2014 bear season year in review (3 bears down)

[skagitsteel]

Well, been a decent  bear year for me, got drawn for a spring tag this year and got to see a few bears and take a 5'10" chocolate boar.  More on my spring hunt here:  http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,153581.msg2035984.html#msg2035984

Saw a total of 32 bears this year during the season, 6 in the spring season and 26 in the fall season. 

a few spring pics

[BOWHUNTER45]

if you seen that many bear then you should start guiding ...not many tags filled in this unit 

[skagitsteel]

I decided I was going to hold out for as long as I could with my second tag unless I saw  monster.

August 1st started off with an overnight in the backcountry with a good friend.  We had some good bear sightings,including one that fed below me while he was over the ridge glassing the other side.  Unfortunately, it was gone when he got back over

1st pic below is hard to make out but its a cinnamon sow with a cub

[skagitsteel]

I spent a total of of 16 days hunting this year for deer and bear in the backcountry, the vast majority of my hunts this year were a long ways from the truck.  Many of them were off trail with some fun creek crossings

[skagitsteel]

I saw a decent amount of bears in August, and got serious about finding some good blacktail to chase in september. 

I  came close to getting this blacktail with my bow unfortunately a fogged rangefinder delayed me while he stepped through the shooting lane at 53 yards    He then eluded me by dissapearing into the fog during muzzleloader, and I finally though I would get him in modern when I spotted him 1/2 mile away in the open, after 5 mornings of waiting for him to step out he vaporized while I was moving closer... smart old buck spent a lot of time chasing him this yr

[skagitsteel]

Bear sightings became more numerous in September as the high country berries really turned on.

[skagitsteel]

This particular bear was far and away my toughest pack out ever.  I was camped in the backcountry with 2 friends.  I was bow hunting blacktail they had rifles for bears.  The deal was they could not shoot any bears around the deer, but our plan was to start for deer and then hike to another basin to chase bear.  I blew a couple stalks on some nice bucks in the morning and in the process they had to pass up some bears    The last one was a really nice blonde/cinnamon boar standing right above the deer.  I definitely have good friends because the last bear was an easy shot.  We hiked to our turn around point for the day, and spotted a bear about 3/4 mile away in the next basin,  We opted to go for it.  While we were hiking into the basin the bear fed into the timber.  We decided to follow it in anyways.  I heard a 'woof' 'woof' about 30 yards to our right and a bear pops up out of the hucks on its hind legs.  It actually was a smaller bear, not the one we had originally seen in the basin.  It tried to go up a tree, my hunting partner shot and it tumbled down and took off. He originally though he missed but a good blood trail soon  followed...... straight down hill    After about 45 minutes of walking and crawling on our hands and knees through brush we found the bear.  We found the bear around 1:30 Pm, quicklyboned it out and headed back.  We were 7 miles and three ridges from the truck... in really steep terrain with no trail.  We made it back to our camp at around 7:30 pm, not back to the truck until close to 11 pm.  Was really nasty climbing through cliffs and devils club in the dark with no trail, with bear and camp on the way out... good times

[skagitsteel]

This particular bear was hanging around one of my areas in for most of the year.  I first saw him in late August,  I had my bow with me and his position did not allow for a stalk.  He mostly fed at night, but he was out on one of the days I was up there after I had both tags already filled.  His front pad was well over 6" wide

[skagitsteel]

I did pass up quite a few bears this year, one in particular stands out.  It was opening day of muzzleloader and I hiked in the dark to get to the alpine basin I wanted to hunt.  As I was nearing the alpine I came upon a bear at 40 yards, standing broadside munching.  Wind in my face, he looks up and continues to just stand there.  Being close to where I would find deer I didn't want to spook them out by shooting a bear    This bear decides to start walking to my right coming closer to me.  He is head down ears back, now I pull up and point the smoke pole in his direction, he veers off out of sight.  I kept expecting him to run, but instead he circles me and comes up behind me not more than 15 yards, by this point he definitely has my wind.  I am looking at him down the barrel going what are you thinking!.  A good 'hey bear' woke him up and he woofed a couple times and took off. 

[skagitsteel]

When October rolled around, the bear sightings were pretty much a given as long as there was visibility.  there were too many cloudy days this October!  I was getting a little antsy to fill my second bear tag, so I headed out after work on a nice October afternoon with my rifle. I started hiking around 3 pm and was up glassing from a 6000 ft ridge by 5 pm.  I saw a bunch of goats, a sow with with cubs but no shooters yet.  At about 6:15 I spotted a bear almost 1000 ft below me.  I quickly made my way into that basin to get set up for a shot.  The wind was horrible, going straight at the bear, with darkness coming quick I had no option but to stalk with the wind at my back.  I came over a knoll about 300 yards from the bear and found it still eating contently, wondering to  myself how has this thing not winded me yet??  I threw my bipod down and got set up.  I decided to take a neck shot, because I really didn't want to track in the dark and I was really hoping the bear wouldn't roll off the bench it was on  300 yards, so 2 MOA correction went perfect severed the spine.  The bear dropped, but unfortunately rolled off the bench down toward the bottom of the bowl (they always do that  ).  I walked up on the bear just before dark, took a few pics and began butchering.  I was solo this evening and found a rock to wedge the bear on to keep it  from rolling further down as I butchered it in the dark with my headlamp.  The pack out was real fun, all the meat and hide solo in the dark.  Seemed like it took forever to hit the truck, but was actually only about 2 hrs to pack it out.  The pack weight was around 125 to 130 pounds with the bear and my gear, not easy at all going over blowdowns, ect... Can't say enough about my kifaru high camp/ bikini frame to get a heavy load out like that. 

[Rufous]

I enjoyed your report. Beautiful country!

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

Awesome write up!  Congrats!

[skagitsteel]

Thanks guys, cant wait to see what next years adventures will bring

[X-Force]

Great season. Thanks for sharing.

[Cap.Silver]

What a great stories ,congrats ....hope to have a year like you 

[Ripper]

Fantastic write up, a very enjoyable read. Nice bears and beautiful country. Looks to me like you had a fantastic fall.

[klikboom]

Great season, love the writeup!

[elkoholic1]