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Made it back from our bear hunt a few days early last night. Weather was great for the first three days and then we started to see snow and rain with no let up in the near future so I pulled the pin early.

We arrived Friday evening and set up camp in a Forest Service campground. 5AM came pretty early the next morning and we rushed to get our eyes on a bear. By 6:15AM we had a nice 5'ish blonde on top, cinnamon on bottom, bear spotted in an avalanche chute. We made a valiant effort to get on him but he had moved off before we got to him. This same story repeated itself 6 more times in one form or another between Saturday morning and Monday afternoon. We were seeing a lot of bears and the midday fishing was pretty outstanding. Really wasn't any down time on this trip. We looked for bears in the morning, returned to camp for a big meal, fished for a few hours, then looked for bears until dark.


By Monday afternoon I had routes for every visable chute that we could feasibly get to before a spotted bear moved off. At 4PMish we spotted a beautiful 5' chocolate in one of the chutes that we had been watching. This was the easiest chute to access quietly and only about a half mile off the road. We quickly moved to the other side of the creek and jogged the half mile to the base of the chute he was feeding in. At this point we began to slowly creep through the snow at the base of the chute until we eventually could see the area that he had been feeding in. We took a prone position in the snow and waited just a few minutes and he appeared from some willows at the edge of the opening about 175 yards uphill. At this point I told the boy to take him the first chance he was given. A couple of seconds later the bear moved broadside and he sent a 140 BST into his vitals. The bear kept his feet and turned toward the trees. The boy asked if he should hit him again and I told him to shoot until he went down. He shot 3 more times as fast as he could work the bolt and down went the bear. Upon closer examination the first shot would have done it - all 4 shots could have been covered with a Copenhagen lid. After skinning and quartering the bear, I loaded the boy up with the hide and off we went. Back at camp he squared up at just shy of 5'3", with a perfect hide and nice rich chocolate color - I would have been pretty happy with that bear at 14 and I think the boy is too. That night it started to rain, which then turned to snow and back to rain again. The forcast was looking like rain for a couple more days, so we got camp loaded up and headed back toward the prairies. Couldn't have been happier if I had shot a 7' blackie, this was probably the best hunt I've ever been on and I didn't kill a thing.

Awesome story. Congrats to your son.

Cool trip....and very nice pictures.

Thanks for posting.

Congrats to your son on his bear and you for showing him the way.

Well done my friend well done!

Dober

Thanks Mark, your info was very much appreciated.

Excellent hunting, friends. The only thing I would have done differently is I would have stayed longer. Time spent in hunting camp with family and friends is precious, raining or not. I would rather be there than breathe.

Nice, great work!

email me some pics when you get caught up a bit

Dober

Pretty bear. Congrats to the lad...and you.

eta: Sorry if I missed it - cartridge? rifle?

Excellent story and write up...where the hell did you guys find clear water????

Iron-seems to me it was a 280 with a 140 NBT.

Dober

...you can't kill anything with a 140 ballistic tip. They blow up on hair That looks like a twin to my first bear. Nicely done! Flinch

Nice story and congrats to you both!

Egads! The young man used a Ballistic Tip on a bear! Lucky to be alive for sure!

Very nice bear.

Good shooting by your son.

What rifle did he use?

ranger1,

Great hunting story and pictures as usual. Congratulations to the both of you!

He was shooting a Ruger Hawkeye stainless in .280 Rem. with a stock custom painted just for him by kend from here at the fire and 140gr. Ballistic Silvertips. Thanks for the kind comments fellas - it was a good time for sure.

cool stuff Nate......hope to finally go after bruins for the first time sometime in the next 12 months......provided i dont hurt myself again

Very cool and nice bear. The trout are dandies as well. Your son is a lucky young man and you a fortunate dad to have a son that, at that age, still thinks its cool to hang with dad.