Endangered Grizzly Bear Photo Thread

[shines@times]

Same can be said for good snowshoes.

Another great photo YoungGun. And good advice.

Quality snowshoes were essential on my hunts in 502 back when it opened past the middle of November. My own were Sherpa brand with bindings that featured very aggressive teeth. They got battered in the scree fields, but held up. Once, they even served to bridge a gap in a rock ledge, providing enough flat space for me to spend the night when I ran out of energy and daylight while climbing back to the plateau after having been blown off my feet and retreating to lower elevation and dense timber to spend a wind-sheltered night*.

* Approximately page 107 of this thread, entry #2127, I posted a photo of that bivouac--the snowshoes are visible therein. I still intend to resume the tale after I find and scan a few more old slides. One of them shows the rock ledge bivouac. It might be awhile--I first have to clear out a large building I am selling to get out from under the taxes.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Isn’t there a road or a gas station nearby you can glass from?

I bet the photos posted by @YoungGun have you thinking, “Maybe I can make just one more trip to the top.”

 

[shines@times]

Same can be said for good snowshoes. I had a cheapo pair that I tried using one year. Snapped one in half a couple hours from the truck. Made for a long and tiring hike out and effectively ended my hunt.

Reiterating, I really like that photo. As I view it, it strikes me that mountain climbers might think we are crazy to go through such effort for a hunt with extremely low odds of success. Meanwhile, I've often thought that climbers are crazy to do what they do when there is nothing up on top of their peaks to hunt.

 

[shines@times]

EYJONAS!​

How's the ankle buddy? Are you going to get out for another go this season yet?

 

[NDcoyote]

IMPORTANCE OF BIVOUACKING:

The night before the climax of my successful 1980's hunt in area 502--many have suspected the location, but I now am willing to confirm due to revision of season dates and boundaries that resulted in inclusion of the territory that I previously hunted within today's 501, a season and area that I will likely avoid if I am blessed with miraculous physical regeneration and the ability to once again pursue Bighorn rams in the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness--found me very close to a location where I had twice already been taken off my feet by wind earlier in the hunt.

On the day of the preceding misadventure, I had staggered into the lee of a boulder only to be instantly dusted like a powder sugar doughnut with the spindrift generated from fluffy layers which had previously resided under wind-shattered slabs of compacted crusty snow. The topmost and grainier portions of such slabs, icy pellets that averaged about the size of BB shot, had already pelted me to the point of frustration as the persistent and gusty wind found fractures and levered irregular slabs approaching four square feet of area into the maelstrom. There, they instantaneously disintegrated into densely-patterned, shotgun-like blasts that stung the minimal patches of skin I had to leave exposed for navigation. Even the impacts on my parka-shrouded arms and torso were wearying.

In the lee of the boulder, I doffed my pack and retrieved my wind gauge, an instrument I had owned for more than a dozen years without good cause. I held the gauge as far out into the wind stream as I could manage from the minimal shelter provided by the boulder. I watched with a mixture of concern and confirmation of my suspicion as the ball within the pitot tube would jiggle manically in the region of 35 - 40 MPH then suddenly shoot and peg itself firmly against the upper 65 MPH limit of the instrument's capacity. As a kid, I had lived with seasonal Santa Anna winds, which can sometimes exceed 100 mph; yet, I had never been literally taken off my feet. On that afternoon, I knew that I could not buck the wind and hike the miles back to my spike camp safely.

I opted to drop, probably 1500 vertical feet, to the shelter of timber. A photo of my bivouac site is posted below:
View attachment 183429

TO BE CONTINUED...

Shines, I think you need to sit down and write a book.. Your stories and pictures are top notch. These kinds of stories are what makes this thread so freaking awesome!

 

[520 Road Sow]

EYJONAS!​

How's the ankle buddy? Are you going to get out for another go this season yet?

Shines, I appreciate the thoughts. Everyday is a little better I suppose, I'm doing some PT and some cryotherapy. It's definitely not 100 percent, I'm still wearing a brace and can tell on days when I'm on my feet a fair amount it gets pretty tender that evening. That said the chances of me going up there without two solid ankles are not real high. Hope someone gets up there and can locate one of them buggers.

As far as the future holds in it, I'm not sure where I'm at with it. Time will tell, as Ol Jack O'Connor said. "You're either born a sheep hunter, or your not." I dunno might not be one, a couple of these past experiences have me leaning away from it.

Thanks again.

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

Shines, I appreciate the thoughts. Everyday is a little better I suppose, I'm doing some PT and some cryotherapy. It's definitely not 100 percent, I'm still wearing a brace and can tell on days when I'm on my feet a fair amount it gets pretty tender that evening. That said the chances of me going up there without two solid ankles are not real high. Hope someone gets up there and can locate one of them buggers.

As far as the future holds in it, I'm not sure where I'm at with it. Time will tell, as Ol Duncan Gilcreast said. "You're either born a sheep hunter, or your not." I dunno might not be one, a couple of these past experiences have me leaning away from it.

Thanks again.

Dibs on your maps if you quit!

 

[BigHornRam]

Reiterating, I really like that photo. As I view it, it strikes me that mountain climbers might think we are crazy to go through such effort for a hunt with extremely low odds of success. Meanwhile, I've often thought that climbers are crazy to do what they do when there is nothing up on top of their peaks to hunt.

That's what I thought when I watched Free Solo. He climbed all the way up there and didn't bring a rifle. What the hell is wrong with him?

 

[shines@times]

As far as the future holds in it, I'm not sure where I'm at with it. Time will tell, as Ol Jack O'Connor said. "You're either born a sheep hunter, or your not." I dunno might not be one, a couple of these past experiences have me leaning away from it.

I'm saddened to hear that you are reevaluating. I hope it is just disappointment talking for the moment.

 

[Hawk Tuah]

Craig Boddington's wife, Donna just scored in the unlimiteds.

 

[TheTone]

Craig Boddington's wife, Donna just scored in the unlimiteds.

From the picture he posted she was also very brave regarding curl

 

[MTGomer]

Brave indeed.

 

[Southern Elk]

From the picture he posted she was also very brave regarding curl

Just googled it and you’re right. Looks a lot like the one a few pages back.

 

[MTGomer]

The walk up to that one would be the longest, most nerve racking walk of your life.

 

[Oak]

From the picture he posted she was also very brave regarding curl

Wow!

 

[Jayce37]

Doesn’t look legal to me, but hard to say

 

[Oak]

Sue me.

 

[MThunter398]

I'm sure the folks over at Dome Mountain Ranch had plenty of time to look him over...

 

[Carnage2011]

That’s unfortunate…that ram got a pass from another hunter a couple weeks ago. Congrats to the hunter though.

 

[TheTone]

I’m sure it cost a lot and got her 3/4 of the way to a grand slam. What a proud moment to brag about with others at a banquet