I'm going to be posting a few installments of my bear hunts this spring, so stay tuned because there's some good stuff coming (at least I think it's good).
My first bear hunt this year was April 16th -- a bit early but I was so anxious to get out especially with how frustrating work has been with all the restrictions this year.
Ended up being a "scouting trip" for bears as there really wasn't any green on the beach yet. I raced down (in my 7kt gillnetter) to one of my favorite spots after work with a buddy of mine who's never hunted bear.
We anchored and got my canoe to shore at about 7pm.
I generally like to be settled into my evening area by then, but that's the time we had.
Turns out I was right to have wanted to be on the beach sooner. We sat down, got out our binos, and immediately I saw my friend get excited. Unbeknownst to us, we had walked right in between two wolves that were trying to meet each other on the tide flat. About 200 yards on each side of us. The larger male was jet black and there was a smaller wolf (assuming female) that was a gray, brown, black brindle. They each wanted to come past us to get to the other but they both knew something was hinky. They would not sit still or stop moving. They barked at us. They howled at each other. At several points the female started to run away and I turned her around by whining and howling at her, to which she replied.
My buddy and I each tried to get closer to one of the wolves to get a shot, but they were too restless and moving around too much and too fast. They never let us get closer than 150 yards, and even then it was for a very short time. I couldn't justify taking a less than ideal shot, even on a nuisance predator.
In total we each got to watch these wolves interacting with us and with each other for a little over half an hour. Very cool experience.
No signs of bear that trip. We went back to my gillnetter and slept the night before jogging back into town the next morning.
Thankfully we had set two dungee pots on the way out, so we did come home with 12 dinner plate sized crab!
Part two coming soon.
Best,
Al
Last edited by 907brass; 05/21/21.
