The day of my departure is drawing closer. I’ve been in communication with my outfitter off and on the past several months. They have been experiencing some unseasonably wet and cold weather in April and May but still are putting some bears on the ground, especially hunting over dogs. I’ve been keeping up with my shooting schedule, practicing just about every afternoon from 30-50 yards. The shoulder issue I had been experiencing last year has miraculously healed and I’m back to 90% of what I was prior to the injury last August.

I decided not to roll the dice with flying up there, as everyone knows the issues the airlines are having as far as cancellations are concerned, so I mapped a drive route that would be scenic and loaded up the truck. The weather in town where the outfitter was based out of showed pretty mild temps but rain was in the forecast each day, so I packed my cold weather mountain gear just in case. I left out at 4 am on June 10th headed towards Idaho…..my plan was to get somewhere in Utah before I turned the truck off for the night. Day break came just as I was passing thru Eden and north of sweetwater I was shocked to see a couple of pronghorn feeding just off the side of the road.



I stop in Albuquerque for a quick nap and continue on. The American west is truly a stunningly beautiful place, and I would encourage anyone who has not been to take the time to see it.


I rolled into Moab at around 10 pm and decided to call it a night. Got a room at an old school motor inn, and woke up at 6 am the next morning and continued north.


Grinding down the road, I pass thru Salt Lake City and continue north. I had planned to stop by and visit a friend from high school who lives outside of Boise, but when I call him he informs me he is out bear hunting himself. Instead I stop at a sportsman’s warehouse, get my tags and licenses and get back in the truck to finish the last leg of the journey. Now with no other planned stops, I take the scenic route along the Payette River…simply stunning. It’s prime white water rafting season and there were a lot of people out on the water.

I roll into town around 7pm, actually a day early, so I grab another room, eat a good dinner and go to sleep. The next day I go meet the outfitter and get situated. There is two other hunters in camp, a father/son combo from the U.P in Michigan…..and that’s all I’m gonna mention about those two guys….Anyway, we formulate a game plan and prepare to go up the mountain and get on a bait for the evening hunt.

The town I’m at is along the Salmon river and is only 1800’ above sea level. This is where I’ve been pulling my weather updates….unfortunately they are not indicative of the weather where I’m hunting, which is at 6000’. Not super high but definitely has a different climate. Even though it’s in the 70’s I dress a little warm and We get in the truck and head off to mix a bait, which is a concoction of trail mix, marshmallow, caramel, used kitchen grease and cake icing. Once the bait is mixed, we take a truck up a winding two track that winds up the mountain like a snake. I’m no stranger to mountain hunting, but this terrain is the steepest, most rugged place I’ve ever laid eyes on. Nothing is flat, it’s all vertical, a never ending labyrinth of canyon, ridge, canyon,ridge….it’s incredible. Weather here is about 50 degrees and damp. We take the truck as far as we can then get on a four wheeler to cover the last couple of miles to the stand.







At camp we went over some tips on field judging bears….Everyone has told me they are an extremely hard animal to judge. The only consistent tip I’ve gotten, is when you see a big bear, you know it’s a big bear. The outfitter had shared some game pics with me a week prior, with several bears being seen at the bait, along with one very large bear that was coming in past dark. I inquired about the status of the bears on camera and the big bear had moved on some weeks ago , but there was a few nice bears still around, a blonde one and a large black bear along with a large black sow with cubs ( sows are legal game but not if they have cubs). We check the bait and it has been hit the previous day, so we freshen it up and I get into the tree stand.

Beautiful

Keep it coming.

I settle in about 5:30 and begin my wait. After about 20 min, it becomes readily apparent in underdressed. It’s in the upper 40’s and drizzling, and I’m sitting in a cold metal tree stand. No internet service, no phone, just me alone with my thoughts, which is scary in itself. About 9:45 I see movement to my left and I see a blonde bear moving in quickly. He stays right on the treeline but moves back and forth checking out the bait. He does not appear to be a big bear, fairly long legged and a tad gangly. I’m enjoying watching him as darkness sets in, he isn’t coming into the bait, but is about 10 yards to my left sitting on a log. I hear a 4 wheeler and the guide comes to pick me up and sees the bear. I’m informed that although it’s not a large bear, it’s not a bad one, especially for a color phase, as the blonde bears tend to be smaller, followed by cinnamon color bears.




I slowly unthaw in the truck and head back down to the lodge to get a hot meal and warm bed.

Loving this.

Exciting trip.

Looks beautiful, I’m in can’t believe I didn’t see this sooner.

Great write up so far! Keep them coming.

Sunrise is at 5:30am. Fortunate, bears are not a first light animal so we head up the mountain around 6 to get on a good vantage point. Headed up the mountain, it’s drizzly and slick….the road system consists mainly of switchbacks side-hilling up the mountain gaining elevation, so we have to chain up to even keep moving. We reach our hunting spot and we are pretty much socked in. The drizzly has given way to intermittent light snow, making our efforts pretty much wasted.







We decide to call it around 10:30-11am and head back down. On the way down to base camp we came across tie radio collared mule deer doe

That evening, it’s just nasty. Cold and rainy with some snow. We trudge up the mountain for the evening hunt, I had on about every piece of clothing I brought with me to stave off the cold.

I get into the stand and wait…..and wait….bait had been hit the previous night but this afternoon nothing came in. I waited until past dark before calling a pickup, getting pretty dang cold the last 30 min. I had switched out all my first lite for a new wardrobe comprised of Vuni gear, and was impressed with its water resistance but my base layer system could have been beefed up. It took me about 10 min to drag my stuff & frozen carcass down the ladder to get on the quad.

Again, get back to the lodge, grab a hot meal and get to bed.




The next morning we get a little break in weather. Conditions have cleared a bit and we go back to our previous glassing spot, and see several deer and elk but no bruins. This outfitter controls a huge area of both private and public land but due to the wet and snowy weather can only access a fraction of what he has available, so this limits our hunting areas quite a bit. We glass several different areas that morning but did not see a bear.



For that evening I had decided to switch stands. We went to another bait nearby and saw that it was getting hit, but the gam cam was down and didn’t have an idea of what was hitting it. We go bsck down the mountain and take a short sightseeing tour of the local area.




These California mountain quail were everywhere. Wing shooting here would be a rough go but fantastic




That afternoon I regear and make my way up the mountain again. I did snag a blanket from the lodge to wrap up in as weather conditions have not really improved past it not snowing or raining any longer…

That's why i use a 55 gallon drum for all my baits. The drum is a good benchmark to compare against. A bear that can eat off the top of a vertical 55 gallon drum without lifting its head is a big bear. Lookin forward to the conclusion to your adventure.