Went out to a honey hole tonight...Saw 4 cows and a branched bull, but couldnt get close enough to get a decent shot...I think it was a three point or so. I got some shots, but they were from way off.
I hike up hill a 1/2 mile or so (on a power line road) to where the elk had bed down...im just below them, so I blow on the predator call, since normally they will stand up and check it out...they must have either left while I was hiking up (which I doubt, cause I was watching very closely) or, since they were on a plateu, could have easily just slipped away near the far back side...
anyway...about 10 min into the set (rabbit sqeels and coyote calls), as I am looking downhill (brushy gully lined with trees) I see the shoulders and arse end of a bear, barrelling up the hill towards me at 40 yards or less. There was an "S" in the powerline road just below me, with a stump on either end...I just happened to catch him imbetween the stumps.
I pull up and get ready cause by the time he comes around the "S" he will be with 30 yards or less...but never shows up...I blow on the call for a few trying to coax him in, but the no good bear had went off to my right (judging by his tracks on the way out) and up into the thicker brush...must have winded me (or was going to circle so he could).
Amazingly, I never did hear him go into the brush. Always exciting seeing a bear coming for ya...
next time.
Saw this poor little alder...bear hair still on it.
