moose2
02-20-2010, 03:55 AM
This is the book bear I shot in September 2007. I was going to head out for a weekend bear hunt about a hour and a half from my home, but having a day off during the week I thought I would use it to scout out an area. I didn't really know exactly where I wanted to go I just knew alpine was a good bet in the fall. So I had a late start after dropping my kid at school, but was still happy to be heading out. I found a spot from the road that I figured I could get to the alpine from in a few hours. So off I went with my rifle, daypack and my dog. I headed up through an old burn that was full of blue berries and I was into good bear sign right away. I spooked a bear when I was half way up the burn and was happy to see it was a grizzly. It wasn't a big bear but I knew then I was in a good spot. I spent the afternoon walking and glassing the alpine bowls without seeing anything. About 5:00 I thought I should start heading back to the truck. I walked over the edge towards the old burn, and I could not believe my eyes. There were 8 grizzly's all eating in the berry patch. I could ID two sows and 4 cubs and two big bears on thier own I thought would be boars. I slowly worked my way down a draw covered in small spruce trees. I got too within 200 yards of the biggest bear and took a shot. It started up the hill went over a knowl and dissapeared. I looked around for a few minutes without any luck. I finally heard some snorting , and as I looked he walked out of the berries at about 30 yards. I was able to finish the job then. I was really happy to see how big this boar was until I started skinning it. I found it very challenging to do on my own, it took a couple hours too get it done up. When I was done I went to lift the hide and unskinned head onto my shoulders. That was not going to happen so I had to drag the hide about 500 yards away from the carcass. Then I marked it with my GPS and headed down to get my pack and head light. By the time I got back and loaded the 120 lb hide on my pack it was completly dark. It was a really tough walk in the dark and I ended up in a alder swamp I could'nt find my way through. After using enough swear words that even my dog covered her ears I made the decision to leave the bear and pack and come back to get it in the day light. I got to the truck and decided to drive home and let my wife know I was still alive. I got in bed around midnight and tossed and turned with no sleep until 2:00 am. I couldn't take it any longer so I got up and headed back. I went up the hill and reached the bear at day break I decided then a shoulder mount was what I wanted so was able to cut the hide to drop some weight. Then the trip down was easy after that. I was happy to find out that my bear made the BC book at 23 2/16. My buddy drew a tag in the same area in 08 and he also got a large boar in the same burn with a story simmular to mine.
Mike
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/grizzly_mount_001.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=18289&limit=last7)
Mike
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/grizzly_mount_001.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=18289&limit=last7)