2004 WHITETAIL REVIEW

The 2004 whitetail deer season turned out to be our most challenging year ever since I have been guiding deer hunters the last 12 years. On November 1st,we witnessed a high of 40 degrees Fahrenheit and by Friday, November 5th,reached a high of 55 degrees Fahrenheit! The warm temperatures pushed back a lot of the deer’s pre-rutting activity, which we normally witness at this time of year. However, in most areas, where still finding a lot of huge rubs and a lot of scraping in our old hunting areas and most new areas that I had found during my spring scouting trips. Normally during this week, the smaller bucks are really chasing the does hard and bigger bucks are responding to the rattles and grunting but really didn’t start until November 14-15,as even at this time, we where still seeing alot of bucks in bachelor groups, which is real unusual during a normal fall.

The rut during the 2004 season was extremely drawn out and at least 2 weeks behind normal. On November 10th,the high reached 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 Celsius) and we shot our biggest buck, which scored 173 B&C (please see big 11 pointer in 2004 photo galleries). Believe it or not, this huge buck was with two smaller 8 pointer’s crossing a big opening, not to mention a HUGE 8 pointer who walked out after this buck was shot which was around the same size! Congratulations “Buck” on a well placed shot at 250 yards.”Buck” also showed great patience as he passed up 14 different bucks, some which would score 140-150 B&C.

During our muzzle and rifle hunts, all of our hunters, except one, had an opportunity at a quality Manitoba whitetail. Our success rate was 60%, down from the 95% the previous year. However, our last week of muzzle, three die-hard whitetail hunters from VT, SC and MN, passed up bucks that would score 150-165 B&C. For these three hunters to pull the trigger takes a 170+ to walk by. Between these three hunters, they have killed an amazing 11 Boone and crocket whitetail, all scoring over 170 with the biggest scoring 192! (Please see www.thetrophyzone.com to see a huge 181 14 pointer shot with us during the 2002 season)

The one hunter from MN was hunting a new area that had rubs the size of hydro poles but was never able to get a good look at this wise deer. We ended up being outsmarted several times, even after moving the stand to a new location, which is normally a chance we don’t like to make, where we new the deer was passing through. He would come as far as a clump of spruce, with poplars behind it, and rub the poplars hard while stomping the ground several times, while he worked it up many times also, during the day. Still would not reveal a clean shot. This hunter still was able to video a big 10 pointer which walked right under his tree stand and would score in the low 160’s and several smaller ones too. In another new area bordering an alfalfa field, I had the one hunter from SC hunt this for three days, where he passed a big 10 pointer which would score
165+ .The only thing that saved this deer was the small g4’s. Had they
of been three inches taller, this deer would of went over 170 and made the brochure. Just think how big this deer will be next year Ron! Two weeks later, a friend of mine who was walking down an old cut line, only a ¼ mile away from this tree stand of mine we hunted for muzzle, ended up shooting an amazing deer which will score in the low 190’s!!!! The deer though, where moving more this week and started to respond to the rattling and grunting while starting to chase does a little. Once again I had the opportunity and privilege to guide these 3 hunters and look forward to it again next year. With the experience the four of us have hunting these big animals still goes to show you how hard they can be to hunt when the weather doesn’t cooperate.

Congratulations to Kevin Hess’s party of 4 from MI, who where on their first whitetail hunt in Canada and all four took home their first Canadian bucks. One hunter also had a chance to shoot a big blonde timber wolf but choose not too. Way to go guys and see you all again in 2006!

