Just got in at midnight from spending 5 days in the high country. This year I looked for a spot that had more up then in. On the hike up saw 3 bears, one which was a really nice color phase bear. The hike with a 50 pound pack was brutal, got into camp and collapsed, made dinner and went to wash up at the near by stream only to bump into a cougar at 15 yards!! Spooky enough in the daylight but it looked huge in the light from my headlamp. Not that much sleep in the bivy that night.
The first few days I saw does, a few bears and one little 2 point. Day 3 I put a nice stalk on a color phase bear, but could only close to about 47 yards, a little out of my comfort range with a bow. He was in a box canyon and with the wind I could not get any closer, backed out and looked for some deer.
My last day up there I caught a big deer moving right at day break, it spotted me as it was clearing the chute I was glassing and instantly bedded down behind some brush and a tree. I stayed there glassing until the wind started to change as the mountain heated up. I moved over a few ridges, hiked up above the deer and then put the stalk on. Cover above the deer ended 57 yards above where it it was bedded so I was stuck, the wait was on. I could only see about the back 1/3 of the deer and thought I could make out some horns. Well I sat there for 5 hours waiting for it to stand. But it never did. So I backed out and ate lunch. Stalked back to the spot i was before and located it again but it never moved until about 15 minutes before it was dark and I never got a good look at it. maybe next year.
