cobra55
Active Member
- Messages
- 107
Well I never thought I would have finished my hunt so soon and to get the size of bear that I did but I have no regrets now....
It all started on monday 3/8/13, my cousins had called and asked if I would like to go out with them, they had their dogs rigging and the dogs hit on something, we had turned out 2 dogs and they bailed off the rim of the canyon. After trailing the dogs my cousin called on the radio and said the dogs had something in the rocks, he thought no way could it be a bear, he climbed up the rock and looked in the hole and sure enough it was a bear and a shooter bear at that. I was still on top of the rim with another couple of people and my kids when we got another call on the radio that the bear had bailed and the dogs were too tired to follow, (we had the dogs out on this bear a while), another cousin was bringing out more dogs to get back on the bear. By the time we got the other dogs there to the rim and ready to bail off after the bear, we looked at the time and had only a little over an hour of daylight left so we decided to call it a night and come back the next morning, figuring he wouldn't travel much just being out of the den and all and the size of him. I never did get a look at him but I was game for the next day.
3/9/13- The day started out just after 7am, when Anthony (my cousin), Connor (my 13 y/o son), and myself left the house with 4 dogs in hopes of finding the bruiser. It was only about a 20min drive to where we were the night before. With all the dogs now ready we started our pursuit again. It was approx 900 yards to the rim where we were to drop off, once in the canyon, our plan was to follow the many ridges down the same direction the bear went the night before, thought he might head for a spring that was about 1.5 miles down the canyon. This is very rugged country and I was thinking that finding a bear out here would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Trying to stay on top of the ridge was way more difficult than I thought and soon found myself trying to navigate my way in the bottom of a nasty drainage, Connor and Anthony stayed on the East side ridge of this drainage, I told them that I would stay in the bottom for a little while and try to cut his track. After about an hour or so of traveling down this ridge and drainage, I felt I needed to climg up higher and try to locate myself and also locate Connor and Anthony. I climbed up the West side ridge of the drainage and still couldn't see any better but could see a point up ahead of me that I felt I could get on some big rocks and look for Connor and Anthony and also see where we were in relation to where we wanted to be.
The dogs followed me to the West ridgeline and I knew that Connor and Anthony were on the East side. The big flat rocks I was to climb up on were right in front of me and as I approached the rocks, I looked to my left across the drainage and I could not believe my eyes, there was a bear climbing up out of the drainage on the east side. I saw the bear and it looked like a dang semi going up the hill. I didn't even take the time to judge him, I knew he was big enough for me to shoot. I was able to get a round chambered quickly in my 30-06 with the bear still climbing slowly, I quickly leaned over the rock, standing and then the bear went behind a couple of big cedar trees. There was only one way for the bear to go and I told myself that as soon as I saw him, I was going to let the lead fly. It wasn't long, 15 seconds, and he started to come out from behind the tree, I held on the opening that was not more than 100 yard shot, I wsa the front shoulder come into my scope and squeezed the trigger, I heard the "wack" of the shot and knew I had hit him. Connor and Anthony had the crud scared out of them when I shot and it turned out that the bear was only 40 yards in front of them. They thought I had fallen or the trigger had been caught on a branch causing the rifle to fire. We started to hollar back and forth and I told them "I just shot a bear", "He's down right in front of you up the hill a litle. Connor and Anthony crested a small hill and saw the bear laying dead. When they said it was dead, I couldn't believe it, I had just taken my first bear without the dogs even smelling him this morning. If it weren't for the dogs the night before, we wouldn't have found this bear. I will let the pics tell the rest. The best part of the hunt was the opportunity I had to share it with my son and cousins.
Me with my Utah 2013 bear
Connor and myself
Connor
Bear with a couple of dogs
Here are a few different angles of the bear
Here are a couple of the pack out, It sure killed this old fat man to have to pack this heavy head and hide out 2 miles.
It was an awesome day to say the least, a little bit of luck, but a whole lot of fun and hard work. We think the bear had to be pushing 400 lbs, he had at least 3-4 inches of fat still on him, and by the way the white on the top of his head/neck is pine gum sap. Hope you all enjoy, you have to pardon me if things don't sound too good, I am not a professional writer. ENJOY!!!!!!
