Headed out Thursday evening. On the way in about 10km before bear camp we saw the same bear from a couple weeks ago (the one I foolishly stopped on a dime at and jumped out with the gun, which he wasn't having) ... this time I did the right thing and kept driving... it was a bit different since we spooked him from the main road down into the bird-nest cut vs seeing him in there to begin with... but I drove a couple hundred meters ahead, waited a few mins and walked back.
Sat and waited for a few, heard some cracking around in the timber that sounded like he was going further away. I decide with the wind in my favor to hit the timber and cut him off. Well, it was crunchy down there... I guess I spooked him back into the little bird nest cut. He poked his head out for caddisgirl (no gun, tag or even bear spray oops lol) then I guess realized he was getting boxed in and bolted so bad I think I could still hear him going about 1km away.
Time to move on I guess. Arrived at bear camp 30 mins later and went for a little walk. I stumbled across a bear and watched it for a few minutes. It wasn't a big bear at all. Hard to judge... it was about 40-50 yards, light fading. I saw it a few times broadside and a few times head on. I've been seeing cub poop around there... really can't tell if it was a sow or last years cub (seen the sow the pumps out a couple years each year and she is pretty small) I guesstimated it was around 4 feet at most, maybe anywhere from 70-120lbs but nothing certain. I could tell when it was broadside there was a lot of gap under the legs... the space from the ground to the belly was larger than the belly to the back. And it was acting super cautious and gracefully, as if it be slow, careful and quiet not to make a noise... in my experience I only see sows and immature bears act like that. I grew impatient and decided I would just stalk up to it and try to get within 10 yards so I could get a real idea of the size and see if anyone else is around. Nope... busted in short order... it was onto me before by sight alone and saw that I had got closer. Went down the hill off to the side a little bit. Great, now I can stay out of sight and get super close to judge properly. Nope. Took a few more steps and it hit the timber. Made enough noise and seeing it a bit closer I figure it was around 150 lbs. I might have shot it to top of the freezer. I'm not sure. And one thing for sure is I'm not shooting if I am not sure.
Next day after pounding that little feeding area I moved onto another I am seeing way more sign in... not just nipped grass but lots of poop and some real fresh green ones. Figured I would hunker down there for the evening. Only 20 minutes or so of creeping in and sitting in this little feeling pocket, I start to hear the kind of SNAPS that echo... like clumsy and breaking 3 inch sticks kind of snaps and it is getting closer... that can only be a bear.. awesome... this is how things often go down... any second I'm going to see a nice boar walk into the feeding area and it's all going down within 15-20 yards.
Then all of a sudden... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM ... a shot from close by echos around the mountains. I'm thinking holy crap! That had to be within 200-500M of me as the crow flies. I'm less than 100 yards from a grassy trail that someone could get a 300M view from. I'm thinking HOLY crap... I hadn't heard that snapping in a minute or so... maybe the bear walked out onto the trail and someone blasted it. I sit and listen... I can hear a little bit of creeping around and notice a couple white tails. There ears are toward where I heard the snapping come from and they are huffing a bit. Maybe it's not over? They pass along and 20 minutes of silence go by. Caddisgirl hits me on the radio "did you shoot it?" ... She was reluctant to hit me on the radio because she doesn't want to make noise for me, but I guess after hearing a single shot and nothing from me for 20 mins, maybe it was just a hip shot I squeezed off before I got mauled LOL. Told her nope... but now I'm done. I see a truck parked on the main road below the spur that goes up to bear camp... little cut block off the main road. I walked up and hear people stomping around behind the tree line. I watched for a bit in case they came up empty and needed help tracking or even dragging. All of a sudden from the truck I hear a child voice say "vrooom !" I turn around, surprised, little 4-5 year old eyes super wide eyed and jacked up "my daddy shot a BEAR! now they are tracking it" ... watched for a few more mins and sure enough saw a couple dragging a bear across the cut. I'm not certain but maybe it was the one I passed on. If it was, I wished I had shot it LOL... draggable across a nasty cut over and under stuff but stuff takes a lot of effort for two people. That's a good one in my books and should be tasty.
Now for the deer shenanigans... never really seen anything like it. We had one deer walk up to our camp and just hang out for around 20 minutes. This is rare. Got a lot of good footage of the head bobbing and tail wagging... it bed down for a bit about 15 yards away and then moved on about a half hour after that.
Next morning I wake up and go for a little stroll with the rifle while caddisgirl is waking up. Sooo about 10 mins after I leave, she felt a pinch around her "chest area" and was in the process of doing a thorough self exam after seeing me get nailed a few times by ticks and having a few crawling her on... while she is doing this inside the jeep, suddenly a different deer (blacktail buck) sticks his head in the window looking at her and around inside the jeep. I was gone for over an hour and he is still there when I get back... what the heck... he hears me walking and only gave me a brief glance before shrugging me off... "meh, whatever, I know your husband is back but we kind of have a thing now right? Let's see them again!"
The deer hung out another hour or so after that... went on top of the hill from us doing "ear radar" and huffing a bit... thought maybe a bear around. I'm following around an antlerless blacktail buck around within petting distance, glassing everywhere he is looking and wear his ears are going... never did figure it out... but man these deer were acting weird.. coming up to camp, engaging us a few feet a away, tail wagging and looking back... "follow me" ... if only this would just happen in the fall.
Got a lot of cool footage. Looking forward to editing some of it together.
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