Grizzly Help 6-09A

[enron]

Hello,

I was lucky enough to draw my first grizzly tag this year. Having no experience hunting grizzlies I would appreciate some help. I will be heading up middle of October for 8 days or so with my brothers and my dad. We will be camping on the west end of Francois lake. Being from the island and having little knowledge of the area doesn't help. My goal will be to try and get it with a bow but have no problem putting it down for the gun.

How do you hunt them? Is it similar to black bears? Where will I find them? Will they be near streams and rivers still? Is they best way to find them using a vantage point and just glassing or should I cover lots of ground? Cut blocks?

Would love to know areas to start looking around Francois lake? How are the grizzly numbers in the area?

Thanks,

Aaron

[604redneck]

Rivers.....salmon......be very alert walk slowly up the river

[40incher]

Hunt the Morice River off the first road west of Morice Lake. Having a boat to hunt downstream of Morice Lake would be the best. The middle of October might be a bit late though.

[enron]

Thanks! Will definitely be checking the rivers.

[coach]

Hunt the Morice River off the first road west of Morice Lake. Having a boat to hunt downstream of Morice Lake would be the best. The middle of October might be a bit late though.


Perfect advice. We've seen grizzly in the Nadina Lake area in late October, but earlier is better. The bears in this area feed on salmon and can be huge - like coastal bears. Make sure someone is backing you up if you decide to arrow one!

[srupp]

Hmmm going hunting in 24..48 hrs..if you get a chance send me a ph number..some hopefully helpful suggestions on grizzlies and hunting..have some experience and success over past 40 years..
Cheers
Steven

[NorBC]

Send decker9 a pm and see if you can sweet talk him for info. I had the draw this spring but couldn't connect with the bow.. Best of luck!

[decker9]

Just like the fellas said, along the morice and nadina river's would be a good bet. The morice may have more traffic from logging, the old nadina road that runs along the nadina river would be a good one to concentrate on, lots of pot holes, so the only traffic that would really be on it would be hunters. If you have any canoe experience, canoeing the rivers would be ideal, but both rivers are quite aggressive in places. The morice has a lot of places a guy can day float also because the road follows is so close, just another idea.

If it's the open moose season your planning on hunting, it may be tough to stumble on a grizzly with all the pressure, but if it's outside that time, I think your chances are pretty fare. Rarely did I guide a 7 day hunt up there without seeing at least a grizzly. Although it's always been spring or November when iv guided in that area.

Good luck to ya, be safe, hope to see some success photos when you get back.

[srupp]

Hope something we chatted about made sense....glad to help.
Be safe
Steven

[buckshot]

From the recent threads on this forum, don't worry about finding the bear. It will find you! Go with the gun as with a month of moose season behind us and the salmon run just over, the bear will likely be watching or protecting his food source . Good luck and shoot straight!

[enron]

Thanks again for all the info i have received...

I now have access to a river raft and was wondering if it would be worth bringing it up and floating the morice and nadina rivers? I know the salmon run will probably be over by the time i am able to get up there but just wondering if hunting the rivers would still be worth it. I leave a week today.

Also has anyone been in the area lately and seen anything?

http://i1049.photobucket.com/albums/s386/enron87/IMG_1163_zpss8acsu0g.jpg (http://s1049.photobucket.com/user/enron87/media/IMG_1163_zpss8acsu0g.jpg.html)

That was sent to me by my brothers friend who was fishing the morice a couple weeks ago.. hoping i can connect on a nice bear.

thanks again

[two-feet]

The bears should still be on the river when you are there. Hunting the morice by raft is a good bet but it can be a snakey river, lots of log jams etc. and we are getting some serious rain up here right now

[enron]

Great thanks I will make sure that I bring it up then! Are there any parts of the river that have less log jams.... Not a huge issue can walk the raft around if need be.

[Caribou_lou]

Coho should still be spawning and grizzlies are still out in full force. My buddy just called one in bow hunting this week. He had quite the scare.

[enron]

Awesome that's good to hear that they will be out! Looking forward to it is an understatement... Will be up there for 8 days and plan on spending as much time as it takes to find a good one.

[coach]

I hear there are multiple Grizzlies along the Nadina River this year.