James Olsen's friends and family hunting and fishing.
Welcome to my hunting and fishing site, my name is James Olsen. I am a life long outdoorsman, who grew up hunting and fishing with my dad and brother. I was lucky enough to take some of that experience and worm my way into the guiding world. In the past I have been a guide in both Alaska and Colorado, but its only a very part time hobby now, because I have been blessed by marriage and two beautiful children. I want to share some of my pictures and videos from my hunting and guiding experiences, and from those of friends and family. Enjoy. (I'll be adding more content down the road)
This is my wife Leanne and me after a day of fishing on the Unalakleet river, in north western Alaska.
I was fortunate enough to marry a girl who can hold her own out in the wilds. Leanne and I have fished much of the northwest, mid-west, and northeast, of the United States. Leanne can hold her own with any angler out there. Just ask some of my fishing clients at the lodge... right honey? You'll see some of Leanne's catches later on in the site.
Pete's Christmas buck
This is a sweet 160 class whitetail that my brother Pete shot with his bow on Christamas day near my parents farm is western Wisconsin. No other presents were necessary that Christmas.
Click on the video link below to my nephew August tell he story of his first buck... and doe. It was opening morning of his first hunt...
2006 Rick tagged out
Rick and me with the nice 6x6 bull and 3x3 buck from 2006 season. Rick took that bull on the last day after a wild chase across the hills. It was one of my most enjoyable guiding experiences ever. We used every trick in the book, some twice, to get a shot opportunity. It was raining, then snowing, and blowing, and Ricks scope was fogging up. We passed on a nice 5x5 to get a chance at this guy. Finally as the herd was taking flight, (yes we spooked em'), that bull posed on top of a ridge and bugled, like out of a story book, before following the herd down the hill. It was his last bugle, I cow called, he stopped, and Rick dropped him at 270 yards.
The hornet's nest
Ricks 2006 6x6 This bull died on top of a hornets nest. I am allergic and so we had to wait for help. What a nice bull!
2006 Colorado Trophies 2nd week rifle season
This is the result of the second week of rifle (2006) season out at "Colorado Trophies" in Norwood,Co., where I have done some guiding over the course of 5 or 6 years. coloradotrophies.com
Steve's 2006 3x3 mule deer
Steve's big 3x3. Steve shot this buck from around 300 yards, if I remember right. It was an easy hunt. We spotted the deer and drove up behind a bush, Steve got out and dropped him with one shot. Watch it on video below. Sorry that its shaky.
Steve's 5x4 bull
This is a 5x4 that Steve shot on opening day. He was watching a valley and a herd of about 50 elk came across and actually ran right up to him. He shot this bull at about 75 yards. It ran just far enough back down the hill so as to be hard to get out.
Jay's 2003 5x5
Here is Jay with a really nice 5x5. This was a very fun hunt. It all began with Steve, Jay, and I on a fast hike in the dark up a hill we dubbed "the killing pile", for the cairn placed at the summit. This was Steve and Jays first trip to the lodge and the altitude was getting them. We got to the top at day break and immediatly spotted the bull down in the flats on the other side. Steve elected to stay put, so Jay and I took off down toward the bull. We literally had to go through 50 or 60 deer to get to him. Once we arrived, circled down wind, and crawled into cover, we couldn't see him. I called several times to no avail. I stood up to look around and there he was, not 75 yards away, but because of the scrub oak Jay couldn't shoot. The bull which had us pegged took off for the canyons. Jay told me later that he thought we blew it, and really we did, but we chased him anyway. I knew that there was no easy way down for him on that side and hoped that he'd circle up toward the head of the draw in order to go down. So we ran for a good 1/2 mile to the rim of what we call "Bear Draw". I looked down and there he was straight across. I ranged him at 350 yards. Jay leaned on my shoulder to steady up, I cow called and stopped him, and Jay put 2 out of 3 through the vitals at that range with BAR 30.06. Nice shooting, especially after that run at around 9000 ft altitude.
We then climed back up to Steve and with-in the hour he had a nice 4x4 buck down. After dealing with both animals we returned to the "killing pile" that afternoon. Steve sat up top while Jay and I chased around a big buck down below. I decided to climb up to Steve to see if we could spot any elk. As soon as I got up there Steve pointed to a low mountain we called 'Big Bauldy" and there was a small herd graing along a steep slope. Off we went. We crossed a couple hundred yards of open ground under the full gaze of the elk. We pulled it off by doing "the human elk". I was in the lead bent half way over, Steved followed right behind bent completely over while holding on to my coat. It was a trick I heard told in a story, and it worked (and has worked other times since). We closed to with-in 450 yards, and Steve put a 5x4 bull down with one shot from his 338 BAR .Two days later Jay took a nice 4x4 buck right from the same pile. The picture below shows all 4 animals from that hunt.
Spunky starts off 2003 with a bang, or really a "thunk".
Spunky shot this 6x5 bull with his bow just a couple of minutes into the first week of the 2003 archery season. We hiked in to a little valley in the dark and settled down to wait for light. Once we could see well enough I made one bugle, and down the hill came two bulls. Spunky actually shot over the top of the smaller bull to kill this one at 40 yards. That was Spunky's first ever elk hunt. What I never told him was that although I was an experienced rifle hunting guide, that was my first ever day guiding a bow hunt for elk. Beginners luck all the way around I guess.
Click the video link below to hear Spunky tell the story himself.
Spunky's Tale.
LINKS
www.mainefishhunt.com Hunting and fishing videos from the great state of Maine!!!
www.alaskafishhunt.com Alaskan hunting and fishing videos!!!
coloradotrophies.com Fully guided hunting for elk, mule deer, and black bear. Full service lodge.
chasetheadventure.com Guided hunting for unpland game birds, trophy whitetail, and more. Full service lodge.
peteolsenphotography.com My brother is a professional photographer. Check out his outstanding pictures!