Counting Coup

[Gerald Martin]

Yesterday I got to experience one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. Back at the beginning of the Montana general season I was surprised to see a black bear come across the clearcut I was watching. I guess my surprise made me a bit too excited and in the pandemonium that followed I was left holding four empty 30-06 shells and watched the bear exit over the top of the ridge unscathed. As I went to check for certain that I had indeed missed, I was totally surprised to find I had been sitting less than twenty yards from its den under big tree stump. The bear had dug a big hole under the stump and lined it with bear grass and moss.
Adding insult to embarrassment was the fact that had I known where the bear was headed my 270-300 yard shots could have been taken at less than twenty had I known it was coming my way.

With that in mind, I headed back to the same area yesterday. I wanted a crack at some of the deer in that area and I wanted to satisfy my curiosity of whether the bear would come back to its den.
Before I left, I set myself some personal ROE's. Even though the season is still in and I have a valid bear tag, if I found the bear in his den I intended to take pictures. If I saw him on the mountain, I would attempt to redeem my poor shooting performance from the last encounter.
Conditions on the mountain yesterday were 0 degree weather and complete silence along with crunchy snow. It was so quiet I could hear deer walking several hundred yards away and even had a doe spook from over 400 yards when she heard me walking. I saw several does and two spikes in the clearcut and watched them until my cold feet demanded that I do some walking to warm up. I decided to hike up to the bear den to see if it was occupied.
I didn't know what to expect but as I got closer and was trying to find the stump I was surprised to see these ears pop up about ten feet in front of me.

 

[MThuntr]

Very Cool! I bet he would invited you in for tea had you knocked!

 

[Gerald Martin]

Obviously, the den was occupied. I'm not sure what I expected to find, but I thought bears that were hibernating would be sleeping. This bear obviously heard me and judging from the movement of its ears was not asleep. I quickly dug my camera out of my pack and with one hand on my gun and another on the camera snapped a few pics. After a minute or two the bear retreated back into its burrow and I couldn't see it anymore.
At times the combination of adrenaline and excitement override good sense. I didn't want to walk right up to the entrance because the bear was awake, but I got the bright idea that perhaps if I came around from the top, I could stand on the stump and lean out over the edge to take some pictures into the den. It worked. The snow was so crunchy though that the bear heard me and stuck its head out to see who was crunch, crunching around its den. Just as it stuck its head out of the den, I dislodged a little bit of snow with my boot and it filtered down onto the bears head. I don't think it liked it.

 

[Dave N]

Cool! I like the way this is going. Obviously, you survived the encounter.

 

[JohnCushman]

Very cool!!

 

[RobG]

If it were me I would have stepped on a lubrico baculus and wound up on the bear's head.

 

[MT_elk]

That is way cool!

 

[cornfed]

Very cool but could you go back and get some close ups for us to look at. Sounds like that bear is a light sleeper.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Very cool but could you go back and get some close ups for us to look at. Sounds like that bear is a light sleeper.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CoaGcBcHgQ&feature=youtu.be

As you wish

 

[ewludwig]

glad it was only a bit of snow you dislodged. One significant slip and this bear would have had one heck of a last supper....very cool.

 

[Gerald Martin]

So after the bear looked up at me, my better sense began to prevail. I decided it would probably be wise to give the bear some space given how alert it was. After I backed off to about ten yards I got this picture.

 

[Gerald Martin]

The battery light on my camera was flashing red, the bear was up and looking me in the eyes.... the tension mounted. The ending on the video in my prior post came when the camera finally died. She was licking her lips and swinging her head back and forth and I realized this might not end well. Just as I laid the camera down and picked up my rifle in both hands the bear made its move. She left den a whole lot faster than I expected. Thankfully, I had both hands free for the gun.
Have you ever had times where instinct and muscle memory take over?

 

[Mudranger1]

Now that last picture is pretty darn cool!

 

[Gerald Martin]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFzJlkwOlWo&feature=youtu.be As I had explained before, even though the season was open and I had a valid tag, my personal ROE's for this encounter was to give the bear a pass if it was in the den. It was a bit tense when she came out, but she wisely decided to exit left as I was occupying the right wing. I shot this video after the face off.

By this time I was very cold and decided to head for the other side of the ridge to try and soak up some sun. With the crusted snow and absolute silence in the woods it was impossible to walk quietly so I didn't even try. About fifteen minutes and two hundred yards from the bear den, I jumped a couple of deer. One of them was a buck and made the fatal mistake of pausing in an opening for a couple seconds too long.

 

[Gerald Martin]

I knew the buck wasn't a monster when I pulled the trigger, but I was pleasantly surprised when I walked up on him. He was bigger than I thought and it's nice to experience ground growth instead of shrinkage. After taking some time to revel in the moment and snap some pics I butchered the deer for the hike out. The gypsy ranch load cells on the old Schuh pack came through once again. Walking out that night under a crystal clear sky filled with billions of stars and a heavy load on my back I reflected just how nasty it is to have to live in Montana. What an incredible day in the woods!

 

[drahthaar]

Awesome story! I think its a great buck. Looks like a mature deer to me, sometimes its frustrating in NW MT, all these 4x4s. Why can't they just grow one more point!

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Great story! I can't believe a whitetail stopped in a clearing after busting out. I've never seen one do that! Seems like (unlike blacktails and mule deer who often give that second chance) once they go they keep going....

 

[Gerald Martin]

Joe, I'm pretty sure the doe that this buck was with was in heat. He wasn't in full blown flight when I saw him, just moving nervously through the trees. I'm sure glad I was looking through my scope when he stopped. I had caught a glimpse of antler with my naked eye and briefly debated looking through my binos to see how big he was. If I had I doubt I would have killed him.

 

[cornfed]

Thanks for the close ups. That seems to be a good sized bear and a very nice mountain whitetail as well. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

I like the way that turned out, perfect ending to an incredible encounter.