Wilderness Bear

[bucksbearsbeers]

My buddy told me about a bear he saw in the wilderness while scouting for the high hunt so I thought I'd go after him.  Got up there late in the afternoon on Monday set up camp and headed out looking for bear (and scouting for deer).  Got up on a high spot, looked to my left and couldn't believe my eyes.  1000 yards away on the hillside was the bear my buddy told me about (had unique markings).  It was about 6 PM so I needed to get moving.  I put the sneak on him and got to about 150 yards where I proned out and had him in my sights, then he stepped behind some trees.  I could see that he wasn't going to come back out to that opening so I started to work uphill at an angle.  I got to about 75 yards from the area where he was and laid down.  I waited for about 5 minutes and then he started to show himself.  When he presented a broadside shot I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and squeezed off.  BOOM!  He ran down hill about 20 yards and then stopped in some alder bushes where I couldn't see him.  He then crashed through the bushes another 15 yards and stopped at the edge of some trees where I lost sight of him.  Thinking he was down, I waited for about 15 minutes to make sure he was dead.  I grabbed my pack and headed to where I last saw him and....NOTHING.  He was gone.  I was thinking there was no way I missed that easy shot and started my search.  I looked for 1.5 hours and couldn't find any sign that he had been hit.  I went back to where he was when I shot at him and couldn't find any blood.  I scoured the hillside and came at it from every direction.  I was on my hands and knees looking under alder bushes, crawling through trees, just hoping to find him slumped under a branch.  Nothing.  It was getting dark quick so I decided to head back to camp (45 minutes away) and come back and look in the morning.  The next day I got back to the area around 8 AM and started at it again.  I spent several hours doing a grid search and again came up with nothing.  I was devastated.  I figured since I was up  there I may as well finish checking out the area I hadn't seen before so I decided to take a round about way back to camp.  I was pushing through some thick trees and stopped for a moment to try and find somewhat of an opening to get though when all of a sudden I heard crashing right behind me.  I thought I had jumped a deer until I heard "woof woof" and then my heart started pounding.  I saw the bear briefly in the trees and heard him stop.  I moved to the left to hope to get a glimpse of him and he ran up hill a few more yards.  I could see the trees moving around where he was.  There was a 20 yard wide opening above us so I decided I was gonna try to push him into the open so I could get a shot.  I had just started moving when I heard him crashing through the trees again except for this time he was coming towards me!  I put my rifle up and when he filled my sights I let one fly and dropped him where he stood.  He was at most 20 yards away! I let out a yelp of excitement and drug him up to the opening where the work began.  Got him loaded up and headed back to camp.  Picked up camp and headed out with my 90-100 lb pack.  6 rough miles and 2.5 hours later I was back at the truck and wiped.

This was my 3rd wilderness bear, the last 2 were shot on high hunts.  Couldn't find my camera before I left home so only got a few cell phone pics.  He had a cool blond skunk stripe down his back.  I also shot my rifle last night and it is shooting way high...must have bumped the scope somewhere along the way. 

[hunter-4-life]

way to go Nick

[Michelle_Nelson]

Nice Bear!  Love the color of it.

[SemperFidelis97]

Nice write up did you find another wound where you hit him the first time?

[boneaddict]

Thats what you call hunting.  GOOD for you.  Nice bear

[wilsongideon]

nice! great write up

[bucksbearsbeers]

Nice write up did you find another wound where you hit him the first time?

Thanks! Actually this was a different bear.  After shooting my rifle last night I believe I missed the other one.

[ellensburgpo]

Congrats on another nice bear bud.

[Huntbear]

Congrats on a nice bear. 

[grizzlyadams]

Thats what you call hunting.  GOOD for you.  Nice bear