bmack
Member
Just got back from a great bear hunt in NE Oregon with my dad.
Anytime I draw these tags I'm always concerned with the weather and not being able to get in to the location I want to be due to snow depth on the roads. Often times it isn't accessible to any form of vehicles until mid June. With the seasons running from April 1 - May 31st there has been many tags eaten due to mother nature.
This year we've had a nice warm spell and a pretty mild winter. I've waited patiently since the start of April and decided it was time to head up.
To our surprise we got several miles further than the last time we drew the tag until I finally buried the Tundra in a snow drift. That was the sign to back out and set up camp. From there we'd rodeo the ATV's over the drifts and see how far we could make it.
After navigating every north facing corner, drift and fallen timber we made it the 15 miles to where I wanted to be. Amazing!
This country is stunning in the spring and usually the bears are pretty easy to find. We spent the first 5 hours glassing a ton of country and only managed to find a few elk. I was a little surprised to be honest.
A guy we ran into gassing up said he just finished up with his hunt and the bears were not active until 6 pm. Then...it was go time.
Sure enough, at 6:30 we spotted our first bear. A super nice jet black one digging for wild onions. He was way off and not in a place to go after him, but a good sign.
As sunset approached we split up to look over a few more areas we'd been at earlier. No luck at my spot so I went to hook up with my old man. As I approached where he was I noticed a bear just coming into an opening in the valley below. A beautiful cinnamon color phase bear. A quick look in the spotter confirmed he was one to get after.
I left my dad and took off down in the valley to try and locate him. Once down there the landscape looks so different but thankfully I had a good idea of which open meadow he was feeding in. As I hiked into his area the wind was in my face and everything was looking good.
Finally caught movement and confirmed his location. I had plenty of cover to move in and approached to 120 yards with no problems. I got set up and had the bi-pods extended. I adjusted the zoom on my VX-3 and holy chit did he fill up the reticle! The bi-pod man a little noise which got his attention and when he looked right at me I started getting jacked up. His head was massive.
He finally turned broadside and I was able to make a good shot through the front shoulders. He went down immediately and then I followed up with one more to make sure of it.
This bear has a huge head and incredible shoulders. His character was unreal as he had many battle scars and his coat was just a beautiful long haired cinnamon color. His teeth are nearly worn down to nothing with the exception of his ridiculously massive k9's. Nose to tail he was 5.5' which seems small, but he was just built differently I guess. I don't know much on how a bear is scored, but I think he's pretty old and pretty bad ass no matter what a tape measure says.
As you can imagine, he exceeded my expectations and it was awesome to share it with my dad who watched everything happen from his spotter. A great first bear.
I shot him at 8:05 pm and we finally got back to camp at 1:00 am.
Dead dog tired.
PS - I think it was my new "lucky" hat that gave me some good karma!
Anytime I draw these tags I'm always concerned with the weather and not being able to get in to the location I want to be due to snow depth on the roads. Often times it isn't accessible to any form of vehicles until mid June. With the seasons running from April 1 - May 31st there has been many tags eaten due to mother nature.
This year we've had a nice warm spell and a pretty mild winter. I've waited patiently since the start of April and decided it was time to head up.
To our surprise we got several miles further than the last time we drew the tag until I finally buried the Tundra in a snow drift. That was the sign to back out and set up camp. From there we'd rodeo the ATV's over the drifts and see how far we could make it.
After navigating every north facing corner, drift and fallen timber we made it the 15 miles to where I wanted to be. Amazing!
This country is stunning in the spring and usually the bears are pretty easy to find. We spent the first 5 hours glassing a ton of country and only managed to find a few elk. I was a little surprised to be honest.
A guy we ran into gassing up said he just finished up with his hunt and the bears were not active until 6 pm. Then...it was go time.
Sure enough, at 6:30 we spotted our first bear. A super nice jet black one digging for wild onions. He was way off and not in a place to go after him, but a good sign.
As sunset approached we split up to look over a few more areas we'd been at earlier. No luck at my spot so I went to hook up with my old man. As I approached where he was I noticed a bear just coming into an opening in the valley below. A beautiful cinnamon color phase bear. A quick look in the spotter confirmed he was one to get after.
I left my dad and took off down in the valley to try and locate him. Once down there the landscape looks so different but thankfully I had a good idea of which open meadow he was feeding in. As I hiked into his area the wind was in my face and everything was looking good.
Finally caught movement and confirmed his location. I had plenty of cover to move in and approached to 120 yards with no problems. I got set up and had the bi-pods extended. I adjusted the zoom on my VX-3 and holy chit did he fill up the reticle! The bi-pod man a little noise which got his attention and when he looked right at me I started getting jacked up. His head was massive.
He finally turned broadside and I was able to make a good shot through the front shoulders. He went down immediately and then I followed up with one more to make sure of it.
This bear has a huge head and incredible shoulders. His character was unreal as he had many battle scars and his coat was just a beautiful long haired cinnamon color. His teeth are nearly worn down to nothing with the exception of his ridiculously massive k9's. Nose to tail he was 5.5' which seems small, but he was just built differently I guess. I don't know much on how a bear is scored, but I think he's pretty old and pretty bad ass no matter what a tape measure says.
As you can imagine, he exceeded my expectations and it was awesome to share it with my dad who watched everything happen from his spotter. A great first bear.
I shot him at 8:05 pm and we finally got back to camp at 1:00 am.
Dead dog tired.
PS - I think it was my new "lucky" hat that gave me some good karma!
