Preface: I wrestled with putting this story or any pictures on the forum. In my opinion, social media has created a huge whirlwind of vapid existence; in large part meant only to be, at best, self serving, and at worst a vehicle to breed comparison, contempt and all the negative aspects that go along with it.

Not wanting to be apart of the above mentioned, I also have to remember myself as a younger person, who spent many hours escaping thru the written word of others telling of hunting adventures in far away lands. Reading countless stories about hunting all types of game helped stoke a fire inside of me that continues to burn to this day, and I hope this story and others like it will serve as inspiration for fellow hunters to go create and realize their dreams. With that said, I hope y’all enjoy reading this story.




Smokey Bear and snow mountain


This hunt began in early January of this year. I was sitting in an Air BnB in Houston as my wife recovered from a surgical procedure. Hunting season for me had just ended but I was already looking ahead to see what hunts I could get on in. I had a hunt booked in Argentina in March that was gonna push off so I was eager to find something to fill the void. Africa wasn’t going to be an option this go around and with Covid the available options had dramatically shrunk. About the only thing available for a 1st or 2nd quarter 22’ hunt domestically was a spring Bear hunt, Turkey hunt or common exotic hunt here stateside. Out of those options the Spring Bear hunt was the most appealing. I’m not super enamored with Bears, but it’s one species I’ve hunted but never taken. As a matter of fact, I’ve held bear licenses in several states but prior to this hunt I’ve only seen 3 bears “on the paw” with only one resulting in a stalk, getting to within 80 or so yards but never having a shot opportunity. I hastily narrowed down options, one prerequisite being I could hunt over bait, so that eliminated states like Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. I settled on Idaho for the following reasons: I could bowhunt over bait, the weather would be mild and the area has a high propensity for color phase bears, which is a black bear that has a blonde or cinnamon color coat instead of a black coat.

I called and emailed a few outfitters and selected one who was prompt in returning the calls, answering my questions and had some flexibility on dates. Bear season starts in April and runs thru late June….due to kids schedules and work, a June date would be best. It’s late season and during the rut, which isn’t ideal for bait hunting but it worked with my schedule so I chose June 12th as my hunt date and began to count down the days…..To be continued

Put the scenery and leave bear out and I think you accomplish your thought process. I concur in your Social media thoughts, but some adventures need to shared, this sounds like one

Idaho spring bear has been calling to me ever since I found out they had a spring season, unfortunately I can’t ever seems to put time in to commenting to a trip.

Sounds like a hell of a great trip, look forward to reading more!!

Looking forward to hearing more

come on with it and looking forward to pics