Quinault bear

[Centaur]

My 8 year old daughter was begging me to take her bear hunting earlier this year. So i called a guide i have used quite a few times on the quinault and he had an opening that weekend. We took him the first evening. Having her with me made this my favorite hunt to date.

[losdaddy7]

   Great to see you out there with your daughter.... My daughter is seven, and is also itchin to get out on a hunt with dad....  Maybe next year.

[87Ford]

That is really cool....and nice bear!

[jordano]

gotta love passing it on to the next generation! good for you! 

[Michelle_Nelson]

Good looking Bear!  Congrats.  So much better when you spend time with your kids out in the woods.

[Centaur]

Thanks guys!! Mom on the other hand was not so sure about it. She was fine with me taking her deer hunting last year, but bear a little hesitant. But when my wife got the phone call from my daughter that "WE" just got a bear and the excitement in my daughters voice, she realizes her daughter is going to be a hunter.

[saylean]

Nice! I bet your daughter will remember that her whole life! Very cool. Congrats.

[bucklucky]

That is very cool, congrats to your Daughter.

[h20hunter]

Nice bear. I'd be interested in a full write up. Tell us about the hunt. Did you have more than one shot oppurtunity. Were you put in a stand? Solo? Hotel hunt? Was your guide professional? That kind of stuff.

Also, please skip the negative comments if we get a full write up. I don't care if you agree with baiting or not. Don't care if you think paying a tribal member for a hunt is right or not? I am interested and am afraid that some people may not post and share experience for rear of negative comments regarding a tribal hunt. So, just leave your negative comments off.

Now...back to the write up.

[longashes]

Nice bear ... great memories!  Congrats 

[mulehunter]

Very cool.  I wish I had father like him taking me hunt at age 8.  never been hunting until High school. 
Congt to the hunter.

Mulehunter

[Centaur]

Well h20hunter, here it goes. I too hope I don't get a bunch of negative feedback for hunting on tribal land, but the bottom line is that I had a great experience hunting with my daughter and no one can take that away from us.
It was coming up to memorial day weekend and I was supposed to be Canada on a bear hunt with a couple buddy's. Unfortunetly I was wrapping up a job and there was no way I would be able to miss work. So I was getting text messages of the bears they were seeing and the ones they had taken. So with my bear hunting buddy's gone and my daughter begging me to take her, I called a guide we have used a few times over the past couple years. This was the Thursday before labor day weekend and he said he had three site being hit everyday with one nice one. I asked if the site with the big one was set up with a tree stand or ground blind? He replied a ground blind and my first thought was it would be perfect with my 8year old daughter. I mentioned bringing my daughter and he said not a problem at all.
So friday after work I hooked up to my camp trailer and we were off. His hunting area is north of the Quinault lodge around the queets river area. There is a great little camp ground just past the queets river right on the ocean. I think it called south beach camp ground. No power or hookups, but it does have restrooms. Just past that a couple miles is the Klalock lodge if you want instead. I was of course in a huge hurry trying to beat traffic and get the evening hunt in. I didn't completely beat the weekend rush but was making good time when I got a phone call from the guide stating he was on his way in to set up a bigger ground blind for all three of us and freshen up the bait and the big one was on the bait. He backed out without being seen and he asked where we were? I said we were in Aberdeen and going as fast as we could. Instead of going to the camp ground and setting up first, I went straight to his house and unhooked the trailer and we changed clothes. We followed him to the spot and started walking in a fairly long overgrown road and my daughter was literally walking on my heels. She never said a word but boy did she have a death grip on my hand and was keeping a close watch behind us. We came up to the wheelbarrow with bait and the ground blind and I could see the site about a hundred yards down the way. I took the lead and whispered to my daughter to putmon her ear protection,hold on to my belt and if I got down for her to do the same. We were about fourty yards away where we were going to set up the ground blind and I saw him laying off to the side. We got down and I looked back at my daughter and pointed in that direction. When I looked back he had gotten up and was crossing the road. I raised up and shot as he ran across and was out of site. I looked back at my daughter and her eyes about as big as could be and said "we got him"! She was so excited and kept repeating every step of what she saw.
The bear went maybe five yards off the road. We pulled him out and took lots of pictures before I let my daughter call home and brag to her mom about what just happened. This hunt was absolutely perfect for my daughters first bear hunt in my opinion. The only thing I would change is maybe actually being able to sit in the blind for a bit and watch him come in with her there.
She got to witness and see first hand what organs are and what they look like. Way more than she will learn in school. Just so happens it was are heart shot and that's her big line she tells everyone.... my dad shot it right through the heart!
As for the guide himself, I have never been put on a site that wasn't being hit regularly and have always been successful. Not a lot of fluff, just another hunt for him. But he does put you on em.
I tried to keep it short but got a little carried away. I can supply his number if interested.

[kckrawler]

That really is a great story man!!! Just being able to get the young ones out and enjoying what we do is worth it's weight in gold.

I'm definitely interested in his name and number! I'd love to get my disabled dad out on a successful bear hunt that doesn't require miles of hiking. I'd like to talk to a guide and see if they can accomodate a wheelchair or very limited walking.

You can PM me his information if you don't want to broadcast it.

Thanks! 

[Sideswipe]

Nice job DAD.  Nice bear.  Liked your daughter's smile too.

[navdoc]

Up this morning reading posts and having coffee.  What a great post!  I love the fact that you and your daughter got to share that experience.  Nice job (from one dad to another)!