Have they changed how you hunt

COBUK · Feb 20, 2013

Have grizzlies and wolves changed the way you hunt ? I realize this question is fairly open. One thing that I'm interested in here is have you changed how you camp. Do you still pack into the back country and stay in a tent ? Do you now camp closer to roads and/or campgrounds ? Do you not sleep out in bear country anymore or has it not changed the way you camp ? Are hunters not traveling as far into the back country during the day as they used to ? or has it not really changed ?

Have grizzlies and wolves changed where you hunt ? This question is not directed at hunters who have changed hunting areas because wolves and bears have negatively impacted big game numbers in their traditional hunting areas. The question is more directed at hunters who have changed areas because they don't feel as safe in bear country or wolf country. I am especially interested in how bow hunters answer this question.

So, just to be clear here. I am a non-resident hunter and I want to hunt elk in Wyoming in the near future ( it won't be this year, I already know that I didn't draw.) I am from Colorado and I don't have experience hunting in bear country or wolf country. I am trying to understand how much influence the fact that bears and/or wolves being in a given unit should have on whether I apply for that unit or not. I am a DIY backpack type hunter and the units that have bears and wolves in them offer the type of country that I like to hunt. If I drew a limited elk tag in Wyoming, I would want to be able to bow hunt it first and if not successful with a bow come back later and gun hunt it. So, you guys have had to adapt to these predators and I am looking for your experience and advice.

appaloosa · Feb 20, 2013

It hasn't changed where I hunt and camp, but how I hunt and camp. I camp "smarter" now, and honestly, bears and wolves especially affect me very little now.

some good online resources:

http://www.igbconline.org/

nfh · Feb 20, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Feb-21-13 AT 06:52AM (MST)[p] I just always pack a .44 mag. keep a clean camp.

I use a 10x12 wall tent and I keep the doors open when I'm away. If a bear decided to go in then he can find his way out. If goes in while the doors are closed well the bear will go into panic mode and tear everything up.

I am 17 miles in the back-country and cant afford anything to go wrong.

I use my horses at night and keep them close to camp. They will know when trouble arrives.

These tips have kept me bear free in my camp. Its a different story putting an elk down and coming across them on the trail.

Bow-hunting has gotten tough for me. They don't bugle like they use to. They come in silent. some bulls bugle here and there.

mightyhunter · Feb 21, 2013

Good question.

It hasn't altered how I hunt and camp when I am in the Hoback area of SW Wyoming. I still spike out when I hunt there. I do remember a grizzly bear circling my one man tent when hunting solo in SW Wyoming a few years ago. It was at night and he moved on. When I took a moose there in 2011, the only animal to hit the carcass overnight was a coyote.

I live in NW Wyoming and hunt alot in that area. I will camp out but only in a few spots where I know my camp is safe. There are just too many grizzly bears for me to do much solo camping in the backcountry. I only did it twice last year. In one spot, my .41 mag was inches from my hand. If I get an elk down, you have to do whatever you can to get it hung as high as you can. I have a friend who hunts and camps out. If he or his buddies kill a bull in the afternoon they hang it, start a fire and spend the night right on the spot under tarps in their sleeping bags. Not camping out has meant that I day hunt leaving the truck hours before first light with a headlamp. I hike these trails for months before the season and know my way around. I have only run into two grizzly bears real early in the morning. However, I have to watch out for guides and dudes who would trample you in the dark on horseback (not kidding). With deer, I quarter and haul them out on my back the day of the kill. I have had a grizzly bear come to the shot on a bull elk and had a sow and yearling cub come to the shot on a mule deer. It happens.

If you are going to hunt solo or with just one partner, I would think real hard before camping out in an area you are not familiar with. If you do, keep your food and game away from camp and pick your spots carefully. I have one spot I hunt every year that is above 9,000 ft. My camp spot is in a group of down trees with just enough room for a small tent. So far, I can hear anything getting close. With elk, I have a rule that I won't kill one much past 3:00 in the afternoon. This allows me to butcher and hang it before dark. I generally will never butcher an elk and carry a quarter out on my back in the dark.

A few years ago, I was hiking up a drainage wih a former hunting partner in the dark. At first light, about 3 miles in, we spotted a big boar grizzly on the hillside about 60 yards above the trail we were on. We stopped and let him pass. About another mile in, we ran into a camp. There were 3 young guys camped out on the ground with no tent. There was food packages strewn all over the ground. We watched these guys for a few minutes because they never moved or made any noise. I was relieved when one of them started snoring as I was wondering if we had stumbled onto a mess. We left them there and chatted them up hours later after we passed back through. One of them was mauled by a grizzly about two weeks later hunting solo in another drainage.

