Beware of Bears, Saturday 5/17/2014
At 6:00 am I picked up my 15 year old grandson Clay and his friend Aaron. These two are my hiking partners and we were headed out for our second hiking/Elk antler shed hunting trip of the year. We were headed to a new area a friend of mine told us we should go check out. It was a three hour drive. I was going to try to drive to a saddle that had an elevation of about 7,000 ft. We made it to one quarter mile of the spot I had in mind and ran into a small section of snow. I sure didn’t want to get stuck so we pulled off to the side of the road and unloaded our packs. The weekend before we had hiked a trail that started at 4,000 ft. and we climbed to 6,000 ft. in five miles. The boys had their shotguns in case we saw some Turkeys so I didn’t carry my pistol that time. Today, the boys decided not to bring their guns so I brought my pistol, a Smith and Wesson Governor. Not wanting to carry it on my belt because my pack waist belt was in the way, I put it in my pack. After the quarter mile hike up to the saddle we started bush whacking. We graded to the northwest above the creek we had been advised to check out. Across the canyon was an old logging road a few hundred feet lower than our elevation. The logging road came into the drainage from the head end. There, this old road was snowed in making it inaccessible. Looking down the drainage I saw two or three miles of canyon which lead to the river and with spring runoff it was running very high. I knew from the start it wasn’t an option to go all the way down and out the bottom. So I was looking at going down to the creek and hiking back out to the same saddle. I wasn’t real sure bushwhacking down 2,000 ft. of vertical descent and back up was something this 61 year old wanted to do but the boys didn’t want to give it a second thought. Away we went. My grandson Clay for some reason jokingly said tell my mom I love her.
When we got to about a quarter mile from the bottom things started to look like shed hunting country. I told my grandson to go over to our right 100 or so yards and walk down that ridge toward the bottom. I told his friend Aaron to go straight down from here and I will go to our left 100 yards and go down. Then on second thought and thankfully so I changed my mind and decided to be the one in the middle. My thought was that way the two boys wouldn’t have a chance to work toward each other and end up covering less ground. Whatever the reason, I thank the Lord I made the change. We had gone down to about 100 yards from the creek and I had been able to see both boys most of the way down. I decided this was a good place to gather the boys because the drainage we were going down was getting narrow. I could see Aaron at this time but not Clay off to my right and I wanted him to stop following the ridge he was on and come down to me on a little hog back that ran from that ridge toward me. I hollered to Clay and he hollered back. I didn’t understand what he said but he wasn’t too far away so I hollered again. He hollered back but this time it was with way more excitement in his voice and it didn’t stop. It just got louder and louder to the point he was screaming. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. So I started to run up toward him. Then things went silent. My heart about stopped. I have been camping, hunting, trapping and hiking in the mountains my whole life and this was the most frightened I have ever been. I took my pack off, got my gun out, and started whistling and hollering while I headed toward Clay. I want to point out that I can whistle with my mouth louder than any hand held whistle. All of the sudden I heard Clay say “there’s a bear” and I could see the top of Clay’s head. I was now facing up hill and off to my left I saw the bear about 30 yards from me running downhill looking from side to side coming to protect her baby and find whatever was hollering and whistling. She turned and saw me so I fired a shot over her head and she ran away from me 50 yards or so and climbed a tree herself. Clay was not too far from me now and said “do you see the cub it’s in that tree in front of you”. Then I could see it a 50 lb. cub 50 feet up a burnt tree. Things calmed down considerably at this point.
When we all three gathered at my pack that I had dropped on the ground Clay told us he was coming down to me when he heard me holler. He was looking downhill and at the same time he hollered back he saw the cub running up a tree and the mother bear running toward him. He kept hollering which turned to screaming and started to run away. Looking back he could see the bear was catching him fast. He remembered hearing if you are attacked by a bear to roll into a ball on the ground. That is what he did and that is why the silence. Clay said while he was on the ground he looked toward the bear she was standing 10 yards form him on her hind legs looking right at him. He thought it was over. Right at that time was when I was running up toward them hollering and whistling with the gun in my hand. Clay said the bear spun around and went charging toward me. That is when I shot over it to scare her away.
When we all got back together at my backpack; we gathered our thoughts and put some distance between us and the bears. Once we were on the far side of the drainage, we sat down and watched the mother bear circle the tree that her cub was in. In a few minutes the little cub climbed down and once on the ground they both ran off in the opposite direction. We were shaken but everything was alright. We went down to the creek, ate lunch and then headed for the saddle we came from 2,000 vertical feet and 2 hours later we were there.
As I looked back down into that canyon I thought these things: There are no trails or roads down in the bottom of that canyon. What would I have done had Clay been hurt? I do carry a SPOT so I would have pushed the SOS button. My wife and I purchase Life Flight memberships for our two daughter’s families. We did have a small first aid kit. Would the first aid kit be large enough to provide help? Maybe. How close could Life Flight have landed to us? Not very close. The trees, despite being burnt were to close together and the terrain too steep. I guess it doesn’t matter now.
First thing the next morning I called my friend who suggested this place to look for sheds. This guy is very knowledgeable. He is a 72 year old mountain man who has run hounds all of his life and treed hundreds of bears. His hunting accomplishments go on and on. He asked, are you going back out hiking and what are you going to do to protect yourselves? I told him we would all carry guns. His suggestion was bear spray. He claimed it stops them like a wall. I really don’t want to kill a mother bear or take the chance of just wounding her. If I was to kill the mother, what about the cub? So from now on I will carry my pistol and we will all carry bear spray. Beware there are bears out there and under the right circumstances they will attack.
