As many of you may recall, I've been hunting "Big Red" for 4 years now. We spotted him yet again this summer but unfortunately he disappeared about 3 weeks before season started. Luckily, he was courting a red sow early in the year and she decided to hang out a while longer than "Big Red." I scouted out the area three times the week before season, seeing bears every time only to get skunked on opening morning with no bear sighting. My buddy Brian made it in Wednesday night and spotted "Little Red" late in the evening way up high on the hill. We decided to give it another go after work last night. Immediately upon reaching our spot we spotted her in a tough spot to get to but figured we better put a stalk on. She had definitely been moving up hill and the usually they disappear a few days after they start moving up the hill. After thrashing through salmon berries and devils club we made it into some timber that allowed us to move a bit quieter. About an hour after first seeing her we spotted her again at 135 yards. One shot straight through the heart and she never twitched again. 9 days after admiring her flawless hide at 120 yards through my spotting scope she had completely rubbed both sides off of her hide, but she's still a great bear! We estimated her at 175-200 lbs. She had about 5 inches of hair along her spine and she was almost bald on both sides.
Below are some pictures of 3 weeks before season with "Big Red" - she is the smaller bear obviously. This picture was taken by Timber - so a big thanks to him for the great quality shot.
The second and third picture are from 9 days before season when she still had a flawless hide.
Then of course the kill shots!
