Bear hunting Montana...

[BigHornRam]

Moosie,

I'm tired just reading about your hunt. Sounds like you guys had fun! I went camping with the family and bear hunting over the weekend. Went where I elk hunted last fall. Saw a large bear track last fall and thought i'd check it out this spring. No luck. Saw just about everything but bear including lots of elk. A local ranch hand said that bears are not too common in that area. Did get a good contact if I draw for antelope this fall, however.

 

[jerrym]

My story isn’t as good as Moosie’s but here is my Montana hunt- I got a message from Big Sky a regular around here who loves to hunt bears asking me if I was going out this year. Anyway we are both teachers and I still had all 4 of my personal days so I decided to head to northwest Montana for a vacation. Although I did not get a bear it was one of my best trips in a long time. Students can drive ya nuts this time of year. Anyway the first night, Wednesday I walk a gated road and came right up on a black sow and cub (looked like last years cub pretty good size. I got right up on them and then they dove in the thick stuff. It was a good start. The next day I spotted a small black bear looked to be a 3 ½ year old bear, I am not picky looked unrubbed, the chase is on. I watched which way he was going so I decided to drive around and climb up to a road and go around and wait for him. Sounds easy, well the downfall was terrible waist high crap so hard to go through that in 2 spots I got stuck and had to back out. Well when I get to the road, it was redone taken out by the forest service so it was not a road but a steep slope litter with downfall plant in grass. So that slows me down. I get around and started glassing it is now 10:30 in the morning and getting hot, he has to be heading for the trees. I am starting to think of a baloney sandwich and beer back at the truck. I have lost 25 pounds since the beginning of the year and was pretty proud of this hike. Well then I spot him well below me. Off I go and keep an eye on him the wind is perfect. Then I lose him so I sit down. A half an hour goes by he must have turned around maybe he heard me or saw me??? I feel like a nap in the sun but have never been able to sleep in Griz country, I nap all the time in the Bitterroots but not up here. I know guys there’re griz in the Bitterroots just not as many as this country. Another thing I don’t do is predator call in griz country but what the heck if one comes and eats me I won’t need to crawl through this downfall any more. I doubted a little bear would come to the call but maybe he would move to where I could see him. No luck, so I make it back to the truck and have a beer and baloney sandwich. Well my son comes up the next day and we hunted the whole weekend and don’t see another bear. I teased him as being a jinx. We did see whitetails, mulies, moose, even a mountain lion, but no bears. I would say it was a very successful trip.