Well, it was a great weekend....or, I guess I should say great first 5 hours of a 4 day weekend long hunt.
After many PMs with Bearpaw, stopping by his place 3 weeks ago and BSing, I decided I needed his help with the bears. He offered me a place to stay and to show me some new areas that I missed in my scouting trip the last time up. After getting there Thursday evening, Dale and I proceeding to chat about everything under the sun besides bear hunting till midnight. Finally I was kicked out of his house to the cabins with a goodnight message of I will come knock on your door at 330 and we will head out. Off to the cabin I go for 3 hours of sleep.
Not expecting Dale to take time out of his day and holiday weekend to go with me Friday morning rolls around and there is hot breakfast waiting for me. After I eat, I gather all my things and Dale pulls up in his rig and says jump in. What an awesome way to start the day...with Dale himself taking me out, showing me the ropes, teaching me the techniques and showing me areas that I missed before.
On the way out we check some turkey spots to locate some birds for some clients coming in the morning to hunt. Honk the horn, bird fires off, check!
On to the bear woods. First thing spotted a cow moose. That right there made my day. Round a bend, a nice buck and then a few more behind him. Once again, my day is made. Finally we get into a lower spot with nice green grass growing, Dale,"There just has to be a bear here"....
From the back seat, my buddy that wanted to come and was offered to come with me by Dale, starts hollering BEAR BEAR BEAR...Dale"Would you shut the hell up!!" Not really, he just said, queit down young chap. The bear sees us and as I am fumbling to get a round in the chamber, I had a come to Jesus talk. He told me, open the bolt to insert said round.
Once I figure out this new concept, the bear turns and heads into the woods. Dale says come on, so off we go. Luckily the bear decided to walk 30 yards off the old logging road for about 150 yards. Finally after catching bits and pieces with no clean shot I get to a window. I see 1 yearling bear with the one I am after. This bear was so stinking blonde, almost white, around the 50-70lbs mark. But I cant see the big one. Finally I spot her facing directly away from me, once I do this, the yearling sees me and hauls tail out of there. Big bear does nothing...perfect! Now, I just have to wait for her to turn. She turns to the right about 1 degree and I figured thats all I need. BOOM, 300 goes off, she does a back flip, lands and crashed 8 yards away. Then out of nowhere another yearling charges straight at us. Stops around 7 feet, stands on its back legs and decides that I have the power to end its life and turns and runs off. Go check my bear, dead as can be, head back to truck to get cameras and range find the distance...22 yards from us to impact.
What a rush.
All in all, I could not have done it without Dale. He is an amazing guy with a wealth of knowledge and I owe him big time. He treated me like a king and I had an amazing experience with him. I will be back to his house. To hang out, work around the yard and will also use him again on many more hunts in the future... Thanks again Dale.
