Post by: kbdavear on August 01, 2010, 05:00:31 PM
Opening Day....Started by getting out there around noon on Sat, just in case someone else wanted the spot and set up. Took my truck to check out another area, then ate and sat around BSng. Realized that it was 1130 and I knew 330 was coming real quick. Tried to sleep....TRIED. Got up, dressed and ready to go. Realized the fog was not my friend today, so we waited for about 30 mins. Went in and got to one spot where we found ONE berry (no scat). On the way to the next spot we found nice track and 2 piles of scat. Between first and second area we saw probably 25 berries. NOT LOOKING GOOD. We got into position and I began my first run at calling with my DA1. I thought I was doing it wrong and I was glad I had no experienced caller around to hear (I hope). Then a damn Yote comes flying out of the tree line making a B-line towards me. Then he saw my partner....Damn thing turned and was in the tree line without even touching the ground :chuckle:. That was the ONLY excitement I had for the day. I am disappointed, but still happy I got out, and the season is long. I am hoping next time the berries will be ready.
That is all I have for my opening day, kind of uneventful, but it is still early.
Post by: billythekidrock on August 01, 2010, 05:35:23 PM
That is more action then most will have, including myself. At least you didn't get hosed by brushpickers. :bash:
Post by: ouchfoss on August 01, 2010, 05:42:39 PM
I just got back from doing a couple walkins behind a few gates and didnt find any new sign. I walked in this one gate for the first time and found where the bear badly destroyed an area with all the bark peels. At one Y in the road he probably killed 2 dozen trees in a 50 foot area. There was one tree where I swear the bear literally chewed off every piece of bark on the entire tree, and the tree is like 80 feet tall! All the sign was probably a month old though. The only game I saw today was 2 bunnies. Oh well, lots of time left in the season.
Post by: saylean on August 01, 2010, 06:06:31 PM
Calling in a yote, you did something right. Not a bad first day. Keep at it.
Post by: actionshooter on August 01, 2010, 06:20:51 PM
.
.
.
.
.
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. I would call it a pretty succseful opening day....... :chuckle:
Post by: alecvg on August 01, 2010, 06:54:36 PM
Post by: Houndhunter on August 01, 2010, 07:58:08 PM
Post by: seth30 on August 01, 2010, 08:03:47 PM
Post by: carpsniperg2 on August 01, 2010, 08:04:14 PM
I drove home from Moses Lake, wishing I was bear hunting.... :chuckle: :bash: :'(
Calling in a yote, you did something right. Not a bad first day. Keep at it.
x2
If I didn't have scope covers, or shanevg had a round in the chamber, we would have a bear down... at 5 yards. :bash: Oh well, got the rest of season, had a great day out.
sounds like a intresting story we should hear more on :chuckle:
Post by: carpsniperg2 on August 01, 2010, 08:04:41 PM
too ashamed to post on this one :'(
did you get back out?
Post by: Jamieb on August 01, 2010, 08:19:06 PM
Post by: seth30 on August 01, 2010, 08:20:04 PM
Post by: wints13 on August 01, 2010, 08:41:05 PM
Post by: D-Rock425 on August 01, 2010, 09:46:34 PM
Post by: hogsniper on August 01, 2010, 09:48:38 PM
Post by: NataSS on August 01, 2010, 10:18:32 PM
Fast forward to today. NONE, ZIP, ZERO, NADA.
donated roughly 10 gallons of blood to the local mosquito population. Probably contracted dangue fever with my luck. got 3 bites in the exact same spot on my right wrist and it swelled up like a balloon. I didnt even see this many mosquitos when i was in Thailand with the Marines.
Finally thought i was onto something only to have 3 ass hats on dirt bikes go screaming by at 50mph waving at me. I just stared at them and shook my head. Was it the fact i was crouching and in the low ready position that might lead you to think i was onto an animal. Nevermind the fact I was holding a large rifle, a pistol in a serpa holster with 2 secondary mags and a large Kukri blade on a tactical tailor split mav harness and X brace. I guess they thought i wouldnt do anything.....they were right, I just shook my head.
Then moving into a HUGE meadow, I was coming over a rise and it sounded like the mother ship of all black bears was coming over the rise in front of me. At the ready with my thumb on the hammer of my trusty .30-30 waiting for this monster to show itself, my heart was racing a million MPH. NOPE! 3 people all on horse back and thier 3 fricken dogs. Short conversation later they leave and say "good luck".
2 hours later i moved to the large tree in the middle of the meadow where I could survey the entire area. Sat for about an hour and out of no where one of the ladies with the horse group rides right up to me and wants to chat for a half hour.
I gave up and came home.
Post by: carpsniperg2 on August 01, 2010, 10:23:37 PM
i shot 5 bears today :IBCOOL: :chuckle: they were all foam at the local 3d shoot we went to today since it was the last one untill nov. will hit it next weekend and see what i can find :IBCOOL:
Post by: bowman on August 01, 2010, 10:40:36 PM
3 piles of scat. Berries wern't quite ripe where I was hunting :(
Post by: STIKNSTRINGBOW on August 01, 2010, 10:48:27 PM
The one road without a gate had a sign saying "Walk in hunting only, no motorized access"
I though "oh well" , parked and walked in, but due to not knowing the gate was locked, I was not prepared to walk all the way to my spot, due to time/distance.
