Hunting in Grizzly area

[Tim Tam Slam]

Thanks for posting this thread, I know there’s been lots on this already. Looking forward to seeing more posts! Increasing bear population everywhere makes me wary about the night time haul out.

Bugle M In - great insight! I’m keeping mental notes.

[Buck]

Its really mostly related to the area, how far from camp or truck, time of day etc etc but common sense and figuring out what you can do to mitigate the danger is somewhat different each time. DON'T EVER retrieve or come back to get the animal without a firearm. Ive been bush hunting moose on foot since 1981 in heavy grizzly country, see them regularily, mostly in close as vision is limited. Only once out of some 30 ish moose we harvested have we had an extremely stressful and dangerous encounter. WEve had them stand up on an old skid trail 40 yds away and woof at us as we pass along a trail and while that's concerning it wasn't at all life threatening. However one time we shot a bull moose a long ways from ATV access and had to build a float to carry the atv across a deep waterway and cut our way in to the animal which took a long time the following day after the kill. We had all the meat out and my buddy went back and a boar came at my partner silently from the kill site, luckily my buddy heard him walking through a low wet runoff area so he came to a shooting position and the griz never missed a beat and walked straight at him from 35 ft with no backing off despite yelling so he dropped at 25 feet with a thud. Never seen fear in someones eyes like he had that day, it was erie..

What caliber do you pack?

[BromBones]

Keep your rifle in arms reach and pay attention as you're dealing with the meat. Stop, look and listen regularly and don't get so focused on the job that you're oblivious to your surroundings.

Hiking out, keep your rifle cradled in one hand when possible. Fumbling for a rifle that's strapped to your pack when you're in a bind is not good. Those few seconds can be the difference in getting a shot away or getting steamrolled.

I also always have my dog with me, been taking him hunting for 10 years and with a bit of training (or experimenting ) he sort of developed a knack for circling the brush and guarding when I'm dealing with a downed animal. A lot of the natural guarding breeds will take to that. A well trained hunting dog is pretty good insurance.

[LuckyIfYouGetOne]

I now carry my pack alarm when hunting alone in G bear country. To easy to string it up and create a big perimeter when you can't constantly be watching your back and while working alone.

I shot an elk at last light bow season one year in warm weather and worked alone to get it quartered and packed out. Was very un- nerving. The pack alarm allows you to focus on what you are doing, getting it done sooner

Leaving a moose overnignt is not an option...they retain too much heat and if you leave till the next day to process you will get spoilage aka bone sour...you have to open up and gut or skin and quarter ASAP...you will be amazed on the amount of heat the skin will retain...i recently shot a bull moose solo with only 10 minutes of light left...I set up my PackAlarm pulled out my iPhone and played my playlist titled chill music as loud as it would go to hopefully deter any curious predators and the music helped to calm my nerves in grizz country...if you do not feel comfortable processing at night only hunt in morning so you have daylight...good luck!

[whitlers]

Anything can happen with Gbears. Listen to the Meat Eater podcast called 'Meat Tree'. Its an eye opener for sure.

[tuffcityhunter]

very good point about the animal being burried after a kill with the bears. Sister was young and chased a grouse into the brush and ended up right on top of a kill she was definitely a little spooked after that about the bears. when we back out animals we try our best to circle up high on the kill site and glass back down on it if the visibility is low to see if anything is their. Packed a bison out of the bush once in the october draw. guys where watching us on the hill side and lucky for us the sow and cubs came in after our last trip just after we left. same trip one destroyed our bbq. as soon as we have a kill down the bear spray goes on.
seen a grizz hunter once as he was getting loaded into the chopper. he shot his boar then compound fractured his leg not to far from the kill site. Spent his night up on the hill and definitely had to defend off the bears all night that as they where circling him all night long. scary times!!!!

[HarryToolips]

I now carry my pack alarm when hunting alone in G bear country. To easy to string it up and create a big perimeter when you can't constantly be watching your back and while working alone.

I shot an elk at last light bow season one year in warm weather and worked alone to get it quartered and packed out. Was very un- nerving. The pack alarm allows you to focus on what you are doing, getting it done sooner

I own a pack alarm and I haven't done it yet, but thought of exactly this....why not use it for more than just sleeping..

[caddisguy]

very good point about the animal being burried after a kill with the bears. Sister was young and chased a grouse into the brush and ended up right on top of a kill she was definitely a little spooked after that about the bears. when we back out animals we try our best to circle up high on the kill site and glass back down on it if the visibility is low to see if anything is their. Packed a bison out of the bush once in the october draw. guys where watching us on the hill side and lucky for us the sow and cubs came in after our last trip just after we left. same trip one destroyed our bbq. as soon as we have a kill down the bear spray goes on.
seen a grizz hunter once as he was getting loaded into the chopper. he shot his boar then compound fractured his leg not to far from the kill site. Spent his night up on the hill and definitely had to defend off the bears all night that as they where circling him all night long. scary times!!!!

I found a spike mostly buried in 3-26. The head and part of the chest cavity were exposed. It was freshly eaten on and I figured we spooked the culprit. My instinctive strategy was to walk out exactly over the same tracks we came in on since we didn't get charged coming in... figured any deviation from that route back out was a gamble. Spooky stuff!!

[Arctic Lake]

purchased it. Same one I use around my tent when spiking out.

Ron could you please post a link to the alarm you are talking about ? Also how you would rig it up for a perimeter alarm .
Thanks
Arctic Lake

[Arctic Lake]

Little unnerving for sure !
Very good information in this thread ! Bugle very good list !

Mid October we shot a good sized moose mid morning once and we were still packing out when it got dark . We left a Coleman lantern burning at the kill site while we made trips to the truck with meat. Partner carried the gun I packed the meat .

What the other member said for sure " Don't leave the guts in overnight " !

Heard the story more than once about a hunter going back solo when he had a partner and for whatever reason not sure ,that did not accompany him to the kill sight from the night before. Hunter lost his life to a Griz !
R.I.P