Bear Hunt Sneak Peek
by Zachary Key | November 29, 2011
It was fall, 2011, and Eric Anderson and I had decided to load up the mules, tack, food, supplies and camera gear, and head into no man's land. We were in the pursuit of a mule deer buck with a traditional bow. Little did we know we'd end up bringing home a monster bear. I was supposed to be the camera man on this journey but had come prepared with my bear tag in my pocket, just in case. We drove about two hours to our destination and begin to saddle up the mules and head into the back country.
We hunted vigorously for several days, never seeing the big buck we were after. We saw a few 150" caliber bucks and nothing much better. We also spotted a small two year old bear. He was just old enough to be away from mama but not much bigger than a large dog. We must have filmed this bear for at least an hour. He was walking down logs, climbing trees, cliffs, and just gorging himself on all the berries on the hill side.
Deciding to leave this bear alone we proceed back to camp to get some rest. We had only one day left before we headed home. We arrive back at camp, ate a wonderful dinner packed by our wives and made a game plan for our last day. We decide to go look into a huge basin that was close to camp so if we did by chance spot a big mule deer buck we could have time to move in and stalk the bad boy.
The next morning we got up before light, loaded up our mules and tally hoed up the mountainside. We arrived at a large avalanche shoot overlooking the giant basin. We must have glassed the basin for at least three hours before the boredom started setting in. Eric and I decide to start rolling rocks like little kids off of this huge avalanche shoot just to watch them tumble down at mind blowing speeds. After this we looked back onto the basin to see if anything was even moving at this point. Nothing. Knowing that our hunt was basically over for this trip we decide to shoot my long-range rifle for fun. We spotted a rock at 1,041 yards across the basin and fired two shots hitting within inches of our target. Having one shot left, I prepared for the last and final shot.
Before I got a chance to shoot Eric and I suddenly heard some rocks rolling below us. At first we thought that it was only some of the rocks we rolled earlier breaking loose and I got ready again to make that last shot. Again, we heard rocks rolling, and this time we were at full attention. Then Eric shouted, "There's a bear!" I couldn't believe my eyes! All the commotion we'd made and there was a bear? I jumped up and ran around the rock handing the camera to Eric. "Are you on him?" I asked. Eric replied, "Yeah, he's 275 yards!" I dialed my long range Huskemaw scope to the desired range. Then Eric whispered loudly, "You only have a shot for a few more seconds. He is walking around the corner!" I placed the cross hairs right on the shoulder of this giant bear and squeezed the trigger. The bear began to run around the corner and I had a gut feeling that the shot was great. A few seconds later the bear came rolling around the corner and pinned himself against a log in the avalanche shoot. We had just harvested what we believed was an amazing bear. What a way to start the first fall hunting trip of the year! This bear was easily 350 pounds or more, and 14 years old. He was a giant and I couldn't be happier. Because of his size, getting him down the avalanche shoot was a whole other story. I'll let you in on that adventure another time.
The thing that I learned from this hunt is that you never know what life is going to throw at you when you're out in the field. Being patient and lots of glassing is a huge key to high mountain hunting. Also practicing with your weapon in and out of the field is a must. Get familiar with your equipment and you will always make those ethical shots. If you can't make an ethical shot, let that animal pass and figure out a different way to put that trophy in your freezer. Whether you need to move around for a different shot angle or whatever it is, try not to spook the animal and make a new strategy. If you can find a different way around him, or make a different plan, you just may take him home.