I saw some old peels, a few Cascara trees w/o any berries, and very few Hucklebeeries, salmon berries, or Blackberries, so decided to go to a different spot later in the evening.
After checking all the gates, I found one near Rainbow Falls. that was open, with a yellow dot (and seeing as to it is/was Sunday) and drove in on the 550.
I went to one of my good looking areas near there, parked and walked to end of logging spur, checking edge of cut every once in a while through Bino's.
Not hearing any sounds of feeding, I started calling.
Tried that for about an hour, nothing showed (That I knew about), walked out close to dark.
on the way to my truck, I saw a Porcupine waddling across road, so I grabbed a good sized stick and flipped it over on its back, grabbed a rear paw, and carried it to truck.
I grabbed a spare set of socks and whapped it (porci) a few times to collect some quills (for a project to be determined later), and let him continue on his way.
Opening day, no bears, or sign........
Post by: Little Dave on August 01, 2010, 11:00:17 PM
Post by: buckhorn2 on August 01, 2010, 11:54:52 PM
Post by: BrandonWatts on August 02, 2010, 12:29:07 AM
Post by: bowhunt03 on August 02, 2010, 05:20:00 AM
Post by: seth30 on August 02, 2010, 06:22:19 AM
Bear down for the willapa hills. went out at 5:45 this morning checked a couple of berry patches herd on bear down in the bottom but never could get a look at him. came back in had some lunch, screwed around for a while. me and a buddy headed back out at 5:00pm to check the same areas the last clear cut we check we saw a bear all the way a crossed the canyon on the road i fired the first shot and missed ranged at 303 yds the bear ran down the clear cut my buddy shot and hit him done deal. went down after the bear turned out to be a small bear only about 100lbs be his first bear. i just got him in the cooler about 10mins ago it was a long drive out and a hell hole to get him out of. so for a first day not too bad. :)Congrats!!
Post by: turkey buster on August 02, 2010, 06:28:28 AM
Post by: kbdavear on August 02, 2010, 06:44:42 AM
Disapointed?
That is more action then most will have, including myself. At least you didn't get hosed by brushpickers. :bash:
I guess disapointed may not be completely accurate. I believe that any day in the woods is better than a day not in the woods. Just being out there was great, however I am really hoping on filling my tag this year and I am only going to get a couple of chances to go out.
Post by: kbdavear on August 02, 2010, 06:55:07 AM
Saw 2 bears this morning and tried to get set up on a decent one tonight but someone shot down the hill and he moved into the timber, We saw 5 bear today and some elk hope to get closer tomorrow we are in a restricted area and using muzzle loaders. Needed Rick or Rasbo to call them in a little closer. Thought about trying to call but did;nt want to scare them off if it does;nt work.
Sounds like a good spot you got. Good luck.
Post by: kbdavear on August 02, 2010, 06:57:32 AM
too ashamed to post on this one :'(
I saw you other post. dont be ashamed man. it happens!!! Did yall get back out there?
Post by: kbdavear on August 02, 2010, 07:00:46 AM
If I didn't have scope covers, or shanevg had a round in the chamber, we would have a bear down... at 5 yards. :bash: Oh well, got the rest of season, had a great day out.
I would like to hear more on this one too. I think at 5 yards, that bear would have about 15 rounds of .40 in it, then I would change my britches.
Post by: seth30 on August 02, 2010, 07:09:41 AM
Yeah but I did a lazy 1 1/2 of looking, my legs are still on fire. I am planning on going out tommorow after work, I cant today due to having duty.too ashamed to post on this one :'(
I saw you other post. dont be ashamed man. it happens!!! Did yall get back out there?
Post by: h20hunter on August 02, 2010, 07:48:17 AM
Post by: runamuk on August 02, 2010, 08:03:25 AM
Post by: 180-GRAIN on August 02, 2010, 08:14:22 AM
Post by: h20hunter on August 02, 2010, 08:23:51 AM
Post by: kbdavear on August 02, 2010, 08:27:31 AM
Anybody that chooses to pass on a 200 lb'r cause its too small just let me know. For my first bear I'll be happy with it!
:yeah:
Post by: runamuk on August 02, 2010, 08:28:53 AM
Anybody that chooses to pass on a 200 lb'r cause its too small just let me know. For my first bear I'll be happy with it!
:yeah:
me 3
Post by: Stomper on August 02, 2010, 08:31:26 AM
Post by: kbdavear on August 02, 2010, 08:42:44 AM
If I can figure out how to post pics with my new cell phone, I'll show you guys.
I met some great people with a key to the gate I was walking behind.So I ended up at the top of the mountain without jello legs.There were seven of us hunting,only one person seen a bear.No shot! All in all a great day out in the woods.Terrific turnout in my neck of the woods,all but two gates had cars parked at them.
send it to your email then save it on your computer. That is what I do.
