Gluttons for Punishment - (5BD in 46 hours!!!)

[shanevg]

We have been planning on doing a multi-species hunting trip over Labor Day weekend for quite some time now.  I have an archery deer tag and got drawn for a Nooksack spike only tag.  Myself and everyone else had a bear tag in hand.  With heavy rain in the forecast, we planned to hunt bears and deer when weather allowed and elk if the weather got rainy.  It was sure to be a fun weekend.

Earlier in the week we spotted a couple of bears in a meadow from the road and we decided we would try to get in after one.  Brian, Daniel (D-Man) and myself all left directly from work and rendezvoused at the trailhead.  After a 3000+ foot climb in under an hour and a half we had a bear in sight at 7:15.  I started to put the stalk on.  Knowing that time would not allow for a careful stalk I opted to go after the bear with Daniel's rifle, unfortunately I rushed things and spooked the bear.  We didn't think the bear would knew what spooked him so we continued to drop down the ridge (on the opposite of the ridge the trail comes up of course) to see if we could get another view of him before he moved into the trees.  We got up on a big rock to get a good vantage down into the brush and immediately spotted another bear coming out of the trees to our left about 130 yards away.  Unfortunately, we were skylined on the rock and he spotted us immediately and ran back into the trees before I was able to get a good shot.  Luckily, we soon spotted the original bear down in the brush.

By this time the sun had set and the bear was very near the trees.  I wanted to be sure the bear would not run into the trees to die so we didn't have to chase him down into the trees in the dark.  I saw a bench below that would get me within 50 yards of the bear and made my way towards him.  Again I was not being super careful because I knew we were in a time crunch.  Luckily, he was so content eating blueberries he never even heard me.  Brian had gone the other direction to look for another bear earlier on but Daniel was with me.  He hung up at about 80 yards to watch everything unfold while I continued to close the distance.  Of course, Daniel would have had a wide open shot and I could not see the bear due to the brush on the bench.  Eventually the bear took a couple of steps in the right direction.  I got a good rest on Daniel's shooting sticks and pulled the trigger only to find out I had not disengaged the safety on Daniel's gun.  He has a double safety and I couldn't figure out how to get the safety off.  Eventually I got things figured out, settled in again and squeezed off the shot.  Daniel saw the bear roll before he ever heard the shot.  I double lunged him and broke both shoulder blades, he wasn't going anywhere!

The pictures aren't the greatest because my camera batteries died so we had to rely on my cell phone.  Also, the hill was so steep that I was holding him up with my legs just to keep him from sliding farther down the hill.  We quickly quartered him out and threw him in our packs.  Luckily, with 3 guys, the 750 feet back to the ridge top weren't too bad, but we still had to descend over 3000 feet down the trail.  We finally rolled into camp at 11:30 to meet my dad and brother Lance.  Luckily, we had some cell coverage and were able to inform them of the situation so they weren't worrying about us.  We planned on getting up early the next day to get up on the hills but we were just exhausted from the hard climb and tough pack out.  Lance and dad set their alarms for 4 am and we just slept in.

On the way down as we were dripping in sweat in the warm evening, we kept saying that we were gluttons for punishment.  Little did we know what the rest of the weekend had in store for us. 

[D-man]

   The morning after Shane shot his bear we were all exceptionally sore, tired, and unmotivated to wake up.  When Shane's Dad and older brother got up to go hunting, I couldn't believe we were planning on waking up an hour later to check out another "hot spot."  However, to our great pleasure when it came time for us to get up we hit the snooze on the alarm and didn't stir until 8:30.  I was the first one out of the tent.  When I saw blue skies I was shocked, the forecast called for rain all weekend long.  I hollered at the other guys to get their butts out of that tent.  It was well past time to start hunting.  The weather looked perfect for bear hunting, overcast with temps in the 60's.  Even still no was complaining because it felt so good to get a well deserved goodnights rest, after all we already packed out one bear.  Thats in and of itself constitutes a successful weekend, as far as I am concerned.  We even took a leisurely breakfast as a reward for our hard work.  

