2015 Season in the Rearview Pic Heavy

[Mike7]

Great pics and write-up. Thanks.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

Since I was done early with my Antelope tag and still had the rest of the week off work I decided to head home real fast and re-gear up to pack into a wilderness area here in CA for blacktail and bear.

Once I was packed into my spot on the first day I sat down, set up the binos on my tripod and within an hour glassed up a bear feeding his way through the canyon across from me. As I sat there and pondered if I wanted to chase a bear this early in the hunt he disappeared into a timber patch and didn't come back out. I moved back to glassing for deer when I spotted another bear about 300 yards from where I had last see the previous bear. I knew this bear was different because he was a lighter brown than the other and looked a little bigger as well.

After watching him feed for about 30 min he fed over a rock and out of view. I decided that if I went over there and he was still there I would take him since its early in the hunt I can be back out in a day or so to hunt deer with no distractions!

I hadn't even made camp yet so I emptied my pack and stashed all my non essential gear for the stalk under a tree and marked it with my GPS.

I dropped down to the bottom of the canyon and up the other side pretty quickly and soon enough was approaching the rock I had last seen him feed over. As I peeked over the rock I spotted him right away feeding just 60 yards in front of me. His head was buried in the bushes so I closed another 20 yards to get a better angle on him for the shot. I waited about 10 min for him to turn quartering away from me and then took the shot at just 40 yards with my 240 Weatherby Mag.

He jumped at the shot and took off into the brushy rock chute below me. As he passed through the brush i put another round into him at 100 yards. He tumbled and crashed for another 20 yards and was done.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

After he expired i look over and the other bear was about 80 yards away looking at me investigating the shot. I spent the rest of the day caping and boning him out. By the time i was done with all the meat in my pack and his cape hung in a tree it was dark. I loaded up the AMR and packed the load down to the bottom of the drainage where there was a nice shaded creek bed and hung all the meat for the night.

As i approached where i had stashed all my gear i noticed that something was out of place..... All of my food and clothes were scattered around the bottom of the tree!!

Lucky enough though i must had just bumped the bear off of it as i approached because he hadn't damaged anything yet.

I was tired as hell and did not want to go searching for another flat spot to put my tent so i decided to just set up camp here for the night regaurdless of the bear.

To make a long story short; that bear came back to my camp and ripped up the bushes around me a good dozen times that night! I would yell him off and shine my headlamp at him, he would run off and then about 15 min later he'd be back for more! I finally stood outside the tent with my rifle for about 20 min and yelled at him which finally made him realize i was no good for his health!

I woke up the next morning and packed all the meat out to the truck with no issues.

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

 

[Craig Van Arsdale]

I got all the meat taken care of and the bear skull checked and i was headed back out with a buddy.

We packed into the same spot and i spotted a bear for him to go after at first light the next morning. In the middle of the stalk he spotted a forked blacktail buck and decided to abandon the bear stalk for the buck. He made quick work of the buck and packed him back to camp.

We hunted through the weekend then headed back to get back to work on Monday.

 

[realunlucky]

Excellent photos and writeup. One hell of a year congratulations

 

[LazyV]

Great read, congrats!

 

[JPD350]

Great pics and stories, thanks a bunch for taking the time to post and congrats on the nice animals!

 

[Vandal 44]

Thanks for sharing, awesome pictures and great stories.

 

[jb79]

You sir are a stud!! Great write up and year, thanks for sharing!

 

[Shrek]

Congratulations on a great season !

 

[dotman]

Great season and write-up! Congrats!

 

[Clarktar]

What a fun read. Congrats Craig.

 

[bowtech3dhunter]

Thanks for the great story and pics. I need to try and make a habit of taking more pictures of my hunts. Thanks for reminding me of that

 

[focker34]

Very fun read. Thanks for sharing.

 

[luke moffat]

Awesome pics man!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Mad Mountain Mike]

Wow, this thread right here is why I belong to this forum. Awesome year! Thanks for taking the time to put this thread together.

 

[back country]

That float trip looks like it was an epic adventure! I've done float trips in the brooks too, they're such a unique experience. Big congrats on all your hard-earned success and also thanks for taking the time to write it up and post all the pics. I love threads like this!

 

[JP100]

Beautiful Pictures man!!!

 

[Dos Perros]

Elite post.