Hunt Talker Hunt 2014

[idnative1948]

Almost as if somebody was shooting a tag high once upon a time and he lived to see another day, well at least for awhile??

Not so sure this old body could have hung with this group after looking at that country. Waiting for the next installment though. Guessing this hunt will be talked about for years and that the guys who were there will be having reunions about this one until they are toothless.

What in the world creased that ol noggin? Holy crap.

 

[Gerald Martin]

So while Dave and Dustin are at Charles' house chowing down on elk tacos, I thought I'd give my version of the events of his hunt.
Everyone but J.R. Young and his father had arrived in camp by Thur. noon. All participants gathered around the picnic table with forest service maps in hand and started strategizing for the afternoon hunt. Travis and Ethan decided to go back and try to find the black boar they had seen the day before with Dustin in attendance to video and help pack. Next in line was Team R&R in the form of Randy and Ross heading back to a spot that we thought held potential. They thought they could overcome the pebbles and vicious invasive weeds on an old logging road that had held bears last year. Charles elected to head up to a clearcut not far from an access road after he went fishing. Cushman stayed behind to provide perimeter security and start the chili and corn bread. As the dust was starting to settle everyone had a plan but me and Dave. Turns out he heard me talking about being stoked and ambitious to try a spot that I had described as rugged, steep and brushy. I guess everyone else thought rugged, steep and brushy was like the girl nobody wanted to ask to the prom because in the end Dave said I guess I'm with you. We drove to the trailhead. I took one last picture of Dave as he started out so his loved ones could remember what he looked like before his last day in the bear woods.

After a 2 hour and 45 minute hike we arrived at our glassing spot. The nearly nonexistant trail proved difficult to navigate. We quickly glassed up this bull moose...

The country we expected to find bears...

Sane people glass the likely spots close to them. I chose to train my binoculars on the marginal habitat at extreme distance. There was a black dot on the hillside.... It was 5:40, we had three and a half hours to cover 11/2 airmiles of trail and ascend 2000 vertical feet. I warned Dave he would hate me before the day was over. With him being the older of the two of us, I expected he would do the responsible thing and say the bear was too far away... He didn't.

 

[bmack]

Awesome work guys!

Some great looking bears for sure. I figured the blood alcohol percentage would trump the harvest percentage.

 

[Gerald Martin]

At 8:50 I realized the obvious. It was not physically possible to get to that bear before dark. As I waited for Dave to catch up to me, I contemplated how to break the news to him. That's when the adage of "better lucky than good" took effect and I spotted a different bear 300 yards away, in the direction of the truck. Things were looking up, but the boar was on the move and made it to the crest of the ridge just as Dave was settling the crosshairs. We followed as quickly and quietly as we could. With the light fading we caught up the the bear and spooked him when one of us broke a twig. Thankfully, the bear chose to run uphill into view instead of heading into the thick brush. He paused briefly at 70 yards to see what had interrupted his evening stroll and Dave took advantage of the three second opportunity to shoot him perfectly through the lungs. The bear staggered went about ten yards and then started cartwheeling out of control down the mountain. One hundred yards of rolling just put him a little closer to the truck. Not many people will walk up to a bear like this after their first full day of bear hunting... Not many people would make the effort to get after the first bear we attempted to stalk either. After nocking the guts out of the boar we rolled him to the bottom of the ridge before hiking out. We made it back to the truck at 1:54 a.m.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Late night. Sleep in a bit in the morning. Travis and Dustin agreed to be mules for the packout. I don't like nine hour pack outs. Everyone else was banned from hunting the steep, brushy spot for the rest of the trip. No one challenged the ban....

 

[jryoung]

Awesome work guys!

Some great looking bears for sure. I figured the blood alcohol percentage would trump the harvest percentage.

We tried, we really tried. Bear hunting can be dangerous in that regard since early mornings aren't required.

 

[havgunwilltravel]

Truly superb efforts guys. Such generosity from the locals to give a helping hand, great to see.

 

[JLS]

Great stories! Sounds like a fantastic time. I'm not very smart, I probably would have challenged Gerald's ban...:hump:

 

[----]

Well I guess I’ll pick up where Gerald left off.
Dustin and I showed up Thursday just as the maps were being poured over and a game plan was being struck. In the confusion I heard something along the lines of “easy logging road” and instantly offered to tag along with that hunter. MinnesotaHunter is a hell of a stand-up guy, and I was pumped to get to try and watch him shoot a bear.
We made the 3-4 mile hike up into the tops of the clearcut area right at magic time, maybe seven o’clock. We had hardly busted out the snacks and gotten settled in to the glassing spot when the bear fed out on the very highest road of the cut, maybe 600 yards from us.

Even though we were close, and had a logging road between us and him, we both agreed it’d be better to back out, swing up a ridgeline and cross a snowfield. This would put us on the level with him, and we figured would be our highest chance of getting up close and personal with him.
The snowfield was miserable, but after finding out what Gerald and Dave were messing with at the same time, I won’t complain.
When we finally got up on to the same road as the bear, MH had the choice of taking a 400 yard shot, or trying to cut the distance way closer and shoot it on the same hillside. He chose the latter, and I hung back to watch the action unfold. The stalk worked absolutely perfect, and there was a giant old boar on the ground. I am not proud of how much I misjudged this bear, but at least I missed the right way and we had a serious case of ground growth on our hands.

It’s still unbelievable to me that on the same night both MH and Dave killed monster brown bears like that at the same time, just over the ridge from each other. That night the campfire was roaring and the alcohol was flowing. A day I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

 

[Baerman]

four block heads in one weekend with a good crowd = EPIC! Especially cool that the locals helped the Non-res crew tag some exceptional bears. Congrats to all.

 

[noharleyyet]

Especially cool that the locals helped the Non-res crew tag some exceptional bears

...exactly what I'm thinking.

 

[dustinf]

Dave just dropped me off at the airport in Missoula.

Sytes and his Wife were awesome and gracious hosts last night. It was great to spend the night in a friends home instead of another motel.

About 10 more hours of planes and airports until I'm back home.

Awesome pictures so far, but I don't feel as fat as I look...

 

[krshntr81]

Great stories!!

 

[Oak]

Wait, you guys actually did this? And you killed bears? Nice....

 

[dustinf]

Wait, you guys actually did this? And you killed bears? Nice....

It's on the internet, it has to be true.

 

[dcopas78]

Awesome bears! Congratulations to all the hunters. I love those big ole chocolates. I've bagged two bears but never a chocolate phase, love it! Great stories too.

 

[d-bone20917]

Looks like a great trip. Congrats on the bears guys.

 

[----]

MinnesotaHunter and Ethan hauling MH’s bear out the next day. Nothing better for a hangover than being covered in ticks and a wrestling around a big soggy dead bear-

Gerald, Dustin and I went on a lazy hunt the last night when everyone else was off killing bears, and ended up seeing six bears in one canyon, including a grizzly sow with cubs and a giant grizzly boar. That boar was one of the more amazing animals I’ve seen in the wild, and would’ve made the trip for me had it been the only bear we saw. They had way better cameras than me so I’ll let them take care of that part. Here’s Dustin and Gerald glassing some nasty cliff faces-

Some more random pictures from the weekend-

 

[roadhunter]

Impressive how the whole thing came together. Great job to all involved.

 

[MtnWest]

How cool is this!? Kudos to all involved, especially the local talent helping out of staters!