grizz 2012

[bowhunterbruce]

well after experiencing an incredible bison hunt in nov of 2011 i felt as though i could return an expierence to one of my hunting buddies that took me along with him on it, by inviting him to go after grizz.
knowing that i had a couple more friends that also wanted to experience the rush i schooled everyone as to where and when to put in for the spring 2012 draw and low and behold all three of them get the draw, what sucked though is that for the first time in my life canada post let me down and my card didn't make it to victoria and i didnt have a tag for ursus arctos horriblis. oh well, knowing there was a huge blonde black bear in the same area had me stocked anyways.
along comes may and we all met at the pre-arranged location, into the bush we go some 250 km of rough gravel ahead of us.
1/2 the day later and a flat tire on the trailer later we arrive at our camp spot.

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the flat trailer tire

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the lake at camp with the grizz hills in the background

[bowhunterbruce]

the area held alot of bears and between the 4 of us we were seeing blackies everywhere and to get out and stalk them with bows and a camera was a blast, getting in as close as 15 to 20 yards at times then comming to full draw and saying "thwack" your dead" was in itself a rush and a half,without even releasing an arrow.

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15 yards broadside, dosen't get any better!!!

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waiting for him to turn, he didn't even know we were there

[bowhunterbruce]

throughout the hunt we were running into animals everywhere including caribou and goats, some close as well as in the near distance.

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[Fella]

Nice pics! Loving the story so far too keep it coming!

[decker9]

Sounds like the start of an amazing hunt!

[bowhunterbruce]

we were split into pairs with dave (bigboar) and glenn (grouse river outfitters) going out daily and "fill em full of lead" Ed hanging with myself, we glassed our a$$'s off daily with us meeting back at camp to report our sightings and possible plans of attack.
Knowing Ed was after a blonde one was spotted high up a slide and tended to take its afternoon nap on a rock outcrop.

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the sleeping blonde
a plan was formulated, first up was to find a way across a fast flowing spring run off stream. Ed and i cut trial down to the river and proceeded to figure out how we were not only going to get across but how to get back in the dark weighed down with heavy packs.
after finding a standing dead pine tree , i cut if down and dropped it between a couple others on the far side creating a bridge.

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the view of the bridge once we crossed it for the first time.

[bowhunterbruce]

seeing as it was getting pretty late the disission to just scout to the bottom of the slide that day,then come back the next morning was all we did that day.
our plan was to have Ed head over while I watched and guided him as to what the bear was up to as the stalk progressed.

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my view from about 2 km away.

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this is the "bears view" of the cut block i was sitting in

[bowhunterbruce]

well as Ed comes into my view the blonde was feeding as it did every day without a care in the world ,until a wind shift notifies it that something was amuck. it bolts straight uphill directly to it's lookout perch.
i send Ed back into the bush and on a path that takes him onto the next avalanch chute. now out of site and out of the bears nose, ed climbs and climbs and climbs until he hits the snow line. now almost directly paralelle with the bear he hunkers down inside some small spuce bushs until the now sleeping blonde makes its move.
almost 2 hrs later the bear starts to move, only it looks like its going to head up and over the mountian and into the next drainage.
i get ed into high gear in hopes of cutting it off and after he has been high balling uphill for almost 1/2 an hr the bear appears down below him , PERFECT i think.
Ed drops his pack and goes into final stalk mode with me as his eyes i bring him within 50 yards of the bear but brush and small willows keep the 2 apart for what seamed like an eturnity.
Finally the bear moves out and ed takes the shot. the bear drops, gets back up runs then starts tumbling ,comming to rest in some willows i cant see into.
after watching intensly for 15 minutes i dont see any movement so i sent him down towards the bear.as Ed gets within 15 yards the bear gets up and sarts running again and Ed puts another one into it. more rolling and stops.

[Rocky7]

Thanks for the story and pictures. Great stuff.

[bowhunterbruce]

fill em full of lead Ed and his hot blonde

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me and the blonde
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[bowhunterbruce]

so that was 1 down as plan "a" was worked to perfection, almost 1500 feet in elevation climbed to achive a dream was minor, our legs were pretty fried though come the next day.
the bridge worked like a dream and it was a plan that wasn't rushed or hap hazardly thought out.
patience, perserverince prevailed and we still had 2 more tags in camp to try and fill.
these hills are not for the faint of heart, knowing all the while that there were other groups in the area looking for these majestic creatures ,we came prepared with the knowledge and desire to go further, climb higher and push ourselfs to our maximum limits to achive our dreams.
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just some other views of the hills

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[Duck Buster]

This is great, can't wait for the rest. The Blonde is a great looking bear.

