caddisguy does Region 3 - bear hunting with the wind at your back!

[caddisguy]

It's been a while since I posted up a hunting story. I haven't really been out hunting this Spring other than some scouting which for the most part usually just turns into "camping with a rifle" and messing around with HAM radio stuff. I have been quite discouraged with the hunting close to home with all the access closures. I was able to find some spots with a bit of sign here any there, nipped grass and such, just enough to take the rifle for the odd walk.

Figured I better start finding some good areas in Region 3 and learning them rather than spending a bunch of time scouting Region 2. All the leg work gets undone really fast when you do find a place and then a gate goes up. Might as well take advantage of the extra 15 days of bear hunting Region 3 has to offer.

Headed out Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the day scouting the first area of interest. Not much in the way of sign. Some grass hits here and there, mostly older, along with some 2-3 week old scat piles. Hunkered down for the night and we decided to explore another area the next day.

Next morning we head out to the next area of interest, only about 14km as the crow flies but about an hour of driving. Started seeing quite a bit of scat on the road up which seemed promising. Found a good place we'd call camp for the night whether this spot was viable for bear hunting or not. I was able to hit all sorts of repeaters on the radio, so worst case I could geek out on the radio that night.

We walk a few km's in one direction. Some fresh grass hits, couple piles of scat maybe 5 days old. Back to camp. Walk a few km's in another direction, tons of fresh hits on the grass and some 2-3 day old scat piles. Finally, back to camp again, then walk a few kms in another direction. Same deal, fresh hits on the grass and scat piles. This is what I always look for in a bear hunting spot. A place to camp within a few kms of multiple feeding pockets with fresh sign to poke in and out of.

No bears spotted yet, but I am confident we will see something. It's not a question of IF there is a bear around, but is it more or less than a half dozen. Bonus we're seeing tons of wildlife in the mean time.

https://i.imgur.com/tIALgVZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/BoVjo1Y.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/U5IcYNH.jpg

[continued]

[Harvest the Land]

Keep at it CaddisGuy - with all the relatively fresh sign around its just a matter of time before the stars align. Good luck man - you still have lots of time.


P.S. I shot my bear last weekend with a strong wind at my back - sometimes it doesn't seem to matter with bears

[caddisguy]

We continue making our rounds, poking in and out of the feeding areas. I'm surprised we have not run into a bear yet. In my experience poking in and out of feeding spots with this amount of sign, we should see 2 or 3.

Had a little break at camp for a snack. It's coming down to the wire on this one. We have just over an hour of light left which gives us just enough time to poke in and out of what we felt was the most promising pocket. Suppose there's always the next morning as well. Its the last weekend we'll be able to get out hunting for spring bear season, figure might as well make the most of it.

Off we go! We walked down the road from camp and we get about 300M and I look over up the slash to my right. I see this bear cruising up the ridge about 400M away. Caddisgirl is watches in through the view finder on her 60X zoom camera. Looks like a really nice boar. A few problems though. Having only hunted Region 2 mostly in valley bottoms, I've never even dreamed of shooting something more than 150 yards away, so I am going to need to quite wayyyy closer. Second problem is the wind is blowing our scent right over to that bear. Problem number 3 is he has already most definitely winded us and disappeared on the other side of the ridge, but still seemed to be heading up along said ridge.

https://i.imgur.com/OunCyfN.png

Seemed like a virtually impossible stalk. Had to decide whether it was worth gambling the time or not. Figured what the heck. I'll run up the road about 500M then scoot up the slash to the top of the ridge and possibly cut him off. I was able to get up there without making too much noise. As I get to the crest of the hill I'm pretty much read to shoot. With my luck figure we probably walk right into each other.

As soon as I get to the top, I spot a different boar. It's a cinnamon and quite a bit smaller than the black phase bear I'm expecting to see any second. This cinnamon is also directly down wind from me. It's about 70 yards I would guess. I still want to get a closer look and get set up for a shot if I decide to go for it. The bear would look my way, then go back to feeding and I'd get closer, rinse and repeat. I'm in disbelief he hasn't run for the next time zone with my scent blowing right at him and my unavoidably noisy approach.

