Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Season Recap


Hey everyone as you know by my weekly blog posts over the last couple months the Mountain Man Adventure team had an amazing season.
We were able to have great fishing all summer then during hunting season we got everything from 200 inch plus bull moose to a 188 and 1/4 inch Bighorn Ram and everything in between. With our great team of Pro-Staffers and connections from all over the world we had access to some amazing trophies with a wide range of diversity.
The best part of all of this is we got a ton of great footage and stories to share with you that we can relive over and over. I am very proud of my great team and would really like to introduce them to you with this years teaser I put together over the holidays. Here is the youtube link, check it out and you can get an idea of the kind of adventures we went on and the kind of team we have put together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSub2g8WBSQ

I hope everyone has an amazing 2011 and is as excited as me to get back out there. Watch for our newest DVD "Modern Day Mountain Man" in the spring of 2011 aswell as a bit of our content on the outdoor quest on wild tv.
Thanks, Tom Sallows, Mountain Man Adventures

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Another Successful Rut Moose Hunt

After an Amazing Week 1 of guiding during the Moose rut I had 2 new hunters for the next week. This would be another 8 day hunt with clients Pat and Dan.
Once meeting Dan and Pat we got them settled in their cabin and headed out. The first night was fairly uneventful with no moose sightings or responses we headed back to camp to rest up for the next morning and a long day of hunting.
The next day was perfect, it was fairly cool and calm and the 3 of us were all pumped to get out and find some swamp donkeys.
There must have been something in the air that day because before 10am Dan had a great old bull down. The bull was an ancient monarch with a 56 inch spread.

The best part of this morning hunt was that we were able to have the moose caped, skinned and loaded up in the truck before 2 in the afternoon so we didn't even have to miss the evening hunt.
Now it was time for Dan to be the trigger man. We found a great area overlooking an old clear cut that went through a huge valley in to a creek bottom. I was sure the area held atleast one mature bull so the plan was to sit and call for the last few hours of light and see if we could get anything going.
I called and called and called and nothing for 2 hours, even though it tested all of our patience we stuck true to the plan and kept at it. Finally with only an hour or so left of legal shooting light a bull responded for the creek bottom below. After hearing the bull respond a few more times I knew the bull was hot and would come in so we repositioned slightly to ensure the wind was good. I continued to call. I worked this bull for about 30 minutes before we got our first look at him, as soon as we seen the big antlers coming through the willows we all agreed he was a shooter. While I ran the camera Dan let the bull step fully in to the open turn broadside. As soon as the bulls vitals were in the wide open Dan dropped the big Bull in his tracks at 75 yards. Day 2 of the hunt and it was over with 2 awesome bulls, it was quite a day. Dan's bull was huge with a spread of over 57 inches.

It was an amazing moose hunting season and I only hope next season can be nearly as successful as 2010 was.
Watch for these hunts and many more of our adventures on our DVD line or check us out on facebook on the group "Lets Go Hunting Or Fishing With Mountain Man Adventures" or on our website www.mountainmanadventures.com.
Thanks, Tom Sallows.

Back at it


With hunting season winding down and a few 2011 episodes already edited, we've had a bit of time to work on the kitchen. We hope to have everything but the floor done by Christmas. Here's a pic of our latest adventure in home renos...the tin backsplash.


