Well I went out back in April, 21st-23rd and I missed a bear at 358, hunting in a new area I had never been before. We saw one other bear that weekend but it was across a river and I had no way of getting over there. Spent the other free time I had this spring trying to get my 8 yr old a turkey but I have no clue how to hunt those buggers and it seemed they would always end up going the other way. Decided Friday to sneak out for the day after I got the kids to school. Went into another new drainage, I had driven past it time and time again and always thought it might be a good spot to look for a bear so I went in. This drainage was incredibly steep I gained 328 feet of elevation in the first 167 yds I hiked. After climbing about 1200 feet total I was into a zone that looked real solid. I sat down to glass but as it goes after about an hour I got impatient. I decided to move farther on up the drainage in order to see more new country. I stood up, shouldered my pack and turned back around to see a bear on the opposite side of the canyon. I watched it for a few minutes confirming it was indeed large enough, and there were no cubs trailing behind. Ranged at 270 yds. Settled the rifle on a rock and squeezed. At the shot I was unsure whether I had hit my target or not. I saw a small flash of fur that I thought was a leg as the bear rolled but couldn’t be 100% certain. I worked my way down the scree slope and up the opposite side. Picked my way through head high brush to the opening where the bear had been standing and could not find any evidence of a hit. I decided since the brush was so thick I needed to glass the downhill side and soon spotted the bear belly up, about 20 yds downhill. I notched my tag, took some photos and did the skinning and quartering. The pack out got a little hairy at times. The bear died in what can only be described as a brush choked hell hole, flanked on either side by severe scree slopes with cliffs intermingled. Game trails in this drainage were non existent. It seemed every time I started to gain a little elevation, I would run into impassable cliffs and have to drop back into the brush choked hell hole in order to get around them. At one point I rolled a large(100+ lb) boulder over on my left leg, and shortly after while working my way across a hillside made of pebbled granite I started an avalanche of sorts and slid approximately 150 ft down into the creek bottom again. To say it was, despite its short overall distance(3/4 mile give or take) the toughest pack out I’ve had to this point is maybe a slight understatement. Anyway hope you all enjoyed my little story. I’m sorry that my native state sucks now and won’t let you all hunt bears in the spring. Rifle is a Kimber hunter pro in .308, I bought it over the winter and this was its first kill
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