LAST EDITED ON Jun-08-04 AT 08:37PM (MST)[p]BOBCAT,
I'm heading into town this weekend to get my film developed. I'll spoonfeed it to ya since I don't want to blow your mind all at one time. LOL!
I'm still being haunted by that big ol' boar. Over the 4 weeks, I put a stalk on him 4 times, with him feeding off each time and not getting a crack at him. Then came the last evening hunt for the last group of hunters.
It had been a tough week with my hunters and I only seening 17 bears. Both my hunters had 2 tags and both missed good bears earlier on in the week. One was a giant feeding broadside at 70 yards. I had finally got the one hunter a 5 foot brown with 2 days left. On the last day, the other hunter was very discouraged because he felt he blew his only opportunity. For the evening hunt, I decided to go after the big boar again since another guide had seen him the afternoon previous.
I was hunting a large hydro powerline right of way. I got up on one large hill and glassed a bear 2 1/2 kms away in the pouring rain. I said to the hunter, "Let's go!!" We stalked all the way to 20 metres and the hunter dropped the bear in his tracks. It was a 5'4" black boar and the hunter was ecstatic. His dream had finally come true. We did the picture thing then I went to work skinning. I got done and had about an hour and half left of shooting light. I said to both hunters, "Well lets go kill another bear." We packed up and headed on down the hydroline. We drive down this big hill and up the other side where I could glass a long ways out. We instantly spotted the big bastard I had been chasing all season. He was well over 4 kms away feeding on a logging road that cut through the hydroline. I drove as fast as I could and got to within 1 km of him and parked and said to the hunters "Let's Go!!!" The stalk was on once again. When we got to where he had been, he was gone. The vegetation was high, so I started glassing, thinking he had just feed into the tall grass and brush. But nothing moved. Daylight was fading and I knew the hunt was almost over. We worked our way slowly back to the truck and when I was 10 metres away from the truck, out popped the big monster right by my bumper. The sucker had circled around us and was sniffing out my truck. He started to bail and I yelled to the hunters, "Both F***ING SHOOT!!!!!" I had my rifle on him and waited for the first shot to echo and I let one fly just as he turned from the first shot in the dirt beside him. The other hunter let one fly just as he entered the timber. I ran full out down the road with the hunters following. I jumped into the thick crap and yelled to the hunters "Stay on the road and look for blood!!!" I got in there and it was a timbered swamp. Water was up to my knees. I stopped and listened, hoping to hear the monster sloshing in the water or just plain breathing. Nothing but silence. Even though light was fading fast, I was able to follow his tracks easily in the swamp grass for quite a ways. Then I started hitting dead falls that were waist high that he cleared with one simple jump each time. No wounded bear would clear them so easily. There would be blood or hair on them and bark ripped off where he would have piled into them. But no, just tracks easily clearing them. I knew the big bugger was running very healthy.
When I got back to the road, the sky opened up and it poured buckets, taking away any light I still had. But what a way to end a hunt! Tons of excitement. A hunt my hunters will remember for a lifetime. We've chased the big sneekee bastard for 3 seasons now and he lives to see yet another season. You can bet I'll be meeting up with him next year and the maybe, just maybe, he won't be making a fool of me again.
