DrMike
Ballistician
- Nov 8, 2006
- 36,924
- 5,115
I thought I'd post an update. There is no blood on my knives, but it is not for lack of trying. I went into camp on Sunday morning. It was raining and took about three hours to travel the 58 km off the main road. I was able to get in an evening hunt, but we saw only a few deer and lots of grouse.
It rained steadily on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We scouted a number of areas that were promising. All had signs of grizzlies and wolves. I have never seen so many wolf tracks and such a large amount of wolf scat. Deer, moose and elk populations seem to be depressed in these areas. Also, I am seeing far fewer black bears that I would normally see. I saw one coyote (a pup) in all my explorations. However, I bagged quite a few grouse and saw lots of snowshoe hare.
Yesterday broke bright and clear, and with the promise of a transient change in the weather, my hunting partner and I ventured into some new territory. I saw five grizzlies yesterday and two black wolves. The grizzlies were all either sows and cubs or cubs without the sow visible. The first two cubs were chocolate with just a sprinkling of silver. They were about 550 pounds and the sow was about 650 pounds or slightly larger. The first cub popped up about forty yards away and stood to look at us before mama sent him packing. They circled and came out below us about 80 yards before moving away. I gave a predator call and the younguns' turned to see what was happening. Mama woofed at them and sent them on their way, but not before standing up to get a good look at what we were. My camera was still packed, so I wasn't able to get a picture. My trusty native guide razzed me all afternoon about failing to get a picture, especially since the little family had posed so prettily for me.
Later in the afternoon, two cubs about the same size as these earlier cubs darted out in front of us at about 60 yards. They were blond coloured. The first cub gave a quick glance toward us before both ran about twenty yards down the road and darted into the bush. We never saw mama, but we were pretty certain that she was close by.
Altogether, we counted spoor and scat from at least 15 different grizzlies in eight separate areas. We tracked a couple of boars, one that was very close, but we could not get a visual on either of them. The last one we tracked looked to be at least 7 or 7.5 feet according to his spoor. I'm heading back after the weekend and setting aside the early part of each week for the remainder of the season (d.v.).
Yesterday morning, a black wolf came trotting down the road as we were driving into an area Gil thought we should investigate. This wolf was about 450 yards when I gave a predator call which at first sent him loping toward us. Then, at about 350 yards he went to the ditch, paused and turned away from us. I continued calling and he turned and walked toward us for perhaps ten or fifteen yards before turning into the bush. We drove carefully up the road, hoping to get a clear shot. When we reached the point where he had gone in, my hunting partner looked in the rearview mirror and saw a very large charcoal coloured wolf standing broadside about 250 yards behind us. I would estimate the size of that dog at about 160 pounds or more. It was easily one of the largest wolves I have seen in this area.
I had my 350 RM loaded with 200 grain TSX launched at 2810 fps, so I thought it should be an easy shot. Just as I raised my rifle, he (or she) darted into the bush. I believe that while we were calling, this larger wolf (alpha female?) came out of the bush to investigate. You may be certain that I will set up and try calling again to see if I can tease another one of this big puppies out to where I can invite it to spend some time with me.
Out of eight major areas investigated, only one had no sign of wolves. There are a large amount of footprints (many very large) and scat in all these areas. As I said, there were far fewer deer and moose than I would have imagined. I suspect that predation has been extensive this year. We did see moose, elk, whitetail and mulies, just not in the numbers we would normally have seen. Also, I saw far fewer black bears than normal for these areas.
In any case, I'm home for a couple of days. I hope to do some additional load work that is lacking and then spend some more time in the bush. Man, just being close to the bears and the wolves has me pumped.
My partner repeatedly consoled me at the fact that I don't yet have a grizzly on this trip by reminding me that most people have never seen a grizzly in the wild, and we were within a matter of yards of five of them in one day. I glowered at his suggestion, though I must confess his logic in this instance is sound. I daresay that most hunters are not successful on their first foray into grizzly country on the first or second try. I know that my first two hunts were unsuccessful, though I did manage to kick one in the backside, but that is another story.
