Impromptu bear hunt

Thebear_78

Handloader
Sep 30, 2004
3,047
669
We had a few days left before my buddy laves state so we ran up towards Denali for a quick bear hunt at a place I regularly see bears at.

We got up there about 4pm and ran up to a nice high looking point to set up camp. I was putting in the 4th corner tent stake when I saw a black bear. It was about 800 yards away.

A quick look thru the binos was all it took to tell this was a very nice bear. It was hoovering up blueberries in a berry patch bordered by heavy alders.

We grabbed the rifles and headed to intercept. We actually made it half way very easily. I had a great open broadside shot at 402 yards, but it was a bit farther than I wanted. The rest of the way wouldn’t be nearly as easy.

We had ran out of high ground. We would need to go they a low stand of alder choked grassland. Ever step clinging in the alder, muddy water sucking at your boots. Dead alders crunching underfoot. It was mission impossible. We snuck thru the best we could and came up to a small rise that would bring us within 100-150 yards of we’re the bear had been.

Sadly it was nowhere to be seen. We sat peaking out behind the rise. Hoping it might come back out. The wind swung around behind us ending up blowing straight to the alders I figured the bear was hiding in. Either way I figured the jig was up.

We trudged back to the tent and continued to set up the tent. At that point the bear came back out, flipped us the double bird, yelled something about our mother being a hampster and father smelling of elderberries (Monty python reference), and ran back into the alders.

It was a shame, it was a brute of a bear.

We saw another bear about an hour later but at a distance that the remaining light wouldn’t allow. It was nearly as big as the first bear but would have been tasty.

It was really nice that afternoon but weather set in during the night, low cloud cover and rain. Wind was picking up by mid day so we decided to call it early.
 

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Yup, that's bear hunting. Thanks for taking us along on that hunt and giving us the chance to experience the challenge.
 
That is some wild looking country. At least you got to see a couple of bears and executed a stalk. Sounds better than desk work. I wish I could experience it. "It" being the country and bear stalk, not the desk work. Thanks for sharing. Dan
 
Man that's pretty country. Sounds like you have a couple days left, or was I reading that wrong?
 
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