2 weeks of scouting and waddaya get?

[Mr. Dean]

The third looks like mountain ash berries. Highly poisonous to humans, not so to the birds.

Bears don't like them either???

[Mr. Dean]

A big bird.

[Mr. Dean]

Time out.
More later.

[Bow Walker]

Excellant pics Dean-er. Sometimes (just sometimes) the most satisfying way to hunt is with a camera. I use a Nikon D50 myself. Love it.

[kennyj]

Hey Mr Dean.
Awesome photos.Love them all!
Kenny

[tomahawk]

Awesome photo's! Love the deer standing in the fireweed!

[Mr. Dean]

Thanks fella's.

The real purpose of this thread was that hopefully it would get some off their duff and out in the wilds. For the time we spent looking, game sightings were nearly unbelievable. And these are only the ones that I got to shoot, many got away.

All but one of the deer photo's were from settings that I never before visited. I make it a practice to hunt a new area each year, while hunting last years new area. I hit one, one day, then let it rest a day or two while hitting another. Tackling new stuff more often means scouting, rather than hunting but over the last 3 seasons, I'm beginning to build up a little valuable intel.

Compound that with some off season jaunts such as this, this fall it'll ALL be hunting! I feel that I have accumulated enough knowledge on the surrounding lands that I can circle around to different pockets knowing whats around the next bend. Instead of scratching my head wondering what/where to explore next. A lot of time burns up not knowing where the road goes...

Best advice for newish hunters - Get out and take a good look around before it's pressure time.
And don't forget your camera!

[Mr. Dean]

Back to the show...

I know bears like this little valley.
And sure as sh*t not 16 seconds of glassing, one pops up in a rest area that was viewed from the other side of the valley.




We watched him in the spotter for a bit and he let me witness him having a dump. We decide to go in for a closer look.

Things then get a little spooky. The story will have to wait.

[Mr. Dean]

OK.
We make the run down and park ~ a klick back from where we last saw him. Mrs. Dean takes up w/ the 45/70 and I w/ the camera. Our last sighting of the bear, he was making his way towards the right, about 100 yds past the rest stop. our hike in was brisk and the wind was in face - This was gonna be excellent opportunity for pics!!!

Now this trail is typical WC THICK! One can't see past the fist leaf when looking into the bushes. Any pockets in it, are obscured with shadows...

We get to the rest area and examine his poo. It contains little grasses and is loaded w/ berries (Huckles, mostly). We then continue on cautiously, observing the layed over grass that he stepped on, down the middle of the trail. No clear prints as the ground was either hard or gravel covered, and dry.

Every bend in the road the hair would stand up on the back of my neck as I strained to sneak around it, expecting to see a bear past that next leaf. The picture is misleading - It's not as straight OR open as it appears. It's down right SPOOKY!

Mrs. Dean gets a little nervous about what we're doing and more so, with the lack of visibility. She's uncomfortable and frankly, so am I. I curse our restricted carry laws and offer up some options; We call it off or continue on with her taking up the rear instead of side X side. She opts for the latter of the two and is just as eager as I to catch up w/ this fella, reminding me that the last bear we dealt with here had "tude" and to be extra cautious, up front and with no gun.

"Yes Dear". ...And we carry on.

Well, after puckering my puck-hole past a few more bends, I finally get a visual. He's ~ 150 yds from me, making his way up an incline. We can now breathe easy and I motion for The War Dept. to get up here. Just as she does and gets a peek, The bear disappears behind another bend. Off we go again as we were before.

I get to that bend and see him at the top of the incline feeding. He's still 'out there' aways but I have no cover to continue on. The WD catches up and I snap these pic's.







He knows something isn't adding up. A nanno-second before snapping this next one, our eyes meet through the lens.




Cont.

[Mr. Dean]

....And he saunters off the trail, up the mountain, into that thick underbrush - That's my 'spin'. We were busted and he was gone. DONE and over.

Then the WD gets thinking/talking.

She starts surveying the scene; the bear was STILL easily 100+ yards out; the wind was still in our favour; we were exposed but were also motionless... "There's NO WAY he saw or smelled us, he's just around another bend that we can't see. Lets GO"!

"OK, Dear". She gives me a 20 yd head start and we press forward.

I get up to where he was last scene only to confirm *my* spin of things. As things are just becoming clear, I turn to the Missus just in time to hear her scream, ugly LOUD, and get to see a bear not 10' from her, on the down side of the trail, poking his head in my direction! That bugger moved off the trail, paralleled it over the crest, then doubled back on us after crossing the trail when outta sight. I swear he watched me walk past while hunkered down in the ditch. I also think that he didn't realize that there were two of us. He and the WD educated their presence to each at the exact same moment. She screamed and he ROARED as he spun around SMASHING through the thick. Thank God for happy endings... It was over as fast as it started.

We compose ourselves. I trade her the Nikon for the Marlin and proceed back out... With the bear in tow but staying out of sight, letting us know he's there with the odd huff.

Yup..... SPOOKY.