All in all, our whitetail rut was real late, drawn out over a long period and most happened at night. I believe due to our cold and wet spring and wettest summer on record, had a big part in our rut being late in 2004,which worried me a little prior to the opening. Sure enough, my prediction was close to what we witnessed. A lot of our old areas over looking big swamps didn’t even get hunted in 2004,as the water had the deer staying on higher ground. With a normal spring and summer in 2005,these areas will be awesome during the 2005 hunt! During the last week of the season, November 22-27,I had the opportunity to hunt and scout a lot of new areas for the 2005 season. On November 23,I saw 9 different bucks, 3 which would of scored 150+ but decided to hold out. (Yes Ned, I also saw the buck with the split brow tine and kicker of the g2 on the right side) Very impressive animal that should be a monster in 2005!I also found some unbelievable areas for the 2005 season and cant wait to go back in the spring to scout them over better. As I write this review, the date is December 20th and we only have 2 inches of snow and is an amazing 40 degrees Fahrenheit! This weather is very good for our whitetail, especially our big dominant bucks that go through the long, intense rut losing a lot of their body fat they need to survive a long, cold winter. The mild December we are having has enabled all of our bucks to put on their much needed body fat and so far are all in excellent shape.

Thank-you to all who hunted deer with us in 2004 and congratulations to everyone who harvested a buck. We are currently booked solid for the 2005 season, but anyone wanting information or to get on our waiting/cancellation list, or wanting references, please feel free to e-mail or call us anytime. We look forward to seeing or hearing from you all real soon!

Happy hunting,
Rick Liske-Outfitter/guide
Agassiz Outfitters

2004 Waterfowl Hunting Review
The 2004 waterfowl season once again was absolutely amazing!Although it started out slower than other years,due to the un-seasonly warm weather(the first week mostly local birds-which still made up for some good shoots),the birds started showing up by the thousands on around october 2nd and 3rd due to a massive cold front from the north on october 1st, which saw the temperature drop to minus 10 celcius with a heavy north-west wind(60-80km/hr). This cold weather even brought a few snow flurries which in return started the heavy migration.

This cold front was pretty much the biggest front we witnessed all waterfowl season as even during the whitetail hunting,the river still had thousands of mallards and greater canadas sitting on it till the end of november. Canvasbacks, redheads and bluebills also filled parts of the big lakes by the thousands till late november!

Due to the above normal percepitation during the spring and summer,we hardly hunted over our favorite "honey holes"(around water),as every party did or had a chance to limit out on ducks out on the fields while hunting geese in the mornings.Mallards,pintails,gadwalls and teal made for some excellent shoots out on the fields where alot of crop was left standing in most parts of our area due to all the rain we recieved.Some partys witnessed fields where aproximately 40-50 thousand mallards worked.From October 2nd,most partys also limited or had a chance to limit on canada geese too.The excellent duck hunting on the fields mixed with the great goose hunting, made for an awful lot of plucking!(thanks again a whole bunch Arnold and Marg!!)

Another added bonus for alot of the un-guided hunters this fall,who brought their fishing rods,witnessed both world class hunting and fishing at its best!This made for some hard decisions.Fish the morning,hunt the evening or hunt the morning,fish the evening.What a problem to have!On october 9th,the Rikanoff party from Illinois caught some walleye over 30 inches and plenty of smaller ones to satisfy their crave for some great fish fries.Thanks again for the taste guys!Another evening,saw the Rechtine party of 6 from Missouri,shoot their limit of mallards(48 birds) in the evening out in the fields across from the lodge.Guide "Dancing Rupert" was so excited we even let him deep fry a turkey and 2 canada geese that evening which where excellent and done to perfection,right Tom!I think he might just have to do it again next year it was so good.Thanks again Rupert!However,not to be out done,the Zackett party from Michigan,served up some awesome canada goose shis-ka-bob and blackened canvasback.Can you say delicious.Thanks again Don and friends!

Not only did everyone witness awesome duck and canada goose hunting,but some groups who requested,witnessed thousands and thousands of snow and blue geese working different fields and areas.Some great shoots for snows and blues was another added plus for the 2004 waterfowl season.Many hunters who hunt nothing but snow and blue geese know that hunting these birds can be very hard and trying at times due to the average age of alot of the birds and the numbers of geese that fly in a flock,thus making it sometimes virtually impossible to decoy on some occasions.However,just watching the thousands and thousands of birds coming of the lakes this fall was an unbelievable sight in itself which most people have never seen or get the chance to see when the sun is starting to rise in the east.Just the noise alone is deafening.

