then gusting winds but he had the WIND ON  HIS BACK not a bad plan when you have no cab and only peddles for steam.

Manitoba fur bearing animals

IMG_5682IMG_5684IMG_5680At Holmans the other day I had chance to grab a few pics of some beautiful hides hanging in the shop. A wolverine on the left, bear hides ready to be made to rugs, and tanned  coyote pelts tanned ready to be picked up by the hunters.

Taxidermy at Holman”s in Brandon

IMG_5673IMG_5675I visited Scott the other day, he was in the middle of mounting a caribou shoulder mount.  measure horns and hide, Tan the hide, order and prep the form, tan the velvet horns, mount the horns to the form, eyes mounted and then the hide. In total it likely takes a few hours to place and glue and sew the hide onto the form, then setting hide to make sure it looks lifelike,  Total hours likely 25 hours from start to finish atleast.  Someone who takes the time, uses references, and takes pride in their work, plus experience does a great job… Scott has lots of experience and does a good job.. Some people want to skimp on the price of the mount however, you just spend 3-5 thousand on the hunt, $1500 gun and scope, flight, and you want to skimp on the only thing you can actually touch after it is all said and done… I do believe the Taxidermy is very high on the list in the completion of the hunt.

Manitoba Bear hunting

IMG_5677IMG_5676IMG_5672Bear Skulls remove flesh, boil, pressure wash, bleach, score after 90 days, dip to clearcoat, attach to plaque and send to Hunter.. that is a general process of the prep of a Bear skull after it has been harvested. We all know the original skull is not put in mount or rug and a styofoam one is used inplace . Measurements are taken off the original skull or a cast is taken if something unique is wanted to be saved for the mount. Some hunters like a painting done on their skull, or a bear paw print with their pic showing in the paw, and some one it just plain no plaque just hung on the wall. We  had Jeff and Chi from Beijing hunt with us last fall and they requested the bones of the front paw cleaned also as this is a Chinese custom.

Snow Geese hunting in Spring Migration

IMG_5690IMG_5691IMG_5692[1]Tom is travelling across South Dakota and North Dakota the snow geese are layered field to field. Then as he is going along he sees a quad and a fellow pulling a sneek on the big flock of snow geese…  I guess it is everywhere, a quick sneek is always fun if you have some blasting.. the last pic is of a good friend Tim Brown of Waterton had a good shoot last week.

Manitoba Ice fishing season

IMG_5667Time is running out , temperatures are rising and March is slipping away. Forecast states temps to the low 40F by mid week, so we chose to take our shack off before we turned it into a pontoon boat.. lol.. Tom has it set up just to just hook it up, turn jacks, drop wheels  and away we go. over all the water levels of the Lake have dropped over 12 feet by looks of the shore.  We had no problems getting up the ridge and onto road off the lake which was GREAT>  Judy is a little stressed when it is her job to remove the shack..  Sammy and Jazzy got to go for a ride and all were happy…