I get down behind a stump about 40 yards away and put my cross hairs on him. Still no sign of the other bear, and this cinnamon is about to head into a cluster of trees. Shoot the small boar while you have the chance or wait for the big one, minutes the season (for us) winding down....

BANG

I take the shot, bear runs about 10 yards into the cluster of trees and for the first time ever (I think this is bear #9 for us?) I hear the death moan.

And guess who comes into the picture? The bigger black phase boar walks right up as it nothing happened and starts feeding where the cinnamon bear was feeding.

[continued]

[caddisguy]

Keep at it CaddisGuy - with all the relatively fresh sign around its just a matter of time before the stars align. Good luck man - you still have lots of time.


P.S. I shot my bear last weekend with a strong wind at my back - sometimes it doesn't seem to matter with bears

Story is still going... I blabber so much I do it in chapters sometimes :D

[Harvest the Land]

Story is still going... I blabber so much I do it in chapters sometimes :D

10-4, pardon the interruption. Great story so far (nothing more relieving than hearing the death moan after the shot)

[caddisguy]

So now I'm thinking, what the heck is up with these bears?

I am not exaggerating when I say the big black phase boar scoots in and starts feeding where the cinnamon was feeding within 3 seconds of the 30-06 barking and only raised his head with slight curiosity when the cinnamon let out the death moan 10 yards away from him, all the while my scent blowing right at him.

What am I supposed to do now? I'm watching the big black phase feeding away. I honestly can't remember if I bought two tags or one LOL. Should I check? Naww, I even if I do have two in my pack I really don't want to shoot another bear even though I'm looking right after the one I'm after. I'll just take it for what it is and be happy with the younger small boar.

The black phase bear eventually works his way behind some trees so we aren't line of sight anymore. Figure I take the opportunity to slip out of there. My wife is probably wondering what the heck is going on up here.

I scoot back down the hill to where she's waiting. Told her I ran into a smaller cinnamon and took it, but the larger black phase is up there now if she wants to go shoot it. Naww, let's call it a night. We opted to wait until morning to recover the cinnamon. It was getting dark and with so many bears around figure we should play it safe. Temps were in the minus, so no worries there and it's going to be light in just over 6 hours. I did have some trouble sleeping worried about bears or other critters snacking on our bear.

Woke up the next morning and was eager to get our bear. It was cold enough we had water bottles freeze up, but I was still worried about critters getting to it, so we headed up there. Was relieved it was untouched. Here's a pic of the bear and yes, that is SNOW on the bear. Already looking forward to next Spring. I'm confident we can find a tank up there with a little more time


https://i.imgur.com/8l5qp6a.jpg

[Livewire322]

Right on, Caddis!

Way to get it done

[BeerMan]

Thanks, excellent story and pics.

[savage10]

Nice story! Congrats!

[caddisguy]

Thanks guys! Cutting it all up and vacuum packing now. Front quarters done. Seems like a decent amount of meat for a small bear. Will see when it's all done, but we should get some big batches of chilli and quite a few burgers out of this. Smells great too.

[TheObserver]

Congrats buddy, good job sneakin one in quickly before the season ends!

Thanks for the photos and sharing, I always enjoy seeing velvet Bucks/Bulls. How you like ground bear, burgers, tacos etc..? I think my next one i'm going to do a bunch of ground.

If you put some work in there and pass up Bears next year you could probably get that tank. There are some big Bears in 3 and 8, smart though.

Its funny how most Black Bears get out of dodge super fast, then you got some that could just care less lol

[Arctic Lake]

Way to go Caddis ! Always look forward to your stories !
Arctic Lake

[Wentrot]

Congrats man, nice bear!

[HarryToolips]

Way to go man, congrats!

