Hunting in grizzly country

[Guy Miner]

Pretty good article re hunting/camping in grizzly country:

http://blog.eastmans.com/living-grizzly ... 66-9313442

Guy

 

[DrMike]

Indeed, worth reading. I've never had a bear come in when I was dressing game, but I am aware. If there are more than one of us, one will always stand, keeping an eye out for a bear coming in.

 

[Thankful Otter]

We often have bears, both white and brown, who want to take our dinner away from us.

I believe simple awareness solves a lot of problems whether you are field dressing, keeping a clean camp or hunting. I was told years ago---you need to be at least as smart as the animal and respect them, if your going to co exist with them.

A good recent example was Bear78 hunting with his son. They elected to pass on the caribou they saw rather than move into the area where the sow and cubs were feeding on berries. Just hunt for the caribou a different day and in a different place. It seems simple enough, but you would be amazed at what some folks will do or try to do in regards to bears.

One of the Inuit beliefs is that the bear when hibernating, sheds his skin and is human. Maybe Bear78 can explain to us how he got his log on name lol

 

[Anonymous]

Pretty good piece- thanks for sharing.

I try very hard to avoid heavy brush and thickets that limit my visibility when I'm hunting and stick to open high country. Most bears just don't want a thing to do with you and if you can see each other at a distance many will simply just go around and on their way.

I also try to move as much meat away from the viscera as possible as bears are very attracted to gut piles. We do our field dressing in a hurry and the more restricted the visibility...the more we hurry to get the meat to some open ground where we can see any unwanted visitors well before they become an issue.

 

[Thebear_78]

I've always said a thimble full of common sense and situational awareness is much better than any amount of firepower.

The sow and cubs mention above is an example of common sense. There was no way to climb up that approach without bumping into those bears. I would rather not get a caribou than be forced to orphan those three cubs or worse get my son or I injured. There is lots of season left to hunt bou. Better to just enjoy the show and move on.

It is much easier to avoid a confrontation than deal with one. Like hogeman said most bears want nothing to do with you. I like to camp with plenty of open ground around if possible, and avoid bear trails around camp. I tend to make plenty of noise when in areas were proximity to bears is likely. Namely around salmon streams or when approaching meat cache. I always get my quarters and meat bags away from the gut pile/scraps. I try to find a spot that is open and get the meat off the ground and put a tarp above it. I think the tarp keeps the birds from circling it and attracting bears. Bloody clothes stays with the meat bags. I had one very chilly airboat ride after butchering a moose in 3-4' of water. That prop pulling cold wet air across my only tighty whitey wearing body was beyond chilly!

Always well away from camp but somewhere I can see from camp. Usually on a nearby hill or across the river from camp, preferably a couple hundred yards from camp.

The only food I keep in camp is freeze dried or vacuums sealed. Cooking and dishes kept away from the sleeping tent.

My forum name comes from a nickname I got while in college. I am pretty much covered in long black hair and a couple of the girls I worked with started calling me bear because of the thick chest hair. They used to enjoy grabbing a tuft when I wasn't paying attention. I've also been told not to take my shirt off while fishing for fear someone might mistake me for a bear and shoot me! I'm also a pretty big guy, 6'3" and 375 pounds, I guess big and hairy = bear.




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[Paul Barnard]

During my three years that I was stationed in Kodiak I took place in probably a dozen blacktail kills. I had always heard that the bears were conditioned to come to the sound of a shot. I was always careful to do my butchering in an open area with good sight lines. I never had an encounter though. Most of the bear activity during deer season in the near coastal parts of the island was near the creeks, rivers and streams. Most of my hunting was up at 1000-2000 feet or so. I suppose that helped keep us out of conflict.

 

[hunternyny]

I agree with the advise written in the article posted by Guy and the comments made by Hodgeman, Bear78, Dr Mike, Paul and cheyenne.

Good information and guidance.

