smitty
Very Active Member
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LAST EDITED ON May-18-14 AT 10:52PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON May-18-14 AT 10:52?PM (MST)
Hell Yeah! Finally got a bear with my little boy! It's definitely a different hunt when you have a 7 yr old with you.
Anyhow, we saw 7 bears during our first trip a couple weeks ago. Just couldn't get close enough due to the terrain. If you've ever been in the Salmon River area of Idaho, you'll know what I mean. Not the best country to take a little kid into. But I'll tell you what, we found some areas in there that we'll save for when he gets bigger and knows how to navigate steep slopes better.
So this weekend we picked a spot, closer to home, easier country in case we needed to make stalk, etc......Left home Thursday night after work, got to the motel late, got up and got after it early. We went to an area that I'd killed a wolf in a few years ago, primarily just to look around and see what was going on if anything. Turned out, nothing was going on. So we headed back to town to grab a burger and hang out for an hour or 2.
Around 1 pm we headed out and went to check some other areas that I knew of. Things were looking pretty good, overcast sky, not much wind, not too cold, not too hot, just comfortable. Well, the first road we went down was buried in snow. It was my hope that we could travel and glass from this particular road because we could see a lot of country. My feeling was, if there was a bear around, we'd find it. So, I was a little frustrated when we had to go to plan B.
Plan B, didn't really exist till we needed it to. So we headed down the canyon to another area I had been. Luckily the road I wanted to hunt was open. We headed up and were just basically looking for any kind of sign. Scat on the road, tracks, etc......We ended up finding 2 piles of bear scat, really dry, but still some sign there was a bear working the area. We continued down the road till we found a great vantage point to glass back below the road we found the scat on. There were a few openings and then an old logged area that just looked like it had a bear living in it. Now it was around 3:30 or so, still too early to just sit with a little kid. I was trying to manage his time sitting to a minimum, just so that he'd have as much fun as possible. So I explained to him that we'd go check out some other country for a couple hours, then come back and see if we could find the bear responsible for the scat on the road.
That's exactly what we did, went and glassed a huge canyon that had some deer and elk in it, spotted a red fox of all things as well. Well, around 6 we hiked back to the wheeler, and slowly made our way back to our vantage point. As we were sitting there and I was glassing as my boy was playing Angry Birds on my phone, I was having all sorts of feelings of doubt and frustration at not having gotten him a bear. I've only eaten bear tag soup one time and that was self imposed. I had chances, but elected to pass instead of killing a small bear. But with my boy, we had hunted our asses off. We were on our 8th weekend trip, and I was just hoping and praying a bear would present itself. In fact after our last trip I had over heard my boy saying his bedtime prayer, and he prayed we'd get a bear on our next trip. Needless to say, I was feeling some pressure!
As all these thoughts were running through my head, I'm glassing up and down, back and forth trying to find anything that looks like a bear. And then, FINALLY! This bear walks out in an opening, almost exactly where I thought one would. After checking it in the spotter to make sure it was a shooter, we had to scramble down 600-700 yards to get in a better shooting position. And like almost always, there is the game of cat and mouse, where'd it go? Oh there it is! How far? 285 yards. No need to dial the scope. Finally the bear comes out and presents a good broadside shot. I'm on the shooting sticks, settle the crosshairs and BOOM! The bear flattens out like a pancake. I chambered another round and get back on it. 30-45 seconds go by and sure enough the bear wakes up and starts dragging itself down the hill, BOOM! CRACK! I hear a solid hit and the bear tumbles down the hill. This time I know the 300 Win has done the job.
I turn and look at my boy, he's covering his ears just like I'd told him to, and he's got the most amazed look on his face. He was so pumped! I was just relieved. When I heard the impact of the 2nd shot I felt so relieved. Finally, I was able to get a bear for my boy. It took a till dark to find the bear, and took a couple hours after that to get it and us back to town. Needless to say we were tired and happy. When my wife asked us what we were going to do with it, my by told her it was going in his room. I thought that was pretty cool. I don't know if he'll always remember this, but I know I will for sure.
