Had Sunday afternoon to have a go at the local black bears.  Drank a quart of water and ate a clif bar on the short drive to the mts, kind of a ritual to make sure I'm hydrated and my energy is up before I start for the top.  And I always leave a quart in the truck for when I get back, along with a dry cotton sweatshirt for the drive back.        

Finished stowing things in my pack, fetched up my Widow and headed for the top.

Flushed a spruce grouse part way up while still in the spruce and alder.  He landed real close in a tree, I screwed in a rubber blunt and promptly shot just under him, I swear it must have gone between his little legs.  Thought for sure I had lost my arrow, but actually found it as I was walking back after kinda giving up.  

More  

After climbing up ~2600 feet, I spotted these two about 1/2 mile away eating crowberries.  One black speck on the far left, another on the far right.

Pretty good crowberry crop this year;  if you havent had crowberries they have a very mild flavor, very watery, and a small seed inside.  The people that pick them use them mostly as fillers for stuff with other berries like blueberries.  But the bears sure like them.

Heres a zoomed in pic of the one on the right.

And a better pic of the one on the left.

They were pretty close together, the one on the left looked a bit bigger, but in a tighter spot.

I decided to circle way to the right of them, climb another 500' or so, and then drop down to where I could see them again from the ridge above them.  It was a plan...

Took me quite awhile to get above where I figured they were. But then I couldn't see them. I've learned to hang tight for awhile when this happens, as they can be just out of view, or may have spooked and with time will come back.

Long story short, I waited a bit, didn't see them, so I decided to hike down & head to the truck.

Sure enuf, after I busted thru brush to get to the game trail below and head down to the road, I could see first one then the other !  They had been hidden by some terrain, one of the problems with coming down on a critter from above.  Ah well.  I considered going after them again but I have too many commitments tomorrow to get back at o-dark-thirty.

Reading here what I've wrote, it sounds kindof tired, I guess because I'm pretty shot.       :rolleyes:    

With travel and relatives visiting, I won't be able to give it another go for another couple weeks.  If they're not there I'll find some others to play with, and maybe continue this thread.    

thanks for taking me along

pretty cool, keep it coming after next hunt

chinook, the one on the right looked like he had his full share of berries this summer, nice and plump. Thanks for sharing. Mark  

Very cool and nice sighting!  No bears or mountains in Illinois.

Great pictures and story. Thanks for sharing. Seeing them makes me long to get back to Alaska and hunt the Mountains again.

That's really neat... spot and stalk is the way to go....exciting!!

Thanks guys.  Doctari, yes he did have a belly full and definitely looked well fed.

Looking forward to the pictures when I get home from work.

Sounds to me like you had a great adventure!

Thanks for sharing it with us.

God bless,Mudd

PS: I'll be watching for your next installment.

Sounds like you had fun, Thanks for the pics

Thanks for the pic & story. Great! Good luck.

Thanks for sharing