Our 8th full season has come to pass...Lots of memories and friends were made with great hunts and success enjoyed by
all ... Great year ... could not be prouder of our young guys rising to the challenges and our experienced crew giving
their steady best effort as usual.
This year started off with trips to the US for shows not to mention visiting family and past year's clients. On a side
note, one of our guides had a great year in the recognition department ... Derrick Stevens won not only the Leland award
from GOABC, but the prestigious Dalziel award from The Wild Sheep Foundation ... way to go Derrick! We could not be more
proud of you! Trapping season was short due to a light winter with little snow, but looks like we will get after it
this year in a big way. The light winter definitely was easy on the game! With spring and summer came horse training,
shoeing horses, projects and getting ready for the fall. A few of the crew came in early and helped get everything as
ready as it can be. Once we were ready, on came the hunting season ...
Summer brought cool temperatures with it warming up as the hunting season approached. I think most outfitters will
attest to this being one of the overall warmest falls in many years in the north. Success was good on most species
but they did not come easy.
The moose rut was very quiet due to the heat; just about all hunters looking for moose were successful but we did not
see bulls in normal numbers. The population of moose is definitely in good shape as far as quality and numbers though.
Some close calls on getting the giants (over 200"), but three 190+ class bulls were taken in spite of the heat and
conditions. Moose hunting looks great for next year and beyond. We are basically booked for 2013(couple options left)
on moose only hunts so if you are thinking about booking I suggest you get in contact early for 2014.
We took a few less elk hunters this last year but I wished we had taken more hunters as elk have definitely made a
strong rebound after a couple of slower years. The hunts for elk only were very quick with quality 6x6 trophies being
taken. I have a few great combo hunts left for 2013 so please get in touch sooner than later for a great elk/moose
combo hunts. Add caribou and goat for a true mixed bag hunt!!!
Caribou are finally coming back to reasonable numbers and trophy quality. In our area, they are still basically and
odd-on to other hunts but success has been strong and I think we will see some great bulls taken in the coming years.
Bears and wolves are great add-ons and there is no shortage of Grizzly bears as just about any guide or hunter will
attest. We took one near record book Grizzly bear and a few nicer Black bears. If you are looking for a great interior
Grizzly hunt let me know as most of our Grizzly bear hunts are booked well advance by existing and past clients.
Goat hunting was very successful as usual ... we are seeing more every year and in new places. I will really be pushing to
get some goat hunters up this year. If you are thinking about going on a very successful goat hunt and $'s are an issue
let me know and I will be as creative as I can. We need to up the harvest on goats as they are starting to infringe on
some of our sheep habitat.
Sheep hunting was successful but not easy. As I mentioned earlier the weather played a big role. At the start of the
season rams were very hard to find ... they were high on top or bushed up in the timber. Sheep were not in their normal
areas until quit late in the season when we got more than our share of bad weather ... snow and visibility issues were the
way the fall ended. We took 13 great rams with most being older rams!! Todd Hicks took the best ram of the year just
missing the record book. Sheep hunting looks very good in the near future as we are seeing very good age structure in
the younger ram bands... most bands have an excellent makeup as far as age ... so we should see some good years ahead. I
have some great dates for 2013 with all of our sheep guides coming back, so come on up!
I would like to thank all the members of the Stone Mountain crew as well ... Jayci Lucas, Shale Deschipper, Jenny
Wossilat, Kyle Picket, Dan Wiebe, Ben Heuser, Laura Heuser, Laura Leonard, Wald Olson, Terry Stone, Jesse Stone,
Diane Stone, Dan Leonard, Riley Biblow, Derrick Stevens and Tim Lapierre ... without each and every one of you we
would not have had the great season that we did!! I know it was not always easy this fall, but there is not a better
crew in the north! Big praise to Tim Lapierre for his 1st guided hunt and Riley Biblow for guiding his first Stone
Sheep Hunt. I would also like to point out how one young man rose up in a very big way ... Shale Deschipper kept sending
hunters home early that were tagged out and I kept handing him more ... 9 was the total in the end ...way to be a team player
Shale and help out the outfit! A special thanks to my wife, Kellie for keeping us all in line and our spirits up in
times of adversity! PS Our son, Bryce is looking for some new best friends ... anyone that has been up will know what
I mean by that. He earned a new name this fall, sir Talkalot!! Our daughter Madison is getting to be a great helper
as well!!! Kellie and I are very blessed to have 2 great kids!
As you all know the economy is still a major issue ... hopefully the New Year will bring better days. Wildlife
allocations are coming into full effect in BC this next year as well. Unfortunately a few operations may have
to idle down with the duel blow of the economy and reduced offerings. I believe our quotas should remain the same
in our guide area. I am optimistic about the future but there will be changes and we all must pull together and
weather the storms ahead. Given this, we will continue to operate as best we can to offer a full schedule of hunts
and dates. If you are considering a hunt in BC ... please support our industry by booking a trip ... we need you now
more than ever!
We still have some great dates for sheep and antlered game so please give us a call or email if you are looking for that
dream hunt!!! We will be attending four shows this winter; DSCI January 3-6, GSCO January 9-12, SCI January 23-26 and
WSF January 31-February 2. Hope to see you there!
We would like to thank all of our clients and crew for another great season!
Good hunting!
Leif, Kellie, Madison and Bryce
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