Trad Gang

I didnt get many days this spring to get out after Black Bear but June 6 was an incredible hunt.  My few days available to hunt the previous two weeks were squelched by terrible spring weather.  June 6 would probably be my second to last day of the season to get out...and was it a doozey!!

This hunt begins in a SW Montana drainage of the "big woods" variety.  Wilderness hunting.  
The hunt begins with a steep, rough climb for about an hour up a finger ridge.  Then it tapers off as you continue to climb towards the "big" main ridge another 45 minutes or so.  Once you get the initial crappy part of the hike out of the way its possible you could see a bear in any of this awesome bruin habitat.

After testing my legs on the steep climb I had been into the "good stuff" for about an hour and I was just about 400' below intersecting the big ridge.  I had stopped to video some mule deer that were feeding on some of the new green grass. I wanted to have some footage to show my kids when I returned home.  My camera was making beeping noises when I pressed buttons so for a few minutes I got into the menu function so I could turn off "all sounds". When I was done some movement close in front of me caught my attention.  Looking up I found myself about 40 yds away from a head-on Grizzly Bear.  He was feeding right toward me and didnt have a clue about me being there.  Fingering my pepper spray I figured I better introduce myself.  Thank god it was a single bear and not a sow with cubs.  "Hey Bear!" I said.  He looked behind him so I said it again.  "Hey Bear!"  We locked eyes for about 3-5 seconds and then he slowly turned his head away from me and took off running, making a very angry huffing noise as he did so.  Phew!  Got my heart rate up just typing it! I managed to get a couple seconds of video as he ran off.  The kids will like that I thought...the wife...maybe not so much.        :D        

After climbing the rest of the way up to the main ridge I had a choice to go left or right.  I went right (south) and still-hunted my way through some fabulous ridgetop habitat.  I had cell service on the very top so I sent out a text about my Grizz encounter.  (Note to self: Dont include my Wife or Mother in such texts in the future).        :thumbsup:        I took a short video.

When I got to the little "knob" I figured the bears had been on I took a few minutes to slow down, test the wind some more and cool off.  I also put on my fleece "sneaky slippers".  At this point I had the wind mostly in my face which felt like I had won the lottery as it seems to not happen very often.  The wind direction being what it was and pretty consitant I was able to start my stalk right away and thats what I did.  I needed to lay eyes on a bear so I started oozing forward.

More later...gotta run.

:thumbsup:    :thumbsup:  

  :campfire:  

Shoot straight, Shinken

  :archer2:

Very exciting so far!  Keep it coming!     :coffee:

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

Randy you're a tease!

Don't leave us hanging!

This sounds fun!!  :campfire:  keep it comin!!

Steve

Hey Randy, where'd ya go?   :dunno:

Sorry guys I have some other stuff going on I cant postpone.  I want to get back on here as soon as possible to finish this tale.

I hope I remember how to use photobucket!    :pray:  

Will be either tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest.

R.

Congrats Randy. Thought you told Hunter you was not interested in chasing bears this year   :bigsmyl:  

On another subject, how is the pup coming along?

Way to go Randy!!

:campfire:  
Have a feeling this one is gonna get good!

Love to read bout your bear hunts Randy!! I feel congrats are in order!  :wavey:

Sweet !

Yes! A good nail biter!

:thumbsup:

Hey Randy,

I'm in the panhandle heading out to fly fish with my son!    :D . I'll be checking back to hear "the story".  Congrats!   Heading over towards Columbia Falls later in the week....

Tim

I am liking where this is going.

We are waiting... And we know Sunday mornings are slow for you.

Yep, that is one of my "bucket list" hunts.  I want to stalk and kill a big black bear.  Tried to do it in SE Alaska and failed    :( .  It may be the way I see the Brooks Range as I see my Dall sheep hunts slipping away, but I would not mind trying MT, WY, or even on the Prickly Pear flats in AZ.

One of my all time favorite pixs was the cover of an old PBS magazine with Dick Robertson shooting at a blackie on a logging road in Montana! I'm with Steve O that stalking a blackie is at the top of the bucket list for sure...mine just has to be in MT so I am really looking forward to Randy's tale!!!!!