In closing,it was a pleasure and great honour to have everyone stay and hunt waterfowl with us at our lodge.We hope you all experienced world class waterfowl hunting at its best and have everlasting memories of the times shared out in the blinds and fields.A big thank you to all our friends, the farmers,who give us permission to hunt on your land year after year.Till next year..........happy hunting!

Rick Liske-Outfitter/guide
Agassiz-Waterhen River Lodge & Outfitters

2004 FALL Black Bear Review

The 2004 fall black bear season saw Agassiz Outfitters reach our goal once again.A perfect 100% success rate!

Managing baits and keeping the bait sites full was a tough task,as most of our remote bait sites where being emptied out on a daily basis,which made running almost 60 sites,a chore in itself.Especially,since the spring and summer of 2004 was the wettest and coldest on record,accesing alot of the baits was done strictly by argos and mac's,as the quads had no chance.

The middle of september turned warm and we finally had some summer like weather right through to the middle of october ,which really made the bears move and get active around the baits.Gearld Rhebian's group of 4 from Minneapolis can atest, as they saw an amazing total of 40+ bears on the FIRST night of their six day hunt(please call for references).Needless to say, 3 hunters(2 archery and 1 rifle),where done that evening.All 4 hunters that evening where very glad to see their guides!!During the same week,we also had a hunter miss a three color bear(chocolate head,cinamon mid section and blonde rear).
Most of our baits did'nt get hunted during the fall season once again,as most of our hunters where done the first night.Also,once a bear is harvested at our bait sites,the site is closed down and it is not hunted again till the following year,sometimes every second year.We think it is very important to rotate baits and manage our areas,which definately seems to be working as alot of our hunters are seeing lots of multiple dominant bears at most baits.
This fall we where privlaged to have some new bear hunters from PA that have hunted all over Canada and the U.S. for black bear and have never seen such excellent black bear habitat and the size of bears they saw with us this fall.We are very fortunate to have the area(habitat) and number of bears that we do and consider it the best in the world!
Thank you to all the hunters,re-peat and first timers, for hunting with Agassiz Outfitters during the fall 2004 black bear season .We look forward to seeing you all in the very near future!
Bonus to this fall's hunting was the excellent walleye fishing at the lodge.Walleye in the 8-12lb class was common along with numerous smaller ones(lunchers),which even lasted durng the waterfowl hunting.Some groups had a hard time deciding whether to go shoot ducks or fish for walleye.What a problem to have, eh Ray!

Happy Hunting,
Rick Liske-Outfitter
Agassiz Outfitters

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2004 SPRING Black Bear Review
Just like every spring,the itch to start baiting,looking for sheds and scouting "new" bear and whitetail areas, grew with every passing second.The winter of 2003-04 seemed to drag on forever,as just when the snow would start to melt,another system would move through dumping aproximately 10-12 inches of snow(march 16-18).Due to the late and cold weather of the early part of spring,our bear baiting was pushed back aproximately 2 weeks,which in the end,did'nt matter much,as many bears where seen by all.

Using argos and 6 wheelers to reach our farthest remote baits,due to snow and water,we started to find that some of the smaller bears had just started to walk around a little,looking for grass and water,which was a good sign.During the whole spring season,we never really had excellent bear hunting weather,but still had days here and there that where nice in the evenings to sit on stand.The colder spring was nice in a way,as there was absolutely no bugs!Two of our hunters from Spain can testify to this,as on may 24/04,the start of their hunt,they witnessed strong north winds and heavy rains all day and night.This weather did not deter them from going to their stands which where really being hit hard for sometime now.As one hunter and the guide walked into a bait,a large bear was already at the bait.Needless to say,his hunt was over in 5 minutes.The other hunter also saw a small bear at around 7:00p.m. which was chased off by a larger black.The larger bear fed at the barrel for a couple of hours until a larger bear came in.Both bears stood up on their hind feet and began fighting.After a well placed shot,the largest bear expired quickly and is over 6 feet long.Good patience Carlos!

