Archery Bear Hunt

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Well, this trip was a hard act to follow....
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=12574

.......but when Calvin L found out his was a repeat tag holder for grizz, he figured he had to use archery gear for his trip this year. My hats go off to anyone willing to even attempt that. Lord knows, I sure wouldn't:shock:!!!!

Well, no tags were cut but fun was had none-the-less.
Lots of snow-shoeing and hiking involved...and we pretty much had the entire area to ourselves:smile:.
The snow situation was definitely behind schedule which made things more challenging....realistically, too crunchy to make a stalk unless the bear was in an ideal location.

The trip started off by seeing 2 wolves making a stalk on some cattle just off the highway(should have stopped for some filming-Dang!!).

Got to see an avalanche come down on the opposite side of the valley(thank-goodness).

Saw some damn nice tracks but couldn't catch up to the print-layer.

Saw some quality blackies but didn't quite work out with the bows.

Got to see a wolverine(too fast for the video cam)

Had two washouts on the same road after 2 days of heavy rains...one was a major one.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_002.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9434&ppuser=1509)

cont'd

[Stone Sheep Steve]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_005.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9435&ppuser=1509)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_008.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9437&ppuser=1509)

Calvin decided to build a shelter in his spare time(damn mining companies!!!:mad:)

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/Grizz_Hunt_2008_014.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9438&size=big&cat=&ppuser=1509)




cont'd

[Stone Sheep Steve]

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_020.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9439&ppuser=1509)

Wolverine tracks
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_028.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9440&ppuser=1509)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_029.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9441&ppuser=1509)

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Here you can see the melt that occurred over the week.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_006.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9436&ppuser=1509)
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Grizz_Hunt_2008_032.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=9442&ppuser=1509)

Great times in great country.....looking forward to the next one!:smile:



SSS

[mark]

Nice looking country, how many grizz were seen?

[boxhitch]

Good on you guys. I fought hard to join up, but not this time. Looks like lots of snow for sure, I figured you might see some slide action with all the rain. Or some dicy ice bridges. Glad your back safe.

[BCBairdo]

Brent,

I had been looking forward to hearing back from you. Too bad you guys didn't connect but just spending time in the bush with one of your buddies is just what the doctor ordered. Hope you get to Christen your bow before the season ends. I hurt my hand quite bad on May long when quad flipped on top of me and cut hand bad with nerve damage etc. Slowly on the mend but it means we will be delaying the start of our Grizz hunt and will be going with the rifle rather than the bows. Shot rifle tonight and at least I got feeling back in my trigger finger. I am hoping I will recoup sooner than later but shouldn't be too stressful caring the video camera and acting as backup. We leave next Wed for 5 days....Steven has told us lots of snow in our area too so we will be taking the misery slippers too.

Cheers,

Ian

[hunter1947]

Looks like real nice country SSS ,the main thing is that you got out and had a great time. Did you see any grizzlies ???.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Only saw 2 grizzers, which was a little dissappointing(plus the set of big tracks). There was one valley that we peaked into but didn't head up due to the time it would have taken to get in there with the boards strapped on. Two years ago we saw 5 bears up there....this year we saw one near the beginning of the valley.
We wondered if a lot of the grizzlies were in the main valey bottom feeding on moose calves because of the late spring?? The blackies definitely seemed to come out of the woodwork the last couple of days.
We had one blackie come into to camp using his nose honing in on our breakfast of muley steak and eggs. Boxhitch-we thought it might have been your buddy from last year but this guy had a white "v" on his chest.............and he fled when he should have;-).

Had fun shooting the bows almost every day before heading out. I'm a self-taught shooter so it was nice to finally shoot with an experienced shooter:-).


Ian- I, too, found out how dangerous quads can be. Luckily, it was in my driveway at the very end of our trip:roll:.
Hope your hand heals quickly with no permanent damage

SSS

[LeverActionJunkie]

Great story SSS, looks like you guys had a great trip. Too bad you couldn't connect but hats off to Calvin for going archery thats for sure.

[Fisher-Dude]

Nice pics SSS. With Calvin's LEH luck, you'll probably get to go again next year too!

PS - who the hell is Brent? :confused::confused::confused:

[Stone Sheep Steve]

I fought hard to join up, but not this time.

I figured you were coming for sure....at least from what Calvin said. Each night when we got ready for bed he would say " I'd better jump into your bed as I'm pretty sure Bill will be coming tonight, for sure" . He said that every night. It all makes sense now:shock:.......................................: biggrin:.

SSS

[calvin L]

As it has been stated before. Time in the woods with a good friend is enough! Totake a animal is a bonus . We had lots of laughs. great food . That turned into not so good smells :???: right SSS. I hope to have SSS on his first bow hunt for elk this year maybe I can be there to open the congats bottle .

thanks again for a great trip SSS I hope to do it again soon .

calvin L

[jrjonesy]

Glad you guys had a great trip! Thanks for posting the pictures so quickly Brent. Beautiful Country!
Jason

[Fisher-Dude]

I figured you were coming for sure....at least from what Calvin said. Each night when we got ready for bed he would say " I'd better jump into your bed as I'm pretty sure Bill will be coming tonight, for sure" . He said that every night. It all makes sense now:shock:.......................................: biggrin:.

SSS

Ai-carumba. :?