I recently traveled to northwest Colorado to hunt elk. The trip was highly anticipated, well planned, and immediately successful, with me taking my first bull elk.

However, there was a unplanned adventure waiting for me. The opportunity to hunt bears on the elk ranch was brought up during our orientation the day before our elk hunt would begin. The high likelihood of a color phase black bear was mentioned. I would need to travel to town and purchase a bear tag.

I have wanted a to travel to the west and pursue a color phase bear for several years now. Those bears are high on my wish list.

I weighed the cost of the license vs the unique chance to take a color phase bear. In the end, I knew I would never forgive myself if I saw a bear, and wasn't holding a tag. So it was settled, I bought a license and would be hunting bear as well as elk.

The elk portion was done in the first morning of our 5 day hunt, leaving the rest of the season to chase a bear.

But the weather had other plans...

A wintry mix rolled in at dusk the first day, snowing overnight. The temps wouldn't climb for a couple of days. In fact, one night the low temperature fell to 6 degrees. I was sleeping in a tent. I was prepared and had a propane heater. But seriously, 6 degrees. In a tent.

I had a tip on where to find a bear that visited a waterhole every evening with regularity. The snow and bitter cold shut the bear activity down. It was picturesque sit anyway.


On day 4 I slept in an enjoyed breakfast in camp. I then sat in my camp chair, and glassed the ridges visible in the distance. I picked up a peculiar shadow. The shadow moved left?! The shadow moved right?! Then the silhouette of a bear appeared. Not dressed to hunt, I scrambled to my tent, put on my orange, and grabbed my gun and pack. Once again I located the bear feeding up and away fom me on a distant ridge.

I did the only thing that seemed right in the moment;I took of in a fast walk and sprint at times straight toward the bear. I would pick out a landmark to advance to, then locate the bear again with my binos. I did this several times. I glassed him one last time from about 400 yards when I reached the base of the ridge he was climbing. The next move was to climb the ridge and flank him, hopefully intercepting him when he crossed a saddle...

No joy. Something went wrong in the last 200 yards of the stalk. I never saw him again.

This is the view back to camp from the ridge the bear was on. If you zoom to just left of center, the white spot is camp. I swear it was a mile.
What an epic stalk for a hunter from north Georgia. I have never seen something so far away and pursued it.

By the way, the bear was jet black, so I wasn't in a crisis over not finding him.

On the afternoon of day 4, I tried a new tactic. I would sit and watch my elk carcass, hoping a bear would visit. Unfortunately, my elk fell in a stand of oaks with limited visibility. I would be sitting close. That's fine. I carried my camp chair and revolver, and sat right on top of my elk carcass, daring a bear to visit.


I spent the afternoon with the magpies, but no other scavengers appeared.

One of our fellow hunters killed a cow elk on day 3. He showed me a cell phone pic of a bear track he found near his kill site on day 4. He was gracious enough to tell me where his elk kill was, and encourage me to hunt there.
On the morning of day 5, I waited for daylight, and slowly hunted my way toward the elk carcass. I found the bear tracks frozen in the mud and snow of a two track road. The bear traveled on the road a good ways to get to the elk.

I found the kill site, spent about an hour there, but couldn't be satisfied with my view or the wind. I decided to move out of the heavy timber the carcass was in, and back out to the more open view of the two track road.

As I emerged from the dark timber into the open sage, I glassed my surroundings. I got distracted by a line of trees hooked and rung off by a bull elk. I just felt a presence, and slowly turned my head to see a 280 lb chocolate bear in the road 30 yards away. We locked eyes and stared at each other for a couple of seconds.

He whirled and turned the corner of the road he just appeared from. I ran after him in the literal sense of the word. He wasn't blown out of the country, but just gently loping away. I found a hasty rest and brought my gun to bear. Hammer back, I just needed him to stop. And he did. But the shot wasn't good enough for me, and away he went.

The bear acted like it still wanted to go to the carcass, and work around me. I quickly moved to a better view and settled into a solid position as the bear moved down the next finger over. As the bear approached an opening, I let out a "whoop-whoop", and the bear stopped. Again the hammer came back and the crosshairs were settled...

but only the top half of the bear was visible above the sage and brush. I gave thought to shooting the bear where the brush stopped, but chose the mature option, and let the bear walk. Out of my sight for this trip, to haunt my dreams forever.

Aww, hate that you didn't get a bear. At least you got to chase them in that beautiful countryside.

what a hunt...

A lost opportunity, bot a lifetime memory.

Great hunt and story!

It's all about the experience and you definitely had a great expierence on this hunt!

To spend all that money,put in the time and effort and then not take a shot you were not comfortable with. Speaks volumes for your ethics and beliefs. WELL DONE!
Would be proud to share a camp with you.Its not always about the trophy. Hold your head up and walk proud!

That's hunting! For me it's always about the 'hunt', not necessarily the kill. Glad you had an enjoyable time.

Great story. Congrats on the elk.
You are very good with a handgun...Sorry you could not close the deal on the bear.

Thanks for the responses guys. Don't feel bad for me. The bear hunt wasn't planned and was a last minute surprise. Buying that tag kept me hunting for 4 more days that I otherwise would have spent sitting in camp. I was able to go toe to toe with some Colorado bears, and they won this time. It was the best $551 dollar hunt I have been on.

I will also share something some hunters would keep to themselves. About 10 minutes after the close encounter with the chocolate bear, I got nauseous and emotional. The thoughts of just how close I was to killing such an awesome bear made my head spin. This stuff still gets me going.

Some of the most memorable hunts are those in which we don't bag our quarry. Likewise, sometimes the shots we don't take are more important than the ones we do. Congratulations on a great experience and for the ethics displayed.

$551--- Price of an avg college game weekend... Only difference

is Matthew did the playing. Those hunting memories are priceless.

That 0le Bar is waiting on you Matthew. Ready for next years game.

I do believe you could have been bitten by something worse than the Bear and that is the bug to go back. Great story and enjoyed it all.

I LOVE TO HUNT, DON'T MIND THE KILLING, BUT IT IS THE HUNT THAT I LOOK FORWARD TO. GOOD HUNT MATTHEW, AND YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO.

What a great story! All of us remember our successful hunts and unsuccessful hunts for years. A close encounter with an animal like that ... and you making the ethical decision ... that's a positive memory in my book.

I still think of a buck that got away from me about 5 years ago as fondly as the others I've taken since then.

Awesome hunt Matthew!

The close call stoked the fire even more for years to come...

Great hunt. Those kind are some of my favorite and most memorable!!! You got to have success on one animal and then got what amounts to a near miss on another. You got the great satisfaction of connecting on one and
Whetting the appetite even more for another. Plus, you got the mountains out west and great memories. Congrats!!!!

Great Story. I am sure that you will cherish the memory for ever. Now to start planning for next years hunt.

Bob R