lToday is the first day back from our annual spring bear hunt here in Idaho, as always my wonderful wife (happy mothers day to all) 3 of our 4 son's & 3 of the grandsons were along for the hunt. We had a magnificent time!!
We saw much wildlife, lots of bears, deer, elk, turkeys, rabbits, quail & coyotes. We didn't see any wolves on this trip but did see their tracks in the mud. Few states have the variety of both big & small game as Idaho, although Montana & Wyoming are very similar. My second home, Texas, is also a game rich state with much variety.
I often chuckle when I read where someone is the first to do this or that in the hunting world, in this case I'll have to chuckle at myself as their were many firsts on this hunt. It was a first as far as how many bears were seen in 7 days, it was a first as far as how many bears we shot in 7 days & there was one other first that I'll relate to later.
Because of the number of bears spotted the 3 grandsons got a lifetime of experience on one hunt, they were totally facinated when they watched a momma bear with twin cubs (very common) feeding in a grassy meadow & then suddenly a large boar appears & the mother sends the cubs up a tree, she then humps up & charges the boar, he doesn't want a fight with a mad sow & retreats to the safety of the heavy cover, she retrieves her cubs & they take off. They saw two bears raise up on their hind legs & playfully fight. They set & watched numerous bears for hours as they fed in their natural habitat, taking it all in as only 3 young boys can do.
After a long drive we got the 5th wheel set up & with only 1 hour of hunting light left the son's & grandson's wanted to go look around, I decided to stay in camp & help my wife get the T bone steaks ready for supper, my wife is a fabulous cook & the guys had gourmet meals everynight along with homemade pies, cakes, rolls, strawberry shortcake, etc. The boys, although long gone from the nest will not go hunting without their mother!
When it got to 10pm & no boys yets their mother started to worry, I told her if they weren't back by now they had a bear down. She decided to go to bed & at 11 pm I put the steaks on, 20 minutes later they showed up & Travis had killed a great bear. First #1, they had seen 10 bears in 45 minutes, 6 at the same time! After a short stalk & a great shot he had the bear down, it turned out to be the second largest bear we've ever taken.
I found this wonderful bear paradise a few years ago & although its a 2 bear area we've never tried to take that many bears, one each is enough, we want to save some for the grandsons.
Second #1 was the total number of bears (59) in one week, although I'm sure several times we had seen the same bears before so the total is probably more like 30-35. This wonderful mountain is about 2 miles long with many canyons, pine pockets, grassy meadows with scattered bushy draws in between & plenty of fresh water running down almost every draw, its as fine a place to bear hunt as I've found in over 40 years of hunting them.
If you've ever hunted bears you know they never stop moving, its a constant challenge to locate one & hope he's still there when you make the stalk. Many times we spot bears from over a mile away with mybe 2-3 hours of walking involved to reach them, if you could see this rugged country you would know what I mean.
In all the years I've hunted bears I don't think we've ever lost so much time to bad weather, bear hunting is totally dependent on weather & here in the Rocky Mountains spring weather will change rapidly from sunny to rain, wind, sleet, snow & back to sunny in the course of several hours, you have to be prepared to meet mother nature head on & keep hunting.
We had lots of wind rain & snow, it beat us down almost everyday, in the entire week we had 2 marginal days & one good day, on the first marginal day we killed one bear, on the one good day we killed 2 bears & missed a 3rd one. We were holding out for big bears, all of us have taken numerous bears so shooting the small ones has been a thing of the past for a long time.
One day I had to drive 60 miles each way to find a battery for my 4 wheeler, its a long way between towns in central Idaho, I took the 3 grandsons along planning to show them the old store at Shoup but decided it would take too long to drive ove there, the boys still seen some of the most beautiful country in America.
This is bear #1, he's probably going to square 7 feet, thats a mighty big black bear, our biggest went 7' 9" two years ago. Travis shot him with a custom 30/06 at 75 yds. Travis is 6' 2" & weighs 240 lbs, this is a great bear.
Me & Travis skinning his bear, I'm breaking in my new Bill Snow knife (thanks guys!) its much easier to skin one on the tailgate than on the ground, we also have skinned them right on top of the 4 wheelers.
A large pile of bear crap. On the 3 day I worked in on a nice mature bear & when I got into heavy cover I probably spotted 25 piles of bear hooey, this bear had been living there for quite a while! My oldest son was signaling me in from 1200 yds away while he watched the show unfold through the spotting scope, when I got within 75 yds I was hung up in very heavy cover, the bear was feeding out in the open. Bears have hearing as good as a deer, a nose thats better than a bloodhound & eyes about like a humans, their eyes always reminded me of a snapping turtles eyes, kind of haunting!
I couldn't see the bear, the cover was so thick I just set down, hoping he would feed into an open spot where I could whack him with my Alan Harton 480. After several minutes I decided I had to do something, it was getting late, I could either try to call him in or try to sneak closer in the heavy cover. I really didn't want to call him in close in the heavy cover, I'm not very good at the River Dance without a lot of room.
As I started easing down throug the heavy cover my son told me later that the bear heard something, he started peering down into the thick cover & then stood up on his hind legs for a better look. I don't think he ever saw or smelled me but he heard something he didn't like & took off running.
On day six I had one of the grandsons with me & we watched several bears off in the distance, as the sun started to go down we started climbing back up the mountain to the 4 wheeler, on one of our many rest breaks Ridge spotted a bear down by the stream, when I started glassing I could see it was 2 bears, a large chocolate phase bear & a smaller blonde colored one. In all my life I've only seen one other blonde bear, before the week was out I would see 3!
I gave Ridge my Swarovski's & told him to watch them & if he heard me shoot to circle the mountain on the 4 wheeler & drop down into the canyon. With my trusty walking stick in hand ( a real life saver in the mountains) I took off. When I reached the bottom it was getting late, the bears were working their way down into some heavy cover, I was doing the same. The ground was soft & the walking was quiet, when I got onto a good game trail I set down & waited.
After a few minutes I could see both bears, the big chocolate was the one I wanted, I couldn't get a reading with the rangefinder because of the heavy brush but there was a pine tree just off his nose, it was 41 yds, I waited for an opening, the big bear moved along & the smaller blonde moved into a clear spot but I didn't want to shoot it, blonde bears are usually young sows, this bear was legal but I didn't want to shoot a small one. Within the next few minutes I had the gun on the big chocolate 2-3 times but it was getting so dark I couldn't see the front sight & had to pass.
Anytime I get in close on any animal I always cock the hammer & stick my left thumb in between the hammer & frame & carry the gun in my left hand, I only do this when I plan to do little if any moving. I slowly let the hammer down & started the long walk back up the mountain in the dark.
Some beautiful bear country on one of the marginal days.
One of the many bad days, standing in almost the same place as the above photo, Ridge is with me.
My lovely wife & perhaps the finest cook on the planet!
Much more later!! Several bear photo's!! Dick