[bowhunterbruce]

with Ed only having 1 week to achive his goal, it was a good thing we succeeded, none of this success could have happened without everyone being envolved as it was dave and glenn who first spotted the honest 6' 2" blonde in what turned out to be its kitchen and bedroom.
well now its dave and glenns turn and as luck and expierence would have it. they headed up another valley where the road was blocked by vast stretchs of sugar snow on the road in.
dawning thier packs they head towards the back end of a valley that has produced some of the largest interior grizzlys in the province in the past, including a monster 9' 2", 25 13/16 bruin.
a few km's later they get to the end and set up an awesome blind and right away spot a good one.
glenn heads out further down the trail towards the bear staying on the north side of the valley , as he starts getting closer his plan was to find away across the river to do a stalk.
well he comes across some really fresh tracks and takes off his pack to retrieve his camera for pics when he hears a branch snap above him.
at less the 60 yards away ,the grizzly was turning towards him and starting to work its way down hill.
glenn still has his gun in his pack ,needs to retrieve it then load it.
needless to say, he gets it done under what is no doubt EXTREAM pressure. and puts a round into the bear.
At less then 40 yards from glenn the grizzly comes to rest.
now thats what i call up close and personal

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[bowhunterbruce]

so thats now 2 down, 1 to go.
Glenn now put his focus on blackies ,hopeing for a monster or a color phase. with only 1 more day to hunt before he was to leave and on the afternoon hunt he was successful on scoring a beautiful cinnomon. unfortunatly i don't have any pics of it as he returned well after dark. dave and i were elated to hear his truck pull in, finally we could rest.

[bob the tomato]

man good story so far! very nice color on them bears!

[bowhunterbruce]

now its up to super "bigboar" Dave to connect.
as you all know his quest for a BIG BOAR has been an ongoing quest for along time and many many days spent in the field. After glenn scoring a perfect 7 plus footer that perfectly represented the spieces, we said our goodbyes to him and off we went on our quest for something larger.
we headed back to the blind for some glassing of a hill were Dave had seen the monster of his dreams only a cpl days before.
"golithe" was here, now we needed him to show his rather large mug again.

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dave in the blind

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one of the many hills we got to glass

well as luck would be, Golithe showed himself working his way in our direction some 2 plus km's away,and off dave goes, straight over the hill without any hesitation hoping to intersept him. we remained in contact via radios as dave came across the first of the streams he had to cross. this time we were not quite as prepared and didnt have any bridges waiting for us. after dave clears the first stream he reports back and i tell him they are still on a collision coarse. with dave needing to cover over a km before reaching the far cut block he had his work cut of for him.
i watched the bear moving closer and closer to what we hoped would be the pre-dertermined rondevous point, when i tried calling the bears position i got no replys back.
well eventually the bear came and went and i looked at the clock as he went by were i figured they should connect, hoping all the while to hear a shot. nothing.
i waited there for along time only to finally see dave coming back out of the bush exactally where he had entered a few hours later only to find out that he had lost the radio. once he realised it, he spent some 10 minutes looking for it and as luck would have it he arrived at that spot where the bear would be 5 minutes after the bear had crossed that exact spot and would have been less then 100 yards away obscured by all the alder brush from daves view.
so this time it was golithe who had the luck on his side.
although we were not successful at harvesting golithe, we left him with a fond farwell with a "see ya next year" goodbye.
it 2013 now and may is just around the corner.
see ya soon big buddy "golithe"
bhb

[snareman1234]

Both grizzlies sows?

[kayjayess]

Great story. It cracks me up that the long range guy shoots a bear inside 50 yards. Lol. Nice bear Glenn! Pretty blonde for Ed as well. Good luck to Dave up there this year. Did you get drawn this year as well bhb?


We hunted Grizz up there three years ago and love that country. Makes me want to go back. Maybe next spring if the lefties don't blow it for me.

Thanks for the pics

[adriaticum]

Good show, nice pics!

