What are your plans for hunts in North America this year?

Although all of us would sure like to make Africa an annual event....it just is not in the cards financially for most of us. What are you all planning for hunts in 09 on this side of the pond?

Much of my time is going to be spent guiding, but I am making time for some hunting in between and around the guiding sessions. My hunts I have planned are spring black bear in Manitoba, followed by black bear and wood bison in the Northwest Territories. Come fall it will be caribou in the Northwest Territories, then moose/elk in Manitoba, pronghorn in Alberta and late season whitetail in Manitoba.

Kelly, I go a few times a year with a good friend of mine to shoot pigs in Central California by Paso Robles. It is a blast every time, they have lots of boars, a cross of feral pig and Russian wild boar. The place is called the Work Ranch, an amazing property situated among the rolling hills just inland from the coast of California, a beautiful setting that reminds me a bit of Tuscany. Bert Claassen, the hunting outfitter is a great guide and a real character which makes the hunt that much more enjoyable, we always have a good laugh. I really enjoy fast paced action, so pigs on the run are a lot of fun for me, plus it's a short getaway which makes it easy to just take off for a couple of days.

I lucked out and talked my wife into letting me go elephant hunting this year so my North America hunting will just be what I can hunt around home. We have good whitetail and turkey hunting, and wild hogs can be found in some areas. We have liberal bag limits and can take six deer and four turkeys, hogs are no limit. Last year there were some cheap late season cow elk hunts in New Mexico and it looks like there might be again this year. My wife and I really like the meat so I may do it again this year. I had intended to hunt mountain lion and aoudad this year but with prices somewhat lower in Africa this year I decided to hunt elephant while I could afford it (sort of).

Nothing special this year, going to RSA in May/June for 2 weeks so my time budget is pretty blown. Locally I will do Deer/Antelope, won't take more than a weekend for either, and if I can squirrel up 4 days off this fall I will go Elk hunting.

I am leaving for RSA in 170 days. I hunt blacktail deer, black bear, cougar, Roosevelt elk, & varmits in Oregon.

This year I'm making a trip to Idaho to hunt coyotes, rock chucks and sage rats with my cousin...So I guess this will be a pretty good year

Wife and I leave for RSA in 201 days but we are not counting. spending 20 days hunting
Leopard and asst. plains game. We may even do a quick trip to Namibia.
Saved to long for this to let the monkeys in DC screw it up. If we come back poor I'm sure we could get a bail out. LOL!!!

Heading for a another Florida hog hunt on June 12. Just a get together with some fellow workers. I do want to go bear hunting and maybe a buffalo hunt in the near future.

tarawa..............well I have just finished five weeks of guiding bear hunts in southern Canada and now I am heading north into the sub-arctic to guide bear for a few more weeks. Even after 40 years of hunting and 32 years of guiding for them, I never get tired of bear hunting.

Sadly most hunters never really get a feel for bear hunting. Taking a really big old boar black bear is very challenging, but most hunters settle for whacking the first couple of every day bears they encounter and then quit bear hunting.

I also will be guiding wood bison hunts the next couple of weeks and I can assure you that hunting the wild bison in northern Canada is nothing like the ranch hunts or even the few free range plains bison hunts in the south. Taking a big wood bison bull in the boreal forests of the north is a real hunt and they can be grumpy.

Hope you have a good hog hunt.

Strenuous hunts are permanently out for me, thanks to my age and some health problems. I do plan to collect a fat, young desert mule deer buck in November and another javelina in March, both near my home in Tucson.

Notice that I said "plan." Arizona's hunting is on a permit-only basis, so whether I get to go will depend on my luck in our annual hunting lottery.

I'd like to go back to Africa one last time, but the trip down and back two years ago was extremely tough on this old man. If I do go again, it will have to be on something other than a coach ticket.

Bill Quimby

I'm going for the Whitetail in the fall... might get the chance for an alligator this year too if my friends pull through for me.