It all started on monday 3/8/13, my cousins had called and asked if I would like to go out with them, they had their dogs rigging and the dogs hit on something, we had turned out 2 dogs and they bailed off the rim of the canyon. After trailing the dogs my cousin called on the radio and said the dogs had something in the rocks, he thought no way could it be a bear, he climbed up the rock and looked in the hole and sure enough it was a bear and a shooter bear at that. I was still on top of the rim with another couple of people and my kids when we got another call on the radio that the bear had bailed and the dogs were too tired to follow, (we had the dogs out on this bear a while), another cousin was bringing out more dogs to get back on the bear. By the time we got the other dogs there to the rim and ready to bail off after the bear, we looked at the time and had only a little over an hour of daylight left so we decided to call it a night and come back the next morning, figuring he wouldn't travel much just being out of the den and all and the size of him. I never did get a look at him but I was game for the next day.
3/9/13- The day started out just after 7am, when Anthony (my cousin), Connor (my 13 y/o son), and myself left the house with 4 dogs in hopes of finding the bruiser. It was only about a 20min drive to where we were the night before. With all the dogs now ready we started our pursuit again. It was approx 900 yards to the rim where we were to drop off, once in the canyon, our plan was to follow the many ridges down the same direction the bear went the night before, thought he might head for a spring that was about 1.5 miles down the canyon. This is very rugged country and I was thinking that finding a bear out here would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Trying to stay on top of the ridge was way more difficult than I thought and soon found myself trying to navigate my way in the bottom of a nasty drainage, Connor and Anthony stayed on the East side ridge of this drainage, I told them that I would stay in the bottom for a little while and try to cut his track. After about an hour or so of traveling down this ridge and drainage, I felt I needed to climg up higher and try to locate myself and also locate Connor and Anthony. I climbed up the West side ridge of the drainage and still couldn't see any better but could see a point up ahead of me that I felt I could get on some big rocks and look for Connor and Anthony and also see where we were in relation to where we wanted to be.
The dogs followed me to the West ridgeline and I knew that Connor and Anthony were on the East side. The big flat rocks I was to climb up on were right in front of me and as I approached the rocks, I looked to my left across the drainage and I could not believe my eyes, there was a bear climbing up out of the drainage on the east side. I saw the bear and it looked like a dang semi going up the hill. I didn't even take the time to judge him, I knew he was big enough for me to shoot. I was able to get a round chambered quickly in my 30-06 with the bear still climbing slowly, I quickly leaned over the rock, standing and then the bear went behind a couple of big cedar trees. There was only one way for the bear to go and I told myself that as soon as I saw him, I was going to let the lead fly. It wasn't long, 15 seconds, and he started to come out from behind the tree, I held on the opening that was not more than 100 yard shot, I wsa the front shoulder come into my scope and squeezed the trigger, I heard the "wack" of the shot and knew I had hit him. Connor and Anthony had the crud scared out of them when I shot and it turned out that the bear was only 40 yards in front of them. They thought I had fallen or the trigger had been caught on a branch causing the rifle to fire. We started to hollar back and forth and I told them "I just shot a bear", "He's down right in front of you up the hill a litle. Connor and Anthony crested a small hill and saw the bear laying dead. When they said it was dead, I couldn't believe it, I had just taken my first bear without the dogs even smelling him this morning. If it weren't for the dogs the night before, we wouldn't have found this bear. I will let the pics tell the rest. The best part of the hunt was the opportunity I had to share it with my son and cousins.
Me with my Utah 2013 bear
Connor and myself
Connor
Bear with a couple of dogs
Here are a few different angles of the bear
Here are a couple of the pack out, It sure killed this old fat man to have to pack this heavy head and hide out 2 miles.
It was an awesome day to say the least, a little bit of luck, but a whole lot of fun and hard work. We think the bear had to be pushing 400 lbs, he had at least 3-4 inches of fat still on him, and by the way the white on the top of his head/neck is pine gum sap. Hope you all enjoy, you have to pardon me if things don't sound too good, I am not a professional writer. ENJOY!!!!!!
