What a wonderful week in the wilderness of Manitoba!  

This year the TallTines crew consisted of Brian Wessel and his father Mark from Iowa, Mike Mitten and Matt Smith from Illinois, and Bryan Burkhardt and me from Michigan.  We would be there for the Black Bear rut.

I am gathering up photos from the adventure, but I will start it out with this:

I am happy to say I was there in the beginning...the beginning of what will certainly be the long and legendary outfitting career of Ryan Derlago


 


Shown with his trusty attache and super guide David    :D

Yes, I've been waiting for this one.  Let me pour a fresh cup of     and sit back and enjoy.

Glad to hear Steve, been waiting o this on myself.

Me to! What is taking you so long Steve!lol

This is going to take a while, I am sneaking a few posts in when I can.  LOTS of catching up to do at work after a week of  NO contact.

Last year we had camp at a comfy lake cabin.  This year I believe we had an upgrade...canvas tents with wood stoves.  Very comfortable camp life.

 


 


The camp kitchen and dining hall was a big toy hauler.  Ryan's Mom, Miss Bea, fed us like kings


 

 


Until we could take no more and were either going to pop like an egourged tick (me) or grab a quick cat nap to preserve the predatory reflexes...

 

QuoteOriginally posted by wapiti792:
   

X2

Hey Steve- I resemble that last remark.

Hi Steve O! Thank you for inviting us to join this special adventure. Contemplating with considerable anticipation as the story unveils.

To appease my desire to immerse myself and thus experience a voluminous intimacy, would you consider being a little more specific in identifying the individuals in the pics?

This promising excursion is likely one that I would not wish to miss whether a successful harvest is effected or not.

Really looking forward to following this!

Welcome back Steve,I was just wondering how things were gone!!

I'm excited for this one!  

Man you need to get this done by tom night, or you'll have to stop by the booth with pics and tell the story in person  

Felix...you need to give me the Italian word for "awesome".  I am thinking mucho gusto?

So, Ryan's hunt unit has a lot of elevation to it and quite a bit of varied terrain.  It definitely has uplands and lowlands and lots of lakes to use as funnels.  There is active logging in the area.  Clearcuts and new plantings.  I don't know how big the area is; I should, but it is big enough for me.  To get around, we use the "iron horse"


Bryan B negotiating an "easy" trail to stand:

 


Brian W was my chauffeur the first night:

 


One of the things I believe sets Stickflingers apart from other outfits is their attention to detail.  They don't just slop out a pile of goodies and set you in a spot willy nilly.  They hunt big bears like one would hunt big whitetails; VERY carefully.  He leaves "sanctuary" areas within the unit for security.  You don't hunt a stand if the wind is not right.  Ryan keeps Lone Wolf stands and sticks in the truck so a portable can quickly be hung to hunt a setup effectively.  Brian is carrying one here to an evening stand.

 

Come on Steve-O... we impatiently need a "hit".  UB

Tap, tap, tap....

Excuse the pun, but it looks like y'all were "loaded for bear" with all those freezers!