Fella
09-24-2013, 11:54 AM
Been meaning to post this since June but had a busy summer/didn't feel like sitting in front of a computer during the nice weather.
My buddy Alex and I had gotten our CORE last November and we right away planned this trip. My dad and 2 other guys tagged along to fish on the lake we camped at as well. We didn't see too many animals except for a herd of cattle, a few mule deer, and a beaver that had hauled himself up a steep bank from a swamp and over the road in front of the truck to chew on a sapling for a couple seconds and then lumber back down the bank again.
The second day we had a few minutes of excitement though. We found an old spur road with FRESH crap every half a click or so. It got warmer and warmer the higher up we went (I don't know if it's normal to stick your finger into piles of bear shat to check it, but thats what we did!) We parked the truck about halfway up the spur, and hiked up what looked like an extremely old road or something. At least I think it was a road, it was grown over and someone had laid timbers end to end on either side of the path all the way up the side of the mountain til it opened into a grassy area with old rotten stumps everywhere. Saw some more sign and tracks, but no bear.
We continued up the original spur and then hiked again into some older cutblocks. Still nothing, so we turned around and started driving down the road, when suddenly I see a big furry red colored ball of fur streaking down the cut to our left. BEAR!!! I slam the brakes on, grab my gun, mag, and fawn call, and bail out. Alex jumps out with his rifle and takes off to try to intercept the bear. As soon as I'm out of the truck, I jam my magazine into my rifle and begin wailing on the call to try and turn the bruiser around. As I come around the corner at the bottom of the block, I look to my left and see the Bear perched on a log staring at me. I give a couple more pitiful sounding calls and stand still to keep the bruin guessing as to what I was. I raise my rifle slowly and try to get the crosshair to settle down but this is the first opportunity I've ever had to take a shot at a big game animal. I decide not to shoot because I'm shaking so bad that I'd either miss or put a shot through his guts and I don't want to risk it. I lower my rifle and try to calm down for a second when from 50 yards away I hear BOOM!!!! Alex took the shot. The bear turns tail and runs up the block as Alex is frantically trying to reload his Ruger #1. BOOM!! But the bear keeps on running into the dense forest at the edge of the block.
We slowly made our way to where the animal had been standing to see if there was any blood. Neither of us had heard an impact or observed the bear react in any other way than to just turn around and run, but we spent a few hours looking for blood just in case. We even came back the next morning to keep looking but no blood or hair anywhere and given the fact that Al had taken the shot through a screen of branches I'm certain he missed. Anyways, the rest of the weekend was spent exploring trails and cutblocks with no sightings of anymore bears, but we still had a great time and learned some lessons. I'll post a few pics a bit later.
My buddy Alex and I had gotten our CORE last November and we right away planned this trip. My dad and 2 other guys tagged along to fish on the lake we camped at as well. We didn't see too many animals except for a herd of cattle, a few mule deer, and a beaver that had hauled himself up a steep bank from a swamp and over the road in front of the truck to chew on a sapling for a couple seconds and then lumber back down the bank again.
The second day we had a few minutes of excitement though. We found an old spur road with FRESH crap every half a click or so. It got warmer and warmer the higher up we went (I don't know if it's normal to stick your finger into piles of bear shat to check it, but thats what we did!) We parked the truck about halfway up the spur, and hiked up what looked like an extremely old road or something. At least I think it was a road, it was grown over and someone had laid timbers end to end on either side of the path all the way up the side of the mountain til it opened into a grassy area with old rotten stumps everywhere. Saw some more sign and tracks, but no bear.
We continued up the original spur and then hiked again into some older cutblocks. Still nothing, so we turned around and started driving down the road, when suddenly I see a big furry red colored ball of fur streaking down the cut to our left. BEAR!!! I slam the brakes on, grab my gun, mag, and fawn call, and bail out. Alex jumps out with his rifle and takes off to try to intercept the bear. As soon as I'm out of the truck, I jam my magazine into my rifle and begin wailing on the call to try and turn the bruiser around. As I come around the corner at the bottom of the block, I look to my left and see the Bear perched on a log staring at me. I give a couple more pitiful sounding calls and stand still to keep the bruin guessing as to what I was. I raise my rifle slowly and try to get the crosshair to settle down but this is the first opportunity I've ever had to take a shot at a big game animal. I decide not to shoot because I'm shaking so bad that I'd either miss or put a shot through his guts and I don't want to risk it. I lower my rifle and try to calm down for a second when from 50 yards away I hear BOOM!!!! Alex took the shot. The bear turns tail and runs up the block as Alex is frantically trying to reload his Ruger #1. BOOM!! But the bear keeps on running into the dense forest at the edge of the block.
We slowly made our way to where the animal had been standing to see if there was any blood. Neither of us had heard an impact or observed the bear react in any other way than to just turn around and run, but we spent a few hours looking for blood just in case. We even came back the next morning to keep looking but no blood or hair anywhere and given the fact that Al had taken the shot through a screen of branches I'm certain he missed. Anyways, the rest of the weekend was spent exploring trails and cutblocks with no sightings of anymore bears, but we still had a great time and learned some lessons. I'll post a few pics a bit later.