Cary and two game wardens searched for the cripple for a day with no luck. Cary also had a guy on the Del Norte hunt this year that crippled a bull at 10 yards, he shot eight times and hit it once. The same wardens helped for again a day with no luck. In Cary's mind the hunt should have been over in both cases but the clients don't seem to mind shooting another animal, to each their own. I have hunted with several people and have seen only one other person that could track as good as Cary can.[/b]
My name is Cary Jellison and I own and operate G & J Outdoor Enterprises. I am a full time hunting and fishing guide in California and Nevada. Last week I got a phone call from one of my clients while I was guiding on the Klamath elk hunt and he told me about the post by ebolavirs after his hunt. After nine years in a row and probably 60 + days of guiding this hunt I have a way different view of the Klamath hunt than he does.
First of all, I do agree with ebolavirs that Green Diamond Resource Co. does a GREAT JOB with these hunts. The Klamath, Del Norte, and Big Lagoon hunts all take place on their property. They could easily get PLM tags and sell them for hundreds of thousands of dollars but instead choose to let the public come onto their property and hunt. I don't know why they do it, but they bend over backwards for the hunters. They provide a place to camp, a walk-in cooler for your elk, all the information on where the elk are, and let you hunt the elk on their property. They even help people get their animals out of the woods and I don't think anyone could ever say enough good things about what they do for the hunters.
There are some points made by ebolavirs that I completely disagree with. He said that all of the guides were guiding archery bear hunters before the season and this is how they scouted. There were only two guides on this hunt and I did not set foot on the property until after orientation. He said he was told that the hunt has steadily declined with the slow down in logging. I started guiding this hunt in 1999 and they gave 30 either sex tags and usually took 3 - 5 animals. The last 3 years the success has been the best ever. This year they ended up with 8 out of 10 cow hunter's successful and 7 out of 11 bull hunter's successful. There were also 3 bulls taken that will score over the B&C minimum of 290 this year and none of them were taken on Williams Ridge which is where ebolavirs says is the only area of the hunt where there are large numbers of elk.
The thing I really find upsetting about ebolavirs comments is that he says that if you hired a guide, you wasted your money and that after opening morning, luck is the only thing that decides success. I couldn't disagree more. I hunted 7 days with my client (6 actual days hunting) and we saw 9 bulls on the property after opening morning. She ended up taking a 317 gross 6x6 on day 7 at about 100 yards that was not on Williams Ridge. This is the seventh B&C bull a client of mine has taken on these hunts (5 on the Klamath and 2 on the Del Norte) and I don't think it's luck. She is doing a life size mount of her record book bull and thinks her guide was worth every penny.
Unfortunately she also crippled a bull that was bigger than the one she took and after tracking that bull for a full day it went over two miles and back onto the National Park. This bull was at least 6 miles from Williams Ridge and in an area that nobody else ever hunts. There are at least four other things in ebolavirs post that are incorrect but I think everyone gets my point. I think a hunt where 27% of the tag holders take B&C bulls is a great hunt.[/b]
From talking with some folks that were at these hunts I hear of some knuckleheads bent on losing this hunt for the rest who put in for it each year.
Green Diamond rules say no quads for scouting or hunting, only for retrieving game but one hunter thought he was the exception.When this goof was reminded of the ATV requirements he claimed it was BS and didn't apply to him![]()
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Another hunter ignored the no dogs rule and was seen hunting with a dog.![]()
Only a matter of time until the landowners get tired of that nonsense. We're guests on their land, is it that hard to follow the house rules?
How about it wardens and DFG? Can you at least cite them or toss them off the hunt before they get the hunt cancelled?[/b]