Freshly Snipes
06-15-2010, 07:30 PM
Sunday morning came all too early as the alarm blared at 3:00am. After a quick stop at Tim Hortons, we were on our way.
We were undecided as to where we wanted to hunt for the day, but a last minute decision led us to Merritt to make our way home.
We arrived at our usual spot just before 7:00am. We knew this area well and were excited to see what was in store for us beyond the gravel road. We parked the truck and started off down a grassy road but made it only a few minutes before the mosquitos made our walk unbearable. We killed some time by driving around, waiting for the mosquitos to retreat. Once they did, we parked the truck again, started off in another direction and began to call. Almost immediately we heard a loud "CRUNCH", and both our eyes shot open waiting for movement. Less than 20 yards away from us were a doe and a buck searching for their baby fawn. We toyed with them for a few minutes, got a quick video and continued on the search for our first bear of the season.
After several more roads and no sign of any bears, we decided to go up a little higher. As we climbed, so did our hopes.
We turned a corner into a new cut and I immediately spotted a bear close to the road. At first I thought it was worthy, but a closer look told me it was a smaller bear (possibly a sow). Again, we got a quick video and were on our way.
Slowly losing hope, we decided to make our way to town for fuel, food, and to start hunting in a different direction. We drove down a road for an hour or two without any sign of bear poo so we stopped at a good vantage point for a much needed nap. At about 1:00pm, we wake up refreshed, trying to decide where to head next.
Our options were to hit the Coquihalla all the way home or take our chances and go through Princeton. We know the Coquihalla well; but so does every other bear hunter. The Coquihalla has been far too popular over the past few weeks so we decide to head towards Princeton.
We turn up a familiar road that we know hasn't been busy recently - and for a reason. Again, no sign of any bears. However, this didn't discourage as as our intetions were to kill some time until late afternoon because we knew exactly which road we wanted to hunt. So we turned around and made our way to our destination by about 4:00pm. Not even 1 kilometer in we see a small bear poo, but it was a bear poo nonetheless and we got excited. Over the next 20km we saw at least 40 more bear droppings more but no bears. I knew we would see one if we just waited a bit and drove out slowly. So we took a quick power nap and hit the road back.
By 5:30 we spotted a bear but it spotted us first and was on the run. A beautiful blonde bear - not big but sure nice. So we back up, give it a few minutes and get out to start the walk. We walk for a few kilometers and didn't spot anything but we wanted to get to the cut blocks we spotted on the way in. So back to the truck we go and we start to make our way back. We finally got to the cuts and we are driving slowly when all of a sudden I spot something strange. So out I hop and up comes the gun and at first it seems to be a brown spot just sitting there and then he moved his head. I say "bear" and Popove runs back to grab the video camera. The only problem right now is the bear is 104yds downhill. I know the bears is decent but he was sitting down making it tough to judge as if it isnt hard enough. I could see his head small ears and far apart. Mr p wasn't sure but i was and i decide he is worth the pack out. He just about took a step and the 300 win mag barked out dropping the bear where he was crushing his spine. But the bear wasn't dead so I sent another one flying and ended any suffering.
On the walk down to the bear i wasn't sure how big he was. But when I tried to move him and couldn't i was super happy. Just a beautiful brown coat with a bit of blonde and a big old head on him with a scar on his nose. Few high fives and a few "wooohooooo's" and the work began. I gutted him quickly and he was still too heavy to move. So i decide to take the damaged meat out and the ribs and then we tied him to the pole and carried him out. Was a pretty crappy pack but was well worth it in the end. On our way home we saw 4 more bears and a total of 9 bucks. All in all a great day to spend with a good friend and hunting partner. He will post up the videos and the pictures later tonight.
We were undecided as to where we wanted to hunt for the day, but a last minute decision led us to Merritt to make our way home.
We arrived at our usual spot just before 7:00am. We knew this area well and were excited to see what was in store for us beyond the gravel road. We parked the truck and started off down a grassy road but made it only a few minutes before the mosquitos made our walk unbearable. We killed some time by driving around, waiting for the mosquitos to retreat. Once they did, we parked the truck again, started off in another direction and began to call. Almost immediately we heard a loud "CRUNCH", and both our eyes shot open waiting for movement. Less than 20 yards away from us were a doe and a buck searching for their baby fawn. We toyed with them for a few minutes, got a quick video and continued on the search for our first bear of the season.
After several more roads and no sign of any bears, we decided to go up a little higher. As we climbed, so did our hopes.
We turned a corner into a new cut and I immediately spotted a bear close to the road. At first I thought it was worthy, but a closer look told me it was a smaller bear (possibly a sow). Again, we got a quick video and were on our way.
Slowly losing hope, we decided to make our way to town for fuel, food, and to start hunting in a different direction. We drove down a road for an hour or two without any sign of bear poo so we stopped at a good vantage point for a much needed nap. At about 1:00pm, we wake up refreshed, trying to decide where to head next.
Our options were to hit the Coquihalla all the way home or take our chances and go through Princeton. We know the Coquihalla well; but so does every other bear hunter. The Coquihalla has been far too popular over the past few weeks so we decide to head towards Princeton.
We turn up a familiar road that we know hasn't been busy recently - and for a reason. Again, no sign of any bears. However, this didn't discourage as as our intetions were to kill some time until late afternoon because we knew exactly which road we wanted to hunt. So we turned around and made our way to our destination by about 4:00pm. Not even 1 kilometer in we see a small bear poo, but it was a bear poo nonetheless and we got excited. Over the next 20km we saw at least 40 more bear droppings more but no bears. I knew we would see one if we just waited a bit and drove out slowly. So we took a quick power nap and hit the road back.
By 5:30 we spotted a bear but it spotted us first and was on the run. A beautiful blonde bear - not big but sure nice. So we back up, give it a few minutes and get out to start the walk. We walk for a few kilometers and didn't spot anything but we wanted to get to the cut blocks we spotted on the way in. So back to the truck we go and we start to make our way back. We finally got to the cuts and we are driving slowly when all of a sudden I spot something strange. So out I hop and up comes the gun and at first it seems to be a brown spot just sitting there and then he moved his head. I say "bear" and Popove runs back to grab the video camera. The only problem right now is the bear is 104yds downhill. I know the bears is decent but he was sitting down making it tough to judge as if it isnt hard enough. I could see his head small ears and far apart. Mr p wasn't sure but i was and i decide he is worth the pack out. He just about took a step and the 300 win mag barked out dropping the bear where he was crushing his spine. But the bear wasn't dead so I sent another one flying and ended any suffering.
On the walk down to the bear i wasn't sure how big he was. But when I tried to move him and couldn't i was super happy. Just a beautiful brown coat with a bit of blonde and a big old head on him with a scar on his nose. Few high fives and a few "wooohooooo's" and the work began. I gutted him quickly and he was still too heavy to move. So i decide to take the damaged meat out and the ribs and then we tied him to the pole and carried him out. Was a pretty crappy pack but was well worth it in the end. On our way home we saw 4 more bears and a total of 9 bucks. All in all a great day to spend with a good friend and hunting partner. He will post up the videos and the pictures later tonight.