Originally Posted by VarmintGuy
GuyM: A few years ago I had hiked in to this mountain range (access roads were still gated) on a spring Bear Hunt and from my perch high on a ridge I watched a large Grizzly chase after a cow and calf Elk from just a couple hundred yards distant.
The speed of that Grizzly viewed in person astounded (and scared!) me.
The Grizzly chased the Elk into a stand of trees and I did not see the outcome of this chase.
I had my new Tikka in 338 Federal along and the first thought through my mind once the initial shock passed was "is this enough gun"?
Thankfully the fellows both survived.
As the crow flies this incident occurred about 45 miles from my home!
Use caution when afield and blood is around.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy


Yup. I've bumped into the big Alaskan brown bears several times while fly fishing the silver salmon run near Cordova, AK. Fortunately they're normally more interested in salmon, than in people.

Also have backpacked and hunted near Yellowstone and in other grizzly habitat in the west. Seeing them, or even their tracks, where I'm hunting always heightens my awareness. Gotta be careful around those things.

I understand about wondering about your rifle as well. About ten years ago, hunting mule deer in Wyoming, I wasn't finding much down low, in sage country, so I headed up into the mountains, closer to Yellowstone. Found mule deer, took one, then there was the 3 mile hike out with a pack full of boned-out venison on my back, and grizzly tracks on the trail. Sow and cub tracks! And I was carrying my .25-06 deer rifle, loaded with 115 gr Berger VLD bullets... Perfect for mule deer, but I was pretty sure that rifle & ammo were not a good choice for grizzly.

Took a nice arctic grizzly earlier this year, in Alaska. Quite a hunt.

Guy