shortroot
06-15-2009, 10:39 PM
After spending a week in the Upper Horsefly looking for a grizz for my brother I was lucky enough to get this little fella after work last night, and yes, I'm in my sandals and underwear... It was raining all afternoon and I was soaked.
The story started out two weeks ago with my baby brother, cousin and myself camping out for a week in the Upper Horsefly country looking for a nice grizz, or a gagger of a black. Well, both opportunities presented themselves. We saw two nice grizz boars, one at 10 yards that tried to cross a log on the Horsefly as we were driving by, but fell in and had to drag himself out on the other side. The other was a little too quick as my brother and cousin couldn't get to him on the other side of the valley before he hit thick cover. They would have had an opportunity at him if they could have understood my hand signals from over a km away, but what do you know, it's hunting not shooting:)
On the last evening we were heading back to camp and a gagger black was walking down the road fitty yards in front of us as we rounded a corner. It made it into the thick bush before we could get out, get loaded, and get shooting. He didn't get big by being stupid, we couldn't find him. That ended our hunting for grizz, and set up the next chapter.
Last week I headed out to the same area to help a friend complete some surveys for the week. It was a good week, always fun running (yah right) around on cable blocks. We saw a few bears during the week, but it was super hot all week. My friend almost had a grizz come in the truck as he was completing some paper work while sitting in the truck with the door open. We parked beside a slash pile that was located on the bottom side of the road. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, looked up and was in a staring match with a 6.5-7' momma grizz coming over the slash at a distance of no more than 10'. They both froze, she gave out two big woofs, he closed the door and she ran back over the slash and downhill. He said if she would have charged instead of turning and running, that he wouldn't have been able to close the door fast enough. He heard her heading downhill towards the edge of the block, so he climbed the slash to take a peak. She had a two year old cub with her, he was lucky that she didn't charge, he figures the size of the truck probably intimidated her. The wind had to have been blowing perfectly for her to have come in that close, I'm sure they both almost shat their pants.
Not much of a story on the bear I bagged though. We were heading back to camp about 7pm, came around a corner and he was chowing down on the side of the road. I gave my friend first opportunity, as I know he really wanted a nice blacky. He declined, so I didn't hesitate. I jumped out of the truck, lined up on him and dropped him in his tracks. He was 1/2 on, 1/2 over the bank, so he slid all the way down to the creek. We hooked up a tow rope and some tie down straps and were able to drag him back up the bank. Pretty lucky and simple.
Took him the the taxidermist this morning, he figures he'll be close to 7' and possibly over 21", he's shot 3 over 21" in the last 3 years, and processes 40-60 bears a year, so hopefully he's not too much of a meathead. He was pretty confident that he'd be between 21 and 22". We didn't skin the head out, so I'll have to get a green score later.
The hides on the bears were all excellent as well, very surprising considering the very warm weather we have had the last few weeks. Not a single bear we saw was rubbed at all.
I'm going to have to buy another tag, as I'm heading back next Monday, and the one we saw the week before was a lot larger.
The story started out two weeks ago with my baby brother, cousin and myself camping out for a week in the Upper Horsefly country looking for a nice grizz, or a gagger of a black. Well, both opportunities presented themselves. We saw two nice grizz boars, one at 10 yards that tried to cross a log on the Horsefly as we were driving by, but fell in and had to drag himself out on the other side. The other was a little too quick as my brother and cousin couldn't get to him on the other side of the valley before he hit thick cover. They would have had an opportunity at him if they could have understood my hand signals from over a km away, but what do you know, it's hunting not shooting:)
On the last evening we were heading back to camp and a gagger black was walking down the road fitty yards in front of us as we rounded a corner. It made it into the thick bush before we could get out, get loaded, and get shooting. He didn't get big by being stupid, we couldn't find him. That ended our hunting for grizz, and set up the next chapter.
Last week I headed out to the same area to help a friend complete some surveys for the week. It was a good week, always fun running (yah right) around on cable blocks. We saw a few bears during the week, but it was super hot all week. My friend almost had a grizz come in the truck as he was completing some paper work while sitting in the truck with the door open. We parked beside a slash pile that was located on the bottom side of the road. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye, looked up and was in a staring match with a 6.5-7' momma grizz coming over the slash at a distance of no more than 10'. They both froze, she gave out two big woofs, he closed the door and she ran back over the slash and downhill. He said if she would have charged instead of turning and running, that he wouldn't have been able to close the door fast enough. He heard her heading downhill towards the edge of the block, so he climbed the slash to take a peak. She had a two year old cub with her, he was lucky that she didn't charge, he figures the size of the truck probably intimidated her. The wind had to have been blowing perfectly for her to have come in that close, I'm sure they both almost shat their pants.
Not much of a story on the bear I bagged though. We were heading back to camp about 7pm, came around a corner and he was chowing down on the side of the road. I gave my friend first opportunity, as I know he really wanted a nice blacky. He declined, so I didn't hesitate. I jumped out of the truck, lined up on him and dropped him in his tracks. He was 1/2 on, 1/2 over the bank, so he slid all the way down to the creek. We hooked up a tow rope and some tie down straps and were able to drag him back up the bank. Pretty lucky and simple.
Took him the the taxidermist this morning, he figures he'll be close to 7' and possibly over 21", he's shot 3 over 21" in the last 3 years, and processes 40-60 bears a year, so hopefully he's not too much of a meathead. He was pretty confident that he'd be between 21 and 22". We didn't skin the head out, so I'll have to get a green score later.
The hides on the bears were all excellent as well, very surprising considering the very warm weather we have had the last few weeks. Not a single bear we saw was rubbed at all.
I'm going to have to buy another tag, as I'm heading back next Monday, and the one we saw the week before was a lot larger.