BCKyle
05-26-2013, 10:55 PM
I finally got out to look around for some bears today... drove all over the place and didn't see a single sign, no bear poop, no tracks, no bears, for a few hours. Finally I said screw it I'm going to at least go for a bit of a walk so I picked a little cutblock a few years old with some signs that an old fire had rolled through years ago and left the jeep. Nothing to be seen through the cutblock, worked up an edge crosswind and then along the back into the wind. Lots of deer sign but nothing to indicate bear at all. I was glassing around and noticed a little gap in the treeline between the block I was in and a slashy landing about a half km away. It was a tiny gap and I ignored it because I coudln't see anything through it really. few minutes later I was glassing around again and for some reason waited for a second watching that tiny gap: right then a big hefty looking brown bear strolled right into view over in that landing!
So blood pumping and adrenaline building up I worked my way as fast as could that way; wind was in my favour and strong so I made pretty good time and the bear showed no sign of seeing me. I could only get little patchy views of it, not even enough to tell for sure if it was a grizz or a burly colour phase black bear. I was hoping blackie... I lost sight of the bear as I went through a little draw with a stream in it, but the wind was still good so I pressed through. Came out the other side slowly and carefully... no bear! I waited and watched and listened and couldn't pick out anything. So I worked my way through the area I saw it in, looking for tracks to indicate grizz or black and maybe an idea of actual size (my brain said 'big' as soon as I saw it but I don't always trust that in the heat of the moment). I couldn't find anything and it wasn't to be seen in the cutblock the landing was attached to: must have gone down into the thcik head-high brush below the landing. I don't know if I botched the stalk or if that was just the way it was going; either way it was gone.
Back to the jeep; water and a snack and I headed off again to try and connect to a cutblock and road below the one I was just on, in case the bear headed down there. No luck and I drove around for a while seeing again no sign. Finally spooked one tiny black bear and saw it run for cover; too small to even bother with. I stillhunted around some other cutblocks and trails and didn't see anything. Again, not even any scat. Then on the way back down I tried a random spur line; just two minutes up that road I saw a bear ahead. I pulled over and parked then grabbed my 30.06 and headed down the road crouched down and moving quietly. The wind was in my favour and strong again and it had just rained so I could move pretty fast without making noise. The bear didn't seem to have noticed me at all but was obviously going somewhere, only stopping now and then for a couple bites. Finally it got to a landing with a patch of nice bright new growth and went into feeding mode, moving around slowly chomping grass.
As I got closer I could see it was smaller than I thought at first. I kept working closer and closer, moving up whenever it was head-down and chewing or facing away. I crossed the road and worked close in an old cutblock above the landing, and finally ended up at the closest probably around 25-30 yds from the feeding bear. I chambered a round when I was around 50 before getting closer. I stayed crouched and watched it munch for a while, took a couple photos and came real close to pulling the trigger. I kept thinking about how much smaller than the brown one it was and I finally decided to let it walk. After a while the wind swung a bit and I could tell it was getting whiffs of me because it started looking around my way a lot trying to search me out I assume. I whistled and it stood up on it's hind feet, looked at me and then dropped down and ran off. I went up and tried to find tracks (no clear ones just some little smears) and only really found a fresh pile of scat I saw it drop while I was watching.
The whole thing got the blood pumping all over again even though it was a smaller bear, and as soon as I drove away I started thinking 'maybe I should have squeezed the trigger'... it wasn't a big bear but I can't help but think it would have been mighty tasty... And I'm in it for the sausage right now! (Although that brown one had me thinking rug!) Oh well. If I don't have one in the freezer by mid-June I will be pissed at myself. But maybe I'll find a bigger one. I'll be surprised if I get a chance at a shot as easy as the chances I had with this one though!
...just a couple rough iPhone pics.
4408
So blood pumping and adrenaline building up I worked my way as fast as could that way; wind was in my favour and strong so I made pretty good time and the bear showed no sign of seeing me. I could only get little patchy views of it, not even enough to tell for sure if it was a grizz or a burly colour phase black bear. I was hoping blackie... I lost sight of the bear as I went through a little draw with a stream in it, but the wind was still good so I pressed through. Came out the other side slowly and carefully... no bear! I waited and watched and listened and couldn't pick out anything. So I worked my way through the area I saw it in, looking for tracks to indicate grizz or black and maybe an idea of actual size (my brain said 'big' as soon as I saw it but I don't always trust that in the heat of the moment). I couldn't find anything and it wasn't to be seen in the cutblock the landing was attached to: must have gone down into the thcik head-high brush below the landing. I don't know if I botched the stalk or if that was just the way it was going; either way it was gone.
Back to the jeep; water and a snack and I headed off again to try and connect to a cutblock and road below the one I was just on, in case the bear headed down there. No luck and I drove around for a while seeing again no sign. Finally spooked one tiny black bear and saw it run for cover; too small to even bother with. I stillhunted around some other cutblocks and trails and didn't see anything. Again, not even any scat. Then on the way back down I tried a random spur line; just two minutes up that road I saw a bear ahead. I pulled over and parked then grabbed my 30.06 and headed down the road crouched down and moving quietly. The wind was in my favour and strong again and it had just rained so I could move pretty fast without making noise. The bear didn't seem to have noticed me at all but was obviously going somewhere, only stopping now and then for a couple bites. Finally it got to a landing with a patch of nice bright new growth and went into feeding mode, moving around slowly chomping grass.
As I got closer I could see it was smaller than I thought at first. I kept working closer and closer, moving up whenever it was head-down and chewing or facing away. I crossed the road and worked close in an old cutblock above the landing, and finally ended up at the closest probably around 25-30 yds from the feeding bear. I chambered a round when I was around 50 before getting closer. I stayed crouched and watched it munch for a while, took a couple photos and came real close to pulling the trigger. I kept thinking about how much smaller than the brown one it was and I finally decided to let it walk. After a while the wind swung a bit and I could tell it was getting whiffs of me because it started looking around my way a lot trying to search me out I assume. I whistled and it stood up on it's hind feet, looked at me and then dropped down and ran off. I went up and tried to find tracks (no clear ones just some little smears) and only really found a fresh pile of scat I saw it drop while I was watching.
The whole thing got the blood pumping all over again even though it was a smaller bear, and as soon as I drove away I started thinking 'maybe I should have squeezed the trigger'... it wasn't a big bear but I can't help but think it would have been mighty tasty... And I'm in it for the sausage right now! (Although that brown one had me thinking rug!) Oh well. If I don't have one in the freezer by mid-June I will be pissed at myself. But maybe I'll find a bigger one. I'll be surprised if I get a chance at a shot as easy as the chances I had with this one though!
...just a couple rough iPhone pics.
4408