BiG Boar
04-26-2010, 09:02 AM
Looking into its beady little pig eyes, I watched from the boat through the spotting scope in a small-secluded bay. With no road access and needing a boat to plow through serious water we had made it to our dream hunt yet again. As the beast lifted his head slowly and deliberately I saw a massive neck and head. With tiny ears spread out on the sides of his head I knew that this was one of the bears we had come for. Hardly ever hunted, very remote and hostile, we were there….
The hunt started on the 12th of April 2010. We set off from Langley BC and headed north to Williams lake to talk to a friend and ex bear guide, Steve Rupp. I have hunted for many days with Steve and he had taught me well. The bears will be on the grass in the spring. Find the Grass, find the bears!
We drove on and spent the night in the trailered 23-foot Grady white boat, wondering and dreaming of the coast. It was a cold night and during the night some raccoons snuck onto our boat atop us while we slept to search out any food we might have.
That morning we woke up to bright sun shine and blue skies, it was absolutely stunning. We drove further west to the longest, steepest grade, with no guardrails, gravel road Hill in Canada. After extensive warning about taking it slow, in 1st gear 4 low, from both Steve and myself, my hunting partner and good friend Stewart stopped about ¾ of the way down the mountain, with breaks on the verge of catching fire on the boat trailer. We regrouped and slowed down as suggested and eased onto the final stretch of pavement between the Hill and the coast. Talking to someone else later, he said next time to jam a screwdriver into the hydraulic brake neck and just use the engine.
Having a nice lunch we then went to fill the boat with water but found out that we had hauled old water all the way from Vancouver, however we were missing one thing, the jug of drinking water. As we didn’t know where we were going to camp would need a jug to fill from the streams of fresh water flowing everywhere on the coast. I headed all the way back to Hagensborg to get a new jug.
In secrecy we loaded the boat. This hunt is the most controversial in the province and we had been warned extensively about keeping quiet rolling into Bella coola, which is about halfway up BC right on the west coast. Some people are very against bear hunting, and we didn’t need any issues from green peace, which has harassed hunters in the area before. We slipped in and headed off towards the worst stretch of water known as the nose.
The 23 ft Grady white handled it all and then some. I am amazed at this boat; it went through chop like it wasn’t even there at all. We hit a few storms on our 2 weeks hunting and each time it preformed flawlessly. The only scare we had was the first 2 kms where one of the two 150 hp Yamahas was acting as if it wasn’t getting enough fuel. After making sure the problem was fixed we headed on. To navigate these waters, do look up the weather on the Internet if possible before leaving, it is still unpredictable, but so long as it’s not blowing a gale you should be okay IF you have a good boat.
We found ourselves a place to rough it that evening and set up camp.
We hunted in my opinion no as hard as we could have, we did get some fishing in. But we knew we were going in a bit early and we wanted to enjoy the trip more than even getting two monster grizzlies that we had tags for. Spent some time in the hot springs, there are 2 different ones and we found a source for another one.
We ate like kings, with ample crab and prawns, however we never caught a single fish, even a dang cod! We did try for salmon and halis, but to no avail. Soon, as we realized gas was becoming scarce we stopped this non-scence. We did learn however that some cod and snapper have ivory pedals imbedded in their skulls just over the eyes. You can see in the picture with the flowers what they look like. They are supposedly really tough to even drill through!
Back to the hunt…. After a few days of getting to know the areas, the estuaries and the grassy banks we figured out which areas to concentrate on. I said to out loud 3 times, that in where we will see a bear this trip, and almost like magic a behemoth of a black bear emerges from the bush. I said we need to act fast and we need to go shoot that bear. So after a quick but thorough look over from the boat I headed to shore in my 9-foot Achilles inflatable. Paddling as quickly and quietly as I could I found the shore. Knowing the tide was going down, I tied the boat to something quickly and made my way behind a small hill toward where I had the bear marked on a funny looking tree on the shore line. As I looked to get into position two geese made me and took off with some over dramatic honking. As I looked over the hill the bear was gone.
I set up downwind behind a clump of bush and intended to wait this sucker out. He would be back in a few hours and I would be ready for him. But he never showed. I saw the sun setting on the mountains behind me and had no choice but to get up and leave. I made my way back to the boat and loaded the inflatable and pulled anchor. As if on queue the monster walked out not 50 yards from where I had been set up. We’d have to get him tomorrow!
But we set up for 3 more days and never saw him again. Never got to measure a track and never had to skin out what I had thought was a bear that would go 7 foot plus. We were there to hunt grizzlies and if it wasn’t a monster black bear we wouldn’t have wasted our time for it.
We ended up seeing 4 grizzlies, one of which is pictured here. You can tell me if you think it was a shooter or not. I was looking for something in the 9-10 foot range and he never crossed my path. I think it was a mature bear, but just not the bear for me. That bear was out for multiple days but it was never the one.
