...or at least I might as well be.
I am convinced that the best bear repellent for me is a tag in my pocket. Snake bit for the last 3 years on grizzly I hoped this would finally be the year.
I had drawn a spring tag in the northwest corner of BC, between Haines Junction, Yukon and Haines, Alaska and as time ran down on my tag closing date I finally was able to get away for a weekend and hunt. I cashed in some airmiles points and jetted up to Whitehorse.
My wife, Helen, is currently working in Whitehorse so we planned an extended weekend trip, glassing from the road as time was short, and she would hunt bear on the Yukon side (being a resident of YT now) if we found one and I would check out the BC side.
As luck would have it the first morning out we ran into a griz on the BC side. At first blush it seemed like one worth going after but after taking a bit of time to really look at it I decided to pass. Pretty bear but a bit short…
Later that afternoon I spotted another up on the mountainside and decided to make a play for it as it looked considerably bigger. He was sitting on the edge of a small ravine, investigating ground squirrels and I saw that I had cover on the opposite side and would have a less than 50 yard shot if I got parallel to him. That’s when my enthusiasm took over and I made an “I know better than that” type of mistake. I was part way up the far side and realized the wind was not in my favour. I backed down but by then the damage was done and I saw him lift his head and sniff the air. See ya…
I worked my way back down the mountainside, mentally kicking myself with each step. As we had plenty of day light left we headed back in to Yukon and decided to check out some areas in Hel’s licence zone.
About an hour in I got her attention with “Black bear, a good one!” and the stalk was on. This time with the wind and terrain solidly in our favour and Helen in the lead we got up on the boar with no problems.
He appeared to be thoroughly enjoying his salad of fresh dandelions until a cloud of smoke and a .50 cal bullet put a crimp in his dinner plans. She shot him from about 25 or so yards out and the bear dropped in his tracks.
About 3 hours later we had him skinned out, quartered up and back to the truck.
The next day and a bit was spent looking for a griz for me but, as the saying goes, “if it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all” and year 4 ended without a grizzly for me.
I can’t and won’t complain. I only had (really) 2 days to get on one, had a chance, got to spend some quality time with my favourite hunting partner and helped her get a kick-ass bear in the process. I’ll eat my tag for trips like this any day.
Yukon has mandatory inspection for bears (grizzly and black) and when she took the skull in the bio told her that the bear was 18- 20ish years old. It green scores about 19 ½”.
Beautiful 6’+ hide with no rub marks.
RC
I am convinced that the best bear repellent for me is a tag in my pocket. Snake bit for the last 3 years on grizzly I hoped this would finally be the year.
I had drawn a spring tag in the northwest corner of BC, between Haines Junction, Yukon and Haines, Alaska and as time ran down on my tag closing date I finally was able to get away for a weekend and hunt. I cashed in some airmiles points and jetted up to Whitehorse.
My wife, Helen, is currently working in Whitehorse so we planned an extended weekend trip, glassing from the road as time was short, and she would hunt bear on the Yukon side (being a resident of YT now) if we found one and I would check out the BC side.
As luck would have it the first morning out we ran into a griz on the BC side. At first blush it seemed like one worth going after but after taking a bit of time to really look at it I decided to pass. Pretty bear but a bit short…
Later that afternoon I spotted another up on the mountainside and decided to make a play for it as it looked considerably bigger. He was sitting on the edge of a small ravine, investigating ground squirrels and I saw that I had cover on the opposite side and would have a less than 50 yard shot if I got parallel to him. That’s when my enthusiasm took over and I made an “I know better than that” type of mistake. I was part way up the far side and realized the wind was not in my favour. I backed down but by then the damage was done and I saw him lift his head and sniff the air. See ya…
I worked my way back down the mountainside, mentally kicking myself with each step. As we had plenty of day light left we headed back in to Yukon and decided to check out some areas in Hel’s licence zone.
About an hour in I got her attention with “Black bear, a good one!” and the stalk was on. This time with the wind and terrain solidly in our favour and Helen in the lead we got up on the boar with no problems.
He appeared to be thoroughly enjoying his salad of fresh dandelions until a cloud of smoke and a .50 cal bullet put a crimp in his dinner plans. She shot him from about 25 or so yards out and the bear dropped in his tracks.
About 3 hours later we had him skinned out, quartered up and back to the truck.
The next day and a bit was spent looking for a griz for me but, as the saying goes, “if it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all” and year 4 ended without a grizzly for me.
I can’t and won’t complain. I only had (really) 2 days to get on one, had a chance, got to spend some quality time with my favourite hunting partner and helped her get a kick-ass bear in the process. I’ll eat my tag for trips like this any day.
Yukon has mandatory inspection for bears (grizzly and black) and when she took the skull in the bio told her that the bear was 18- 20ish years old. It green scores about 19 ½”.
Beautiful 6’+ hide with no rub marks.
RC
