My 2013

[coach]

The slide that blocked the road was pretty minor and we were able to get the quads over it without using our shovels, picks, etc.



Despite the fact there was a large number of draws in the area this year, we only ran into one other hunting party - a father/son from Chilliwack. They camped at the slide and quaded in each day. I'm not sure they were overly thrilled at the prospect of us hunting the same valley as them - but they warmed up a bit when I asked them if there were areas they were concentration on that we could leave them alone to hunt. I don't think any of us had any intention of racing each other to the prime spots. We had a good discussion with them and they offered up a bit of info. They had seen a couple grizzlies and some black bears including one smaller grizzly that they had in range but decided to pass up. Beyond the first slide, the road was in good shape with no more slides blocking the road - definitely not the norm for this time of year.

[coach]

Here's my first ever "GoPro" video. As mentioned - a relatively easy crossing of the slide.

Click to view

[coach]

A short while later we had camp set up at the confluence of the main river and a medium sized tributary..

[coach]

There's no shortage of water in the West Koots this spring - but it appeared we arrived a bit late for prime time grizzly hunting. The area must have been green for at least a couple weeks before we arrived.

[coach]

Our first full day of hunting started with some excitement right at 7am. We heard the other group of hunters quad past us around 6:30 and were in no rush to push in right behind them. OSW let his chessy, Jaeger out of the tent to do his morning business when all of sudden he let out a deep threatening bark that said only one thing - some type of critter was in camp. My partner stuck his head out and immediately announced, "We've got a grizzly right here!" The bear took off running into the thick stuff - not to be seen again. OSW figures it was a decent sized bear, but he had no chance to properly assess anything. We have no idea if the bear was just cruising the road or if it was coming to check us out - but it was clear Jaeger's bark was enough to keep us from having to make hasty decisions.

On alert, we made coffee and breakfast, then headed out for a look around the area.

[Garret]

I have been hunting grizz in the same slide before....there was a hawg in there that we got a glimpse of but it got away on us while we were trying to cross that crazy river in the bottom. Tell Jared I like his hat

[shadowhunter]

Looks fun Coach! just a heads up, the Go Pro link didn't work for me. But it might be because I'm doing something wrong. All in all im eager to hear the rest of the story!

[coach]

Not sure what's up with the gopro link, Shadowhunter. It works on my computer and on my iPad.



Anyway, we worked our way up toward the end of the valley - an area OSW refers to as "the golf course". Along the way we pushed through some overgrown areas on the roads.



Click to view video:

[coach]

Not wanting to spook anything out of the area, we parked the quads a little short of the first tee..



The temps were warm and Jaeger made the best of an opportunity to roll in the snow.


We rounded the corner on foot and were greeted with this spectacular view.

[coach]

Top left side of this picture is known as "the putting green".. Looks like bentgrass to me.. Likely running very fast on the stimp meter.