I am interested in doing a Bobcat, Lynx, Mt Lion combo in BC next year.

I know these guys do quite a bit of that, but I don't know anyone who has gone with them. Anyone have any information?

I know at least a dozen people who have hunted with them taking Mt. Goats, Elk, and Bear. They are first class.

This is one of B.C.'s best known outfitting firms and the one in which the late Robt. Fontana was a partner; his tragic death has been discussed here, so, I shall not comment further.

I am very familiar with their southeastern B.C. territory as I am a native of that area, the Kootenays and worked throughout the L-F guide concession for years as a member of the Forest Service.

Predator populations are very high right now, so, this is a good time to make this hunt, HOWEVER, this is very rugged terrain withh deep snow annd it can be extremely cold, -30-45F is not uncommon.

When hunting, you need proper clothing and boots, I suggest that you ask them for recommendations. Make sure that any boots you have are well broken-in and I prefer a pac boot with heel counters and an ankle support, Schnee's and Hoffman's suit me.

I think that you will enjoy this trip, we B.C. people are invariably courteous and friendly to visitors and the landscape is just stunning. You should be successful and that will help trim the predator populations which will help out the Mule Deer in particular.

I think that you have made a good choice of Guide-Outfitters and you will never forget B.C., that I am sure of.

I'll second what Kutenay said. Like him, I have spent a lot of time in their East Kootenay territory(s) through both work (as a company forester though) and play (hunting, backpacking, fishing, etc). I knew them (Bob and Anna) and most of their Elk Valley guides very well. You cannot go wrong with this outfit.

That said, most of their cat hunts are usually done in their Fraser Canyon operations, which is run by Bart and Cam Lancaster. I don't know them or that territory nearly as well, but that operation is very highly regarded in the industry. I think that it is assured you will have a quality hunt and should have a good chance of success on all three cats.

Although the terrain is not quite as steep on average in the Fraser Canyon territory, Kutenay's advice is still sound. Warm clothes and good Pac boots are the order of the day.

Cheers,
Canuck

Another good choice would be Okanagan Outfitters owned by Marc Hubbard.I took a 185lb cougar with him and other hunters took huge bobcat and lynx as well as their cougars.

I consider Lancaster-Fontana to be the very best North American hunting outfit I've ever had the pleasure of being in the field with, bar-none. When Bob was alive, he and I shared some of the finest hunts I've ever enjoyed in my life. Every aspect of the entire outfit is well-run, and the country is beautiful and full of trophy-quality game. I remember glassing a mountain across a valley on a spring grizzly hunt I was on with Bob. Through the spotting scope, beginning at the bottom of the mountain and continuing to the top, in one sitting I spotted EVERY single species of big game that may be hunting in that part of B.C. (except for cats and wolf), and during the ten-day hunt I spotted 23 individual grizzlies. It's an amazing place, beautiful, and a hunter's paradise. You need to be in shape to hunting it alright, no question about it.

All of the guides are world-class, including every one of the Lancasters and a very special and honest man who I really enjoyed named Kim Sadrovic. I don't know if he's still guiding up there or not, but I sure hope so. You may not know it, but having so many high-quality, experience, highly-qualified guides all in the same outfit is anything but common in N.A. hunting camps, and truly sets Lancaster-Fontana apart from most of the rest of them. Of course, in my estimate Bob Fontana was in a league all his own, and my favorite North American hunting guide of all time.

I miss him.......

AD

quote:

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Originally posted by allen day:
...and a very special and honest man who I really enjoyed named Kim Sadrovic. I don't know if he's still guiding up there or not, but I sure hope so.

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Kim is pretty busy with his fish guiding and cat skiing operation (Fernie Wilderness Adventures), but I think he still does a hunt or two every fall (favorite .338 in hand of course!).

You can check out his website here...Fernie Wilderness Adventures (Kim Sedrovik)

Cheers,
Canuck

Kim's .338 is a good one. I'm glad to hear that he's still putting it to good use!

AD

Boy, it's a small world, eh! I can remember "little Eddie" Sadrovic carefully walking a D-7 "Cat" across the old Round Prairie Bridge over the Elk River during the spring spate in '67. I was a young punk in the BCFS and three of us were living in the old Forest Service cabin at Britt Cr., just down from the "Henrietta" with the duty of digging out flooded culverts and fixing the old log bridges.

I imagine that Eddie was probably Kim's dad or uncle, so, he should know the Elk, Abruzzi, Kananaskis country pretty well, now but a shadow of what it was before the strip mines and other "progress". As fine as that country was/is for game, it did not equal the "fabulous
Flathead" in the great days when I was a kid; that was, at that time, probably the greatest hunting anywhere in North America.

With the accursed ski developments, trophy homes for outlanders, mining, logging, hydro dams and fuggen golf courses, the Kootenays are no longer the paradise for hunters that I can remember. In fact, I strongly suspect that the days of Guide-Outfitters, non-resident trophy hunting and maybe much of the resident hunting will soon be a memory; the anti-hunting and "hippy" attitudes are very strong throughout that area, as is the sympathy for the Aboriginal agenda.

Kutenay,

Did you ever meet John Beswick back then? He manned the Britt Ck lookout somewhere around '67 to '69. He's got some great pics of the Fording, Kilmarnock (Lewis) Ck, Henrietta Ck, etc, before Fording River Coal gutted the area and flipped it inside out.

Or how 'bout Rudy Johnson? Famed cat skinner of the day.

Cheers,
Canuck

I was at Fernie in '65 and '67, we junior guys were moved around a lot; I was at Kaslo and New Denver in '68-69. The guy on Fording lookout was Jock White, from an old "south country" family and he was one of the finest men I have ever been privileged to know. He was there, lying wounded by mortar fire in Normandy when S.S. troops of "Der Hitler Jugend" systematically machinegunned wounded Canadian soldiers; he had tears in his eyes when he told me about it during the evening bull sessions in the old cabin.

I have heard of John Beswick as I spoke with his relative Sean, about maybe going hunting with his outfit, I like to go on drop camps and spike outs alone, but, packed in by Outfitters. I cannot remember the other gentleman, it was long ago and I have not seen that country since '69 when I guided a photographer there for a few days....haven't been down to Butt's since '81, either.

Another character from that area that I knew well was Alphie Barnes of Corbin, who lived there all alone in the Flathead Valley, even during the winter, and ran his 300 or so head of horses there all summer. He was a real "mountain man" of the type that simply has died out, he once chased a black bear out of his cabin with a broom, I would like to see some of the Gore-Tex wearing, MAGNUM pistol packing, toughtalking heros on some gun forums try that!