First post:
What is black, white, red all over and gets stuck in a revolving door?
A nun with a spear through her head.
I am 26 and have wanted to hunt since I can remember, but never had anyone to do it with and learn from which deterred me from pursuing it. Since getting my PAL and Core done in March, I've spent countless hours researching, reading books, reviewing satellite maps, practicing at the range a couple times every week, and going around with a 60LB pack EVERYWHERE (even doing the dishes and mowing the lawn with it)
This weekend I went for my first hunt with 2 friends, I managed to convince them to get their Hunting Licenses with me (none of us had hunted before). They weren't too keen on driving too far for just a weekend hunt, we decided on Scuzzy Creek area, near Boston bar in Region 3-15. We were interested in getting a muley, black bear, or even just some grouse!
After looking at satellite maps and pictures on an old hiking forum post, it looked like a promising area with lots of clear cuts and trails to explore.
We left the lower mainland midday Friday. The second we got off the pavement and hit gravel roads we saw some mule deer does, that got all 3 of us excited. Once we set-up camp, around 5:30pm, we decided to hike a nearby logging road and not 10min into hunting I took my first animal, a ruff grouse! We were ecstatic and the excitement really fueled us for the rest of the weekend. Dinner was good that night! We hiked further up this very old trail and we saw TONS of berry filled black bear sign, some fresh from that day and lots just a day or two old. I was really excited at the thought of getting an opportunity at a berry fattened bear.
The next day, we found out the hard way that all those "clearings" on the sattelite maps were quite old and absolutely everything was overgrown. Most of the roads weren't even acessible with a 4x4. We ended up hikng 40KM on saturday, going up and down mountains, through creeks, busting through the thickest bush Ive ever seen in hopes that we might find a spot where we could see more than 20ft infront of us, no such luck!
We saw sooo much sign from every kind of animal along the way, the least of which was mule deer,though there was some. Mostly predator sign... even a fair amount of fresh grizz poop and scratches. I even saw some wolf prints that mustve belonged to a mythical creature these paws were so big.
It was a little unnerving busting through brush after seeing so much grizz sign and I think we even found the grizzly's bedding area by accident, glad I brought friends and bear spray thats for sure!
The fallen leaves and dry sticks really made it hard to stay quiet and still hunt, we heard a couple large animals get spooked nearby and take off through the brush, thats about as close as we came to anything. I managed to spot 3 black bears moving up an avalanche chute, but it was waaaaaaay too far away to matter.
We ended the weekend with some sore feet, 1 grouse, and a lot to learn! I really learned that sattelite images and old pictures, really don't paint the picture well enough of what an area is like.
I'm very enthusiastic to continue my journey and look forward to going again next weekend!
I would be incredibly grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction for next time, I am not afraid to put boots on the ground and do some hard work.
Any advice on where I should try and go next time? Maybe within 2-4 hours of the lower mainland? Feel free to give me your honey hole lol, but I mostly just want a broad idea of an area with some large open places to glass. Im interested in any kind of deer or black bear.
In addition, how should we approach planning and making the most out of a short 3 day trip?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I look forward to being a helpful member of the community once I have a little more experience.