Another NE BBD

[Huntboy]

Congrats, nice bear.

[bearpaw]

great bear, congrats... 

[wazzu99]

Okay, boss isn't looking......

Headed out last Friday night after work with my buddy Cascade for a week of hunting.  Our group has drawn at least 1 tag for the area in 4 out of the last 5 years.  2009 I drew and shot a real nice boar, 2010 nobody drew, 2011 my cousin drew and shot a nice black bear, and then 2012 Cascade drew and shot a beautiful young black boar with the best spring coat we have seen on a bear.  So needless to say we were pretty excited to get out of town and get to camp.  Arrived late and got the wall tent set up, had a couple beverages and hit the rack.

Saturday morning:  Up at 4:30am and don't see a bear until around noon.  Nice chocolate but not what we were looking for on the first day, not to mention he was in a terrible spot.  Hunt up high for the afternoon and but don't spot anything else.  On the drive back to camp Cascade stops the jeep overlooking a huge canyon and throw up the bino's and says huge bear.  I jump out throw the spotter on him and its a huge black boar.  Giant pumpkin head, just laying in the sunshine.  We formulate a plan to get around and above him and the stalk is on.  Within about 200 yards the wind starts to swirl, we move forward thinking we are ok only to find him gone and never saw him again during the hunt.  We found his bed and he left us a parting gift!

[wazzu99]

Sunday:  Up at the crack of dawn and again we don't spot any bears until around 10:30am.  Another nice chocolate but he was on a mission moving straight away from us.  Again nice but not quite what we came for.  Tried another spot that afternoon and spotted a really nice blondish bear but he was pretty small so we passed.  On the way back to camp we run into fellow Huntwa member Shane and told him where the blond bear was and he went up to find him but he never showed back up.  Nothing in the evening.

Monday:  Decided to sleep in as we handn't seen a bear early in the morning.  Got to our spot around 8am hiked to the top of the ridge and sat down with the spotting scope to glass.  Around 10:30am this guy came out on an open hillside and Cascade spotted him.  We got the spotter on him and knew right away he was a shooter.  He was making a bee-line for the water about a 1000 feet below us so I threw the pack on and headed straight over the edge to head him off.  Cascade stayed on the ridge to make sure I could make it to the bottom from where I was as there are several nasty cliffs in the area.  About half way down the bear was still slightly ahead of me in elevation and entered the timber on the far side and went out of sight.  I reached the last bluf and sat down to glass and range the area.  About 5 mins later the bear emerged at 270 yards heading to the water.  First shot dropped him but he managed to roll into the bushes and out of sight.  Radioed Cascade to bring the jeep around and we went into the bushes after the bear for the followup shot.  Cascade over my shoulder with the 12 gauge!  30 yard followup shot and he was mine.

[wazzu99]

Spent the next 3 days riding out the rain and snow and only saw 1 more bear.  Cold front really shut them down.  Also did not see or hear one turkey!  Here is a final shot in the road once we drug him out.

Wazzu

[Bluesdude]

Nice Bear! Congrats

[Orion88]

Thanks for sharing the story.  Great job.

That bear you shot wasn't the same bear that left you a present a day or two before?

[cem3434]

Nice yogi, congrats!

[SemperFidelis97]

Great looking bear.

[Cascade]

This was an awesome hunt capped off with a great bear!  Can't wait to go again.

[wazzu99]

No, we never saw the big black one again.  Forest servie came in doing some surveying and cutting of all the down timber trying to salvage some.

Jess same camp spot as always!

Here is another shot of what we found coming back to camp after we ran to town for ice.

[Austrian Hunter]

Great story!!  And again, awesome bear!!!! 

[duckman40]

nice

[stew pidasso]

Great hunt great pics also. Nice job

[saylean]

Great color phase!