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Beasley Brother's 2006 Hunts are brought to you by these fine sponsors: |
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Rainy River- By Paul Beasley -
In November 2006, We headed Northwest to Rainy River, ON to hunt with good friend and passionate whitetail
hunter Shane Gulbrandsen of Gulbrandsen Outfitters. We'd spent a lot of time with Shane on the phone throughout the year and
when he extended the invitation to come up for a hunt, not even our wives could hold us back!
Shane is a very passionate whitetail hunter that spends incredible amounts of time in the woods. Being raised in a whitetail
haven has certainly helped to fuel this passion. Shane also runs a guiding service for trophy class whitetails and bears. In
fact, Gordon Whittington of North American Whitetail Television and Doc Ainsley of Doc's Extreme Team both hunted with him
this fall. You'll see their hunts featured on their respective shows in an upcoming season.
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The 2006 hunting season has certainly been an unusual one for all of us.
For the first year ever, Keith, Kevin and myself were unable to hunt at will. Any time we spent hunting had to be planned
and usually required sacrifice on the part of our loving wives, or understanding employers.
Our early bow season was producing sightings of many deer including a lot of young bucks but it wasn't until
the last week in November that any of us saw a mature buck. It was right at last light that he stepped out of his thick,
cedar bedding area nestled tight up against a busy highway and ambled across the standing bean field into a small island
of woods that was holding a family group of 8 does and fawns. While he didn't provide a shot opportunity, he burned an
image in my mind that sent me back to that property many times over the following weeks in hopes of seeing him again. A
good friend of ours who hunts the neighbouring property saw him up-close-and-personal but was unable to find a hole
through the thick briars he was hiding in to get a shot.
Before long the shotgun hunt opened in our area and it seemed like the chasing phase of the rut was in full
swing. My uncle Doug and father, Ken, had taken the week off work so they were hunting every morning, evening and
some afternoons. Keith, Kevin and I made countless phone calls back and forth every morning and evening to talk about
who'd seen what, where, what time, what direction and a host of other very pointed questions to help us strategize. My
uncle and father saw some really good mature bucks in the first week but they went unscathed as for one reason or
another, no shots were fired. On an evening hunt near the end of the first week, Kevin passed on a 140 class 10 pointer
that was dogging a hot doe hoping there'd be something bigger coming behind. Right at last light, a much bigger bodied
buck came out but stayed just out of range until the light faded. On another property, I had been watching a group of 4
does and fawns hoping a buck might be investigating them when I turned to look behind me and watched as a beautiful
tall-tined 10 point trotted across a hay field toward a bedding area we'd been watching all week. I tried to get him
front of him but he was moving too fast and I didn't dare spook him. I spent the next couple days trying to catch another
glimpse of that buck as he haunted me every night in my dreams but it seemed no use. Finally on the Thursday evening of
the second week, Keith crossed paths with him and made the meeting a memorable one. That buck grossed 160 inches when green.
On Thursday, November 16th, we left my home in Peterborough and headed out for Rainy River, Ontario.
Rainy River is a small little town south of Lake of the Woods on the Ontario/Minnesota border
and about 45 minutes from Manitoba. It was a 19 hour drive from Peterborough when we arrived on Friday evening. We were
greeted warmly by Shane and Sherri Gulbrandsen of Gulbrandsen Outfitters and stood with our jaws on the floor as we stared
at the nicest collection of whitetail racks we'd ever layed eyes on. Approximately 30 trophy racks adorned Shane and
Sherri's living room walls with about 8 or 9 of them being Boone and Crockett class. "These are just the big ones," Shane
said. "All the rest are out in the garage". It wasn't hard to dream about monster whitetails as we slept that night.
Day 1
We awoke to a warm breakfast that Sherri had prepared and left with eager anticipation of what might be ahead. With a full
day of sitting ahead of us, Sherri had packed nice lunches and a couple bottles of water to help us make it through the
day.
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My first Rainy River whitetail. He wasn't big but it was a good start to see antlers so early. Though you can't make
me out, I'm sitting in the front right corner of the elevated tower stand in the background.
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It wasn't much after first light that I saw my first Rainy River whitetail from a stand. It was a very small
spike that suddenly appeared at about 50 yards out of some scrub brush. As the day wore on, I saw deer at least every
hour or so and the bucks just kept getting bigger. At 1:30 pm a nice 2.5 year old 8 pointer with a broken brow tine that
would score around 110-115 wandered by all alone with no apparent purpose or direction.
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As the day wore on the bucks got progressively bigger. This nice young 8 point was a nice
sight but needs another two years at least. |
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Just as the sun was half-way behind the trees, a nice bodied buck stepped out of the
thicket and my heart started
to race. In the binoculars I counted 4 points but he got behind some trees before I could tell anymore. After about 3
long minutes, he stepped out again, this time much closer and I could see that he was missing his left antler. It turns
out that he had a small left antler but it hadn't grown properly and was more like a long spike with a brow tine. He
was lacking in mass and tine length as well so he wasn't a shooter just yet. He fed in the area for a short time and
chased off a younger fork horn and then, with very little light left, a huge-bodied buck moved in and chased off this
uneven 6 pointer. I could see a good set of tall tines but was unable to make out just how big. It was after legal light
at this point so I sat with my binoculars glued on this big buck feeding about 70 yards away. A short distance from him,
I could see and hear two smaller-bodied bucks sparring with each other. When we got back that evening we were excited to
share our stories and check trail cam pictures from other stands.
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Coming out right at last light, this buck's body size was noticeably larger than any of the other bucks around.
In low light his 4 point side looked good but when he turned to face me it was obvious something was wrong. It wasn't until
we got back to Shane's that night and looked at the trail camera that we realized his left antler hadn't grown normal. |
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To see more incredible photos of Rainy River whitetails or to book your own hunt with
Gulbrandsen Outfitters, go online to
www.gulbrandsenoutfitters.com
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Beasley Brother's 2006 Hunts are brought to you by these fine sponsors: |
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