   Over breakfast Brian was talking as if he didn't want to go hunting.  He thought it would be too much work.  So we brainstormed and came up with a solution:  we would hunt the easiest location of our list of good spots.  With that battle plan we left camp just after 9:30 and drove to the trail head.  It was an easy hike to the alpine, thank goodness.  Once we came to a good glassing spot Brian spotted the first bear.  It was working his way down the alpine into thick timber.  No one else could see were he went, but thankfully the bear was in the general direction we were headed.  We continued on the trail.  At a high spot we stopped for a little break, and Shane took up Brian's binoculars (because he had forgotten his at camp).  He immediately spotted a very nice bear feeding up in a band of meadows sandwiched between a cliff face and the pile of rocks that had slip from the face.  Once that bear was spotted Brian spotted another bear in the basin between us and the first bear.  Our game plan was to shoot the first bear we could get within range of, then after that I could chase after any other bears still hanging around.  

   We rounded a knoll and came up behind a clump of trees.  We got a range on the closest bear, 200 yds.  However, we didn't feel comfortable with that long of a shot, especially because within half a mile there were two very beautiful bears.  We wanted to do this right, one shot kill, we have learned from experience that when bear hunting it takes a very unique situation to not be able to sneak up within 100 yds.  As we got closer to Brian's bear we realized it was smaller than the first bear spotted, yet it was in an awesome brown color phase.  Shane and I set up across the way to guide Brian into the bear. As Brian stalked the bear, it began to move into another basin, the basin just beneath the larger bear.  This was good for Brian because now he had enough cover to get really close for a good shot, however I was a little disappointed because his shot would spook the second bear.  Making it unlikely for me to fill my second bear tag.  As Brian got closer to the bear he had a hard time getting a clear shooting lane.  While he was fiddling around for a spot the bear spotted him.  He had snuck up to within 30 yds of this bear.  The bear bolted for the trees on the other side of the basin, and just as it was about to enter the woods we heard a shot and saw Brian wound the bear.  We thought for sure this bear was going to run for awhile.  However, for what ever reason the bear stepped back into the meadow, and Brian was ready.  The second shot was a perfect kill shot right through he vitals.  The bear rolled to within feet of Brian.  We gave a little whoop of victory.  Second bear down for the weekend.  Incredible!

   What was even more incredible, for me, was that the larger bear above Brian didn't even budge.  It couldn't have been more than 500-600 yds away.  It no doubt heard the shots.  Shane and I made our way to Brian.  I dropped off Brian's pack and told the guys I was going for the second bear.  I climbed up into the next basin and immediately spotted the bear.  I was guessing that I was within 150 yds but saw a way to sneak up closer to the bear.  I snuck around to a good spot with the wind in my face.  However, I stuck out of a clump of trees maybe a little too far because as I was putting my shooting sticks down the bear spotted me.  I was watching the bear and not the log that I couldn't  jab my shooting sticks into.  The adrenaline really began to flow, I knew I didn't have much time before that bear bolted so with one stick in the ground I fired off a shot.  The bear ran a few steps and I shot again.  The bear rolled down the steep face into a jumbled pile of rocks.  I had hit the bear twice one shot taking out the lungs the other the heart.  I got on the radio and said "bear down."  I gave a little chuckle and Brian came back on the radio saying, "do you realize how much work we have now" I said, "I know isn't it great."  Getting two bears on one trip has always been fun to think about, I never dreamed it would become a reality.  

   Brian was right, it was a lot of work getting those bears out.  (Luckily we had Shane's father in-law to meet us halfway).  But every ounce of that trip was incredibly fun and rewarding we were, after all, gluttons for punishment, yet we still could not anticipate what would happen next...

