Mountain Spirit Outfitters Inc

I love it when i get photos from my clients, these fellas have had 2 successful seasons hammering some dandy mule deer.. to be able to mount them all and preserve the memories you guys shared has been such a pleasure.

Thank you for trusting me the first year I opened up my shop and coming back the next year.

A wall of memories, a wall of art 🫶🙌

I hope you guys have a kick ass season, save some bucks for the rest of us eh!

To all my American friends and clients, Happy 250 Independence Day!!

This one was an exciting stalk! 😳

A judge ruled Wednesday that the state can continue its predator control program targeting black bears and brown bears in southwest Alaska as part of an effort to rebuild the Mulchatna caribou herd.

The herd once numbered around 190,000 animals in the late 1990s. By 2019, it had dropped to roughly 13,000. Current estimates put the herd at around 16,000, and hunting has been closed since 2021 because numbers became too low.

State officials say calf predation from bears and wolves is one of the main reasons the herd has struggled to recover. The program focuses on removing predators during calving season when newborn calves are most vulnerable.

Since 2023, the state has removed around 175 brown bears and several black bears through the program.

Critics argue habitat conditions and climate are bigger issues than predators, while supporters say predator control is necessary if the herd is going to recover.

Aaron B. Futrell, Author|Owner, Delong Lure

BREAKING: The New York State Senate has again passed a bill to ban the importation, transportation, and possession of certain African hunting trophies in New York. 🚨

The legislation targets lion, leopard, elephant, giraffe, and both white and black rhino— trophies despite overwhelming evidence that sustainable hunting supports conservation and local economies in southern Africa.

The measure raises legal concerns, including federal preemption, and is directly opposed by several African governments. Such emotionally based bans do nothing to curb poaching and have a negative effect on conservation and anti-poaching efforts. Couching this vote during an "animal advocacy" session of votes is disingenuous on the success hunters' contribution to conservation.

The bill now advances to the New York State Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee for consideration. SCI will continue engaging in opposition and urges New York residents to contact their Assembly members. 🔗 https://www.votervoice.net/SCI/campaigns/134470/respond

An excerpt from, “The Wolves Were the Worst,” (June 1967, Outdoor Life) detailing Olive Fredrickson’s story as a widow and mother of three on a remote homestead along the Stuart River, British Columbia-

“I saw a cow moose and her calf come running out of the brush, with two big timber wolves after them. One wolf snapped and lunged in front of the cow, just out of reach of her front feet, and while I watched, helpless, the other wolf went after the calf, hamstrung it with one bite, and pulled it down. Then it turned its attention to the cow, diving in and grabbing her by the hind legs.
My blood was boiling. I did my best to force Shorty across the meadow and break the thing up, but he’d have none of that. He pranced and waltzed the other way, and I began to shout to scare the wolves off. They ran into the brush, and I rode a circle around the two moose, yelling at the top of my lungs, hoping to spook those two gray devils out of the neighborhood.
Then I hit for home to get a gun. I didn’t have to urge Shorty. He did his level best the whole way. I suppose he thought the moose and the wolves were both after him.
I drank a glass of milk while Olive and Vala put my saddle on Ben, our other horse. Then I loaded the Wi******er and rode back to Fedderly’s Meadow as fast as the fresh horse could go. But I’d been gone in all.
While I was still in the timber, I heard the cow moose blow her nose. I tied Ben and ran as fast and quietly as I could to the edge of the open field, and it’s hard to put into words the sight that met my eyes.

