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Friday A.M.
I didn't go out this morning. One of the other hunters shot a pretty little cinnamon color phase sow. Since that hunter got a bear, the outfitter said I would be going out with that hunter and one of the guides this evening and it was "game on" again for me. I would be getting first stalk. Maybe I will finally get a chance to get another bear. Friday P.M.  This afternoon we hunted the exact same stretch of railroad where I killed my bear on Monday. The other hunters have seen bears on that stretch several times since earlier in the week. We had walked about 3/4 mile and were coming around a corner when we spotted a bear munching on clover and dandelions by the track. The wind was perfectly in our faces, so I made ready to put on a stalk. Right as I was starting to make the stalk, here came the train. Blast that train! It has ruined more than one stalk for us this week. Fortunately, the bear came back out about 10 minutes after the train had passed, but it came out about 100 yards further away. At this point, I was probably 200-300 yards away from it. It was eating and ever so slowly working away from me, but was in a very good position for a stalk, with lots of little brush and tall grass between us. Over the next half hour I closed the distance slowly but surely. During that time, I saw two more bears come out and start eating by the tracks further in the distance. One was probably 500 yards away and the other was more like a half mile.  The bear I was stalking is the near one - the big boar you can see further down the tracks, circled in white Finally I was within about 40-50 yards. I only needed about 15-20 more yards to be close for a comfortable shot. About that time the bear decided it wanted to go visit with the next bear down the tracks. The next bear down was a considerably big bear, probably a boar. We decided that the bear I had been stalking was probably a sow, and since this is their rutting period, maybe they wanted to spend some quality time together. She went down to him and obviously I didn't get my last 15-20 yards that I needed. They then went off the tracks and into the woods, and for a few seconds I thought I might still get a shot, as I heard them breaking brush in the woods and coming my way. I even saw glimpses of one of them, within range for a shot, but there was so much brush in that woods I couldn't find even a small opening. They went deeper into the woods and I lost them. So close. I felt good, though, about having had the opportunity to make another stalk, and almost getting the shot. It's probably a good thing that I didn't get a shot at the bear I was stalking, because when I was getting closer I could see that it had a huge rubbed spot on it's hindquarters. I'm talking about a big rubbed spot. It wouldn't have made a very good mount or rug. Now it was the other hunter's turn, so he started stalking one of the bears further down the railroad, not 50 yards from where I shot my bear on Monday. He got to within about 100 yards of where he had last seen the bear, and couldn't find it again. At just that time, he happened to look into the woods, and across the creek, only about 10 yards away, the bear was coming into view. It had slipped back into the woods and was slowly feeding along the creek. It saw him about the same he saw it, but it was too late for the bear. He drew his bow and made the point blank shot with ease. At the hit the bear ran up the nearest tree and stayed there for about 5 minutes, then slowly lost it's grip on the tree and finally fell to the ground, dead. It was a very nice sow, probably 250 pounds, with a nice coat and no rubbed spots. It was the same hunter who shot the cinnamon that morning. He must have had a rabbit foot in his pocket. Just a few minutes earlier or later and he wouldn't likely have seen this bear in the woods or gotten a shot. As it is, he's going home a very happy hunter. We didn't see any more bears that evening on the way back to camp, so the day was over. Hunt Conclusion Here are my final thoughts on this hunt.... Bear Quantity & Quality: I stopped counting earlier in the week, but I know I saw over 50 black bears on this hunt. Heck, we saw 25 in just the first day and a half. This was my first hunt where I was solely hunting for bears. I've got to think this area ranks near the top in terms of bear numbers. The quality is very impressive too. We saw many large bears, and there are plenty of high-scoring bears here. In the past few weeks they've killed a number of bears that scored in the 18-20" range, and had one that was right close to the B&C minimum of 21". There were no shortage of quality bears on this hunt, for sure. For bowhunters, that's important, because we usually need lots of opportunities, especially when the method of hunting is spot and stalk. Out of 4 hunters in camp with 8 bear tags total, we killed 3 bears. There were a few misses and lots of "almost" shot opportunities throughout the week. The success rate isn't going to be as high as on a baited bear hunt, but the excitement quotient is a good deal higher, I'd have to think. Lodging, etc.: Camp was nothing fancy, just an old farmhouse with a small sleeping cabin beside it, about like the average hunting camp. Food was also nothing fancy, but there was enough to fill you up. I believe the food will be a few notches up in the future, because the outfitter I hunted with just bought this outfitting concession and is in a transition period right now, so he doesn't have all his regular staff available to help out. He is also thinking about building a modern lodge once he gets through the transition period. Random Thoughts: The outfitter knows bears and has lots of personal hunting experience with them, even though this is his first year outfitting for them. By the end of a week, I got pretty tired of driving up and down the roads looking for bears, whether in vehicles or quads. I much preferred getting out to the railroad and doing spot and stalk - it's a lot harder for the bears to hear you coming if you're on foot instead of on/in a vehicle. An undisturbed bear is obviously going to be easier to stalk. Unfortunately, along the railroad and along the roads are about the only places you can really walk quietly, other than a clearcut that is 1 year old or less. The older clearcuts and the regular woods are incredibly thick, practically like a jungle. There is deadfall everywhere in the forest, and it would just be very difficult to spot and stalk in there. The bears this time of year are most visible along the roads and along the railroad, because they are out eating the new green grass and dandelions that grow there. I think it would be really interesting to come and do a bear hunt during the fall when the salmon are spawning in the local streams and rivers. The scenery here is incredible, just beautiful. These are the Caribou Mountains in central British Columbia. There are beautiful streams and rivers. It's the first place I've ever walked in the footsteps of grizzly bear and timberwolves. It's way back in here, definitely wilderness. One thing that drove me absolutely crazy about this hunt was the mosquitos. They were very bad except on the coolest days or the days with a lot of wind. I don't like wearing bug repellent, so I wear a bug suit, and they found plenty of ways to get in my bug suit and annoy me. They did detract from the hunt for me. If you can't handle lots of mosquitos, then this isn't the hunt for you. It is absolutely necessary to have a bug suit or use OFF liberally and frequently. I would definitely come back to hunt bears here again, but at a different time. Either early in the season, when it's still too cool for mosquitos, or in the fall, when it's also too cool for mosquitos.
Joshua Flournoy owns and manages the Livehunts.com web site. Joshua resides in east Texas with his wife and four children. |
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