At 6:00 am I picked up my 15 year old grandson Clay and his friend Aaron. These two are my hiking partners and we were headed out for our second hiking/Elk antler shed hunting trip of the year. We were headed to a new area a friend of mine told us we should go check out. It was a three hour drive. I was going to try to drive to a saddle that had an elevation of about 7,000 ft. We made it to one quarter mile of the spot I had in mind and ran into a small section of snow. I sure didn’t want to get stuck so we pulled off to the side of the road and unloaded our packs. The weekend before we had hiked a trail that started at 4,000 ft. and we climbed to 6,000 ft. in five miles. The boys had their shotguns in case we saw some Turkeys so I didn’t carry my pistol that time. Today, the boys decided not to bring their guns so I brought my pistol, a Smith and Wesson Governor. Not wanting to carry it on my belt because my pack waist belt was in the way, I put it in my pack. After the quarter mile hike up to the saddle we started bush whacking. We graded to the northwest above the creek we had been advised to check out. Across the canyon was an old logging road a few hundred feet lower than our elevation. The logging road came into the drainage from the head end. There, this old road was snowed in making it inaccessible. Looking down the drainage I saw two or three miles of canyon which lead to the river and with spring runoff it was running very high. I knew from the start it wasn’t an option to go all the way down and out the bottom. So I was looking at going down to the creek and hiking back out to the same saddle. I wasn’t real sure bushwhacking down 2,000 ft. of vertical descent and back up was something this 61 year old wanted to do but the boys didn’t want to give it a second thought. Away we went. My grandson Clay for some reason jokingly said tell my mom I love her.
When we got to about a quarter mile from the bottom things started to look like shed hunting country. I told my grandson to go over to our right 100 or so yards and walk down that ridge toward the bottom. I told his friend Aaron to go straight down from here and I will go to our left 100 yards and go down. Then on second thought and thankfully so I changed my mind and decided to be the one in the middle. My thought was that way the two boys wouldn’t have a chance to work toward each other and end up covering less ground. Whatever the reason, I thank the Lord I made the change. We had gone down to about 100 yards from the creek and I had been able to see both boys most of the way down. I decided this was a good place to gather the boys because the drainage we were going down was getting narrow. I could see Aaron at this time but not Clay off to my right and I wanted him to stop following the ridge he was on and come down to me on a little hog back that ran from that ridge toward me. I hollered to Clay and he hollered back. I didn’t understand what he said but he wasn’t too far away so I hollered again. He hollered back but this time it was with way more excitement in his voice and it didn’t stop. It just got louder and louder to the point he was screaming. I couldn’t figure out what was going on. So I started to run up toward him. Then things went silent. My heart about stopped. I have been camping, hunting, trapping and hiking in the mountains my whole life and this was the most frightened I have ever been. I took my pack off, got my gun out, and started whistling and hollering while I headed toward Clay. I want to point out that I can whistle with my mouth louder than any hand held whistle. All of the sudden I heard Clay say “there’s a bear” and I could see the top of Clay’s head. I was now facing up hill and off to my left I saw the bear about 30 yards from me running downhill looking from side to side coming to protect her baby and find whatever was hollering and whistling. She turned and saw me so I fired a shot over her head and she ran away from me 50 yards or so and climbed a tree herself. Clay was not too far from me now and said “do you see the cub it’s in that tree in front of you”. Then I could see it a 50 lb. cub 50 feet up a burnt tree. Things calmed down considerably at this point.
When we all three gathered at my pack that I had dropped on the ground Clay told us he was coming down to me when he heard me holler. He was looking downhill and at the same time he hollered back he saw the cub running up a tree and the mother bear running toward him. He kept hollering which turned to screaming and started to run away. Looking back he could see the bear was catching him fast. He remembered hearing if you are attacked by a bear to roll into a ball on the ground. That is what he did and that is why the silence. Clay said while he was on the ground he looked toward the bear she was standing 10 yards form him on her hind legs looking right at him. He thought it was over. Right at that time was when I was running up toward them hollering and whistling with the gun in my hand. Clay said the bear spun around and went charging toward me. That is when I shot over it to scare her away.
When we all got back together at my backpack; we gathered our thoughts and put some distance between us and the bears. Once we were on the far side of the drainage, we sat down and watched the mother bear circle the tree that her cub was in. In a few minutes the little cub climbed down and once on the ground they both ran off in the opposite direction. We were shaken but everything was alright. We went down to the creek, ate lunch and then headed for the saddle we came from 2,000 vertical feet and 2 hours later we were there.
As I looked back down into that canyon I thought these things: There are no trails or roads down in the bottom of that canyon. What would I have done had Clay been hurt? I do carry a SPOT so I would have pushed the SOS button. My wife and I purchase Life Flight memberships for our two daughter’s families. We did have a small first aid kit. Would the first aid kit be large enough to provide help? Maybe. How close could Life Flight have landed to us? Not very close. The trees, despite being burnt were to close together and the terrain too steep. I guess it doesn’t matter now.
First thing the next morning I called my friend who suggested this place to look for sheds. This guy is very knowledgeable. He is a 72 year old mountain man who has run hounds all of his life and treed hundreds of bears. His hunting accomplishments go on and on. He asked, are you going back out hiking and what are you going to do to protect yourselves? I told him we would all carry guns. His suggestion was bear spray. He claimed it stops them like a wall. I really don’t want to kill a mother bear or take the chance of just wounding her. If I was to kill the mother, what about the cub? So from now on I will carry my pistol and we will all carry bear spray. Beware there are bears out there and under the right circumstances they will attack.
Last edited:
