LCH
Well-known member
I recently spent a week in northwest Montana, searching for black bears. I was initially planning, and would have loved, to have joined the HT Hunt crew. However, obligations at work and at home forced me to miss the event.
Although I was the only one with a tag, my uncle came along on this trip for the scenery and the hiking.
Day 1
The first day of the trip found us loaded up and westbound by 4:00 AM. We made Mount Rushmore by 8:00 PM Western Time and made the short detour to see the monument.
There were several Mountain Goats grazing on the landscaping around the main viewing area; when I stopped to take a picture this one started to approach me, no doubt looking for a hand-out. Since I didn’t want to risk getting gored on the first day of the trip, I didn’t hang around to see what its reaction would be when it saw I didn’t have any snacks for it.
After seeing the monument, we crashed at a Comfort Inn for a few hours in Rapid City.
Day 2
We were back on the road by 4:00 AM, and pulled in to Seeley Lake MT by 4:00 PM. We stopped for a few goodies at the only gas station in town, as well as some bear spray from a sporting goods store in case we ran into a grizzly or a sow with cubs that I couldn’t shoot. While we were there we got some good information from the friendly store owner on what roads and trails were opened, closed, or just plain inaccessible due to snow.
We set up camp about 8 miles out of town alongside one of many gravel logging roads.
After getting things squared away at camp, we had a few hours to walk some of the logging roads and get familiar with the area immediately surrounding camp. We found good sized bear tracks, bear scat, and several logs and stumps that had been recently ripped apart. In addition to the bear sign, there was lots of elk sign, and we saw several groups of both whitetails and mule deer.
As we headed back to camp that night, I was feeling pretty good about the spot we had landed in.
Day 3
Morning of day 3 found us out driving and walking the logging roads in the immediate area looking for evening glassing spots. Many of the areas that had looked wide open on Google Earth were actually pretty well grown in, and the spots that were fairly open only had green grass here and there (or were still covered by several feet of snow, higher up). Still, I wanted to stay in this area due to the abundance of fresh sign.
I spent the evening glassing while uncle stayed back at the truck, but turning up nothing other than some fresh wolf tracks and about 20 mule deer.
Day 4
We awoke during the early AM hours on day 4 to a loud “CRACK!” and shaking of the tent. My first thought was that a grizzly was coming in, and where was that darned rifle? After turning on the lights, however, we saw that it had begun snowing during the night and built up snow had actually snapped one of the tent poles. The weight of the snow had the roof sagging to about half its original height, but fortunately the tent would still stand on 3 poles as long as we got out into the 20* temps every hour or 2 and shook the snow off.
I decided to try and take advantage of the fresh snow, so at first light I bundled up and walked several miles of logging roads looking for fresh tracks. I didn’t find any, but at the rate the snow was coming down any tracks would have had to have been made within the last 10-15 minutes to not become snowed in.
When I got back to the campsite, my uncle and I decided to hike a trail to a waterfall that he’d been itching to see. The trail was 5 miles round trip, but we had to park 2.5 miles from the trailhead due to lingering snowpack on the roads. This made a 10 mile hike, much of it over 3-5 feet of snow that we’d break through every now and then. It was borderline death march towards the end, but the waterfall was worth it.
After the hike, we grabbed some sandwiches from town before heading back out to glass. This evening went much like the last, until I spotted a different shade of brown on the adjacent mountainside. A bear! It was a chocolate colored bear, broadside at 250 yards and looked enormous through my binos. I watched it for just long enough to determine that it was indeed a black bear, and it did not have any cubs. I quickly set down my binos and rested my rifle across a stump in front of me. When I found the bear in my scope, however, it was walking directly away from me. It never did turn to offer me an ethical shot, and my attempts to turn it with a fawn bleat were drowned out by a roaring stream between me and the bear. Although I gave chase, I lost light before I could navigate my way over to where he had disappeared to. Nevertheless, I was pumped to have seen a bear, and had high hopes for the days to come.
Days 5 and 6
The next 2 days went much like the prior days, with the AM and early PM hours spent driving and hiking the area looking for new potential hunting spots, and evenings spent glassing. By 5:00 PM each night, I was located approximately 100 yards uphill/downwind of where I’d seen the bear, with a good view of the mountainside below me and adjacent (where I’d been sitting previously). Alas, no bears showed on days 5 or 6, only my mule deer friends.
(My Montana Lazy-Boy)
Day 7
This was to be the final day in Montana. Rather than glassing the same spot again, I headed to a nearby drainage that had shown some sign during our daytime hikes. Here is my view from the final evening:
(See anything? Neither do I.)
Turned out that one bear would be the only one I would see all week. And although I had certainly hoped for more sightings and a new bear rug out of this trip, I still consider it a success. I was able to spend a week bear hunting in the Rocky Mountains, which is exactly what I had set out to do. And I also know that I’ll be back to these mountains- There are lots more drainages to hunt, and I know one of them has a bear just for me somewhere in it.
Day 8 (Drive Home)
Trip’s not over yet! Spent a few hours checking out the badlands on the way home. Very cool place.
Although I was the only one with a tag, my uncle came along on this trip for the scenery and the hiking.
Day 1
The first day of the trip found us loaded up and westbound by 4:00 AM. We made Mount Rushmore by 8:00 PM Western Time and made the short detour to see the monument.
There were several Mountain Goats grazing on the landscaping around the main viewing area; when I stopped to take a picture this one started to approach me, no doubt looking for a hand-out. Since I didn’t want to risk getting gored on the first day of the trip, I didn’t hang around to see what its reaction would be when it saw I didn’t have any snacks for it.
After seeing the monument, we crashed at a Comfort Inn for a few hours in Rapid City.
Day 2
We were back on the road by 4:00 AM, and pulled in to Seeley Lake MT by 4:00 PM. We stopped for a few goodies at the only gas station in town, as well as some bear spray from a sporting goods store in case we ran into a grizzly or a sow with cubs that I couldn’t shoot. While we were there we got some good information from the friendly store owner on what roads and trails were opened, closed, or just plain inaccessible due to snow.
We set up camp about 8 miles out of town alongside one of many gravel logging roads.
After getting things squared away at camp, we had a few hours to walk some of the logging roads and get familiar with the area immediately surrounding camp. We found good sized bear tracks, bear scat, and several logs and stumps that had been recently ripped apart. In addition to the bear sign, there was lots of elk sign, and we saw several groups of both whitetails and mule deer.
As we headed back to camp that night, I was feeling pretty good about the spot we had landed in.
Day 3
Morning of day 3 found us out driving and walking the logging roads in the immediate area looking for evening glassing spots. Many of the areas that had looked wide open on Google Earth were actually pretty well grown in, and the spots that were fairly open only had green grass here and there (or were still covered by several feet of snow, higher up). Still, I wanted to stay in this area due to the abundance of fresh sign.
I spent the evening glassing while uncle stayed back at the truck, but turning up nothing other than some fresh wolf tracks and about 20 mule deer.
Day 4
We awoke during the early AM hours on day 4 to a loud “CRACK!” and shaking of the tent. My first thought was that a grizzly was coming in, and where was that darned rifle? After turning on the lights, however, we saw that it had begun snowing during the night and built up snow had actually snapped one of the tent poles. The weight of the snow had the roof sagging to about half its original height, but fortunately the tent would still stand on 3 poles as long as we got out into the 20* temps every hour or 2 and shook the snow off.
I decided to try and take advantage of the fresh snow, so at first light I bundled up and walked several miles of logging roads looking for fresh tracks. I didn’t find any, but at the rate the snow was coming down any tracks would have had to have been made within the last 10-15 minutes to not become snowed in.
When I got back to the campsite, my uncle and I decided to hike a trail to a waterfall that he’d been itching to see. The trail was 5 miles round trip, but we had to park 2.5 miles from the trailhead due to lingering snowpack on the roads. This made a 10 mile hike, much of it over 3-5 feet of snow that we’d break through every now and then. It was borderline death march towards the end, but the waterfall was worth it.
After the hike, we grabbed some sandwiches from town before heading back out to glass. This evening went much like the last, until I spotted a different shade of brown on the adjacent mountainside. A bear! It was a chocolate colored bear, broadside at 250 yards and looked enormous through my binos. I watched it for just long enough to determine that it was indeed a black bear, and it did not have any cubs. I quickly set down my binos and rested my rifle across a stump in front of me. When I found the bear in my scope, however, it was walking directly away from me. It never did turn to offer me an ethical shot, and my attempts to turn it with a fawn bleat were drowned out by a roaring stream between me and the bear. Although I gave chase, I lost light before I could navigate my way over to where he had disappeared to. Nevertheless, I was pumped to have seen a bear, and had high hopes for the days to come.
Days 5 and 6
The next 2 days went much like the prior days, with the AM and early PM hours spent driving and hiking the area looking for new potential hunting spots, and evenings spent glassing. By 5:00 PM each night, I was located approximately 100 yards uphill/downwind of where I’d seen the bear, with a good view of the mountainside below me and adjacent (where I’d been sitting previously). Alas, no bears showed on days 5 or 6, only my mule deer friends.
(My Montana Lazy-Boy)
Day 7
This was to be the final day in Montana. Rather than glassing the same spot again, I headed to a nearby drainage that had shown some sign during our daytime hikes. Here is my view from the final evening:
(See anything? Neither do I.)
Turned out that one bear would be the only one I would see all week. And although I had certainly hoped for more sightings and a new bear rug out of this trip, I still consider it a success. I was able to spend a week bear hunting in the Rocky Mountains, which is exactly what I had set out to do. And I also know that I’ll be back to these mountains- There are lots more drainages to hunt, and I know one of them has a bear just for me somewhere in it.
Day 8 (Drive Home)
Trip’s not over yet! Spent a few hours checking out the badlands on the way home. Very cool place.
I talked to a long time resident and he said there are three separate Grizz in that immediate area that he has seen. 
