Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,698
- 5,574
Mama, my youngest son, and I loaded up the car and headed for eastern Washington, even farther east than normal for me. Mama spent her time making sure we were well fed, and then the rest of the time she did a little hiking and a lot of reading. She doesn't much enjoy hunting, though she is all for the rest of us doing so.
Up about 0330 on the first morning. Breakfast. Drank almost the whole pot of black coffee. Headed out. Nothing the first morning. Back to the cabin for lunch and a much needed nap. Back at it in the afternoon. "Hey, there's a bear!" He'd come out of a tree line and was headed towards some other trees. We moved fast over the rough terrain, trying to close the distance, and hoping that he'd stop for a while.
"Spot and stalk" may conjure up some sort of slow-moving hunt... In reality, here, it's a lot of hiking in very tough terrain, with just the game trails. Steep country too. Open in places, very heavily vegetated in other places. The berry crop was pretty well finished up. The bears were seeking the last of them, and homing in on some fruit trees still alive from long-abandoned homesteads. We try to spot the bears while they're moving from one food source to another. There's no baiting allowed here, and using dogs to hunt bears is forbidden as well. It's spot and stalk or nothing. Fortunately, I really enjoy that!
So, at "Hey, there's a bear" we were running with packs, rifles & binos, trying to close the distance. The bear got to an old homestead site, well below us. Another bear was also under the trees! We watched and waited for a shot opportunity, trying to creep closer, but running out of cover fast. We paused at a rocky outcropping. My Swaro laser showed 319 yards and the bear was walking away. I looked at my son, saw he was set up with the ancient .30-06 on the tall bipod, just like he had practiced at the range last week. I told him the range. The bear was walking pretty much straight away, but was well below us.
I'd guess the bear to be about 350 pounds, and a very rich, dark chocolate color. My son tagged him. We skinned him. A friend carried the hide & head back up the mountain in the late summer 90 degree heat. I carried the meat. My son carried my rifle & gear as well as his. Group effort. At the top, after almost an hour of hiking up, up, and up, we got to the truck, deposited the bear and each of us downed a bottle of Gatorade.
My son's bullet, a 165 gr .30 cal Nosler Partition, entered high in the shoulder, from behind and ranged up through the neck into the head, and exited.
Guy
Up about 0330 on the first morning. Breakfast. Drank almost the whole pot of black coffee. Headed out. Nothing the first morning. Back to the cabin for lunch and a much needed nap. Back at it in the afternoon. "Hey, there's a bear!" He'd come out of a tree line and was headed towards some other trees. We moved fast over the rough terrain, trying to close the distance, and hoping that he'd stop for a while.
"Spot and stalk" may conjure up some sort of slow-moving hunt... In reality, here, it's a lot of hiking in very tough terrain, with just the game trails. Steep country too. Open in places, very heavily vegetated in other places. The berry crop was pretty well finished up. The bears were seeking the last of them, and homing in on some fruit trees still alive from long-abandoned homesteads. We try to spot the bears while they're moving from one food source to another. There's no baiting allowed here, and using dogs to hunt bears is forbidden as well. It's spot and stalk or nothing. Fortunately, I really enjoy that!
So, at "Hey, there's a bear" we were running with packs, rifles & binos, trying to close the distance. The bear got to an old homestead site, well below us. Another bear was also under the trees! We watched and waited for a shot opportunity, trying to creep closer, but running out of cover fast. We paused at a rocky outcropping. My Swaro laser showed 319 yards and the bear was walking away. I looked at my son, saw he was set up with the ancient .30-06 on the tall bipod, just like he had practiced at the range last week. I told him the range. The bear was walking pretty much straight away, but was well below us.
I'd guess the bear to be about 350 pounds, and a very rich, dark chocolate color. My son tagged him. We skinned him. A friend carried the hide & head back up the mountain in the late summer 90 degree heat. I carried the meat. My son carried my rifle & gear as well as his. Group effort. At the top, after almost an hour of hiking up, up, and up, we got to the truck, deposited the bear and each of us downed a bottle of Gatorade.
My son's bullet, a 165 gr .30 cal Nosler Partition, entered high in the shoulder, from behind and ranged up through the neck into the head, and exited.
Guy
. It looked and sounded like you had a great hunt. I hope it is just the beginning of very successful fall!!!