[caddisguy]

Congrats buddy, good job sneakin one in quickly before the season ends!

Thanks for the photos and sharing, I always enjoy seeing velvet Bucks/Bulls. How you like ground bear, burgers, tacos etc..? I think my next one i'm going to do a bunch of ground.

If you put some work in there and pass up Bears next year you could probably get that tank. There are some big Bears in 3 and 8, smart though.

Its funny how most Black Bears get out of dodge super fast, then you got some that could just care less lol

Ya it was nice to run into those bucks multiple times and get within "my" bow range which is 30 yards. Just thinking how much growing they have to do the next 2.5 months. Sure would be neat if they were around and still as "friendly" for bow opener.

I really enjoy bear for burgers, chili, tacos, burritos. Can't forget the "ham-bear-ger helper" lol. I think if you fed a bear burger to 100 people on the street and told them it was free range grass fed organic beef only 2 or 3 would question it. I have only ever harvested one bear that tasted a little bit "off". That was in 2017, an older bear. Couldn't pass that one off as beef. Took a fair bit of garlic and onion to make it palatable.

But yeah we grind it all, 100% these days. I think this last year was the only year we had to buy ground beef since 2015 :D One day I might try doing a roast or something. I have seen pics of some impressive and delicious looking roasts. Seems worth a go one day.

[Ourea]

Great post.

[bottles]

Congrats. Nice color on that one.

[jlirot]

Great write up Caddis! I have to say your stories are my inspiration for writing up detailed reports/stories. Keep the bar high!

[TheObserver]

Ya it was nice to run into those bucks multiple times and get within "my" bow range which is 30 yards. Just thinking how much growing they have to do the next 2.5 months. Sure would be neat if they were around and still as "friendly" for bow opener.

I really enjoy bear for burgers, chili, tacos, burritos. Can't forget the "ham-bear-ger helper" lol. I think if you fed a bear burger to 100 people on the street and told them it was free range grass fed organic beef only 2 or 3 would question it. I have only ever harvested one bear that tasted a little bit "off". That was in 2017, an older bear. Couldn't pass that one off as beef. Took a fair bit of garlic and onion to make it palatable.

But yeah we grind it all, 100% these days. I think this last year was the only year we had to buy ground beef since 2015 :D One day I might try doing a roast or something. I have seen pics of some impressive and delicious looking roasts. Seems worth a go one day.

Hahah yeah i'm sure the big boys will be hiding out as soon as that velvet strips, but you never know that's why I love Hunting. Only way to know is to be up there for the first on the opener, and do some more scouting before then. Looks like a good area though and nice and green!

I've heard the burgers and such are really good, will be doin it next time for sure. I've also heard doing a roast in slow cooker can be amazing, may do that as well.

[ACB]

Well done, mmmmm....... Boo Boo burgers. LOL

[eatram]

Hey Caddis, congrats on a hard earned success. Very happy for you. If you don't mind me adding this next statement, it is ABSOLUTELY not directed at you, since you know when to make this call. However, there are many new or rookie hunters that will not know.

Always cool off your meat ASAP. This means either gutting or skinning and gutting animal right away. Meat spoils quickly. Very quickly. It is almost never ok to leave an animal until the next day to take care of this chore. For the sake of the meat and for the sake of the animal, gut it at least. It takes between 15-30 min max.

Again, Caddis this is not meant for you. The cold temps and the short night you had taken into consideration. This is meant for the greater community. Happy hunting all.

PS - beauty coat and nice work not shooting more than you needed

[caddisguy]

Hey Caddis, congrats on a hard earned success. Very happy for you. If you don't mind me adding this next statement, it is ABSOLUTELY not directed at you, since you know when to make this call. However, there are many new or rookie hunters that will not know.

Always cool off your meat ASAP. This means either gutting or skinning and gutting animal right away. Meat spoils quickly. Very quickly. It is almost never ok to leave an animal until the next day to take care of this chore. For the sake of the meat and for the sake of the animal, gut it at least. It takes between 15-30 min max.