My best piece of advice, is never let your guard down and use your head at all times.

TOPGUN · Feb 21, 2013

The wolves wouldn't bother me, but I haven't hunted in grizzly country because of what I read about the high numbers of them and the way they are taking over kill sites. The only way I would hunt the west side of Wyoming would be on a guided hunt with a big camp, a pack string of horse/mules and a couple dogs to sound the alarm if a bear is getting close, and probably a hot wire around camp, especially while sleeping at night. I guess I'm saying that I'm a puzzy and killing an animal is not that high on my priority list to risk my life doing it.

Triple_BB · Feb 21, 2013

I've hunter 61 DIY and the Thorofare quite a few times. Was charged the last tiime I was in the Thorofare. I've ran into bears on the trail and had bears in camp. One night at 2am I hear snorting and some light grunts next to the tent. About a minute later here comes the dog. I heard the bear run off. The next morning I was looking around the tent and there were some fairly large tracks almost touching the tent. Has it changed the way I hunt, nope. I just seem to be more alert to my surroundings. I've run out of friends who are willing to go back and now do guided hunts up there. The guys that have no fear are the guides. Never ran into more fearless guys than some of those guides. My hat's off to them...

shepherd · Mar 20, 2013

It has changed the way I hunt. Im not afraid to say it. The area I deer hunt is pretty close to the wilderness bdy, so backpack hunts don't make much sense, as I can walk to the wilderness in a couple of hours. We hunt in pairs. We leave the truck in the dark, get to where we want to hunt by daylight, and head out in the late afternoon. We don't even hunt up there in the evenings. I do not want to be taking care of a deer after dark in that area.

wolfhunter · Mar 20, 2013

I wish I could be so lucky to have a pack of wolves come in close enough for an attack!!!!

Hunting country with the grizz is about the purest form of wilderness around. I personally love it. No question you have got to be paying attention 100 percent of the time and be smart. I have had bears in camp at night, been charged, had meat taken but I still love that wilderness feeling...

The only thing that has changed is there is no more elk to hunt. Now I just hunt the big dogs when I am not working.

Topgun your wise to leave the wilderness to the big boy's. You had better stick to following Sy and his guides around.

mmwb · Mar 20, 2013

LAST EDITED ON Mar-20-13 AT 09:52PM (MST)[p]

No. I'm in the Star Valley area and there are a few grizzlies, though not a lot. Wolves I don't worry about. I'd love a chance at one. I can't say I worry about lions either, though realistically a lion would be more likely to be a problem then the former two. Would love to get a shot at one of them as well. I am pretty aware and vigilant, and life is too short to let fear make decisions for me.

mntnguide · Mar 20, 2013

You mean this little guy...Oh dont worry about this little guy...

mntnguide · Mar 20, 2013

Guess i should mention...The wires lying on the ground, are an 11,000 volt fence he ripped down while it was running hot one night. Just one of dozens we see regularly. This one prefers being around camp, others prefer to follow us around while we are hunting. Always a light sleep during an afternoon snooze!

dz · Mar 20, 2013

I hunted around the wolves as they moved in to our area in Idaho. At first it was not a big deal and we had better luck as the elk were up moving all day. Then the numbers got so low that we stopped going. We had two wolves try to break into our wall tent one day while we was out on the hill. Then we only had one encounter with Griz and he chose to go the other way. So far been lucky that most of my favorite areas are not over run with Griz. The Wolves do keep the elk on the move, which can be good but they can run them out of an area too. Hope this helps.

DZ

wolfhunter · Mar 21, 2013

Mtnguide,

Great pictures of the humpback.... Do you have more?

TOPGUN · Mar 21, 2013

Any idea or a good guess as to what that monster weighs?

Devlin · Mar 21, 2013

Four years ago had a Bear come into camp late at night and take half a deer and it was the half with my tag on it.I finally found it about two hundred yards from camp and got my tag back.Went back to camp and broke camp and left,felt like we were a 7 eleven then.We stayed at the trail head and my friend hunted from there and my friend did get a deer.

mntnguide · Mar 21, 2013

I have roughly around 60+- photos of him and a couple videos of him walking around from this fall. He has been a royal pain in our a** the past two falls especially. Causes us havoc quite a bit. We have seen him a few times in daylight as well.. Rough guess 500+lbs easily with 600 being very possible from what he looked like this fall. He is one of the biggest bears any of us have seen. He is actually pretty good when it comes to people, He is not aggressive, usually runs off pretty easy. But he likes to destroy stuff in the middle of the night. We have other bears around that are very aggressive towards us, i prefer this one in terms of close quarter contact.