Grizzly Hunt 2012 - A Tale of Deep Snow, Deep Creeks and ???

[gbear]

PS, those that want to slip to the end of this story, see post #29, with pictures on post #30 and #33.

This could take a bit to tell as it is the culmination of 10 days of hunting, and a couple months of anticipation.

I’ll start way at the beginning. When the spring LEH results came out, you can imagine my surprise when I seen that I was successful in a spring Grizzly LEH in a local zone in Region 7. I have been putting in for this zone for the last decade or so. But the surprise to me was that I was successful in obtaining this draw just 3 short years ago. Typically the odds are pretty high, but this year the amount of tags went up to 4, so the odds were much better. So, you can imagine the explaining I had to do with the wife on this one. Since I had so many unsuccessful results in the years previous, when I got that draw in 2009, I told the wife that this was likely a once in a lifetime draw because of the odds. When I told her about this year’s draw, it didn’t take her too long to ask about what happened to the once in a lifetime. We did have some laughs over that.

When I was looking at my LEH authorization, it took me back to that 2009 spring season, and the memories of the large boar I took that spring. He squared out at 8’5, which is great for an interior mountain grizzly. That story and pictures are posted on this site. I am getting him mounted life size, and should have pictures of the final product for you to see shortly.

So, like many other areas in the province, the mountain areas in the Peace received more than the average amount of snowpack. In fact, in my general area, snowpack was at about 150% of normals. Not something I really wanted to hear, but at that time I was a bit naive in thinking that in the end it would be ok.

Because of all the deep snow, I wasn’t in a rush to get out. In the end, talking to another guy who had a tag in the same zone, I shouldn’t have worried about that, as he did go early and was seeing grizzly bears in several areas.

[BlacktailStalker]

Looking forward to the rest... 8'5" Square is a beauty in anyone's books !

[Buck]

I remember that great bear you got in 2009.Looking forward to the story for this year

[gbear]

I waited until the weekend of May 12 and 13 to make my first trip in. The zone is actually a very large area, however, I had 2 top pick areas to be the areas I wanted to focus on.

Of course, the first area was at the very back end of the river valley, which is about 100 km’s in from the highway. That is where I got my bear in 2009, and have seen several grizzly bears there over the years. There are some real nice avalanche chutes and some good cutblocks to check out.

The 2^nd area I know that is very good and would be another spot I choose to focus on was about half way in to the back end, and a side valley to the west. That road system goes in about 30 km’s off the main valley, but the middle section of that road seems to hold a lot of grizzly bears. This area has some good cutblocks with deactivated roads and nicely grass seeded.

So that weekend, I was heading out solo unfortunately, but couldn’t hold back any more from going. I learned 3 years ago that solo isn’t the best feeling when grizzly hunting.

My plan for hunting the area was to drive my pickup to the junction of that road system where my choice #2 area takes off from the main valley. From that point on, I figured I would use my Rhino to get around. That way I could also check out some of the other rougher roads and trails. Plus, the road is washed out some going to both areas, and I didn’t feel like trying to squeeze my new truck through those bad spots.

So, I go up the main valley to area #1. And, I am actually seeing a fair amount of grizzly sign the first weekend out. I see fresh digging, and tracks, and crap on the road. Not much is green yet, and there is snow in most of the bush, off the road. I manage to only get to about 72kms. Then I hit snow depths of a couple feet, and there is no busting through. However, as I am trying to get unstuck, I see some fresh tracks in the snow up ahead. So, I walk up, and there were extremely fresh grizzly tracks and it looked like it was running. Made me think that maybe I spooked it as I was trying to chew my way through the snow. You could still see individual toe prints. Oh too bad. The back end area still looked like a winter wonderland.

So, I check out several other side roads on my way back to the truck. Lots of snow, and some sign is there, so that is encouraging.

Next day, decide to check out area #2. Not much sign there yet, and I only make it up to about 5.5km, and then a wall of snow. I walk a bit, and snow is just getting deeper, and it’s a ways to any good area. So, I head back down and check out some lower elevation areas. Seen a couple black bears, elk, moose and deer. It was time to head home.

[Call of the Wild]

Keep it coming, looks like you were prepared I sure hope it turned out with good result!!!

[BlacktailStalker]

You need tracks on your rhino, they go anywhere (I have them on my grizz 700.... if only I could draw a grizz tag )

[gbear]

You need tracks on your rhino, they go anywhere (I have them on my grizz 700.... if only I could draw a grizz tag )

That definately crossed my mind several times this spring

[gbear]

Next weekend was the long weekend, so out I go again. This time I figured I would try some low elevation areas first that were not my first 2 choice areas. It was a lot of fun, and I spent a couple days checking out many areas. I seen a number of mountain goats in one drainage. That was neat to see. I had one area in mind for that prime time evening hunt. It was a nice low elevation pipeline, that typically gets green very early, and I have seen a number of bears on it over the years. Went over there to check it out. As I am making my way there on the Rhino, I quickly learn that the first portion of pipeline is not good for this year. Likely last fall sometime, the pipeline had been dug up entirely to, I am guessing, bury another pipe. And at this time of year, no grass had grown back yet. Further in, I knew of another pipeline that joined it, so I thought I would continue to go there.

That thought quickly ended. I came to a creek crossing that had the bridge pulled. The water looked deep and fast. I didn’t like the idea of taking my Rhino through right away, so I figured I would put on my new sour dough slipper hip waders and wade in to check it out. Well, it took me only 2 steps to figure out that was a bad idea. In 2 steps, I was over top of the waders, and the current was starting to take my feet out from under me. I had to grab on to some tree branches to help get out. Not the best place to be alone.

Next day decide to go to the back country and see if I can make it further towards the headwaters. One spot along the road had a bridge that was gone, so you need to ford the creek. I noticed it had gone up a bit since the weekend before, but only enough to get the boots a bit wet in the Rhino. But, not over the top of the boots. I see lots of bear sign, mostly grizzly along the way. I get the point where I got stuck the week before, and see I can keep going. But, that quickly ends as I only get about another 1.5 km’s down the road. I basically hit a wall of snow, and buried the Rhino pretty good. Time to dig out the shovel.

So, I start making my back to the truck to check out area #2. On this road, I make it to the 7km board this week. A bit of progress, but not much. Still nothing green here, and hardly any sign.

For the evening hunt, I go to a lower elevation site that I noticed some fresh grizzly sign, and walk a deactivated road there. Didn’t see anything, so time to head home.

Good weekend though with seeing the goats as well as the other game. Still no Grizzly sightings.

[gbear]

The weekend of the 26^th and 27^th comes up. Heading out solo again. Again, check out the top 2 choice areas, and still deep snow. I was only able to make about an extra ½ km on each of them. I do notice again that the creek crossing with no bridge now has a bit deeper and faster water in it, so some snow is melting somewhere. Just not very quickly. I’m amazed at how much snow is there still.

[cavebear]

I can't wait to get a goat, thats my dream hunt right now