Went on my yearly bear 🐻 trip with my Uncle Jim to unit 105 Kelly Hill. Friday I saw no bear but had one run right below me outta my view. Saturday I went back to the same canyon at the crack of daylight. I sat there a long 7 hours and saw my Uncle coming from the bottom to get me for lunch. I started to walk towards the main road when I took one last look back. There on the hillside at 200 yards was a chocolate colored bear that came out of nowhere. I shouldered my Remington 700 30-06 and the bear was ready to bolt. I shot just under the bear and missed him. It was so dejecting to miss that easy of a shot. I fought the thick brush trough the bear tunnels to where I shot to look and switched back and forth looking for any blood but nope, CLEAN MISS
. Sunday I hunted hard all day and saw a BIGGGGG black bear an hour before dark in another canyon. I only saw it for about 4 seconds and it was gone. It also was a good 470 plus yards away and a little out of shooting 400 yard max for my effective shooting with my .30-06 cartridge. Monday I saw a 4 pt bull Elk, 3 cows, and a calf. Tuesday I only had 4 hours to hunt before returning home and could here a bear ripping stumps and breaking branches for a good 30 minutes but never could lay eyes on it as it was just too thick. On the way down I checked where this clear cut meets a field and I was fortunate enough take a nice coyote at about 105 yards. I couldn't hit the bear, but hit the little coyote. Lol
, go figure. It was a blast as always I may return for one more go around. Nevertheless a great hunt and good experience as always.
