2012 Season Newsletter - Ceaser Lake Outfitters

Next morning Cody and I took off and within a ¼ mile Cody spotted thegrizzly. Unfortunately it caught us off guard and we didn’t get a shot off.We did see well over 100 goats in the next few days. We blew a stalk onthe best billy on the second day but did put a great stalk on camera on athree and a half year old. We then moved to the Coal Cabin where Fabianand wrangler Mary Macmillan found a nice billy for Will. The last morningwe spot a billy from camp and put on a long stalk. We were closingthe distance when a big bull caribou shows up. We change plans so Codynow has a caribou instead. Mary also accompanied us so had to helppack it back to the horses. We ended the hunt at Wolf Dens where thegrizzly had wrecked it again.Joel and Tanner Walgenback took Ken Creel and Michael Scornavacchiup to Sheep Camp where they both tagged goats and then returned toCeaser for a couple caribou and a grizzly. Donn and Fabian ganged up onRichard Olewiler for a record book caribou from TwinLakes.We had four Texans booked for the next hunt but dueto unforeseen circumstances only one of the originalswas able to make it. Two others were substituted. Fabianguided Larry Pancake to a moose and grizzly while Joeland James took Josh Collum and Clifford Wakefield to amoose, 2 caribou and wolf. Not bad for an eight day hunt.“ YOUWe had four guys came for the Sept 15 th to 27 th hunt.Fabian had Nick Koleno in the Wolf Dens area where theytook a nice caribou, wolf and a moose. Donn was guidingbow hunter Dave Soyars at the same time. They missed abig caribou and just couldn’t get in range on the big bullthat Nick took. James and his wife Marilyn took Joe Popelka and his wifeLaina out Ceaser and got a big caribou (392) and a moose. Joel guidedbow hunter Mark Seifert from Buttercup Creek camp. Mark wounded ahuge caribou, probably in the 420 point range but they could not find it.They had several moose in camp or the valley but chose not to shoot one.CAN’TFIRE THEOLD MAN”spotted a good bull a long ways off the river but couldn’t get him to come into packing distance from the boat so didn’t take him. Dave took repeat hunterJosh Slager into the Beaver River. This was the first time this area has beenhunted in about 10 years. They saw lots of smaller moose and then woundeda nice bull which they tracked for several miles but just couldn’t come upwith it.We had 4 moose hunters on the mid rut hunt. Dave and Joe Spoto was thefirst to score on the Beaver. Robbie and Frank Moore were next with a 57inch bull on the lower Hyland. Tim Buerge, a new guide to us, took the thirdat Lotz Lake for Kent Keyes and Josh Johnson’s hunter, Van Johnson, unfortunately,wounded a huge bull again on the Beaver.The last moose hunt had 9 guys up. Unfortunately, Josh’s bow hunterDennis Dunn wounded a nice bull the first morning. Dave, James andTim hunted Toobally taking three archery moose forSteve Keithley, Don Stout and Ryan Mazeska. Donn andDave Peterson hunted Gusty where they had a nice bullin range but not for traditional archery. Joel took MurrayWhite on the river and got the best bull of the year.Fabian’s traditional bow hunter Ted Judson decided itwas just too much for him and called in after a coupledays. Troy took over Lotz Lake and got a big black bearthe first night and then a moose the next day for ScotMadison. Robbie and Larry Porter took another nice bullup the Hyland.Don Ferguson was booked for the 7th to 17th but camein on the third. I got Josh to take him and sure enoughthey get a nice bull. Don was a bow hunter so more or lessmade up for the first two bow hunters of Josh’s. The last moose hunter wasGene Yates. I took him for a couple days with the Hoovercraft. We saw anumber of moose, did some white water rafting with the craft way up theHyland and then missed a great bull on the way home. Joel then took himon the Coal where they got a real nice bull.I picked up Joel’s horses on the 26 th , James’ on the 28 th , Donn andFabian’s on the 29 th and moved them to the fall range.I traded a moose for a Mexican Mule deer hunt with Luis Paulovich at theSCI convention. I was to guide him the 12th to 14th looking for a mountaingoat and then Robbie was going to take him on the river by boat for moose. Itturned out that the planes couldn’t fly when they were suppose to and I wasunable to get out until almost the 18th and then only for a day. We did seea couple nannies and kids and a smallish bull moose. Robbie and Luis hadDonn took Mark Wayne for a caribou. They saw lots and almost filled out thefirst day but waited and took him on day two. I then took the last hunter PatrickAllen. We saw in excess of two hundred the first day, about 50 the secondbut nothing in the 380 or better class. The next day we were just getting intothe country when a nice 340 bull with 20 cows walked up the trail in front ofus and is now on the wall.The horses were loaded on the truck Oct 28 th and we were on our way to seethe grand kids.

2013 and Beyond.Our season is very close to being booked. Just have a sheep, 2 goats,a couple moose and two spring bear hunts to fill.Grizzly. The population just keeps getting better. It does seem that thewolf management we do has enhanced the bear numbers. We had manyfall hunters who saw in excess of 10 bears on their hunt. I do have theMay 8 to 21 and 25 to June 7 dates still open.Sheep. Numbers are stable in the Dendale area and probably also in theCeaser area. I now own the trap line around Ceaser and will be takingmore wolverine so will help the numbers a bit which should be enough tostabilize them. Do have a couple openings for this August.Goats. Recruitment seems to be in the 20 to 30% range which is juststable. It was a deep snow winter and late spring in the mountains (sheepand goat) which means a 5 to 15% drop in offspring survival. I like 30 to40% recruitment. Could take two more hunters in August.Ruth and I would like to thank all of our huntersfor making these 30 years fly by.This business has truly been a wonderful wayto meet people from all over the world – come as aclient, leave a friend. We are so proud of our son,Joel, in wanting to continue the Ceaser Laketraditions and would encourage everyone tosupport him as you have supported us.Thanks again, Terry and Ruth WilkinsonCaribou. Recruitment dropped into the 20% range for most herds. Probablydue to deep snow and cold/wet calving conditions. Will be workingthe wolf numbers to try retain the survivors. Recruitment had been inthe 40 to 60% the last couple years so I am not worried. Fully booked for2013 and 2014.Moose. Recruitment has dropped to the 30 to 40% range, down a bitfrom the 50 to 60% we had two years running. 30 to 50% is where Iwant it. Could still take two on the first rut hunt and one on the secondand third hunt.Wolf. I wish other species could recover as quickly. If I don’t trap oneyear they bounce back higher than they had been. There was a good(?)recovery last spring and some were successful in raising pups so havequite a few to go after this winter. We will be going up the Coal Feb 15which will be a good time to hunt one for those who want to try somethingunique.Trapping. Dave and I traded lines so don’t know what the Lynx numberswill be. Wolverine are good as are martin. Let me know what you wantand I will put you on the list. I do have a wolverine and a lynx ready fortaxidermy from last year.Come see usat thefollowing shows:Box 228, Watson LakeYukon, Canada, Y0A 1C0Phone/Fax (867) 536-2174terry@ceaserlake.comwww.ceaserlake.comDallas Safari Club, Jan 3 to 6, Booth 313Grand Slam / Ovis, Jan 9 to 12, Booth 212 Reno, NV.Safari Club Jan 23 to 26 Booth 657, Reno, NVEastern Sportsman Feb 4 to 14 Booth 6428, Harrisburg, PAEdmonton Sport Show Both 144, March 15