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Once the hunting was finished, we managed to maintain a 85%
success rate, which for these areas (spring) is excellent
due to the number of large bears on the baits which tend to
keep a lot of the young bears away. This in return, making
it tough to hunt some of the baits as we all know that these
big bears are extremely wise and will feed at night. However,
we were extremely lucky to harvest 4 Manitoba Book Bears that
will score 19+ inches! The biggest was a big black harvested
while the hunter walked into his tree stand. We actually managed
to harvest 2 of the black bears waling into the bait sites,
which is an Agassiz first, while came as no surprise, as when
we were re-baiting and monitoring bait stations, we had to
push bears off baits on numerous occasions!
In closing, a big thank-you to all my hunters who gave Agassiz
Outfitters the opportunity to show them a hunt of a lifetime
and for hunting hard and putting in the required time (except
you Bill & Russ – Ha Ha!!) it takes sometimes to
be successful. Another big thank-you to all of our hard working
guides; my dad, Patrick Ferens, Graham Sayer, Greg Sanderson
and of course our head cook “THE CHIEF”, who had
everyone add an extra 10 lbs. With those delicious shore lunches
and garlic mashed potatoes. Another big thank-you to Kevin
Kamaraus and Greg Sanderson for helping me prepare and set
up camps and all bait stations. All of you deserve a pat on
the back, as the season couldn’t have gone better.
Fall 2003 Black Bear Review
Hard to believe, but October is upon us and another fall
black bear season came, and before we new it, was gone!
The early part of the season was warm and sunny, then wind
and rain showers off and on carried into the first week of
October where we even witnessed some snow flurries! However,
this did not stop the bears from working the baits, as one
of our hunters from Washington, D.C. managed to pass up 28
bears before pulling the trigger on a beautiful black bear.
Great patience Henry!! The 29 bears seen by Henry is of course
unusual, however some hunters still witnessed 6-8 bears in
an evening and some seeing 10-15 before harvesting their bear.
Two of my guides (Terry & Ross), also had a hard time
collecting a downed bear at one of the bait sites as another
bear would not let them approach the bait site. After a couple
shots in the air, they were able to collect the bear and get
out quick! We also managed to harvest another 19+ inch bear
bringing the total to 5 Manitoba book bears for the 2003 Spring
and Fall Season(See you guys at the award evening in March
2004). The 2003 fall season also saw a hunter from Spain,
harvest a beautiful chocolate colored bear the first night
and a hunter from New Jersey a gorgeous Cinnamom colored bear.
On another ocassion, one of my verteran bear hunters from
Minnesota, who already has harvested a 7 foot black bear,
saw a trophy that would make any bear hunter shake, well over
600+ lbs!!! The monster bruin new something was wrong and
backed out quickly not presenting a clean shot. Just think
Jeff, will be bigger next year! We all know how hard it is
to harvest a monster bear little less get a good look at one!
All in all, the 2003 Spring and fall black bear seasons were
highly successful and couldn't have went any better. We credit
the fact, that the high numbers of bears in our areas is due
to no hunting pressue and abssolutely no roads which make
accessig areas very hard but rewarding!
A big thank you to all of our hunters who chose Agassiz Outfitters
once again, or for the first time. We hope to see you all
again soon! Also, a big thanks to all of our hard working
bear guides, Greg "Two-feathers" Sanderson, Terry
"Swamp Buggy" Chaykowski, Kevin "Lippy"
Kamaraus, Ross Huntchbatch(we are still working on a name
for him!!)
Already counting the days for our Spring 2004 season! Can't
come soon enough!!
Rick & Colleen Liske
Agassiz-Waterhen River Lodge & Outfitters
2003 Waterfowl Review
Birds galore!!!! What else is there to say. Alot of our guests
have been hunting these areas for 15-25 years so they know
what I mean. Geese, ducks, we have it all. Although we witnessed
some cold weather early on in the season, alot of our greater
Canadas moved south, however we still had some unbelievable
shoots! The fall of 2003 also saw thousands and thousands
of snow geese cover fields which also made for some great
shooting! The fields and water hunting for puddle ducks, especially
mallards, was excellent. As we saw above average temp towards
the middle and end of October, alot of our divers (canvassbacks,
red heads and blue bills) still where North. Thank-you to
all of our Waterfowl hunters, guided and non-guided for hunting
with us during the 2003 waterfowl season. Hope to see you
all next fall on the pond!!
An added bonus to the waterfowl hunting this year was the
high population of ruffed grouse and sharptails which was
a pleasure to see!
