Young Lady's First Bear

[MuleDeerCrazy]

Just to set the stage, my daughter took hunter ed when she was seven and immediately got her first deer that season.  She turned 13 this year and has harvested several deer, a cow moose and threee antelope since her first season.  She drew a Huckleberry spring bear tag three years ago, but we couldn't connect on a bear.  This year she drew another spring bear tag in the Tucannon.  We waited til the last weekend hoping the late spring would finally arrive, providing us a better opportunity at getting her on a bear.

We woke the first moring to 28 degrees and almost four inches of snow, not the weather we were hoping for.  Sure, the snow makes bears easier to spot, but they weren't moving at all, so that made it harder.  We hunted hard that first day, but nothing to show for it except cold, wet and muddy.  Day two started out much the same, cold weather, rain showers and no sightings.  We finally saw our first bear that afternoon, but way too far away and no real option for a stalk.

I'll make several postings so can add lots of photos...

[Machias]

Awesome, story and photos!!!

[MuleDeerCrazy]

We were ready to hit it hard the third morning and covered a lot of ground, but came up empty again.  Seemed like each ridge got steeper and steeper, but I know they are all steep!  She didn't think too much of my ideas to hike and glass for bears... it kept getting harder and harder to get her out of the truck.  After lunch we went for a "short" hike behind a gate... at least it was gonna be a short hike.  Not far into our little walk we galss a nice orange bear (I kid you not, the goofiest looking thing you ever saw) about 1/2 a mile down a long knife ridge.

Well, that got her energized and off we go.  It took us about 30 minutes to get down there and by then the bear was on top of the ridge, but still feeding.  We made one last stalk to the saddle to shoot from and in the five minutes it took us to get there the bear had dropped over the ridge and back into the brush.  She was pretty bummed out, but the nasty hike back out took her mind off that real quick.  Now she didn't want to hike anymore at all!

At least now we were starting to figure out where to find them.  There were all at the same elevation and feeding/digging on the same types of rocky/flowery ridges/hillsides.  Couldn't figure out exactly what they were feeding on, but they were sure honed in on something specific.

[h20hunter]

C'mon man.....type faster!

[Pathfinder101]

C'mon man.....type faster!

 

[hoytem]

still waiting....

[jackelope]

I've been waiting for this thread...glad to hear she connected.

Now...on with it.

[MuleDeerCrazy]

So day four rolls around and we head back lower in elevation to where the bears appear to be hanging out.  We step out of the truck and head for a glassing point, but spot a bear across the canyon before we even get there.  By now we have an idea on how to get closer and drive over to where we can watch the hillside the bear was feeding on.  The bears gone by the time we can get there and we sit on the hillside for six hours hoping it would pop back out... no luck.  By mid-afternoon, we decide to move on and look over some different country.

We pull out on our glassing point again and start walking over to glass.  I look down and another bear, but this time it's on our side and close enough for a shot.  My daughter runs back to get the gun while I keep an eye on it.  When she gets back we get her set up on the bipod and she takes a crack at it.  It bolts back over the ridge and out of sight... well, grab your stuff and we'll go check to see if you got it.  We slip down the ridge and are just about where I thought it had been feeding when all of the sudden there it is digging/feeding on the ridge again.  Obviously she didn't hit it, or even scare it too badly... never hurts to be lucky!

I slip her down another 75 yards to where she can finally get an angle on the steep downhill slope to get another shot.  As it's feeding between a couple trees (the photo she's standing in) she takes another shot.  At that shot the bear turns inside out and bails back over into the steep, thick, brushy draw.  We get down there and can't find any blood, but slip into the draw it ran into.  Still no blood or noise, but after slipping in about 75 yards there it is, just standing there, leaned up against a tree.  After a couple more shots the bear is finally down for good, though she couldn't hardly even move.

Now she's all smiles again!

[Michelle_Nelson]

AWESOME!!

So what kinda mount is dad doing for her?

[Woodchuck]

Very cool, congrats to her

[MuleDeerCrazy]

Forgot to add the "where she shot the bear" photo (see below).  Anyway, after some photos and a field dressing session we decide we didn't want to hike back out to the truck to get the packboards, hike back down into the bear and then break it down in the dark and try to hump her back out using headlamps, so we opt to just get our tired selves out that night and pack bear in the morning.

Here are a few packing photos too.

Thanks to those who offered some insight to the hunt.

Enjoy!

[rebal69972]

very cool congrats to you both

[PacificNWhunter]

Awesome hunt! Congrats to your daughter on a great bear.

[Austrian Hunter]

Congrats to a proud dad and the lucky hunter, she deserved this bear, you guys worked hard for it.  Your story is awesome!  Thanks for sharing!! 

[carpsniperg2]

Congrats to her and you! Very nice colored bear Great pictures as well