B.C. alpine goat and grizzly hunt

Myself and 3 other guys went out on our long awaited goat/grizz hunt from September 10-15 it was definitely an adventure to remember. We started out early and after an 8 hour hike in we set up our camp.

Hitting treeline in some awesome grizzly habitat


Part way in our destination is the mountain in the center of the picture



When we had our camp set up we went out from the bowl we were camping in to spot some goats to go after the next day. A few minutes later my good buddy spotted something and was waving us over.

What could it be..............

Grizzly...... my buddy was exitedly pointing downhill, I couldn't see anything at first but then there it was in the open for about 2 seconds a beautiful looking bear. The wind was good so off we went downhill quickly covering the distance as went went we could see the bear working up the valley it wasn't a big bear but single and great color. We all try for a perfect shot and it bothers me a lot if I don't do it properly but I ended up missing the bear on my first shot but didn't know it, in the end I hit it twice and my other good friend who also drew a tag for grizz hit it once before it got into the scrub timber. Great now we have to go in after it just before dark. It took us a while to get down there since we were at the top of a cliff when we shot so we carefully started to look into all the small patches of scrubby timber. I have to admit my short barreled 375 Ruger is perfect for such things but still it is something no one really wants to do. After a few minutes of searching my eye caught some movement about 12 feet away, it was the bear :shock: it got up and ran hard I shot but missed as it crashed downhill through the scrub we looked some more but as the darkness was not far away we had to give up the search for that night. I was absolutely exhausted but did not sleep well that night for obvious reasons all sorts of thoughts going through my head but next morning my buddy with the other grizzly tag and I went down there again while our other two friends went for some goats................

Dave and I resumed the search but it was really hard to tell what was a new bear trail or an old one the grizzlies had been thick in this area all spring summer and early fall I have never seen so much sign in the alpine in any other trip. We had decided to go back where I had jumped the bear the night before and see if we had missed anything. As we walked uphill again Dave said hang on, I think I see something and sure enough it was my bear :grin: what a relief to finally find it.

We had the bear skinned out and up to our camp by early afternoon and then spent most of the rest of the day fleshing the hide, skinning out the paws, turning the ears, eyes and lips.



We put the hide on a snow patch about 200 yards across a small lake that we were camped beside just before dark, our friends were not back yet so we were sure they must have gotten a goat and we would see them quite late..........

Beautiful bear Gerry, beautiful scenery as well. Congratulations. That's a hunt I have to do sometime.

Sure enough about midnight our buddies came back with a goat so we got up to hear the story of the hunt as we were talking some very disturbing noises stated to come from across the little lake, two bears were bawling very angrily and lots of huffing and popping of teeth it was a sow grizzly with cubs over by my bear hide I thought they were going to steal it but she alternated between trying to chase my bear away and bluff charging us. at one point she came really close to us and if she would have appeared in the light of our headlamps she would have been shot. After about 1 hour she finally went silent so we didn't know what she was up to so eventually we went to sleep but none of us slept well wondering if she was going to sneak into our camp during the night and I thought my bear hide would be gone. In the morning amazingly my bear hide was still there but even more strange the sow and her 2 cubs were about 200 yards above my bear hide and had spent the whole night 465 yards away from our camp :shock:





This sow has a distinctive white patch on it's right shoulder and we are convinced it is the same bear that stalked us 3 years ago in the same area. Next year when she has no cubs I hope someone can tag her since she is SO cranky

This is the goat the boys came back with it was a nanny that fooled my other buddy who is a very experienced goat hunter. Pictured is our other partner and this is his first goat.

There weren't any good field photos so this is a picture of the cape and head at camp the next morning.


A picture of the bear hide after the sow with cubs finally left us alone.

This day was spent in camp working on both capes and trimming up the goat meat. We had some tenderloin and backstrap for lunch and it tasted very good :grin: The next day Greg and I stayed in camp while Dave and Marvin headed out to get a goat or two. Again dark came and no hunters back but they showed up about 2 am with a very big bodied billy, his horns were short but heavy and lots of meat they were quite happy. It was shot out of a group of 5 billies, Marvin decided to hold out for a bigger one since we can hunt goats in the non permit areas until Nov 15.

The boys and thier goat

The next day was spent working on this goat and resting. We ate some backstrap from this guy too.

Greg and I working on the meat in the fog


On the 15th we packed up and headed back to civiliztion taking 5 1/2 hours to get back to our trucks it was a great trip and a lot of unexpected turns on this one. Marvin and i will still see if we can get a billy and Dave will try and arrow a moose and see if we can find him a grizzly as well.

Packed and ready to go home


The end for now

What an amazing hunt !!!! Loved the pictures the story the whole package, thanks so much for sharing!!! You will have great memories for ever. Again thanks for the great write up and pics.

Fantastic account and pictures!! I love to see it being a DIY hunt without all the guides and outfitters. Beautiful country to pack into.

Thanks for taking the time to do that. I love it! What a great trip and memories to fill a room with! Someone said we should have a little story contest and I think this is the first one in the basket. Gonna be pretty hard to to this!!
Congratulations!
David

gerry

Congratulations to you on your adventure. Beautiful country and some exciting moments.
Thanks for sharing the story and pictures.

JD338

Thanks guys, it truly was an adventure I hope my good friend will join this forum and post some of his pictures.

One thing I should have mentioned but didn't was I am thankful to God for blessing us with a good time in the outdoors He created for us and also for His hand of protection when things went sideways with the bears and when our partners were coming back in the dark to camp in steep terrain. I am truly thankful to Him and I can't even imagine how people live without Him in their lives. Thank You Jesus :grin:

That was excellent, thank you very much for the post and the photos.
Looks like you had a great time and the animals made it perfect.

Blessings,
Dan

Hi Gerry if you don't mind telling where abouts are you in BC?
I spent some time in northern BC Smithers
My son played for the PG Cougars as well.

Blessings,
Dan

I live a little west (2 1/2hr drive) of Smithers in Terrace. The hunt was very close to home which is nice. Smithers is a beautiful place as well plus there are more deer and moose there than here. We have more bears, goats and slightly better salmon fishing here. I love living in this area.

The Cougars are a pretty high level of hockey, your son must have been good.

Congrats and thanks for taking the time to share your hunt.

WOW :shock: This is a dream hunt for my brothers and I. Great story and pics, you are blessed to be able to hunt country, and critters like that!

That was great. An adventure, a hunt and a showdown with a grouchy grizzly. Thanks for sharing. The pictures captured the action, excitement and commentary perfectly.
Congtratulations
Greg