One incident happened while i was hanging stands in a new remote area never hunted before.As i was turning a second tree step into a spruce,i caught movement out of my left eye.As i turned slowly,i came face to face with a huge cinamon bear well over 500lbs, not even 10 yards away!!!!This was an enormous spring bear which would easily score 21 b+c.It was 11:00 a.m. and he was cautiously walking to the bait.I was so
in awe with this animal that i did'nt even realize the danger i could of been in,but more amazingly,how quiet he snuck in behind me.As our eyes made contact i froze and he sat on his rear and put his nose straight in the air.At this time i thought he would get scent of me and run but this wasnt the case.He continued to walk slowly to the bait which was now only about 10 yards from him.At this point,i decided to climb my 2 steps which i had in the tree,and realized i was only about 18inches off the ground!He all of a sudden froze in his tracks and swung his head in my direction again.He then continued to walk slow to the bait when i decided enough was enough.I clapped my hands twice.He froze immediately but did not look my way.He turned his head the other way and then walked extremely slow away from bait into the dark spruce.Thankful i did not spook him,i finished hanging the stand and walked out quietly.Extremely excited about this spot,i decided to put Scott from Georgia,U.S. in this spot 2 nights later(monday).Monday night,the big cinamon did'nt show up,however,a 7foot black and 5 others where seen.Scott decided to pass this big bear in search of the cinamon.Tuesday night,the big cinamon did'nt return neither did the big black,however,more blacks showed up to amuse Scott and sit with him, as one tried to get up in his stand.Scott decided to hunt wednesday morning for the huge cinamon but couldnt get to his stand,as a 6 foot black was already at the bait.When the bear saw Scott,it stood up and growled.That was far enough.Scott showed alot of patience in hunting this cinamon,as he passed a 7 foot black(Scott showed the guides where this black had stood up and bit the tree).This big cinamon just reminds us how smart and cautious these big boars can be as many never do come back or will feed at night.Scotts good friend and one of our valued repeat hunters, Steve,tagged out on opening night at 4:40p.m.(may 17/04.) Steve also passed on another bear before this.After he shot his bear,a monster black came to the barrel and fed all night.Steve took many pictures as this bear would also not leave.

Once all the hunting was complete,we ran another 100% success rate with numerous bears seen.Again we were lucky enough to harvest 2 manitoba book bears that will score 19 plus inches.The biggest is a huge black shot by our great friend,Teddy from Austria,which will score 20 plus inches.Teddy also showed great patience,as he passed up 8 diferent bears before this one.Way to go Teddy!As like other years,while re-baiting and monitoring bait stations,we had to push bears off of baits on numerous occasions.

In closing,a big thank-you to all of our black bear hunters from United States,Sweden,Austria and Spain who gave Agassiz Outfitters the oppurtunity to show you a great hunt and experience of a lifetime and for also hunting hard and putting in the required time it takes to be successful(except Steve,U.S. and Peter,Spain-ha,ha!).Another big thank-you and pat on the back for a job well done to our hard working guides and helpers,Gerry Liske,Brendan + Jordan Liske,Terry Chaykowski and Rob Anderson for running our outcamp Tan Lake while i was guiding at the lodge and running back and forth.See you all soon and happy hunting!!

Rick liske-Outfitter/guide
Agassiz Outfitters

p.s. Not only were lots of bears seen,but a total of 5 different timberwolves were spotted at different bait stations,1 pure black.

Quick Fact
In all my years of outfitting/guiding black bear hunters,we have never witnessed a sow with cubs at the baits during the spring hunt.This is due to the fact that,the #1 predator of the cubs is the dominant boars.A sow will not breed when she has cubs(every second spring),unless she loses her cubs,which is why a boar will kill the cubs if given the oppurtunity.Sows with cubs are seen sometimes in the fall at the baits when they are much bigger,and if so,baits are closed down and never hunted.

Rick Liske
Agassiz-Waterhen River Lodge & Outfitters
Outfitter/Guide