Newsletter
February, 2009
North Rim Hunt Club Upland Bird Report:
Our season started with a dove hunt where everyone limited out in the first couple hours and boy what a fabulous time! The cover this year has been awesome for a couple of reasons - the large amounts of water from the snow pack and Mark Levalley fertilized before the first rain. The wild bird population is one of the best hatches that we have had in the last 12 years. Our first freeze was not until December so the young birds did well. The new 500-acre property has offered excellent hunting with the cedar covered draws flowing into open meadows. Right now, the ranch has lost 90% of its snow and walking through the fields is much easier.
We just finished another successful hunter safety youth hunt at North Rim Hunt Club. This is an annual event we host along with the D.O.W. After the kids pass the Hunter Safety Course, they come to North Rim for lunch and a guided afternoon hunt. Many of the kids’ shot their first pheasants. We are working on building the skills of young, future members.
The duck season is very late this year and we are mainly shooting mallards. We just got off our first cast n blast in Escalante Canyon where we jumped over 5,000 ducks, mallards and teal. Glena Galloway’s dog “Cooper” had her first duck retrieve from a boat! It was exciting for both Glena and the guides. The cast n blast is a fun trip for people who enjoy a full day hunt.
Remember our hunting season goes until April 1! There is still time to get out and hunt!
Take advantage of these beautiful days and beat cabin fever. The next season will start up again on September 1, 2009.
North Rim Hunt Club 970-874-8184 www.gunnisonriverexpeditions.com
North Rim Trophy Hunts: Big Game Report:
The Trophy Elk and the Mule Deer hunts were very successful this 
pastyear with some 400 class bulls harvested and the average bull was over 360 sci score.The mule deer hunt was pretty good considering the warm weather. We still took 100% some 160 170 class bucks. We have fully guided hunts as well as do it yourself hunts. We hunt all private land. We are filling up on the big game hunts for this fall and are booking 2009 spots. Call if you would like a brochure we would be glad to send you one.
Thank You!
Visit the web site for prices and pictures. www.planyourhunt.com or call 970-874-1141
There are still some openings in June – Call now, they will fill fast!!!
We want to thank you for a great 2008 season! We all are looking forward to the 2009 season. Get your bookings in, early June is filling up, remember our launches are every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and some weekends.
A look back at an exciting 2008…This Season 2008 started with dry /dropper rigs and nymphing, walking the dog along the banks of the Gunnison. About the third week of June, we started to see the salmon fly emergence and the stonefly adults. The last week of June, you could finally break out those big dries but still using droppers, as there were too many stone nymphs under the surface of the water.
As we went into the second week of July, we were still using adult stonefly patterns. Since the hatch was late, hopper season was on us right after the salmon fly. This did not matter much because the hoppers were happening. We were using stone patterns / hopper patterns until the second week of July and then used hoppers throughout December; which was a boon and crocket season. Overall, the large dry flies were the fly of the year!
This winter, streamers have been working well and nymphing with pheasant tails, copper johns, beatis and midge patterns. The dropper rigs still produce as well with an attractor pattern paired with the above-mentioned nymphs. This should continue thru the winter and early spring. Late spring into next summer, we should start to see a higher population of nymphs. Now we have to wait and see what Mother Nature (and the Bureau of Reclamation) give us for water flows for next season. Looks like right now we will have an 1100 CFS flows for the summer. We look forward to seeing you on the river this year!
We look forward to seeing all of you in the months to come Thanks