Spring hunting! (PHOTO HEAVY)

[PFUNK]

Well spring is officially here in western Montana. Snow continues to fall in the higher elevations, but down in the valley it doesn't last too long. Snow levels in the high country seem to be down quite a bit from last year, which is pretty surprising considering last year was a down year for snow. Don't know about you guys, but I'm thinking it should shape up to be a pretty good hunting season for those of us who like to chase gobblers and bruins around come mid April. I was out the other day patterning my turkey gun, and have been talking to some landowners about permission. With the low snow level, I am hoping the birds are going to be in the same area I found them last spring. A buddy of mine and I were able to get into some unpressured birds on a single section of national forest. The only hard part was coaxing a gobbler off of the adjacent private land. We both ended up harvesting birds a couple weekends into the season. This year my goal will be to get my girlfriend a Tom before I start chasing one myself, so I am really hoping the birds cooperate.

As far as the bear hunting goes, last year was tough for us. I had a bear at only 25 yards last year... only problem was I was packing the shotgun and chasing gobblers at the time. Funny how things always work out that way. I had a few days off from school last season and we took advantage of that by packing in around 4 miles into an isolated, roadless area about an hour from home. We were very optimistic about the hunt, having heard from another friend of ours and a wildlife biologist that bears certainly called this area home. Unfortunately, we didn't see the number of bears that we had anticipated seeing, but it was an epic trip nonetheless.

We weren't able to start our hike in until evening, which meant we would be setting up camp in the dark on day one. No big deal... we would have two full days to hunt. Each day would start with a difficult climb out of the creek bottom where camp was set up at 4,250 feet. On day one, we would climb to 5,900 feet, which is enough of a climb to get you sweating after a long winter. The morning was uneventful, having only spotted a few deer but no bears. By mid afternoon we had traveled 3 miles and were ready to take a nice long lunch break. We found a good vantage point where we could glass a south facing basin. Then it was time to wait, as we figured our best bet was to sit and glass this area with hopes of at least spotting a bear towards evening that we could always plan a stalk on for the next day. After some food and an hour and a half of glassing I was ready for a nap. I hadn't been sleeping too long when my girlfriend woke me up with plenty of excitement in her voice. "There's a bear!" For those of you who have hunted the west, you know how hard it can be to locate an animal someone is trying to point out when it is somewhere on a vast mountainside. Unfortunately, I hadn't seen the bear yet when she also lost site of it. After another half hour we were back onto it, as I spotted a speck of black fur in my binoculars. It was on the move, feeding quickly across the ocean of freshly spouting greens. It would be a HAUL to get to this bear, so I decided we would wait and watch considering how quickly it was feeding in the other direction. It wasn't long and I spotted a second bear. This bear was higher up and it was a big bear. A beautiful brown phase black bear that looked to be a very good bear. He only showed himself for a minute or so, but he gave me motivation to make a play. We started down towards the creek bottom far below. It was then that I realized that we wouldn't have much time to hunt this bear, if it was even still in the same place when we got there. The drop was much steeper than I thought, and the climb up the other side would likely be similar. We would go after him the next day, and it wasn't going to be easy.

It was after dark when we got back to camp that night, but I had found a mule deer shed on the way back and morale was high. We slept well after a hearty mountain house meal and a recap of the days events. My buddy hadn't seen any bears, so he was ready to make the trek backup with us in the morning.

We would start our climb before daylight, but this time we would climb to 6,700 feet. We would have to make a loop on a major ridgeline in order to avoid dropping into the deep canyon we had started down into the day before. It would be a 4.3 mile hike to reach the spot I had seen the large bear, and we would not get there until after lunch. Thoughts of that bear were barely enough to keep us pushing along. We decided one of us would move down the ridge on which we had seen him, while the other continued to loop around on the main ridge, and would then drop down on a parallel ridgeline. From these two points, we would be able to see each other. We worked out hand signals that we could make if we spotted something below the other and out of their line of sight. We waited, and waited, but no bears would emerge today. It really deflated us, but we had not failed for lack of effort. We headed back to camp, which meant another 5.3 miles, bringing the total on the day to over 9 miles. It was around 11 that night when we finally got back. Needless to say, we were all ready to throw in the towel and sleep in the next morning.

We didn't get a bear that trip, but it was time well spent. Hope anyone who spent a lot of time reading this wasn't hoping for an epic ending! I'm just really pumped for the start of a new season. Here are some pics from the trip...

All ready to go...

The first leg of the journey...

Camp...

A look to the south during our morning climb...

Perhaps an old trappers cabin?

Glassing, glassing, glassing...

Crossing a rock scree...

Supper comes late...

Gaining some elevation now...

Lots of new growth for feed...

Blue grouse strutting his stuff...

This is the area the big bear was standing at. Across the canyon is the hill side we were glassing from when we spotted him. On the left side of this photo you can see a heavily timbered face with a small meadow on it. At the base of this mountain is the creek that our camp is located on. On the right side behind the small pine you can see the very end of the ridge that we would travel out on later that night.

Someone's old lean-to shelter...

Mule deer shed...

[leech~~]

You guys & gals are having to much fun out there with the hunting and trout fishing trips.

I think the "Perhaps an old trappers cabin" is just an old outfitters wall tent frame not used for a while.

[PFUNK]

You're right... we do have lots of fun! You could be right about the outfitter. In any case, it was an unexpected find!

[leech~~]

I will say this. It's fun to hang out with the guys. But, if you can find a gal who will hike back there and put up with all the bad weather and no bathroom for days on end! You better tag and bag her now!

[PFUNK]

Yes sir! She is quite the trooper. Refuses to be outdone by a guy! And I must admit, she has killed much bigger bucks than I have!

[leech~~]

Was it her up bring? Or do you get to take all the credit for her outdoor prowess?

[PFUNK]

She grew up hunting in North Dakota, so she has lots of experience hunting deer and pheasants. I will, however, take credit for any picture of her with a fish on a frozen sheet of ice, as I introduced her to the wild world of ice fishing. Also got her into bow hunting, so when she takes her first deer with the bow I will be very happy. A couple chances last season but didn't quite get it done. But of course, I ended up arrowing a 10 pointer while I was out seeking greener pastures as she sat in the stand we put up for her

[chasineyes]

Great Pics!!!