Randy, is this you from a couple years ago?


(http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b351/osminski/2013%20Post%20Pics/021733e645aafe506d1bd8477e7d5fc7_zps09d86aa8.jpg)


I remember it was a spot and stalk hunt and I saved it because I want to take a photo   EXACTLY like that!


Wake up out there in Montana!      :knothead:

Ok where was I...

So I know I have to be within 100 yds of this bear(s). I am on the south end of one of many little knobs on this ridge.  The Bear is to my north and I chose to work around the knob just down from the top along the west side to prevent being skylined and work with a wind that is generally out of the north-northeast.  I make it about 50 yds in 10 minutes or so when I notice the wind has swapped directions and is now on the back of my neck.  Cursed!! I am wondering if the bear(s) havent been scattered to the wind already, maybe I am stalking an empty knob.  I had stopped for a good few minutes wondering what if anything I should do.  Then, coming from just up above me I hear one of those bear noises that makes the hair on your neck stand up and your whole body break out in goose-bumps. "ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku".  And this was close.  Maybe 30-40 yds just above me on top of the knob.  It was so close I fully expected to see some kind of movement any second.  Maybe even a bluff charge. I was frozen in place, bow in one hand and pepper spray in the other.  Over the next five minutes I just stood there listening to this bear repeat the same noise some 10-15 times.  What the heck was going on? My mind ran through some possibilities.  Then I hear the tell tale noise of claws on tree bark.  A few minutes later I hear it again.  It dawned on me to look up into the tree tops and then I see them.  Two big cinnamon cubs about 40 feet up.  They were in a large standing deadfall.  The tree a victim of a forest fire.  So of course I am thinking that I am the cause of all this ruckus and decide to take some quick video of the cubs and then back-out a little ways and regroup.  Well I didnt make it 50 yds when I decide to circle this knob along the East side this time because I really wanted to get a look at mom...just because.  I mean, she hadnt charged me yet and I was so close before.  I could still see the cubs plain as day up in that tree about 50 yds away.  I worked in a semi- circle around to the east side when I bump head on into a Dark Chocolate colored black bear.  "Holy Smokes theres one right there!" He was probably 35 yds, on my level, and slowly working right toward me.  Is this the Sow?  I wondered.  I had a hunch it was not but you cant shoot a bear on a hunch with cubs so close.  All I had to do was turn my head 90 degrees left and there they were still in that tree-top.  Then Mom bear cleared things up for me with one of her angry vocalizations.  "ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-ku".  I still couldnt see her but from where her noise came from she was obviously guarding the base of that tree and her cubs.  So now the picture was complete in my mind.  This whole episode with the angry Sow was not due to me at all but was directed at this Chocolate Boar directly in front of me.  Maybe she was just now coming back into heat as her cubs were pretty big.  50 lbs apiece I'd guess.  Or maybe the Boar wanted to kill the cubs so she would come into heat again.  In any case I was in the middle of this little daytime drama.  Talk about Living the Dream!!  This was unreal!

Incredible hunt! This is good stuff    :campfire:

:campfire:

This one is keeping me on the edge of my seat waiting for the next chapter....

