Rackmastr's Drizzly Grizzly Adventure!

[Rackmastr]

Hey All,

Just got home last night from my first ever grizz hunt. Hell, it was my first ever LEH pulled in BC! After moving to BC last January, I've spent the last several months planning and preparing for this spring and this coming fall. I moved to BC with the plan of hunting grizz, Stone's sheep, Dalls, goats, caribou, etc, etc and drawing a spring grizz tag was a priority for me this year with the impending election and the outlook of an NDP government closing things down. Seeing the results as drawn this fall on our second choice area was amazing. Buying and holding a grizz tag alone was a truly special feeling.

Timing was a BIG consideration for me, having to drive over 20+ hours to get to where we'd be hunting. We mulled over benefits and cons of going early vs late and talked to several people who had hunted the area, watched the weather, snowpack, etc and finally made a decision to go a bit earlier than we had originally talked about. The forecast for weather was decent, with a bunch of rain scattered in. We went up prepared for snow drifts, rain, warm weather, hiking, driving, etc.

The first few days were great as we started to learn the country. A long road detour due to avalanche cautions, a moved camp to be closer to what we figured was the good action, and we were hunting. Hell, we even saw a small doober grizz that first full day of hunting. He was on the road at about 100 yards and we got a good look at him as he trotted off, checking his back trail as Norm squawked on the predator call to stop him.









To be continued.....just hanging with daughter and trying to upload pics

[Mr. Dean]

Early season hunting means packing a swimsuit and a fur coat...

[scott_karana]

Beautiful! I look forward to more pics

[Call of the Wild]

Working on your story that early wow!!! Can't wait for more...

[srupp]

looking good Trev....

cheers
Steven

[Rackmastr]

We started seeing good black bear numbers and the occasional bit of grizz sign. The slides were clear of grizz however, and all that we could find up high was black bears, moose, and some goats way up there. Daily from camp we would glass in the morning, drive logging roads and glass other slides, green areas, and hike into some roads to check out different areas.

About mid way through the hunt the weather started to turn. We had rain throughout the evenings and it started getting dreary. Not the typical 'bear' hunting weather I'm used to in chasing black bears. However, the grizz seemed to be okay with it, so we pushed on and kept looking.




On the 21st, we decided to head down for some fuel as it was our mid-point of the hunt. Fuel management was important being so remote, and it was a rainy miserable day. With snow up on tops of the mountains and working its way down, we poured ourselves some hot coffee, hopped in the truck and headed down the road.



The road turned a bit 'miserable' but we figured it was a good thing that we had picked that day to head to fuel and not 'waste' a day of hunting. We turned up the 'Alabama Greatest Hits' and kept rollin....

[Philcott]

How long a trip into "town" to get fuel?

[Rackmastr]

As we made our way through the snow and rain, we figured we'd make some miles and get down there and back to camp for an evening hunt. As we rounded a hill, we looked ahead and there was a bear about 300 yards down the road. Instantly we knew it was a grizz, and looked to be a good size as he was headed straight on. We parked and headed into the trees to make a play on him as he fed towards us into a wet swampy area.

We lost sight of the bear as there was a couple 'dips' in the road that didnt give us a good vantage of him. My buddy Lane made a move back towards the truck to see if he could re locate the bear. The wind was good with a slight 45 degree cross wind and we were in a good position with good rests. Lane returned and had pinpointed the bear feeding in the ditch of the swamp. We made another move to a closer hill and popped over to see a nice looking grizz at about 185 yards. I put him in my scope as he walked up the road and could instantly tell he had a 'swagger' to him, with big forearms and a good blocky head.

The area he was feeding in....



I got settled in prone and had a hard time finding a spot for my Bog Pod to lay down nicely and still provide me a clear shot through the underbrush. I felt a lot more confident shooting from a prone position, so I budged forward as he fed in the swampy ground. He had turned broadside and I flicked the safety off once before realizing I had willows still blocking a perfect shot.

I got positioned and the bear remained broadside. Now at 140 yards, I readied myself again and felt very calm and collected as I squeezed off the shot tight onto his shoulder. A great 'whack' greeted my ears and the bear fell hard and flat on his back. The 338 WM with 210TSX had done its job well. I shot again as he struggled on the ground. Air was pouring out of him indicating a strong lung shot. We ran up and closed the distance and ended up putting a finishing round in him as he was still able to lift his head.

I HAD JUST KILLED A MOUNTAIN GRIZZLY BEAR!!!!!

Yep....years of dreaming of moving to BC and chasing all these critters and I now had a grizz down and got to share it with two new hunting friends. High fives, hugs, yips and hollars, and trembling hands were all that remained. The rain continued to come down as we took pics and soaked up the moment (in more ways than one). What had been a 'wasted' hunting day turned into one of my best days of hunting ever.

He squared out right around the 6.5' mark and had beautiful 4" front claws. His front pad measures an honest 6" across and his back pad was 9" long. Skull looks to be somewhere in the low 21s or so.









We saw one more bear that evening that never gave us a good look. The weather cleared up and we never did see another grizz as we tried to fill one last tag. We saw several black bears but couldnt bring ourselves to shoot one while we kept the search up for a grizz in the final days. Plenty of time to kill some blackies on another trip!

I cant say enough about the guys that I hunted with and the laughs we shared. Some great country, and some great people. To the other guys up in that country we ran into from HBC, it was a pleasure spending some time around a fire and a drink in the evenings. I hope you knock down a monster!!

Thanks to EVERYONE on here who I talked to via PM, phone, etc for info on the area, grizz hunting in general, timing for the trip and all sorts of other fun stuff like that.

[Rackmastr]

How long a trip into "town" to get fuel?

About 200-250km or so....and yes, using the word 'town' would be a VERY strong use of the word. Haha

[Philcott]

What a great way to spent the town day.... Congrats on the nice bear.