Again, Caddis this is not meant for you. The cold temps and the short night you had taken into consideration. This is meant for the greater community. Happy hunting all.

PS - beauty coat and nice work not shooting more than you needed

Thank you eatram!

And I am glad you brought this up regarding cooling actually. I would not want anyone take away "well I saw this guy on HBC said we can go get the animal the next day and it will be okay" from the story there. It warrants re-emphasis. Yes definitely a good add to the thread. Reading my own words in my post, I said "no worries there" ... well in hind sight that turned out to be true, but is misleading, because while mostly confident and more concerned about critters snacking on it, I did actually have worries about meat quality. I was not 100% comfortable with this. It was a first for us in 12 big game animals and we still consider ourselves novices.

You're absolutely right. Cooling is incredibly important. Always have a plan before you pull the trigger as to how you will cool the meat and keep it cool especially in warmer weather. Just because this turned out fine for this situation, I could have been wrong. I'll recap the factors which led to this decision.

Though we have processed and packed out quite a few animals well into the dark with bear activity around us having to scare them away, I was particularly uncomfortable with the boldness of the larger bear that was unfazed and seemingly attracted to the gunshot with no fear of my obvious presence. The thought of processing this bear in the presence of another bear exhibiting bold behaviour brought our thoughts back to August last year where we were hanging trailcams in the timber making a fair bit of noise and ended up having to fend off a predatory black bear that snuck up on us. It was a terrifying show down. Safety comes before everything else. It needs to be justified though, not just "it's dark outside and there's bears around". That's hunting and if one is not comfortable with that, don't pull the trigger anywhere near dark. If after you pull the trigger, a threat presents itself, one needs to evaluate and decide. Having been stalked and charged a few times, I am fairly good at judging when a bear is likely to be bad news.

Other factors weighed into this decision were:

- Smaller bear + freezing temperatures
- It will be light again in 6.5 hours

Did I know for certain the meat would be okay? Nope! I thought and hoped it would and it was. If it was a larger bear or had more fat, would the meat have been okay? I don't know. If the light came 2 hours later, would the meat have been okay? I don't know. If it was 2 degrees warmer? I think everyone gets the idea.

Opening up the cavity, removing the contents and moving the animal away from said contents is great advice for cooling. I was uncertain whether this would increase the odds of bears or other critters, so that was a dice roll on my part that potentially could have spoiled meat. And by not opening the cavity and removing the contents, what if coyotes, wolves or another bear would have bit into the gut? That would have made a terrible mess of things.

So to anyone reading who is ever thinking of leaving an animal overnight, know that none of these decisions were taken lightly and we are lucky that everything worked out under the conditions / variables at play.

[caddisguy]

https://i.imgur.com/MKeBKPr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NxannXa.jpg

[Salty]

Great write up caddis and congrats on your end of the season bear. Crazy weather for June eh? I would have zero problem leaving that bear over night if in your shoes. We left a bear over night at more like +10 or 12 some years back, shit happens. It was a big one, and it was fresh as a daisy the next morning its pretty cool at ground level and in thick stuff at night. Congrats again and happy for you that you've found a good new spot ;)

[TheObserver]

https://i.imgur.com/MKeBKPr.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/NxannXa.jpg

Sweet! What Bullet/grain?

[caddisguy]

Great write up caddis and congrats on your end of the season bear. Crazy weather for June eh? I would have zero problem leaving that bear over night if in your shoes. We left a bear over night at more like +10 or 12 some years back, shit happens. It was a big one, and it was fresh as a daisy the next morning its pretty cool at ground level and in thick stuff at night. Congrats again and happy for you that you've found a good new spot ;)

I had a similar experience when I decided to retrieve a skull. I left it in the field and when I wrote up the story, peeps ask about the skull... "nawww I have enough skulls" ... "but what about all the history behind that bear? I'd make that one a centre piece" ... "ugh, dangit HBC... yeah I better go back and get that, regretting it now"