That poor cow was still fighting for her calf, but there wasn’t much fight left in her. Her entrails were torn half out and were dragging on the ground as she turned this way and that, trying to trample the wolves with her front feet. But she was too near death to move fast enough. The hamstrung calf still lay off to one side, helpless, where I had seen it last.
The cow’s hind legs failed, and she went down on her haunches while I was sneaking from tree to tree to get within good shooting range. I wanted to be sure of hitting something when I shot.
When I reached an opening where I could see everything, one wolf was lapping blood at the cow’s flank, and the other was actually sitting on her hindquarters, his big red tongue lolling out from exertion. I was so furious while I made the last few yards of my stalk that I gritted my teeth until they hurt.
I drew a bead on the wolf that was sitting on the moose, and when the rifle cracked, he flew up in the air as if a bomb had hit him. My shot tore his whole back out just behind the shoulders, and he was dead when he hit the ground.
The second one didn’t know where the shot had come from, and he made a bad mistake: he ran straight toward me. I kept my sights on him and let him come until he swerved, 200 feet away, to streak for the brush. My shot cut across his chest, blew a good hole in him, and broke both front legs. At that I had to follow his blood trail for 400 feet through rose brambles and scrub trees. He was still trying to crawl off. But because he was almost dead, I let him suffer and saved the one shell I had left for the cow moose. After I had taken care of her, I put the calf out of its misery with my belt ax.
For a woman who dislikes killing things, I’d had quite a day. But I never felt the slightest regret where those two wolves were concerned. I made a vow: from that day on I’d shoot any wolf I could that I laid eyes on.
I hate wolves. I’ve seen a lot of their work since, on caribou, deer, and moose, and I’m convinced they kill for fun as well as for food. They run and play their victims as renegade dogs do sheep. I’ve known them to feed fully on a kill, leave it to pull down the next animal they came to, and go on without feeding. If they run across a bunch of deer or caribou, they don’t even take time to finish a kill. They pull it down, disable it, and go after another and another until they get tired. If there are one or two old wolves in the pack, with poor teeth, they’ll stay with the first kill, eat all they want, and then catch up with the rest. Every now and then the pack turns on those decrepit old-timers, too, and tears them to bits. You don’t often catch an old or crippled timber wolf in a trap, and I doubt if any ever died of old age.”
🔗 https://www.outdoorlife.com/survival/wolves-attacking-moose/?fbclid=IwdGRleARVJEBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZAo2NjI4NTY4Mzc5AAEefZ_FG0RQ_ECKU5-BuH7dJy1VmCHdkERATpKg5Pd8EryJxPm_VPkxbo2MK94_aem_XV6h1pRJEiw4Z4pb92zHiw

Safari Club International Litigation Associate Madeline Demaske testified today before the House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water, Wildlife, and Fisheries in support of H.R. 6251, legislation that would address longstanding unintended consequences of the polar bear import ban.

The bill would provide relief to 41 hunters who fully complied with all applicable laws at the time of their guided hunts in Canada, but were later prevented from importing their legally harvested polar bears following the species’ ESA listing.

SCI thanks Rep. Nick Begich (R‑AK) for requesting the introduction of H.R. 6251 and for his leadership on this important issue. We urge Congress to advance this commonsense legislation and reaffirm a science‑based approach to wildlife conservation.

This should alarm you: millions of people have been taught to believe that humans are somehow separate from nature, as if we’re the one species that exists outside of it. That’s insane. Humans are part of nature, and not only that, we are the apex predator. Every living thing survives because something else dies. Polar bears live because seals die. Seals live because fish die. Those fish live because smaller fish die. Even people who pretend they’re not part of that system still live off death, whether it’s an animal, a plowed field, destroyed habitat, or the countless living things killed to produce food. Death is not some corruption of nature. It is one of the main ways nature works.

What makes humans different is not that we kill. Everything kills, directly or indirectly. What makes humans different is that we’re the one apex predator that can actually think ahead. We can look at a deer herd, a wolf population, a habitat, or an ecosystem and say, what do we want this to look like 20 years from now? What do we want left for our kids? Wolves don’t do that. Bears don’t do that. They don’t manage for the future. Humans are the only apex predator on earth capable of real wildlife management, and somehow people have been tricked into believing that the one species capable of protecting the future is the one species that should step aside

— Stephen Ziegler
Outdoor writer | Owner, DeLong Lures