First Year Grizzly Hunting Story (Long)

[Anonymoose]

New member and first time posting and hopefully I don’t ramble on but my brother told me I should go ahead and share my experience. First off I’ve been hunting since I have been old enough to go out with my dad but this past season was the first time I’ve ever considered grizzly hunting mainly due to a long time grizzly hunter I work with. I applied for the spring draw with no luck but managed to draw a tag for the fall in 7-28, I put on roughly 4,500 kms in 9 days trying to find a grizzly or huntable sign and never had any sightings from the road and only saw 4 different sets of tracks.

On one fateful day 2 weeks ago I was on my last hunt for the season due to feeling defeated by lack of sign and no sightings me, a buddy, and my dad were going down a old logging road in about 6-8 inches of snow we saw fresh grizzly tracks crossing the road and heading into heavy timber which wasn’t my ideal situation but due to it being our only hope we went in after it while my dad went further down the road to a cut block incase he circled that way. The timber was thick and visibly was only about 10 feet but that opened up into bigger openings but the deadfall was horrible and didn’t make it easy or quiet traveling and about half a kilometre in after going around a tree and under another tree and a slight bend I looked up and just caught the slightest bit of movement in the trees and I motioned for my buddy to stop and I looked back and I could see more movement and that’s when I realized I was finally looking at a very large grizzly at only 60 yards and he was looking at me but the problem was the timber and deadfall was so thick all I could see was his head moving around and the last few inches of his hind quarters and the rest of him was covered in trees that I could not see around to get a shot at his mid section.

We stood there for what seemed like an eternity waiting for him to start moving so that he would hopefully walk into a shooting lane but he just stood there moving his head around until the wind picked up and snapped a branch a ways off to our right and that’s when he lifted his head and started huffing and puffing and turned around and high tailed it back into the timber and up the ridge moving to quickly to offer a shot opertunity and I tried to turn him around or stop him with a rabbit distress call but that didn’t work. When we started continuing our stalk forward that’s when tension started to mount because now the grizzly knew something wasn’t right and when we got to where he was standing that’s when we realized why he didn’t move. Turns out he was standing on his kill, he found a black bear den, dug up the den, killed and was eating the black bear (pics to follow). After seeing that we figured that bear didn’t go far and quite possibly will be returning in an awfully big hurry but never saw him or heard him again so we got onto his trail and continued following him through the snow and found a pile of crap, then further down the trail he laid down but got back u when we neared him, then further on he stopped and meddled around a bit but then continued on never letting us get close to him again and never trying to circle us or circle back to the kill and after 2 kms of following him we turned back and headed back to the road.

That’s my story of my first year grizzly hunting, I’m not done with grizzlies yet and I’ll continue hunting them but it’s too bad everything changes after this year.

[finaddict]

Nice story and close opportunity. Thanks for the read. I hate to criticize, but it would be a lot easier to read if you split it up into smaller paragraphs.

[Whonnock Boy]

Thanks for sharing. Fortunate for you the bear wasn't in a protective mood. On another note, I am of the belief that hunting where the known bear carcass was may be construed as "baiting", and that is illegal. The first day you bumped the Grizzly, that would probably be fine, but returning in hopes of the bear being there knowing that the carcass was there? Very grey..... Something maybe to research.

[Anonymoose]

Good point, thanks for the tip. And yeah I’ll edit the post to split up the story to make it easier to read.

[two-feet]

Oh boy, pop some corn, this should be good.

[Budman]

To bad the bear didn't present a shot . Would of liked to see a pic of him. Thanks for read and the pics.

[firebird]

Awesome!! that would be pretty intense. Pretty wild to find a black bear killed by the Grizz. Hard to tell by the pics but looks like a bigger black bear too. Sounds like the hunt paid off just with that experience. It would have for me.


Thanks for sharing. Fortunate for you the bear wasn't in a protective mood. On another note, I am of the belief that hunting where the known bear carcass was may be construed as "baiting", and that is illegal. The first day you bumped the Grizzly, that would probably be fine, but returning in hopes of the bear being there knowing that the carcass was there? Very grey..... Something maybe to research.

Really? I can't see that being portrayed as "baiting". Maybe if the hunter was placing carcasses out but not a natural kill.

I guess you can't hunt deer under an oak tree or shoot a moose browsing regrowth in a cut.

[Rackmastr]

Really? I can't see that being portrayed as "baiting". Maybe if the hunter was placing carcasses out but not a natural kill.

I guess you can't hunt deer under an oak tree or shoot a moose browsing regrowth in a cut.

Its legal to bait deer and moose.

This has been discussed time and time again, hopefully this one doesn't spiral down as some have in the past, but I fear that likely wont happen.

[firebird]

How big do you think both the bears were!?


My point is its natural food. Natural for bears as natural as nuts or regrowth for deer and moose. The definition reads as NON natural placed foods (including meat) but a natural kill..... And are you going back to walk in on him again over it!! lol I don't know if i would next time knowing what you do now, incase he's not going to play nice next time. I wouldn't want to meat an angry bear in blow down. You could be crossing over trees right over top him.