So this "Boar" has been right in front of me for a few minutes but he is basically just muddling around, but he is coming closer...just taking his sweet-ol time about it.  I started glancing around at my feet to look for dry branches to avoid.  I tried to think about where a shot might happen.  It didnt look good in that regard.  A big line of trees went from just below me straight to the bear.  If he stayed below it I wouldnt get a shot until that bear came all the way under and just past me.  If he stayed above the tree-line he'd be funneled  right at me and would surely see me at some point. Well he came up between a few of these trees and it looked like we were going to bump heads. Then something he liked the smell of caught his attention. He turned to his left and opened up his right flank.  "Dang" I thought.  "If it werent for those few limbs sticking out from that one tree which are barely covering his vitals I would actually have a 20 yard shot right now". I am asking myself if I dare take that one big step that would open things up for a shot. I do...and I did.  With his head down he didnt pick me off and there I was with a great, clear, shot opportunity.  At full draw he still had his head down and I managed to really bare down and not rush my aim.  "Thummmph"....."Zip".  Right through him it looked like. Good location. He flipped around 180 degrees and stood still for 5 seconds.  Then he started toward my direction and it looked like his left rear leg sagged a bit and then he took off running going right underneath me. I had another arrow on the string but decided not to shoot at the sprinting bear.  I watched as he dissapeared over the ridge top and tried to listen hard.  I was interupted by some loud crashing behind me and turned to see Momma finally decided to show herself.  She had apparently heard the Boar run off and decided to give chase.  She ran right at me until about 20 yads away and locked on the brakes.  She had a cinnamon lower half and was more blonde along her back.  Gorgeous. She looked at me briefly and then turned and ran back to her cubs huffing as she went.  I fired up the video camera and showed where the boar was standing and where he ran off to etc, etc...then I panned left and zoomed in on the cubs one last time...still up in that burnt-out tree.  Freaking beautiful!!

It was a great and short blood trail to my boar.  Maybe 100 yds. I was still holding my breath as I lifted this bears leg to confirm the sex.  I of course was praying for a large set of testes...no teets please.  Phew!...he was indeed hung like a...well you know....a bear, or Boar.  :thumbsup:  

He was plenty big for me and had a great coat. No rubs.  Pictures, skinning, quartering came next and it was pretty dark when I was done.  I managed to haul everything a few tenths of a mile downhill from the carcass with my Bison Gear pack.  I really couldnt even stand up straight though.  When I came to a point where I had to move uphill through a fair amount of blowdown I had no choice but to drop the quarters.  I was really struggling just standing up.  By now it was pitch black and I was navigating by headlight.  I thought I was on the correct finger ridge that I had used to hike up the mountain but where one ridge splits into two I took the wrong one.  By the time I realized my mistake I had put my already tired self in a bad spot. I was forced to march toward the adjacent ridge which meant going down then up.  The "up" portion being a few hundred vertical feet of north facing, steep, nasty, old burn blowdown city.  I was exhausted by the time I got to the correct ridge that would take me down to the car 1.5 miles away.  At one point I almost gave up due to all the crawling over logs, the slipping and falling. It was 11 pm and I felt like building a fire and waiting for daylight.  It was a warm night.  At some point in that hell whole I lost my leafy ASAT jacket from the straps on top of my pack. (see classifieds  :D  ) Dang, that coat had been good to me for a number of years and I was in no way going back to look for it.  I pushed through and got to the car at 12:10 AM. By the time I got to where I could use a cell phone it was almost 1 am.  My wife was indeed worried to say the least and to prove it my wonderful In-laws were at my house keeping her company while she waited to hear from me.  Yeah, thats right!  The fact that I was coming home a success and also safe and sound, she wasnt too hard on me.  After all it was my own fault texting her about the Grizz encounter.    

Next day it was back up the mountain with a good friend to collect the quarters. They were undisturbed.

So thats how I killed my 3rd Montana Spot and Stalk Black Bear.  Hard to believe its been 5 yrs since I got my last.  They truly are very special hunts for an awesome, largely undisturbed, wild animal.
And they dont come easy...just like folks like you and me like it!!

Gang.
Thanks so much for listening to my long winded story.  A great hunt like this needs written down. After-all, they happen so rarely in one hunters lifetime.

Best to all.
Randy.

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Ranman/hunting/Picture014.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Ranman/media/hunting/Picture014.jpg.html)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Ranman/hunting/Picture016.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Ranman/media/hunting/Picture016.jpg.html)

 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v317/Ranman/hunting/Picture015.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Ranman/media/hunting/Picture015.jpg.html)

Great story! Enjoyed every minute of the read. Sounds like an awesome hunt. And a very beautiful bear.

Randy, Thanks for the play by play! I love it! Beautiful bear and what a hunt!!  :clapper:

Thanks for sharing, congrats on the beautiful trophy!!

That is AWESOME!!!  Congrats on a beautiful trophy.   Sounds like it couldn't have happened much better.  Hunts like that are what it's all about.   Thanks for sharing.  Real nice bear.

