BEAR down kapowsin epq21

[rasbo]

great going guy's sweet bear. going this evening to a killer spot. jumped a lot of doe's. will be Fawn calling. hope to get a nice bear like your's Ed good job. Prick

Rick you must run through the devils clubs naked to see bears...yeeeeeeehaaaaaa,ow ouch shat uch ow damn ew  good luck

[backwoods_boy]

Great job ED!
we are going back one more weekend if you are interested in taggin along you are more than welcome to.
gonna be june 10,11,12,13 and possibly 14,15.
Congrats again ED! and way to be a pal RAS.

[Jeremy S]

Nice looking bear!

[rasbo]

eds boar was full of Carpenter ants,akk blkbearklr we saved some for him,he was last seen buying choclate chips at safeway

[carpsniperg2]

that would have been somthing to see.

[epq21]

Finally, I get a few minutes to tell my story of a very successful Kapowsin bear hunt. It has to be said in advance that none of it would have been nearly as fun or successful if had not been for the tutelage, patience and help that the CZAR, Rasbo gave me. Rasbo you and your family’s hospitality are amazing and I can’t thank you enough.

The morning started out early at what was supposed to be a late spring day, but that felt more like the start of a full on winter storm. The snow started coming down with the wind blowing and it didn’t stop till the afternoon when it changed to a balmy sleet/rain. I hiked into an area that Rasbo and I had scouted before and the place where we left my trail cam to monitor what appeared to be a bear highway and their port-a-potty. Yes, the same place my, “Flasher Camera” had been so kindly ripped from a tree and carried off. My thoughts, “what better place to sit and hope for a chance to seek revenge on the camera thief” and on a side not, I didn’t see any SD cards from the camera in the poop and I looked. I parked my butt on a good log with some back cover to hide my silhouette and that was as comfortable as possible for a long day. Little did I realize it was the favorite home of a very rude squirrel that found it necessary to scream in my ear and wake me from a shivering stupor whenever I started to doze off for a nap. Anyway, I entertained myself watching the 3 different types of squirrels and chipmunks fight over the different trees and steal each others stashes. Then at about 1800 or 6 PM for those non-military types it got very quite the rain stopped and I saw movement at about forty yards down from on one of the game trails. Sure enough, their in front of me may very well be my camera thief moving very quietly down the trail towards me. I am not sure if it was the intensity of my focus on the bear and the excitement of knowing that he is but a heart beat of effort in getting to me in hurry if he wanted or what, but the world was dead quite and I saw nothing but him turning slowly away to split a piece of wood like it was a match stick. I fired my Marlin cowboy; 45-70 with open sites at what I thought was at the left shoulder to take out both lungs and maybe a heart. As it turned out, I was about 4 inches to far back and only evaporated both lungs. Talk about tough animals, Holy Cow! That bear or “Cub” as I am sure Rasbo will call it, or wait was it really a squirrel. Compared to his bears it was a squirrel, anyway I digress… That bear took off like it was a bullet train on a mission, thankfully away from me.

Ok, so at this point I can hear the Master saying to me, “No matter what, put two rounds in the bear.” Yes OB1 your correct but I am only an apprentice and unworthy one at that. The bear or cub or squirrel which ever you choose to call him, crashed down into a beautiful marsh full of lovely devils club and black mud and I could not see where he had fallen.

At this point I decided to call the CZAR and get some help to track down and hopefully pack out my rabid chipmunk. Knowing that he is a much more experienced tracker than myself and that it would be nice to have some back up in case my animal was only wounded I hiked out of my area to get to my vehicle to drive out and give him a call. Besides I needed the hour hike to calm down and give the animal time to expire if needed. When I finally got to an area with cell coverage and got in touch with Rasbo, the first question was did you get one? The second, you guessed it, did you put two rounds in him…Ahhhhh no. Needless to say said he would be up and did I need anything. Of course he already new that I always bring ten times more crap than I need, which I later regretted. I drove back in and hiked back into my area where I hit my camera thief or at least that’s my story and I am sticking to it. There I sat for all of five minutes before I could stand it no more and started tracking my bear down. Needless to say my heart was pounding like crazy!! Turns out he was only about 30-40 yards in the junk from where I had shot him.

Now remember I had said I wanted back up going back in to look for my bear. Well the CZAR is so touch and mean he decided to only bring a walking stick with him because he had left his .44 mag at home. I guess the plan was, if a bear surprised us then knock out the green horn and run if he doesn’t get a shot off.

By the time we got the bear pulled out and home it was well after 11PM and I could never have gotten him out alone without doing it in pieces on several trips. Of course I am sure Rasbo could have just thrown the bear in has day pack and walked out much faster than watching me try and drag the thing. But in all reality thanks Rasbo for helping me get him out and everything else you did for me to fill this tag. I have had a blast and learned more than I could have imagined. I hate that fact I can’t get back in there now to hike around with the CZAR until December. Awesome country !!! There was also another individual that helped us get the bear out and for the life of me I don’t remember his name. Thank you to that individual for helping us out and making sure we were ok getting the animal out. Rasbo when you read this if you would please mention him on the thread for me I would appreciate it. 

Sunday was filled with going in and retrieving my tree stand from another location where I had staged it on another poop bank. I was being lazy and don’t like extra work when not necessary. We then spent several hours with BLKBEARKLRS for stories and a skinning job; man he has done some serious hunting. Then it was back to camp and close up… The drag out was pretty damn tough and I have turned into an out of shape individual, which I am now going to remedy after that wake up call.  Sorry for the delay but my son and wife came first after getting home and I was sharing the events with them. 

Thanks again to Rasbo, Blkbearklrs, and the other selfless individual who hopefully will be named shortly for all the help on filling my tag. Part of this bear will be enjoyed by those that come to the BBQ at Rasbo’s.
 

[carpsniperg2]

great write up sounds like a blast

[runamuk]

huge congrats cant wait to meet you...sounds like you had a ton of fun

[Curly]

Great story, thanks for sharing.

[rasbo]

he did leave out some parts and now for,,,the rest of the story....

    at or about the time of 6:15 pm a large sow was walking up the trail..The sow had a boar cub suckling as she walked...teet milk all over its face..The sound of suckling woke ed,,,He raised his weapon and fired...It looked like a water balloon full of milk splattered there,the trail was easy to follow,looked like a smith farms dairy delivery guy that got caught in bed with someones wife ran into the brush.
actually its is a very good bear..he has very big front legs.the amount of time ed sat in that crappy weather was indeed a feat it was terrible that day.Ed is a guy that would be an asset to any camp or hunt..
Ed I will drop your meat off at Mt View at 5pm...spicy pepperoni and roasts,,Bruce was the other guys name...I sure hope a lot of huntwa folk show up this year,so many stories and knowledge and just good fun.
 

[Pathfinder101]

Cool story

[toe-jam]

way to go guys great  job.

[Austrian Hunter]

Awesome story!  Great job to all of you!!

[epq21]

I am honored Jim thanks!! Bruce, thank you very much for coming up and checking on us. I really appreciate the back up and help you provided. I can't wait till we can dig into that pepperoni and the BBQ... Thanks again Jim ! Your right by the way, in close is the only way to go...what a rush.

[highside74]

On my way to get my truck and give it another go. Since your tag is filled how about sending a man in need a PM of a spot or two for tonights sit. Thanks