[alecvg]

I was not able to go up with Shane, Daniel, and Brian until Saterday evening.  When Shane called me at 5:30 telling me they had shot two more bears, I threw my gear into my truck and left as fast as I could, planning on meeting them at a resteraunt on the way up.  After being joined by my dad and brother Lance, as well as eating three pizzas; Shane, Daniel, and I headed up to camp, planning on getting up at 4 to hunt the next morning.  Well, we awoke to heavy rain on the tent when the alarm rang at 4, so we decided to sleep in and try for some elk later in the morning.  The "sleeping in" went a little later than we planned, but we had a great nights rest after getting out of the tent at 8.  We were disapointed with the low clouds, and heavy rain, so we hung around camp and burned the remainder of our firewood, and packed up camp with plans or doing some road hunting, and glassing from the road for bears if weather alowed.

We drove to where I saw 12 bears from thursday evening, and started glassing.  It wasn't long before I spotted a lone bear up high, and soon after Daniel spotted a brown sow with two cubs, followed by a sow with three cubs.  With the clouds getting darker and darker, we decided against climbing up the incredibly steep hill after the bears.  After feeling successfull in glassing, we started home, and to our surprise drove past my dads truck with him and Lance in it; so we turned around and drove back to meet them.  Lance had decided he wanted to come back and spend the night in camp, and dragged dad along with him.  He quickly asked if I wanted to climb the mountain that we had spotted the bear on, and reluctantly, I agreed.  

Shane and Daniel headed back up to camp to re-set it up, well me and Lance headed up to climb after some bears, well dad was going to glass for us from over a mile away. I loaded my pack with a sweatshirt and a rainshell, and my normal hunting gear, and we started the brutal climb up-hill.  After climbing steadily for over and hour, dad called on the radio telling us he had spotted some bears above us, but as annoying as it is, he said we would have to use hand signles to guide us to it, so we would be following the law.  Knowing there were bears above us, we had a re-newed energy to keep climbing, and finally broke out of the overgrown shale slide to alpine.  Thanks to great optics, we could barely make out dads signles to keep going, we determined that the bears were above us and to the left, but we could not see them, nor were we in range, at this point.  So keeping out of their wind, we cut up and to the right, which of course was the steepest way to get within distance.  We went up as fast as we could, falling and slipping all the time, and at last, I spotted the first bear, with his head sticking out of the huckleberries above us, so we crawled up to a rock a couple hundred feet above us.  After reaching the rock, we spotted the second bear, about ten yards from the first.  We took out time getting set up with good rests, and decided that we would wait until we both had shots before we wouild shoot.  I gave Lance first shot no matter what, and ater ten minutes without the right chance for two good shots at the same time, I told him to just shoot, but he declined.  Finally, both of our bears were out in the open, mine at 218 yards,his at 204 yards; I told him to do the countdown.  3.... 2... WAIT!  I yelled as my bear stepped behind a bush.  After a matter of a few seconds it was back in the open, 3.... 2..... 1.... BOOM!  Lances bear dropped like a rock.  My bear turned to run, made three steps and BOOM!  my bear rolls.  Long story short, both bears down, a second apart, Lances rolled at least 300 yards down the way we came, and mine maybe rolled 100 yards.  We made the way over to mine and took pictures before rolling it down towards Lances.  Little did we know, the night had just began, and it was only 6:00.  

