Since we are right in the middle of bear hunting season, I thought I would share my own grizzly experience. I first wrote this article for a local paper here in Fort St. John a few years ago.
A Grizzly Dream
As one grows older, one begins to philosophize more frequently on one=s life, both the successes and the failures. As I lay awake one night, not being able to sleep, I thought about all of the different things that I had really wanted to do... from the time I was a very young man to the present. What had I accomplished? How many of my dreams, passions and aspirations had I fulfilled? Was my life a success? One of those Amust do@ things, I realized was to hunt and kill a grizzly bear...
Although my dreams of grizzly bear hunts began when I was a mere lad growing up in the province of Quebec, I was only able to fulfill those dreams much later on when I moved my family to the Awilds@ of northeastern British Columbia. At that point, the quest really began. In those days there was a regular grizzly bear season, with no need to apply for limited entry tags as one needs to do now, and I started to spend my Spring weekends looking for bears. Much to my wife=s displeasure, many of my weekend hunts were solo efforts and I soon acquired a .338 Winchester Magnum to dispel some of her fears, and probably also because I really wanted one anyways. I persevered for six years; alone, with my growing sons, and sometimes with the odd hunting partner. We did see some bears, but they were always too far away or in family groups. As my Aneed@ for a grizz grew, I hunted for them during both Spring and Fall. After all, there was now much talk about putting all grizzly bear hunting in B.C. on LEH...
The seventh year of my quest was the last year that B.C. had regular seasons on grizzlies. It was now or never, as I had never had much luck drawing LEH tags! That spring I met Hans, a fellow teacher in Fort St. John who was a bear hunting fanatic who had already shot two grizzlies, and wanted to help me harvest one of my own. He suggested a completely different area on the western side of Williston Lake, with fascinating names like the Osilinka and Mesilinka Rivers. I was immediately hooked on the idea, and off we went on the seven hour long drive on forestry roads that were in deplorable condition. The second day found us in our major hunting area, between Aiken and Johanson Lakes. Around 10:30 we were glassing some very green hillsides when we spotted two grizzlies; a very dark boar and a light colored, but much smaller sow. The male was obviously trying to mate with her; quite a remarkable sight! We decided to leave them for the time being, and then drove for some 30 miles before turning back. Beautiful country here, but no bears were spotted, so we sped back to where we had seen the bears in the morning.
By 3 PM we hit the bush, crossed the stands of timber, and made our way up the grassy slopes by around 5:30. This was a steep mountain, and Hans set quite the pace! We did some glassing for about an hour and then split up. Before I knew it, Hans was wildly signaling for me to join him. He had found the bears! I got there just as the boar was about to enter the timber, and I had no choice but to shoot fast or not shoot at all. I shot! The range was around 150 yards and almost straight downhill - very tricky - but the bear tumbled down the hillside and into the timber, so I had connected. Approaching the timber we took off our packs and Hans removed the scope from his rifle. I spotted a bear; but it was the sow, and after a while she moved off, and we proceeded down to look for my bear. What a feeling, not knowing whether it was dead, or perhaps just waiting for us in ambush! Luckily, however, the .338 Magnum with a 250 grain bullet had done its job, and within minutes we found my bear, good and dead. I had my grizzly!
Keeping an eye out for the other bear, we took pictures and videos and then proceeded to skin out my trophy. We finished at 9:30 PM and I shouldered the 100 pound plus load and staggered down the mountain. By the time we got back to camp I was in total agony. Next morning we discovered that the other grizzly had followed us down the mountain and prowled around camp while we slept the sleep of the dead. I skinned out the head and we measured the hide. From nose to tail it measured 7 feet and 3 inches. We rough measured the skull at around 23 inches (it later made it into the B.C. Record Book). This was indeed a good mountain grizzly, and I was delighted with both the size and condition of the hide.
Finally success; I had fulfilled my lifetime dream of bagging a grizzly bear!
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Originally Posted by Gatehouse
