Killbilly, Beamanric, my brother and myself all headed up the coast for the opener. After all the high temperatures in town, it was nice to have 80-degree weather.
We got up there Friday night and Rick was already set up and gone scouting. We set up our canopy, cots and other gear and then we headed out for some scouting ourselves.
The three of us headed into a road closure that leads to a new cut hoping to find some bear sign crossing the roads into the berry fields. Halfway back killbilly dropped off to take some pics and head back to the truck while my brother and I checked out a couple spur roads and some really thick areas full of unripe Cascara.
We did not find any fresh sign but a few torn stumps and an old pile of bear crap that wasn’t very big. Later killbilly told us that we kicked up a couple coyotes.
As we were heading back to the truck we heard two shots spaced about 30 – 60 seconds apart. Thinking that Killbilly was sighting in his rifle, I didn’t pay much attention so they could have been quicker but when we got back and asked, he said it wasn’t him and it sounded like it came from the pit.
Since it was dark we headed back to camp. On the way back we noticed a large round of firewood in the road that wasn’t there earlier. We commented about it and figured that someone was looking for firewood.
Back at camp Rick was already kicked back relaxing. We bs’d for a bit, made a plan for the morning and hit the rack.
Once up and ready the next morning we headed past the round of wood and soon came upon a truck parked along the road with no one in it.
He headed up the road to our planned spot and low and behold there was a truck and a couple guys getting out. Crap..so what to do now. We headed up Sam’s and did some timber calling for a couple stands and headed back to camp. After a short regrouping we headed farther North.
Finding open land (state) was pretty tough as most private timberlands were closed and areas that were opened had people in them, but we managed a few stands in some good areas.
Early in the afternoon we split up and my brother and I hit another road closure where he missed a bear a couple years ago while killbilly and bearmanric hit another spot. We found lots of coyote sign but only a little bear sign and all of it old.
Bear scratches
Set ups
Rick
Rick and I
Bear tracks
Back at camp killbilly and bearmanric told us that they saw a flock of vultures and found an elk gut pile…..yep, right across from where we saw the truck that morning and only a short distance from the round of wood. The elk was shot Friday night before dark and left overnight. The rig we saw was them getting it out the next morning. We are guessing the round of wood was a signal or marker. The interesting thing was on Sunday we ran into a site member and they said that they saw a bull in the back of a rig the day before, but the rig was a different color. I am not sure if it was a different bull or if the shooters took the head Friday and the round of wood was for someone else to retrieve the meat? But they took everything but the guts and heart.
Sunday found all 4 of us hiking up a road closure that used to have great bear hunting about ten years ago. This is a 3.5-mile near loop that is up hill all the way with gates at both ends. Halfway, and without any encouraging sign, killbilly decides to head back to the truck and pick us up at the other gate.
We found a lot of older bear damage and one set of small tracks but that was it. We only had to walk a couple hundred yards when the killbilly shuttle showed up.
After that Bearmanric, my brother and I went in another road closure that some elk and bedded on the night before. Elk crap everywhere, including some with a bit of blood in it.
We set up and Rick called for about 40 minutes with nothing showing itself, but there was a large pop and then possible clawing only 50 –60 yards from my brother and I. We suspect it was a bobcat.
After packing up camp we headed to Amanda Park. Bearmanric had sent some calls with me and we stopped to drop them off with Jesse and visit for a bit.
No bears, but it was a good weekend.
