Hunting Montana & Indiana

Mule Deer • White Tail • Elk • Antelope • Turkey • Waterfowl • Coyotes

Newsletter 2013

Hello, and Happy New Year! We hope that you have a prosperous, safe and successful 2013. We would like to thank all the clients who supported Trophies West in 2012. We also would like to take a moment to congratulate the successful hunters for harvesting some terrific animals, including a number of personal bests. Please check out our 2012 photos. The deer hunting brought on a number of challenges that we have been fortunate to avoid until this year. As most of you know, fires across the west this summer caused havoc in a lot of areas and in some places, total devastation. The herds in our area shifted dramatically in response to the fires, smoke and loss of grazing grounds. We definitely saw the drought of 2012 affect horn growth as well. Exciting though, is the fact that there will be some incredible protein filled grasses coming back this spring in the burned areas. It should make for incredible horn growth. Places that had marginal grasses before, will be plentiful if we get good spring rains. While we are waiting on our age classification data to be finished up, we felt really good once again about the harvest ages of the animals taken. On a side note, an aggressive predator trapping and harvesting plan is being implemented as we write this. Please fill free to give us a call for some hunter references as to what they are seeing in the field with us.

For the goose hunters, we had another incredible year. Out of 108 possible limits, we shot 104! In the past few years we have been fortunate enough to have Mossy Oak, Benelli and Lee and Tiffany hunt and film geese with us. For the turkey hunters, we still have a few openings this spring.

The newly constructed lodge (2011), combined with our chef Deb Collins, makes your stay unforgettable! In 2012, we added a shop to the property complete with a heated skinning room and walk in cooler. Please check out the photos of the lodge and shop in the photo section.

Since the abolishment of the outfitter sponsored licenses several years ago, many new opportunities continue to arise. With that being said, everything has been positive thus far for our clients. The licenses are on a draw system now and after the draw last year, hundreds of tags were left over and went on sale on a first come-first serve basis. So if by chance you miss the March 15th drawing deadline, please call us and we will guide you through the licensing process to obtain any left over tags. Acquiring a bonus point is a must also with the new licensing system.

As always, Trophies West is constantly looking at, and trying to obtain quality leases to add to its portfolio. This is an endless and daunting task that can be very rewarding when it all comes together. Several new ranches are scheduled to be visited this upcoming spring. As before, Trophies West and its crew, wishes this upcoming hunting season fulfills all your dreams and expectations. We at Trophies West are looking forward to doing just that for our clients!

Please feel free to call us anytime if you have questions on any of the hunts, or just want to talk hunting!

God Bless,

Craig & Troy