Recent content by theat
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Montana Deer Permit Advice
If your tags are good for an area near a subdivision, I highly recommend this setup. They will often completely ignore me until I'm right in their midst, and with this kind of firepower you can take out the whole herd. The best part is that the pieces left over are usually small enough that I... -
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Pick a state to become a resident ...
My impression of Wyoming if I only saw it from I-80.- theat
- Post #111
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Montana Proposed Black Bear Season Changes
I love spring bear hunting in Montana. I spend 20-30 days out in the field almost every spring season. A lot has changed over the past 20 years in region 1 and 2 when it comes to the amount of bears I see in the field as well as the amount of hunters pursuing them. There has always been certain... -
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
I dug up and started going through some of my GoPro videos last night looking for the video of some of the more exciting bull elk catches. I have multiple hundreds of hours of video so no luck yet on those, but I did find this clip from catching mountain goats in the East Humbolts in Nevada. Its...- theat
- Post #61
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
Eagles are one of the primary predators of young sheep in lots of areas. They figure out pretty quick that an eagle can't get at them if they are in a cave or next to a vertical face. I think that they just naturally assume its the same with helicopters. Myself or one of my coworkers often had...- theat
- Post #59
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
Nothing as exciting as the other videos, but figured some of you might be interested. This was catching newly born elk calves as part of the Bitterroot predator/prey study that concluded several years ago.- theat
- Post #58
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
A couple more short clips with some bighorn sheep. The second one has a bit of uninteresting flying around before the good part starts at about 45 sec in.- theat
- Post #54
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
Nope, they are on their own. The rest of us would let the pilot know if we saw anything like a power line that we thought they might not have seen yet. Sometimes they would have us call out main and tail rotor clearance when they were trying to get the helicopter down into a hole in the trees...- theat
- Post #52
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
We didn't wear anything more than just warm clothes and a flight helmet. My flight helmet came in handy a bunch of times. The biggest defense against getting kicked or otherwise hurt by the animals is your brain. Being around them a bunch you get pretty good at anticipating a freakout or them...- theat
- Post #51
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
I had a lot of previous experience with helicopters while working in the wildfire biz. After that I ended up working for the state department primarily doing survey work along the western US/Canada border. In Alaska and a lot of the mountainous parts of the NW, getting to survey sites along the...- theat
- Post #45
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
No, I was the one filming that one. That was my former coworker from Wyoming. He is one of the toughest guys I know and also an incredible shot. I've jumped out of the helicopter onto the backs of running animals quite a few times. The most memorable one was a cow elk just north of the...- theat
- Post #41
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
Ugh, don't remind me! I've only gotten seasick once and it was while below deck in some crazy irregular swells, but the first couple days every year in the helicopter was torture. Those days would be spend puking out the door or next to a deer I was working on until I was dry heaving. Best ab...- theat
- Post #34
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Montana - Time to Shake it Up?
Several different types and brands of collars available, but for the combo VHF/GPS multi-year battery life collars they tend to be pretty spendy. Its tough to get a solid number on cost as most companies base that on the quantity purchased and potential for further contracts. From what I... -
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
The first thing I ever did in the business was tow a crashed helicopter from MT down to CO. Not the most confidence boosting way to start off. If I was smart, I would have quit right then. In actuality, I am very glad that I had the opportunity to do what I did and be a small part of wildlife...- theat
- Post #23
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
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Helicopter Capture Compilation
As to not gunning and mugging anymore...despite how fun it looks on the screen it is a tough job. It was pretty much everyday for 4 months with no real scheduled days off. We did get some non capture days due to travel, maintenance and weather, but we still had work to do on those days. It was...- theat
- Post #21
- Forum: Fireside (A Place for Friends)