One thing that was a highlight is seen the video posted. That happened twice to us. There must have been a pod of over 100 white-sided dolphins. You could reach down and touch them if you wanted to.
The hunt started on the 12th of April 2010. We set off from Langley BC and headed north to Williams lake to talk to a friend and ex bear guide, Steve Rupp. I have hunted for many days with Steve and he had taught me well. The bears will be on the grass in the spring. Find the Grass, find the bears!
We drove on and spent the night in the trailered 23-foot Grady white boat, wondering and dreaming of the coast. It was a cold night and during the night some raccoons snuck onto our boat atop us while we slept to search out any food we might have.
That morning we woke up to bright sun shine and blue skies, it was absolutely stunning. We drove further west to the longest, steepest grade, with no guardrails, gravel road Hill in Canada. After extensive warning about taking it slow, in 1st gear 4 low, from both Steve and myself, my hunting partner and good friend Stewart stopped about ¾ of the way down the mountain, with breaks on the verge of catching fire on the boat trailer. We regrouped and slowed down as suggested and eased onto the final stretch of pavement between the Hill and the coast. Talking to someone else later, he said next time to jam a screwdriver into the hydraulic brake neck and just use the engine.
Having a nice lunch we then went to fill the boat with water but found out that we had hauled old water all the way from Vancouver, however we were missing one thing, the jug of drinking water. As we didn’t know where we were going to camp would need a jug to fill from the streams of fresh water flowing everywhere on the coast. I headed all the way back to Hagensborg to get a new jug.
In secrecy we loaded the boat. This hunt is the most controversial in the province and we had been warned extensively about keeping quiet rolling into Bella coola, which is about halfway up BC right on the west coast. Some people are very against bear hunting, and we didn’t need any issues from green peace, which has harassed hunters in the area before. We slipped in and headed off towards the worst stretch of water known as the nose.
The 23 ft Grady white handled it all and then some. I am amazed at this boat; it went through chop like it wasn’t even there at all. We hit a few storms on our 2 weeks hunting and each time it preformed flawlessly. The only scare we had was the first 2 kms where one of the two 150 hp Yamahas was acting as if it wasn’t getting enough fuel. After making sure the problem was fixed we headed on. To navigate these waters, do look up the weather on the Internet if possible before leaving, it is still unpredictable, but so long as it’s not blowing a gale you should be okay IF you have a good boat.
We found ourselves a place to rough it that evening and set up camp.
We hunted in my opinion no as hard as we could have, we did get some fishing in. But we knew we were going in a bit early and we wanted to enjoy the trip more than even getting two monster grizzlies that we had tags for. Spent some time in the hot springs, there are 2 different ones and we found a source for another one.
We ate like kings, with ample crab and prawns, however we never caught a single fish, even a dang cod! We did try for salmon and halis, but to no avail. Soon, as we realized gas was becoming scarce we stopped this non-scence. We did learn however that some cod and snapper have ivory pedals imbedded in their skulls just over the eyes. You can see in the picture with the flowers what they look like. They are supposedly really tough to even drill through!
Back to the hunt…. After a few days of getting to know the areas, the estuaries and the grassy banks we figured out which areas to concentrate on. I said to out loud 3 times, that in where we will see a bear this trip, and almost like magic a behemoth of a black bear emerges from the bush. I said we need to act fast and we need to go shoot that bear. So after a quick but thorough look over from the boat I headed to shore in my 9-foot Achilles inflatable. Paddling as quickly and quietly as I could I found the shore. Knowing the tide was going down, I tied the boat to something quickly and made my way behind a small hill toward where I had the bear marked on a funny looking tree on the shore line. As I looked to get into position two geese made me and took off with some over dramatic honking. As I looked over the hill the bear was gone.
I set up downwind behind a clump of bush and intended to wait this sucker out. He would be back in a few hours and I would be ready for him. But he never showed. I saw the sun setting on the mountains behind me and had no choice but to get up and leave. I made my way back to the boat and loaded the inflatable and pulled anchor. As if on queue the monster walked out not 50 yards from where I had been set up. We’d have to get him tomorrow!
But we set up for 3 more days and never saw him again. Never got to measure a track and never had to skin out what I had thought was a bear that would go 7 foot plus. We were there to hunt grizzlies and if it wasn’t a monster black bear we wouldn’t have wasted our time for it.
We ended up seeing 4 grizzlies, one of which is pictured here. You can tell me if you think it was a shooter or not. I was looking for something in the 9-10 foot range and he never crossed my path. I think it was a mature bear, but just not the bear for me. That bear was out for multiple days but it was never the one.
One thing that was a highlight is seen the video posted. That happened twice to us. There must have been a pod of over 100 white-sided dolphins. You could reach down and touch them if you wanted to.