I was supposed to leave and head over to Dales (BearPaw's) around 10-12 am on Saturday. My hunt was scheduled from Sunday (22nd) thru Thursday (26th). ShadowCat came down Thursday so I could go over things in the shop, how to fill out paper work if someone dropped an animal off, dogs schedule, etc. He gets a call Friday afternoon from the VA wanting him to come in Saturday at 10 for some additional tests and what not. After a few other setbacks I didn't hit the road until about 7:30pm. I rolled in the drive way at BearPaw's right around 4am. I had just enough time to throw my stuff in one of the cabins. Change into my Camo, and move my gear from my truck into one of the vehicles we would be hunting in. I think we left for the hunting area right around 4:30am.
I was hunting with Dale (Bearpaw) and Anthony, his full time guide. There was no sleeping on the way to the hunting area. I was still under the effects of McDonalds Iced Coffee and a 5 Hour Energy. Over the course of 3 days we saw an average of 3 Bears a day. They ranged anywhere from aproximatly 375lbs to 100lbs. Two of the Bears were over 300lbs, 3 were over 215lbs, 4 were over 100. We didn't see any Sows with cubs. Two of the Bears were Color Phase, Chocolate and a Blond with Cinneman head and legs.
We had discussed on our way up to the hunting area what I was looking for and what my expectations were. I told him that a Bear that was black would have to be 300+lbs for me to pull the trigger on the first couple days. I said I was after a color phase and that if it was the right color I'd shoot it down to 100lbs. On the last day of the hunt I will pull the trigger on the first Bear that presents a shot as long as it is over 100lbs.
It was raining and the fog was moving when we hit the hunting area and the Bears were having none of it. We focused on the areas that the Bears were hanging out and feeding but the rain and fog was keeping them under cover. Some of the spots we went to during the first part of the day were fogged in and it kept us moving. We hunted most of the day and even though the Bears were not coperating other game was. We saw dozens of Deer, several Elk, Turkey, and even a large Cow Moose.
Not sure exactly when it quit raining but I am going to say around 1 or 2 pm. Sun came out and it was starting to warm up, Bears were starting to move. We checked out a few more areas and than decided to go back and check out a few areas that we were in that morning when the fog moved us out.
About 7:30pm we were coming into an area where we had seen several signs of Bears working the area. We knew there was at least one small and a decent size Bear working the area. We parked the truck and walked the road, as we were heading up a hill we spot some movement about 100 yards up ahead and we see a Bear run across the Road. We move up the hill in a hurry to where the bear crossed and then Anthony sees the bear in the brush and trees.
It takes me a second but I get on the bear as quickly as I could with all the brush and trees. We knew when it ran across the road that it was a smaller Bear, I also knew that it was a light color phase and one that I wanted. Where it had stopped, it was right behind a bush. All I could see was the head and partial neck sticking up over the bush. What I didn't know was that it had it's front end up on a log. I got into position and put the cross hairs on him and squeezed off a shot. It dropped immediately, Dead Bear, didn't even twitch after the shot.
We took some photos in spite of the revenous mosquitos, then gutted it and I packed it out. It was my first bear and nobody else was packing it out for me. Thankfully it was a short pack to the road, we got it to the truck loaded it up and headed for the skinning pole at the house.
