OK, this is my tale...
Went up last weds afternoon to spend the night up on the mountain by myself and try and call in a bear either weds evening or sometime thursday. I had purchased a new foxpro spitfire weds morning and was really hoping it would call me in a bear! Saw alot of critters that weds and thursday but no bears. Saw a few deer, a bull moose that i got some video of, a coyote, a cow moose with twins, and even managed to snap off a grouse on the way up the mountain. I came home thursday and would have liked to stay till friday but i had to get my kids friday.
Friday afternoon rolled around and i went to school to get the kids and my youngest boy started saying how he didnt want to go to my house for the weekend. I quickly replied with the first thing that came to my mind, "Oh thats to bad cause daddy was going to take you bear hunting." he was sold hook line and sinker. Now i just had to make it happen.
Me and the fiancee woke 3am saturday morning and got the truck loaded and the kids ready. She had to work but was kind enough to give me a hand getting out the door, which is why i keep her around
We headed out on the road and on the way the check engine light on the truck came on. I started to think maybe i should just turn back as i didnt want to get stuck on the mountaint with 2 young kids. I didnt ask or tell the kids but figured they would be dissapointed if we never even made it out to go hunting and i really wanted to shoot a bear, so we pressed on!
We got to the spot i wanted to glass my area from about an hour later then i had wanted, and the check engine light was still in the back of my mind. After not seeing anything we moved to my first calling spot. I had both kids sitting with me on the edge of the road over looking the clear cut and it was all i could do to keep the kids from moving around, making noise, or touching each other. After about an hour and only seeing 2 does we got in the truck and headed to my second calling spot.
When we parked the truck my oldest boy said he wanted to stay in the truck so i told him that was fine, but he had to stay till i got back to the truck. Me and my youngest son went down to the dead end and i set up the stand and we sat together looking over a large draw with older clear cuts all around. we had been calling for about 50 minutes when the squirrels and birds starting going off at the top of the draw. i told my son that i thought something was coming, and to be quiet but he continued to pound a stick into the ground with a rock. about 5 minutes later with the birds and squirels making noise moving down the mountaing i saw a head suddenly appear over a slash pile about 50 yards away and to my left. i told my youngest, ' look a bear!'. i am not sure if he saw the bear at all, or not but i stood up moved about 10 feet to my left and took what i thought was a center chest shot. as soon as i fired the bear dissapeared and i wasnt sure if even hit it or if i had perhaps shot over it because of the incline. i was really close so i thought i had shot it but the bear dissapared so fast i was doubting myself.
Immediately after the shot, i told my youngest son to stand up and we had to get back to the truck. I wanted the kids in the truck so i knew where they were at and if did hit the bear i wanted to give it a chance to bleed out. so we hustled just up the road to the truck were my oldest boy was asleep. we woke hime and flew down to the spot. i quickly picked up the gear and then grabbed my pistol and rifle and told the kids to stay in the truck till i told them it was ok.
I went down to were i had seen the bear and saw alot of blood. I have to admit as i was walking down i was thinking to myself what the hell i was doing hunting bear with 2 little kids. I started to worry that i had wounded the bear and was going to have to chase/track it all over the mountain. Just about then i noticed the black furball piled up in the slash pile. I poked it a few times with my rifle to make sure it was dead then called down the kids. the shot had passed through the upper part of the neck and through the lower part of the neck. im not sure what i hit in there exactly but the bear never wiggled, moaned, or moved. it was DRT were i had shot it with my trusty old .270win
i wasnt able to really even move the bear so after some effort i was able to reposition it against the hillside so i could gut it. each kid held a leg while dad cleaned his first bear. neither boy complained bout the ick and both were real troopers. After cleaning the bear i was able to move it a foot or two at a time up the hill twords the truck. about half way i tore something in my left shoulder and had to have my oldest boy try and help me. we were able to get the bear close enough that our rope would reach and then i hog tied the rear legs and hooked up to the truck. my oldest boy rode the bumper giving me the thumbs up when the rope was tight and waving me off when the rope went slack. after a failed first attempt we were able to drag the bear the remaining distance up to the road. even though the bear was only about 50 yards off the road it was steep up hill the whole process of cleaning and dragging the bear took about 2 hours.
once we had the bear on the road i got some pictures and had my son take a few. unfortunately the pics were not that great and i was in a hurry to get it cleaned. i started to skin the bear to quarter it and got a little intimidated that i was going to ruin the pelt so i told the boys we were going to have to get down the mountain and get to gutpiles house. I was barely able to get the bear into the back of my truck, i finally was able to bear hug it and dead lift it onto the tailgate.
we flew down the mountain and met up with gutpile who gave me the 101 on how to skin a bear.
all in all it was a awesome experience to have my kids there and share it with me. it was my first bear but it was their first real hunt with dad. im sure it was something they will never forget and i know that i wont. they both were real troopers and they both helped out anyway they could, i couldnt have been more proud of them. it was my first bear called in ever and was the first confirmed kill using my new ecaller. it was just one of those hunts were the stars were aligned and everything went perfect.
here are a few pics.
just wanted to thank gutpile again for use of his skinning pole, his shop, and his knives. Id also like to thank him again for giving me this sickness, er i mean teaching me everything i know about bear hunting....
--bh2bt