Also, a big thank-you to all of our hard working waterfowl
guides: Gerry Liske, Patirck Ferens, Greg Sanderson, Kevin
Kamaraus and Rob "Dancing Rupert" Anderson for the
excellent scouting reports.
As you all know, the unbelievable hunting on the fields for
both geese and ducks, would not be possible if it wasn't for
our friends, the farmers. A huge thank-you to all the farmers
who let us experience world class waterfowl hunting at it
finest, on your land!!
2003 Whitetail Review
The 2003 Whitetail Deer Season turned out to be one of our
best ever! Although nobody managed to harvest a local monster
I have nick-named "PALMY", which would gross score
in the 250-260 non-typical class due to his large sheds found
the last couple of springs, the hunting couldn't have been
better!
As I scouted and searched for new areas in October, I couldn't
wait to get hunters in camp, as I knew from all the sign and
pre-rutting activity I was seeing, it was going to be one
heck of a season. And what a season it was, as all of our
muzzle and rifle hunters saw and had an opportunity on a 8
point buck or bigger making it another season where we ran
100% opportunity.
Our biggest muzzle loading whitetail this fall was shot by
Shawn Kerns of Michigan. This gorgeous 10 pointer scored 165
1/8 with a 21 inch inside spread. Shawn passed up many bucks
and shot this one on early Wednesday morning. What made this
deer extra special was the fact that Shawn was able to doe
bleat it and two other 8 pointers 30 yards from his stand
for an excellent clean shot and also have his dad and friends
in camp to witness the size of this enormous whitetail, which
was 385 pounds live weight! Shawn's dad Lee however, wasn't
so lucky. Lee had a monster Whitetail step out of thick cover
and cross a swamp only 50 yards broadside from his stand Wednesday
evening and missed cleanly. Upon talking to Lee and letting
him judge the deer he missed, compared to his son Shawn's,
he told me it was much bigger probably scoring in the 170
or 180 typical class. Also during the muzzle load season we
had another hunter see a huge 10 pointer and one hunter getting
a quick glimpse at a monster 12 or 14 pointer.
Our first week of rifle the rut started to peek and intensify
as bucks were chasing does hard, something we haven't witnessed
as much in the previous two years due to above average temperatures.
The biggest deer this fall during our rifle season was a huge
191 non-typical shot by a 17 year old youth hunter. This big
non-typical has alot of "palmy" characteristics
and is believed to be of some relation. Bob Feits of PA harvested
an enormous 8 pointer scoring 165 3/8 typical with a live
weight of 410 pounds on Tuesday morning! Many hunters during
the rifle season also saw huge whitetail with one monster
believed to be around the 190+ typical range! This deer was
spotted twice but would not present a clean kill and was not
seen again during the day reminding us how smart these big
bucks are! Many of the other bucks harvested during the season
scored in the 130 to 160 range with four scoring 150+.
Once again our 2003 Whitetail Deer Season saw some enormous
whitetail harvested with many others spotted. We now offer
hunts in over 3000 square miles of land which provides some
of the best whitetail hunting in the world. This area is in
the northern fringe of the whitetail range and with the abundance
of fields (alphapa, tame and wild hay, oats and barley) swamps
and forest land which big whitetail thrive on and live to
get old. In this area, most big whitetail die of old age as
this area will never get totally hunted due to accessibility
and low pressure from local resident hunters. Our average
temperatures this last fall deer season were lows of 10-14
degrees with highs of 24-30 degrees. During the hunting we
had approximately 2-3 inches of snow which was perfect for
the hunting.
Congratulations to the Mike Thornhill party from New York
who all managed to tag out by 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning,
with all 10 point bucks in one of our secluded outcamps. Way
to go guys!! A big thank you to our guides Patrick and Clint
for making their week a memorable one!!
Next fall cannot come soon enough. With the high number and
size of whitetail seen this past fall, the 2004 whitetail
season looks to be a beauty. As of December 3 we have absolutely
no snow left, as the 2-3 inches we had for the hunting melted
allowing our big deer to put on the fat they lose during the
intense rut. Please see Agassiz News as we will give regular
updates on our winter and deer numbers in our areas. Also
I will be putting an update this upcoming April after my spring
pre-scouting is wrapped up.
Last but not least a big thank you to all of our Whitetail
Hunters for letting Agassiz Outfitters provide you with a
memorable and enjoyable hunt. Thank you to all of our hard
working guides, you all truly did a fantastic job. Thanks
again everyone and see you all soon as the hunt for "palmy"
lives on!!
Rick Liske
Agassiz-Waterhen River Lodge & Outfitters
Outfitter/Guide
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2003 HUNTING REVIEW 
Aggassiz-Waterhen River Lodge
