Where have all the bear Gone ?

by: suzee

After Tom & Shanna’s awesome bear hunt several weeks ago I was really pumped up to get out and have my go at it a second time. We called our young friend Zach to see if  he was game to go with us again. The first outing Zach went with us, we had to deal with snow flurries and  plowing through deep snow drifts … so I wasn’t sure he would want to go again… but from the excited “YES! ”,  I figure we have a true blue hunter on our hands! 

Bear Hunter Zach is ready to head up the mountain!

It was May 1st  and the weather was pretty decent when we started up the mountain. On our first set up everything felt good… but  after 25 minutes  of listening to wounded rabbit calls, a little voice in my head whispered “this could be a long day!” We hiked farther up the mountain, stopping to call in likely looking places… 30 minutes of squealing, whining, rabbit calls! Now I’ve heard duck hunters say that the continuous “quacking” of duck calls is music to the ears, and those who hunt with hounds get pure joy from the non-stop  ”baying” of the hounds… but let me tell you… wounded rabbit gets on ones nerves!

Gary sounding like a DEAD rabbit after 25 minutes of calling!

We were so glad to see so many deer out feeding on the green slopes, and  we spotted a herd of elk several canyons away. This is the same unit we archery hunt so it was encouraging to see so much game… just would like to see a bear make it’s appearance! Zach was getting lots of practice spotting game, and he got pretty excited when he could spot them before we pointed them out. 

The hills were covered with deer!

Around noon when we stopped for lunch, the nice weather began to deteriorate . A frigid wind came howling up the draws and it started to sleet and hail…  Zach did great to maintain a cheerful spirit!

Trying to call against the wind!

Still feeling optimistic!

We finally made our way to the spot Tom had shot his bear two weeks previous. It’s a funny thing when you’ve been successful in an certain spot you just feel it will happen there  again. When we settled in to call I kept visualizing a big ole bruin crusin’ down the ridge, just like Tom’s had done… but my bear forgot his cue and never showed up.

Looking up the draw where Tom shot his bear.

Gary wanted to try one more set up in a place he’s seen numerous bears in a single day. We gave it all we had… Gary was getting numb lips from all the calling! …30 minutes of non – stop squealing and whining  and we began to get a little touched in the head! Zach and Gary had a little contest to see who could make the weirdest noises on the elk call… the deer across the canyon were so confused by all the strange sounds!

Zach & Gary being "goofy"!

Zach doing his own thing on the elk call!

 *side note : I wasn’t able to get back out until May 15th, two weeks later. It was just Gary and I this time and we finally saw a bear!… trouble was it showed up 900 yards across a canyon, as the bird flies… it was 4:00 in the afternoon and we were already a good three miles back in the hills. In spite of the odds against us we decided to dive off the ridge we were sitting on and high tail it as fast as our “old” legs would go… needless to say an hour and a half later peeking up over the top of the ridge  where the bear had been, there was only an empty green neadow. We decided to do some fawn in distress bleats anyway and about 10 minutes into the calling a herd of elk came pouring out of the trees above us! They were only 100 yards away and  were so curious and excited by the fawn bleats… It was a great sight and well worth all the effort to experience it. A deer also came into the call… but no Mr. Bruin…but all in all it was another great day on the mountain! … May 22nd is the last day of the season… I’m hoping it will work out to go after Mr Bruin one more time!

Tags: Bear hunting, hunting with kids, predator calling