Bearpaw Season - Fall 2014

[bearpaw]

Dale,
     Thanks!  I always look forward to this thread.
Tell Ray to get busy!

I think Ray is looking forward to your hunt, I'm sure he likes the area you are going this year better. 

[bearpaw]

Day 2, 12 bear spotted, 1 bear almost met his maker this morning, my guy was following the bear with his crosshairs, it stopped twice at a little over 200 yards and every time he was just about to pull the trigger the bear started moving again, we watched him walk 50 yards with his butt to us after the second chance, but had to let him go. Saw a small bear out of range then then we spotted a big bear and went after him but couldn't find him, gave up about noon and hiked out. 

Duffer, we were up above on the property where you killed your bear, near the top of the mountain. Hope you made it home safely. 

This evening we had a yearling bear walk out at 40 yards, then we spotted another big bear we went after but couldn't find him. Saw lots of deer and turkeys today, another fun exciting day.

One of the other hunters who had not shot yet hit a bear hard just before dark at 50 yards. It ran down into a large brush patch and let out a death moan, they searched until long after dark but couldn't find it, super thick brush. They are headed back in the morning to hopefully recover that bear. A good cool night and raining, so hopefully it will be OK if we can find it.

The bear that was hit at dark last night never stopped walking, apparently another flesh wound, guide Ray said the blood trail finally played out. Only two guys in camp who have not shot at a bear, I just hope we start hitting them better, you gotta hit the vitals or most bear will not die. It's bedtime, my tail is dragging the ground, good luck to everyone else who is busy hunting. 

[bearpaw]

Sitting on the mountain, fogged in and  raining hard.     If the fog doesn't lift soon we are changing hunting areas.

[idahohuntr]

All hunters but 1 late arrival shot good on paper yesterday before we started the hunt and the late arrival shot good on paper today at lunch. There's something about putting a bear in front of a guy who has never killed one before that tends to destroy accuracy, it just seems to suffer.

I had a hunter last year miss 4 bucks in a day and a half...I took him back and fired his gun from the bench to make sure it was on...but then I made him practice using his shooting sticks or from a kneeling position...replicating what shots were going to be like in the field without a bench rest.  Next buck, 1 shot kill...not sure if really making him practice for an afternoon getting more comfortable with shooting in field conditions was what made the difference or not    "buck fever" is difficult to replicate in practice sessions 

[bearpaw]

They found the bear from last night, nice chocolate 6ish year old boar, salvaged everything but the rib cage meat. 

[elkoholic1]

 

[Duffer]

That's one fine bear! 

[bearpaw]

Sitting on the mountain waiting for a bear to show himself, we passed him last night broadside at 306 yards, got in close this morning, we heard him in the brush several times about 100 yards but cant see him yet. While waiting a Tom cougar just walked up on us at 40 yards, my hunter does not have a cougar tag, so still waiting to see the bear. Will post photo of the cougar later.

[Gringo31]

my hunter does not have a cougar tag

NOOOOOOO!!! 

[bearmanric]

Bummer. Good luck.

[bearpaw]

It was tough, that cat and us looking at each other for several minutes and no tag. 
One of the bear hunters just went to town and got a cougar tag, he will be up there this evening looking for felix! 

Here's a pic taken at 40 yards with my pocket camera and then cropped to enlarge, the cat was on a game trail that went under that tree, looks like a young tom, also got him on the tv video:

[bearmanric]

If I was over there could of let him use my cougar sounds from Rainshadow. Rick

[bearpaw]

If you were here I would send you up there Ric!

This is cougar #8 seen while hunting this year, 7 in turkey season, WDFW needs to do something, even with mild winters the deer herd is declining in some areas due to the ridiculous cougar management in this state.

[bearpaw]

We've often told hunters about barking bears up trees and you can often see the disbelief in peoples face when you tell them that. 

Yesterday afternoon guide Brian and his hunters had some fun times. After recovering the bear in the morning and having lunch they went out for the afternoon hunt. They were all in the truck headed to the hunting spot and a bear ran into the road, Brian slammed on the brakes, jumped out barking like a dog, and chased the bear about 6 feet up the nearest tree, then he grabbed a stick and encouraged it to climb farther up. Unfortunately the tree was literally right on the property line of private property so they had to leave the bear, but it was good fun and good for a few photos. I'll post a pic of the treed bear as soon as I get one from one of the guys.

They went around a couple corners up the road and there was another bear just off the side of the road, less than 100 yards, sorta caught everyone off guard, nobody figured on seeing two bear before they even got to where they were going to hunt, but they were on the right property so one of the hunters managed to get it together, get out of the truck, got into shooting position and whammo, he did a good job of educating that bear. Yep another miss, he said he got the fever! Needless to say there was some humor at the dinner table last night!

[bearpaw]

Yesterday was a good day, three hunters got their bear, we finished the first hunt spotting nearly 40 bear with 9 hunters. There were about 15 shot opportunities, and 5 bear taken. Amazingly one hunter was always in the wrong spot and did not get a shot opportunity or even see a bear, but 8 of the 9 hunters had a shot opportunity so it was a pretty good hunt. Here is a photo of a large boar taken by one of the hunters who is active duty military. Congrats to him, I love it when a plan comes together.