:notworthy:    :clapper:    :clapper:  Great job Randy.  Felt like I was right there with ya.

Now THAT is how you do it! Way to go! Beautiful bear!

That is a brute my friend great bear.

Great hunt,congrats!!!

Great job Randy!!   :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:

For those that believe bait and/or hounds is the only possible way to take a bear - nice job Randy!

WOW!! What an intense hunt to say the least! Your absolutely right, this hunt had to be shared with the rest of us! Thank you  :thumbsup:  

Steve

Fantastic story and what a bear, congrats!

Most-excellent hunt Randy!

Thanks for sharin' it with us Trad Gangers!

Keep the wind in your face!

Shoot straight, Shinken

  :archer2:

great story randy!glad things worked out.

Awesome story and photos, Randy. Thanks for taking the time to take us along with you on this great hunt.

Randy, what an inspiring story! Congrats on a fine bear and a wonderful hunt. I will get my first chance for spot and stalk blackies next fall in BC...this gets my blood boiling  :)

Man, what an awesome hunt !

Great story, real nice bear.  Congrats !

Awesome story brother!
This is my first spring away from AK and no bear hunting. Feeling the depression!
Great job!!

Awesome job Randy......so cool!   :notworthy:

That story was a treat.  What an experience.  Life in the raw.  Well done and hats off to you.

Thanks for sharing

nice story and bear

Awesome job!  Very nice.

Good lookin' bear, congrats!   :thumbsup:

Wow......


That my friend is one hell of a hunt right there, anddddd what a cool looking bear to boot!

Thanks a bunch for the ride,MIT was good to read a story of a dream hunt.


Cheers,

ak.

Good work, thanks for sharing.

Too cool.  congrats!

Awesome!  Great story, and great bear.  Thanks..

Randy,
  Great Bear..! Thanks for taking the time to share the story....

   Would love to see that video of the cubs......just saying

Awesome hunt! Thanks for taking us along. Any chance we will see some of that video????
?????????

Great story telling!   What an exciting way to hunt black bears.  Thanks for taking the time to share it with us!  Congratulations on a fine bear as well.

I am another that has long dreamed of a spot and stalk black bear hunt.  This story just bumped it up higher on my list!
Fantastic bear Randy, and great telling of the story!   :notworthy:

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments.

I have 3-4 video clips (nothing fancy) from this hunt I would like to share.  Gonna need some help though.  I cant even watch the video myself except on the camera itself.  I wish I had a Mac.  I have never posted a video before but I'll mess around with it.  Any advice or tutorial would be helpful of course.

Thank you for sharing and congrats!

WOW!!!!!  :thumbsup:

Congratulations!  Great hunt!

Great story.  Somebody help him get the videos posted, please!

Good Hunting! Well done Randy.

Very nice!

Awesome hunt and great bear. Congrats!!

Congrats, Randy!

Great story, and congratulations on the nice bear.

Nice. Thanks for sharing!

I gotta' say you really kept your cool throughout I would have needed a change of shorts for sure!   :thumbsup:

Thanks for taking us along, although I almost headed back for the car at the grizz encounter! Congrats on an extremely successful hunt and a memory you will no doubt cherish.

Nice going Randy.What a hunt.That bear is beautiful.

I spent the day out,June 15th,our last day and was seeing a ton of sign.The rut seems to be going full blast.Wish I had spent more time in one of those spots,the last few days.

Great hunt, thanks for taking us along.

Way to go Randy!! Nice boar, I know they don't come easy. Thanks for sharing

Good stuff Randy!!!

Thanks for taking us along. Beautiful bear.
homebru

Congratulations on an action pack hunt. Nice bear and pics.

Well I see this thread is winding down so I would like to thank everyone for sharing this hunt with me.

Lenny!  good to hear from you brother.  Hopefully I'll see you at Moose creek.

Not just yet Randy!!!!  Congrats Brother on a fine, fine hunt on an incredible animal..thanks for sharing such a great story..perhaps I will get out there one spring...

Congrats ! Great hunt, great story . That's the way to do it.