Nice that you didn't have to walk all the way in.
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on August 02, 2010, 08:59:03 AM
Bear down for the willapa hills. went out at 5:45 this morning checked a couple of berry patches herd on bear down in the bottom but never could get a look at him. came back in had some lunch, screwed around for a while. me and a buddy headed back out at 5:00pm to check the same areas the last clear cut we check we saw a bear all the way a crossed the canyon on the road i fired the first shot and missed ranged at 303 yds the bear ran down the clear cut my buddy shot and hit him done deal. went down after the bear turned out to be a small bear only about 100lbs be his first bear. i just got him in the cooler about 10mins ago it was a long drive out and a hell hole to get him out of. so for a first day not too bad. :)
Congrats on tagging your First Bear! :IBCOOL:
Post by: bearmanric on August 02, 2010, 09:33:31 AM
Post by: seth30 on August 02, 2010, 09:46:52 AM
Post by: sharpeshooter on August 02, 2010, 12:21:17 PM
Post by: h20hunter on August 02, 2010, 01:23:16 PM
Post by: Stomper on August 02, 2010, 02:29:02 PM
Post by: sharpeshooter on August 02, 2010, 02:44:28 PM
Post by: h20hunter on August 02, 2010, 02:45:04 PM
Post by: seth30 on August 02, 2010, 03:18:00 PM
Post by: h20hunter on August 02, 2010, 03:21:24 PM
Uh Oh, I think we have jacked the thread. We can shut 'er down on the off topic here and hope some more folks post opening day stuff.
Post by: seth30 on August 02, 2010, 03:26:20 PM
Post by: grundy53 on August 02, 2010, 03:32:19 PM
H20hunter,were you hunting on the sultan basin rd. in sultan.I was with a guy who has a grey dodge pickup.You probally only seen him and his son because he had already dropped everyone off.
I think it was me. I was riding a mt. Bike behind a gate and and a big grey dodge stopped and talked to me for a second. Nice folks.
Post by: seth30 on August 02, 2010, 03:33:55 PM
Post by: haus on August 02, 2010, 03:35:15 PM
In the a.m. we hunted an old clear cut thats only accessible by one very overgrown logging road. The roads kinda tucked to the side off of the main road so we figured we'd have it to ourselves since it didn't really look as if it had much activity for years.....until yesterday. We walked out of the spot mid morning to see a rig parked part way up the road and some guy standing in front of it with his hedge trimmers out choppin branches off the alders :dunno: pretty much shot the sht out of plans A and C, but not B. Plan B's always there to save the day :chuckle:
gotta love public land huntin' :D
Post by: haus on August 02, 2010, 03:39:25 PM
I saw a guy go by on a dirtbike with a rifle strapped to his back. I thought wow, he is going to have a fun time bringing that bear back home. :P
tie front paws and head to the bars, wrap body around the seat. let rear paws hang or tie to rear fender if necessary. sit on bear. ride home. ;) seen it done with a deer but never a bear. it'd be a comical site for sure
Post by: NRA4LIFE on August 02, 2010, 03:42:19 PM
Post by: Bscman on August 02, 2010, 06:36:22 PM
The first busted out of the brush 25yds from my girlfriend and I.
We were walking an OLD gated road system and when we came to a 4-way intersection we must've startled the slumbering "beast."
The trees erupted and everything was busting and cracking...it sounded like a monster..
VRRROOOMMM!!! Out comes this little 150lb tike charging right at us. Out comes the revolver and I start shouting "HEy bear! HEY BEAR!"
At about 15yds it veered off and stopped for a second to look us over. I knew it was too small to shoot, so another "Hey Bear!" got him running down the road.
That definitely had the adrenaline running...it was the closest bear encounter I've had in a while.
To make things even better--it was the first bear my lady has seen in the wild. She had a nice, "up close and personal" experience. High-5's followed! :chuckle:
We jumped the second bear about 40yds ahead of us, while hiking another gated road a few miles away. It was eating the (few) ripe berries along the road-side. He took off up the hill about 40yds above the road and stopped to look. I had him in the sights, but just sat and watched.
I think this guy would've made a better scarf than a rug...maybe 100-120lbs.
Berries are all still a little ways off in all the areas we hunted...both high and low. We did find a few ripe blackberries...maybe 7 berries total (yum). Seems like the majority of the sign we've seen is at the lower elevations...2 more weeks and things should be looking good!
Post by: kbdavear on August 02, 2010, 07:33:51 PM
but I did have a good nap. :dunno:
Thats okay it happens. My partner didn't really sleep the night before and was set up about 30 yards from me. I saw lhim ean back on a small tree. I let him lay there for about 20 mins. Then I just enjoyed watching him "Jump" everytime I called. He couldn't seem to stay awake, so I just enjoyed working on my calls and startling him.
Post by: bgreen on August 02, 2010, 08:17:31 PM