My Sister and her Husband invited me to Her cabin South of Pomeroy WA (way South East corner of WA) for four days, last Thursday through Sunday. She said people hunt Black Bears around there. I thought I'd go and scout around a bit. It was way cool to hang out with her, see her cabin and property, and roam the forest to see the wildlife and get some exercise. The only real bad part was the forest burned about 8 year ago. It takes a long time to recover...
Umatilla National Forest Sunrise

Elk Fence

There's a crazy amount of game down there. In the four days, we saw approximately 50 Deer, and exactly 11 elk, 7 wild Turkeys, 100's of Ground Squirrels, dozens of Yellow Bellied Marmots and 1 Coyote. Didn't see any Bears, but did see some scat.
The coolest was stalking through the woods and spotting some of the Deer and Elk. Friday, morning at just after 5AM, I took one of the quads up to the Umatilla National Forest boundary (yellow line is UNF boundary) and parked it there. I then took off on foot for a 6 mile hike. Country there is way cool. Rolling hills sparsely covered, with ravines choked with trees and undergrowth. I ran into 10 elk (two groups of 3 bulls each, all in velvet, some spikes and some with branching antlers, and one group of 4 cows). I also ran into a pair of Mule Deers, one Buck and one Doe. In the case of one of the Bull Elk and the Buck, I could have dropped them... was able to stalk with in 50 yards on both. Saw un-mistakeable Bear droppings in the bottom of one of the ravines, but no sighting of one. Packed my rifle and ~35lb pack. Was quite tired when I got back.
Google Earth Forest Stalk Map

Only thing legal to shoot was Coyotes and Marmots. Coyote that we saw wasn't really ready to be killed... Some marmots died, I'm not much for wasting animals, so we skinned them and tacked the skins to a board. We actually roasted one over a bonfire. I had tried one years and years ago up in Alaska, so I thought it would be worth trying again. Way gamey tasting...
Sorry Cell Phone Pic of an Elk

Saturday night my sis and I were having some beers around the fire ring and we were treated to the Aurora Borealis Way cool. Overall, an awesome weekend.
Climbed a Tree and put up a Flag

Going to go back up to wards Lions Rock this Sunday scouting for Bear...
Peace,
Sam