It rained steadily on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We scouted a number of areas that were promising. All had signs of grizzlies and wolves. I have never seen so many wolf tracks and such a large amount of wolf scat. Deer, moose and elk populations seem to be depressed in these areas. Also, I am seeing far fewer black bears that I would normally see. I saw one coyote (a pup) in all my explorations. However, I bagged quite a few grouse and saw lots of snowshoe hare.
Yesterday broke bright and clear, and with the promise of a transient change in the weather, my hunting partner and I ventured into some new territory. I saw five grizzlies yesterday and two black wolves. The grizzlies were all either sows and cubs or cubs without the sow visible. The first two cubs were chocolate with just a sprinkling of silver. They were about 550 pounds and the sow was about 650 pounds or slightly larger. The first cub popped up about forty yards away and stood to look at us before mama sent him packing. They circled and came out below us about 80 yards before moving away. I gave a predator call and the younguns' turned to see what was happening. Mama woofed at them and sent them on their way, but not before standing up to get a good look at what we were. My camera was still packed, so I wasn't able to get a picture. My trusty native guide razzed me all afternoon about failing to get a picture, especially since the little family had posed so prettily for me.
Later in the afternoon, two cubs about the same size as these earlier cubs darted out in front of us at about 60 yards. They were blond coloured. The first cub gave a quick glance toward us before both ran about twenty yards down the road and darted into the bush. We never saw mama, but we were pretty certain that she was close by.
Altogether, we counted spoor and scat from at least 15 different grizzlies in eight separate areas. We tracked a couple of boars, one that was very close, but we could not get a visual on either of them. The last one we tracked looked to be at least 7 or 7.5 feet according to his spoor. I'm heading back after the weekend and setting aside the early part of each week for the remainder of the season (d.v.).
Yesterday morning, a black wolf came trotting down the road as we were driving into an area Gil thought we should investigate. This wolf was about 450 yards when I gave a predator call which at first sent him loping toward us. Then, at about 350 yards he went to the ditch, paused and turned away from us. I continued calling and he turned and walked toward us for perhaps ten or fifteen yards before turning into the bush. We drove carefully up the road, hoping to get a clear shot. When we reached the point where he had gone in, my hunting partner looked in the rearview mirror and saw a very large charcoal coloured wolf standing broadside about 250 yards behind us. I would estimate the size of that dog at about 160 pounds or more. It was easily one of the largest wolves I have seen in this area.
I had my 350 RM loaded with 200 grain TSX launched at 2810 fps, so I thought it should be an easy shot. Just as I raised my rifle, he (or she) darted into the bush. I believe that while we were calling, this larger wolf (alpha female?) came out of the bush to investigate. You may be certain that I will set up and try calling again to see if I can tease another one of this big puppies out to where I can invite it to spend some time with me.
Out of eight major areas investigated, only one had no sign of wolves. There are a large amount of footprints (many very large) and scat in all these areas. As I said, there were far fewer deer and moose than I would have imagined. I suspect that predation has been extensive this year. We did see moose, elk, whitetail and mulies, just not in the numbers we would normally have seen. Also, I saw far fewer black bears than normal for these areas.
In any case, I'm home for a couple of days. I hope to do some additional load work that is lacking and then spend some more time in the bush. Man, just being close to the bears and the wolves has me pumped.
My partner repeatedly consoled me at the fact that I don't yet have a grizzly on this trip by reminding me that most people have never seen a grizzly in the wild, and we were within a matter of yards of five of them in one day. I glowered at his suggestion, though I must confess his logic in this instance is sound. I daresay that most hunters are not successful on their first foray into grizzly country on the first or second try. I know that my first two hunts were unsuccessful, though I did manage to kick one in the backside, but that is another story.