Hell Yeah! Finally got a bear with my little boy! It's definitely a different hunt when you have a 7 yr old with you.
Anyhow, we saw 7 bears during our first trip a couple weeks ago. Just couldn't get close enough due to the terrain. If you've ever been in the Salmon River area of Idaho, you'll know what I mean. Not the best country to take a little kid into. But I'll tell you what, we found some areas in there that we'll save for when he gets bigger and knows how to navigate steep slopes better.
So this weekend we picked a spot, closer to home, easier country in case we needed to make stalk, etc......Left home Thursday night after work, got to the motel late, got up and got after it early. We went to an area that I'd killed a wolf in a few years ago, primarily just to look around and see what was going on if anything. Turned out, nothing was going on. So we headed back to town to grab a burger and hang out for an hour or 2.
Around 1 pm we headed out and went to check some other areas that I knew of. Things were looking pretty good, overcast sky, not much wind, not too cold, not too hot, just comfortable. Well, the first road we went down was buried in snow. It was my hope that we could travel and glass from this particular road because we could see a lot of country. My feeling was, if there was a bear around, we'd find it. So, I was a little frustrated when we had to go to plan B.
Plan B, didn't really exist till we needed it to. So we headed down the canyon to another area I had been. Luckily the road I wanted to hunt was open. We headed up and were just basically looking for any kind of sign. Scat on the road, tracks, etc......We ended up finding 2 piles of bear scat, really dry, but still some sign there was a bear working the area. We continued down the road till we found a great vantage point to glass back below the road we found the scat on. There were a few openings and then an old logged area that just looked like it had a bear living in it. Now it was around 3:30 or so, still too early to just sit with a little kid. I was trying to manage his time sitting to a minimum, just so that he'd have as much fun as possible. So I explained to him that we'd go check out some other country for a couple hours, then come back and see if we could find the bear responsible for the scat on the road.
That's exactly what we did, went and glassed a huge canyon that had some deer and elk in it, spotted a red fox of all things as well. Well, around 6 we hiked back to the wheeler, and slowly made our way back to our vantage point. As we were sitting there and I was glassing as my boy was playing Angry Birds on my phone, I was having all sorts of feelings of doubt and frustration at not having gotten him a bear. I've only eaten bear tag soup one time and that was self imposed. I had chances, but elected to pass instead of killing a small bear. But with my boy, we had hunted our asses off. We were on our 8th weekend trip, and I was just hoping and praying a bear would present itself. In fact after our last trip I had over heard my boy saying his bedtime prayer, and he prayed we'd get a bear on our next trip. Needless to say, I was feeling some pressure!
As all these thoughts were running through my head, I'm glassing up and down, back and forth trying to find anything that looks like a bear. And then, FINALLY! This bear walks out in an opening, almost exactly where I thought one would. After checking it in the spotter to make sure it was a shooter, we had to scramble down 600-700 yards to get in a better shooting position. And like almost always, there is the game of cat and mouse, where'd it go? Oh there it is! How far? 285 yards. No need to dial the scope. Finally the bear comes out and presents a good broadside shot. I'm on the shooting sticks, settle the crosshairs and BOOM! The bear flattens out like a pancake. I chambered another round and get back on it. 30-45 seconds go by and sure enough the bear wakes up and starts dragging itself down the hill, BOOM! CRACK! I hear a solid hit and the bear tumbles down the hill. This time I know the 300 Win has done the job.
I turn and look at my boy, he's covering his ears just like I'd told him to, and he's got the most amazed look on his face. He was so pumped! I was just relieved. When I heard the impact of the 2nd shot I felt so relieved. Finally, I was able to get a bear for my boy. It took a till dark to find the bear, and took a couple hours after that to get it and us back to town. Needless to say we were tired and happy. When my wife asked us what we were going to do with it, my by told her it was going in his room. I thought that was pretty cool. I don't know if he'll always remember this, but I know I will for sure.