I would like to point out one thing however. Bear, Hodgeman, Dr Mike, Gerry are in the part of the world that if it doesn't work out today, we can go tomorrow, next week or even next month. To take this even further, Gil and Cheyenne can substance hunt year round ( and I think I remember Hodgeman also saying he substance hunts)

Now I am certainly not saying we should throw caution to the wind, I in fact believe we should follow all the advise given on this thread. but some of us, a lot of us,, have maybe a week, ten days a year to Elk hunt or Moose hunt, or Caribou hunt and if we dont get it done in those 10 days we are done for another year, or longer. Does anyone else understand my point or am I of base here

 

[Thebear_78]

If that's the only chance at a caribou I get this year it was still the right choice. Forcing a confrontation and orphaning those cubs would be way worse than not filling a tag, and getting my son or myself chewed up even worse.

I drive a truck 80 hours s week and have very little time off, I likely hunt less a year than most of these guys coming up for week long hunts.

There are much worse things than not filling a tag, care needs to be taken when in remote areas. First priority is to come home safe, bringing in an animal is secondary. Watching 3 cubs play and wrestling for an hour is as rewarding as killing a bou.


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[Blkram]

While I may be able to hunt for sustenance year round, does not mean that I do, as I too am very busy and do not get out to hunt all year round.

I can appreciate that for many, there are just a few precious days available to get out into the field each year and that the tags, hunt costs and travel all puts a great amount of pressure on folks to fill their tags while they can. I too, experience many of these same challenges.

But, as Thebear_78 puts it, there are many things in this life and in this world that are more valuable than a cancelled tag!

Take a moment to think about the consequences (ripple effect) of what happens after you pull that trigger, before actually doing so! All it takes is a moment for a poor choice to develop into a nasty predicament!

We would rather you ate tag soup than read about you being the next victim of a grizzly bear attack or fatality that could have been prevented by better planning, consideration, discretion and risk management. There are many stories of unlucky hunters who would rather be here to tell the story of discretion vs fatal incident over the past decade.

 

[Anonymous]

I understand what you're saying-
It's true I get plenty of time to hunt, but I've also had a couple close calls with a griz.

I'll take tag soup over another one of those any day.

That said- generally on a 10 day hunt for caribou or moose you'll get more than a single opportunity. Particularly caribou, it's not unusual when the season gets pumping to get three or four stalks in a day. Bear's story is more typical of the early season where the caribou are clinging to vegetation line and more spread out. That's maybe not particularly typical of caribou overall though.

 

[wlhicks264]

I made 13 trips to kodiak while living in fairbanks, the only deer i ever lost to a bear was out of the meat shed one night at my friends cabin . When we shot a buck ,the clock is running,within minutes camp robber jays,magpies, then crows and ravens show up,later sometimes eagles. All those birds are singing the dinner bell for rhe bears,so i would gut and cut the legs off of the deer at the knee joints and get the carcass as far away from the guts as soon as possible. I lost one moose quarter one nite off of the meat pole in front of my airboat up the salcha riverto a grizzly. He was a nice bear ,he only took one quarter,a ham or hind, and did not come back

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[salmonchaser]

Pushing on bears is bad. I appreciate the desire to acquire the trophy, but at what cost. Simply not worth it. I deal with very well fed bears daily. I do my best to give them room, close encounters are fairly common. Day before yesterday one of our guides set his brand new Sage fly rod against an alder tree while assisting a couple of clients. A sow and two two year old Cubs chose that moment to appear. David move the clients across the creek and up the bank. The trio walk by, past Davids Sage rod ($1,200.00 for 6 ounces of graphite) and stopped. One of the cups seized the rod stomped and bit it into about 8 or 10 pieces.
You just never know about bears.


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[sask boy]

Even while hunting in northern Saskatchewan we are always careful of bear, ours are Black bears but they still warrant respect.
I know when hunting with DrMike, Gerry and Gil we paid attentions to our surrounding while having a feed of Mountain Blue berries :wink:

Blessings,
Dan