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Guided Monster Moose 2


After caping, quartering and packing Luis's huge Booner out (which took most of the night) it was Bruce's turn. The next day went by without much happening, we seen a few cows and small bulls but it was fairly uneventful.
Bruce wanted to hunt hard after seeing his good friend take such a great trophy so hunt hard is what we did. We stayed out all day on both days 3 and 4 walking, calling, and setting up hoping to cross paths with another brute.
We thought day 3 was uneventful but day 4 was worse. Even though we hunted really hard and covered a ton of country, we never even so much as heard a response for most of the day. After not getting a response and now running out of day light I decided we should start heading back to the quad, we would slowly hunt our way back as not much was happening where we were set up. I have to admit with only about 30 minutes of legal shooting time left we had both written day 4 off and were already thinking about where to go for day 5 but those thoughts were put to an abrupt end.
We were walking on an old pipeline when we came around the corner and about 100 yards ahead of us there was 3 moose. A cow on the north edge of the line and dead center was another cow with a bull mounted on her. This was perfect as there was no way the bull was going to notice us, he had more important things on his mind. We quickly closed the distance and got a good rest for Bruce, now at 75 yards I didn't even have to tell Bruce it was a shooter, the bull was huge. We patiently waited until the giant got down off his girl and offered a perfect broadside shot well clear of the cow. Bruce made the easy shot perfectly and we watched the big bull stagger slightly and fall. I almost couldn't believe I was walking up to another Boone and Crockett Bull in less than a week. Bruce was ecstatic and Luis was even more ecstatic for his good friend when we returned to camp late that night.



I was very proud to have guided for both of these awesome bulls, both Luis and Bruce were great clients and deserved their trophies in every way. Luis's scored a gross of 205 inches and Bruce's grossed 195 and change. Luis's bull won largest guided rifle moose in Alberta this season.

I still had another 2 hunters to guide the next week so check out this blog next week to see how we made out on that hunt.
To see more pictures of these and more great trophies and to follow Mountain Man Adventures join us on facebook on the group "Lets Go Hunting or Fishing with Mountain Man Adventures" you can also watch for our adventures on our DVD line or check us out on our website www.mountainmanadventures.com or on youtube.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

A great end to a great season

Well Hunting season is officially over for most people. I am lucky enough to still have atleast one more hunt to tag along on and run the video camera but my guiding season ended with success. I was able to guide my last 2010 hunter to a nice Bull moose during the last week of November. This hunt was mostly driving around glassing clear cuts looking for a good bull to put a stalk on. My client George put this beauty down on a cold evening that was -35 with the wind, it was freezing but a great hunt.



On my last post I ended with the story on how I got my Moose and had to rush to the guiding camp to meet my first clients of 2010. During the first Rut hunt I would be guiding Luis and Bruce. They were long time friends of each other and have made it a tradition to go on a hunt atleast once every couple of years together.
We started in one of my favorite areas on day 1, we were able to locate one small bull and a lot of sign so we felt confident in the area and planned on returning the next day.
Day 2 started the same as always we were up early and made sure we were in the field well before light. The plan as usual during the rut was to attempt to call a big bull in to an opening so we could get a shot. We hunted hard for the first half of the day and with no response I decided we would move to another area I knew the moose liked to rut in and set up for the evening hunt. After arriving in a good spot where we could see well I immediately began calling, I must have called for about an hour when I spotted a bull way off in a cut block. The bull was over a mile away and I was trying to judge him through my bino's when I heard Luis whisper "Tom, big bull". I quickly crawled over to his side and slowly stood up so I could see where he was pointing. The bull was standing in some willows about 150 yards away and all I could see was HUGE! antlers, his head, neck and some of his chest above the brush. This bull was definitely a shooter, he was enormous and he also had us pegged. I slowly grabbed Luis and said" you are going to have to stand up as high as you can and take the front on shot". Luckily we were on a bit of a mound giving Luis the opportunity to sneak a shot through the bulls chest, he made no mistake on this Monster. The Bull grossed 205 inches and had a spread of 57 inches.




I ended up guiding for quite a few more monster bulls including Bruce's 195 inch bull this season and those stories will be posted in future weeks. I was able to also get most of these hunts on film so make sure to watch for the full stories on the Mountain Man Adventure DVD line or check us out on Face Book for more Pictures and updates on the group "Lets Go Hunting Or Fishing With Mountain Man Adventures"
Thanks, Tom Sallows, Mountain Man Adventures
mountainmanadv@hotmail.com
www.mountainmanadventues.com