[coach]

Great story and pics, BHB! I've been looking forward to this story for a long time. Sounds like you guys had an awesome hunt. Congrats and thanks for holding out and inspiring the rest of us for the upcoming season. Perfect timing for your story. :-D

[BiG Boar]

Sure puts a taste in my mouth for a grizzly hunt! What a hunt that was. And we were so close to a triple it wasn't even funny! A real monster as well that last boar. I'll see if I can find a picture of Goliath. Hopefully This year is my year! Thanks to Bruce for an incredible trip!

[bowhunterbruce]

thanks everyone for the replys,

snareman1234, no ,1 and 1
kayjay, only time will tell
hey coach, thanks buddy, i figured it might put a jump in a few lucky tag holders and motivate them to be as prepared as humanly possible.

yo super dave, get the big boys pic up if ya got it, we know he is going to be pushing that 9 foot mark this year.

[REMINGTON JIM]

Great stories and Very Nice Bears ! Congrats to all involved in the Hunts ! :-D RJ

[BlacktailStalker]

Sweet timing on this thread, can't wait !

[Rackmastr]

Can't wait to get north and hunt grizz this spring!! Dates are set and plans are coming together! Man oh man this is going to be a fun spring!!

[kennyj]

Great story, and great bears. Thanks for sharing your adventure.
kenny

[Ruger4]

couple nice bears Bruce !! great pics !

[HarryToolips]

Great story, great pics, and nice sized bears guys..Question: is a .30-06 using 180 grain big enough to stop a griz in most cases if a person "had to"? You guys using 300 win mags or 7 mm's to take em down??

[aggiehunter]

one looks like a sow and one a boar...

[Coop]

Awesome story ans nice bears. Sure wish we got a draw :(

[Timbow]

Awesome, thanks for sharing. Posting the scenery shots with stories sure brings it to life.

[BiG Boar]

Goliath in fine form. Sleep well my mountainous foe.

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[Call of the Wild]

Great story and nice colours on the bears too. Best of luck in the coming weeks guys


Great story, great pics, and nice sized bears guys..Question: is a .30-06 using 180 grain big enough to stop a griz in most cases if a person "had to"? You guys using 300 win mags or 7 mm's to take em down??

Use some prime ammo like Barnes TSX and place your first bullet right in the shoulder then get ready for a second shot or more if you have the opportunity. Your 30-06 with 180 grain will do the job within reasonable distance. I put my grizzly last fall down with a 7mm TSX in 160 grain but some guys will argue it's not possible... Lots of posts on this topic!!

[Call of the Wild]

Dave that's one nice and dark colour grizzly with some size!!! I hope it turns out positive this year for you.

[swampthing]

Great stuff. Gettin me excited for spring.

[BiG Boar]

Great story, great pics, and nice sized bears guys..Question: is a .30-06 using 180 grain big enough to stop a griz in most cases if a person "had to"? You guys using 300 win mags or 7 mm's to take em down??

Stop a grizz if "had to". That to me is a charge situation, I am guessing?

Well a 30-06 to the brain/spine, would definitely stop a charge. However those odds are slim in making that shot when the time is needed. That being said, I don't think you're that much better off with a 7mm mag or a 300wm in that situation. I'd much sooner have a 338 for grizzly hunting, or bigger. The last thing I want to do for fun (on my holiday) is go trailing after a wounded grizzly in the alders.

A 30-06 will work for hunting grizzlies yes, but I wouldn't pull mine out of the safe to do it. When you're hunting the largest carnivores on land in the world, its best to use something with as much umph, as you can handle, to limit your risk.

[bowhunterbruce]

Stop a grizz if "had to". That to me is a charge situation, I am guessing?

Well a 30-06 to the brain/spine, would definitely stop a charge. However those odds are slim in making that shot when the time is needed. That being said, I don't think you're that much better off with a 7mm mag or a 300wm in that situation. I'd much sooner have a 338 for grizzly hunting, or bigger. The last thing I want to do for fun (on my holiday) is go trailing after a wounded grizzly in the alders.

A 30-06 will work for hunting grizzlies yes, but I wouldn't pull mine out of the safe to do it. When you're hunting the largest carnivores on land in the world, its best to use something with as much umph, as you can handle, to limit your risk.

exactly my thought, this year id love nothing better then to get one in close enough by calling him in ,to see his eyes as an arrow passed through him, however if one has to go after him in the alders its going to be with the 45/70 parting every branch along the way.

[proguide66]

Too much fun ! get those video cams rollin , need more grizz footage !!!!!

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Stories and pictures like this make me ache for the slide country.

Thanks for taking the time to put this story together!

SSS