[buckshot]

Thanks for sharing. Fortunate for you the bear wasn't in a protective mood. On another note, I am of the belief that hunting where the known bear carcass was may be construed as "baiting", and that is illegal. The first day you bumped the Grizzly, that would probably be fine, but returning in hopes of the bear being there knowing that the carcass was there? Very grey..... Something maybe to research.
I don't get where the Op implies that he returns to the kill site later in hopes of finding the bear??? If you spot a bear in a berry patch and go back there the next day with a bear tag, is it baiting?
Come on people, let members tell their stories as they happened and enjoy the read!
Very cool story Anonymoose! Hopefully the people of BC will come to their senses and never put NDP/Green at the helm again.

[Rackmastr]

How big do you think both the bears were!?


My point is its natural food. Natural for bears as natural as nuts or regrowth for deer and moose. The definition reads as NON natural placed foods (including meat) but a natural kill..... And are you going back to walk in on him again over it!! lol I don't know if i would next time knowing what you do now, incase he's not going to play nice next time. I wouldn't want to meat an angry bear in blow down. You could be crossing over trees right over top him.

Good stuff, have fun with the conversation!

[Buck]

Great experience to bad you didn't get the bear.Interesting A Grizz would be out longer than a Black.

[russm86]

You should send those pics of the black bear into the media so all the tree huggers that want to protect them can see first hand what grizzlys are really like in nature...

[huntinnewbie]

I as thinking the exact same thing.

[ElliotMoose]

What a cool find! As mentioned earlier you're very lucky the bear didn't go into protective mode.. Few things in the North American bush are more dangerous than a grizzly on his kill. Awesome stuff. Hope to see a successful grizz hunt post from you in the future!!

Cheers

[LBM]

I don't get where the Op implies that he returns to the kill site later in hopes of finding the bear??? If you spot a bear in a berry patch and go back there the next day with a bear tag, is it baiting?
Come on people, let members tell their stories as they happened and enjoy the read!
Very cool story Anonymoose! Hopefully the people of BC will come to their senses and never put NDP/Green at the helm again.
The part where he returns to the kill has all ready been removed/edited.

[Whonnock Boy]

I'm just the messenger here guys. Pretty sure it wasn't too long ago that a guide was charged and convicted for doing the exact same thing with a moose carcass. Look, I ain't here to give this guy grief, and I did my best to convey that with the words I chose. I believe what he did was not exactly legal, and I believe it was likely an honest mistake. We've all made them, and we all should be able to learn from them.

And what LBM said.....




How big do you think both the bears were!?
My point is its natural food. Natural for bears as natural as nuts or regrowth for deer and moose. The definition reads as NON natural placed foods (including meat) but a natural kill..... And are you going back to walk in on him again over it!! lol I don't know if i would next time knowing what you do now, incase he's not going to play nice next time. I wouldn't want to meat an angry bear in blow down. You could be crossing over trees right over top him.


I don't get where the Op implies that he returns to the kill site later in hopes of finding the bear??? If you spot a bear in a berry patch and go back there the next day with a bear tag, is it baiting?
Come on people, let members tell their stories as they happened and enjoy the read!
Very cool story Anonymoose! Hopefully the people of BC will come to their senses and never put NDP/Green at the helm again.


The part where he returns to the kill has all ready been removed/edited.

[guest]

You should send those pics of the black bear into the media so all the tree huggers that want to protect them can see first hand what grizzlys are really like in nature...

Bingo, send it!

[finaddict]

You should send those pics of the black bear into the media so all the tree huggers that want to protect them can see first hand what grizzlys are really like in nature...No need. The Grizzly was clearly not trophy hunting as he had consumed part of the meat so what he did is acceptable.....or ...wait a minute...... he left part of the kill and did not transport it back to his den so he IS a Trophy hunter..........No...... wait a minute.......correct that.... he did leave the head and pelt and claws so he ISN'T a trophy hunter........buuuut he DID try to bury it, so you know he was gonna come back and eat the rest....... awwww crap, now I'm gettin a headache...........

[Busterpayton54]

I also would not interprete a natural food source to be included as baiting.

If not, we would have to stop hunting them anywhere you would expect to find them. Fresh greens in avalanche chutes.. bait. Marmot congregations.. bait. Berry patches... bait.
waterholes... bait. Grassy fields.. bait.

Where woild you hunt them? Sand dunes?


Bait means food left in place intentially by a human in my eyes. I have a hard time calling another hunters gut pile bait but I do know that has resulted in charges. Imo a gut pile woild not meet the definition of bait as it was not left with the intention of baiting.

[Whonnock Boy]

This is the legal definition in the hunting regulations. "Using a dead animal" tells me that it doesn't matter how that animal was killed, or how it got there. It is illegal. Again, not trying to be critical of the OP, just attempting to avoid some unnecessary trouble for those who do not know. And I'm just the messenger....

19. To hunt bears by placing bait or by using adead animal or using part of it as bait.

[leftfield]

This is the legal definition in the hunting regulations. "Using a dead animal" tells me that it doesn't matter how that animal was killed, or how it got there. It is illegal. Again, not trying to be critical of the OP, just attempting to avoid some unnecessary trouble for those who do not know. And I'm just the messenger....

19. To hunt bears by placing bait or by using adead animal or using part of it as bait.

I see what you’re saying, line 19 reads a little like lawyer speak. It wouldn’t be that hard to go through the regs and change the way certain things read so there can be no mistake. Some things in there can still be left to interpretation