I wanted to share the story and pics of my bear from this year. I picked out an area i wanted to go in that I had never been to before. I wanted to find some high elevation berry fields and hopefully find some bears, and I accomplished that...
On the drive into the area, I found a spot off the main road where I could see a high mountain meadows way up on the hill. It was probably half mile away. I glassed it through the windshield with my binoculars and thought I could see a black speck in the middle of the green meadow. I shut the truck off and glassed from out side. Sure enough, it was a bear roaming around the high meadows. I thought to myself, "I need to go up there".
I drove another mile or so, loaded my pack and headed up. I followed a trail for a while then bailed off up this hill. The hill was around 70% slope and timbered. Very Steep. It was about 3/4 mile before it broke out onto a rock outcrop and revealed scattered timber, and berry fields. I stopped to glass and 30 seconds later I spotted a sow and a cub at 650 yards. 2 minuted later i spotted a lone bear in the timber at 250 yards. I decided to shoot the close bear. Of course, he ducked behind a tree after I got set up and I lost track of him. My rifle was laying on the ground and I was standing up glassing. A couple minutes later, I heard rustling ahead of me and had a bad gut feeling. I quickly reached down, grabbed my rifle, pointed it in the direction of the sound, and clicked the safety off. Not a couple seconds later, a small bear walks out from behind a tree only 10 yards away! I guessed him at about 100lbs. He stared for a while, then slowly moved away. I tried to dig my camera out of my pocket for a pic, but he caught my movement and ran like hell! I glassed for an hour or so and decided to go after the single bear I had seen. I had so much fun. I found him and snuck after him for about 30 minutes. I could catch glimses of him, and finally saw him long enough to shoot. Small bear about 125lbs. Prettiest country I have ever seen. The most action I've ever had. Seen 5 bears, one real close, and had fun! Never saw another person the whole day.