After reaching Lances bear, and taking many pictures, we started gutting and butchering, which we were NOT good at since this was both of our first bears.  Dad called on the radio and let us know that Shane and Daniel were headed up to help, but they could only stay for 30 minutes, as Daniel had to take his mom to the airport early the next morning.  After they hauled up to us, they helped Lance finish butchering his bear, and hauled his down the mountain leaving me and Lance to finish mine up.  After they had made it back to the truck, and met with dad, Daniel headed home, and dad and Shane headed back to camp to start dinner for us.  We finished well after dark, and we started down, with heavy packs and a tweaked knee on Lances part.  Coming off a steep, cliff filled mountain in the dark is much harder than during the day, and we quickly got cliffed out.  With headlamps that weren't helping much in the fog, we opted to head back uphill to a flat spot to think things over.  After much thinking, we decided it would be smartest to spend the night.  We figured Shane and dad would head back up to where we parked and would call on the radio eventually to see if we were alright.  We quickly used the broken bone saw Shane has left with us to cut some logs and pine bows to make a shelter, and gathered wood for a fire.  After we were settled in, and had a fire started, we had a dinner of a shared fruit leather, and seven Ritz crackers.  We sat around the fire until it started to rain, then crawled into the cramped shelter.  After an hour of freezing our asses off away from the fire, we said screw it and sat in the rain around the fire.  Finally Shane was calling us on the radio, and agreed to come up in the morning to help Lance with his pack because his knee was in so much pain.  After a LONG night with little sleep, it finally started to get light, and we started to prepare to head down.  We met Shane at about the half way mark, we had missed the way through the cliffs by about thirty yards in the dark.  We finally got down to the truck, sore, tired, and beat - but thrilled about such an incredible hunt.  

So thats my portion of the story, deffinatly one I will remember for years to come.  I want to say thanks for Lance (lancevg), for sharing such an awesome hunt with me, and helping butcher mine, and helping pack it down the hill.  I also can't think of a better person to spend a night on the mountain with.  Another huge thanks to Shane and Daniel (shanevg and D-Man) for helping with the pack out.  And also to my dad (sheephunter) for helping spot the bear, and for introducing all of us to hunting.  Thanks for reading and good hunting!

[buglebrush]

Excellent!  Keep it up.

[ratherhunt]

WOW, great bears and awesome stories what a adventure. Congratulations to all and thanks for sharing your hunts.

[PacificNWhunter]

Great write up, hope ya heal up quick!

[carpsniperg2]

dang, looks like some good times!

[wapiti hunter2]

What??? no elk?  Great story and a hunt you will always remember. 

[shanevg]

Lance and Alec's bears were truly something to behold.  Dad, Daniel, and myself were all watching from over a mile away as they put the stalk on the bears.  We could see that the guys were getting set up for a shot, but the bears were still in the dark.  After 10 minutes of waiting we assumed that they were trying to shoot both bears at the same time.  All of a sudden dad says: "One bear's down" and shortly thereafter I said "the second one is going down too!"  Then a few seconds later we finally heard the shots.  We were able to watch the bears roll all the way down the mountain and were able to see the final location of both bears.  I really wish we had a good video camera with us so we could film it all from our point of view.  It was really quote something! 

We couldn't believe that it only took 24 hours to top our first "double" as a hunting group by shooting two bears at the same time!  I guess we need to get a "triple" now. 

All in all, I shot my bear at 7:40 on Friday night, Daniel and Brian shot their bears around noon on Saturday, and Alec and Lance shot theirs at 5:40 on Sunday afternoon.  5 bears down in 46 hours! 

[hogsniper]

That is a great story and an epic weekend for you all!!! Congrats on all the success and making it all come together!   Thanks for taking the time to share your story!  Good luck with the elk tag shane!   

[testar77]

Way to go boys!!!  

[lancevg]

I cannot believe what this weekend held. Each day seemed to get better. But nothing was more memorable than the late night decision to sleep on the mountain - in the rain. Our makeshift "Bear Grylls" pine bow shelter actually kept us dry!  Unfortunately it was too cold. Hanging out by the fire was vey necessary and fun. Don't get me wrong - we were miserably freezing cold!!!  But it was nice spending time together miserably. It was a strange decision, but the correct one under the circumstances. Epic. Legendary. I joked to mom that I wouldn't forget this until I get dimensia. She said I'd still remember THIS despite dimensia!  She's right. Awesome weekend.

[87Ford]

Unbelievable!  Good story.

[bowhunterforever]

Congrats to you guys

[Billy]

Awesome Job!