You said you'd come with but were heading out of town that weekend... suggested blasting Van Halen (or something) returning to the carcass that was tucked in thick brush lol

Anyway, so this carcass has been there a couple weeks (beginning of April and cold weather) and the carcass didn't smell "off" at all, not even slightly. Obviously "remains" is different than a whole animal, but anyway, I take the head back to camp. I'm fleshing out the skull in front of the campfire throwing slices of meat on it. One landed on a piece of wood, fire crackling around it, meat sizzling. It smelled absolutely delicious. I actually had to talk myself (or maybe it was caddisgirl) out of eating 2 week old head cheese.

Mostly unrelated to the topic but your post jogged my memory there :D

Thanks Salty! It does seem like a good spot for Spring and Fall bears. Quite similar to the other place you showed me. Curious if the deer there will still be around come September. Time will tell!

You know I've actually digging this weather. Feels like late fall with longer days!

[caddisguy]

Sweet! What Bullet/grain?

150gr 30-06 Winchester Super-X PowerPoint... they work good when they work! LOL ... I am just kidding, mostly anyway. I will never forget... 2014 my first year Spring Bear hunting. Actually the first time we ever hunted bear was on the last day of the season in 2014. We were sitting on a stump in this little feeding pocket and this bear just walks right in, it's 7 yards from me broadside. I squeeze the trigger. CLICK. Bear pauses for a second, jumps and does a 180 and we could hear it crashing through the bush for at least 1km

Man I felt robbed. I look back at it now, holy smokes that is one lucky bear :D

I think between myself, caddisgirl and my bro shooting those, we have had 3 misfire. That doesn't seem horrible and probably on par with most brands, but when it happens when you're hunting, that CLICK sure loud, deafening even.

[Salty]

You probably could have got big bucks for that 2 week aged head cheese at the right deli lol.
Yeah I'm down with this weather too I bet we got 20 hours of light rain or drizzle the last few days, we needed it

[caddisguy]

You probably could have got big bucks for that 2 week aged head cheese at the right deli lol.
Yeah I'm down with this weather too I bet we got 20 hours of light rain or drizzle the last few days, we needed it

Lmao "Thank you for calling caddisguy chainsaw repair, taxidermy, radio, pest removal and head cheese. How may I direct your call?"

Dang right, this weather we're having is a gift.

[interior]

Awesome write up and story, Caddis. Love the coat on the bear you ended up taking. That one buck looks like it has some promise. What elevation, roughly, were you seeing the bucks at?

[caddisguy]

Awesome write up and story, Caddis. Love the coat on the bear you ended up taking. That one buck looks like it has some promise. What elevation, roughly, were you seeing the bucks at?

The bucks were all over, 600-1450M ... that one buck, the pic doesn't do it justice... that guy had 3x more meat than the bear we took. Watched him from 20 yards and 600 yards... even 600 with the naked eye stood out like a sore thumb. That thing is a dang moose (okay maybe elk) ... huge body, very muscular ... I can only imagine the antler growth from now until September and body growth in November. Amazing specimen. We bumped into a lot of does with 2-3 fawns out there too. Great to see.

My wife video'd that primo buck a few times for a good while. I should be able to pull some better still frames from that.

[nature girl]

Nice bear Caddisguy.
Maybe try slicing the bear meat real thin and frying it up in some of that keg spice. It is like eating jerky.
What a Caddisguy story with no ticks.

[caddisguy]

Nice bear Caddisguy.
Maybe try slicing the bear meat real thin and frying it up in some of that keg spice. It is like eating jerky.
What a Caddisguy story with no ticks.

LMAO naturegirl I should have commented on that in the story. Despite all grass and brush we walked through, not even a single tick was found, not even on the bear.

Every other good bear spot we have found was loaded with them but not this one. Go figure. I'll welcome this change ;)

[whitespringer]

Great Job Caddis! Smaller bears are good eating 👍