Grizzly encounters while elk hunting

[Capehunter1]

Last year on opening day of our cow elk hunt near Cora, Wyoming, I heard something walking in timber behind me. I thought an elk was about to come out and when it got straight down wind of me I heard a loud "woof". Seconds later a very large grizzly came out about 65 yards from me but he high-tailed it across an open meadow. I was stunned at first but got my phone out in time to get some great video of him. I later backtracked him in the snow and discovered he was less than 35 yards from me when he was downwind. Made me realize that if he would have wanted me dead, I would have been dead since I was only thinking elk. My 44 mag never left my chest the rest of the trip. Was one of the coolest things I've ever had happen in the wild. Out of 5 of us, 3 saw grizzlies with mine being the closest. Incredible animals.

 

[Cornhusker]

I've seldom seen grizzlies except that trip, I'm the guy that spends a week family vacation in Yellowstone and never sees a grizzly. One other time when I saw and had an encounter with grizzlies when I was 15 years old on the North Fork of the Flathead river as it runs down to Hungry Horse Mt.. My dad decided I needed to get religion when I was 15 years old and sent me to Glacier National Bible Camp in Hungry Horse Mt. to a great uncle who ran the camp for 30 years and was a fire and brimstone preacher to cure my nonreligious nature. I lasted about a day listening to the preaching before I had borrowed the camp pickup and a canoe along with a new friend to explore and fish the river. As we floated down the river catching fish we saw one large and one smaller brown blobs ahead not being too smart and 15 we realized they were a mother and a cub . I had never seen a grizzly before except in a zoo and had no idea of their abilities. We decided we would just float past. We were on the other side of the river and when the mother picked up her head and saw us she bluff charged half way across the river. I think it was a bluff charge because she stopped thank goodness. I didn't do much praying at my time at the bible camp but I did in those 30 seconds. That was almost 50 years ago and I still remember the speed and power of that bear.

 

[Gen273]

I am loving this thread

Me too!

 

[wseidel]

A friend and I were bow-hunting elk in NW Wyoming and on our final calling set-up of the morning, we found ourselves near the end of a long narrow meadow. I was going to try and call an elk by my partner and was searching for a location to send him. As I stood looking at the best location for him to go, he touched me on the shoulder and said softly, "We've got company....bear". Not fifty yards away - and directly upwind (the direction we hoped the elk would come from) - a grizzly was walking from the corner of the meadow into a small group of trees. I whispered, "It's go time" or something to that effect. So we set down our bows, stood side by side, had our bear spray in one hand and our handguns in the other, and started talking - "Hey, Mark, did you see that bear?" - "Yes, I saw that bear." This went on for at least 8 or 9 seconds, though it seemed longer - and just when we expected him to bust out charging us - he loped out the same direction he had come from. Three things I'll never forget from that close encounter - the hump on his back, the sheen from his glistening coat, and his large, well-muscled body as he ran off. Fortunately, that encounter ended well for all three of us - my friend and I as well as the bear. In hindsight, it was a good thing he was in secure cover when he heard us otherwise it may have turned out differently.

 

[nowen22]

Mid september in 2016 in the Thorofare wilderness on an archery elk hunt. First morning of hunting we get up on a ridge and start glassing up a canyon. Spotted some elk a couple miles away so we made our way down the ridge and towards them. We were cliffed out and had to drop down to the bottom of a ravine through some thick deadfall to get to the other side of the canyon where the elk were. We get to the bottom and cross a small creek and start up the other side. As we are walking back up the other side my brother turns around to say something to me and his eyes are bugging out of his head. I turn around and there is a massive Grizz 30 yards behind us sniffing the air and following us. We stop and start shouting at this thing with our bear spray at the ready. Luckily he didn't want anything to do with us, stood up and then wheeled around and went the other way.

We also had these and 2 other large boars in camp all week along with a bunch of black bears. Good times

 

[MAVinWA]

For 3 years, I used to archery hunt in NW Montana. Thick timbered, high ground areas NW, NE of Kalispell.
One chilly, dry fall day, wind in my face, I came around a turn in the hiking trail and GRIZZ @ 70 yards!
thank goodness a bluff charge that stopped 20 yards away, beast covered the 50+ yards incredibly fast! Then off she-grizz went back to her cubs.
Shaking, trembling, watched her go back, occasionally looking back at me.
My hunt partner came down the ridgeline to the trail, yelling "Hey Bear" all the way down.
He says; "you are one lucky SOB!". Then he looked at me strangely....I was standing there with wet pants.

Another year, we backpacked in 3 miles. After a long hunt day, we returned to camp at dusk.
Only to find a Grizz ripped apart our dome tent....and ALL food, cook gear etc was hung in the trees 100 yards away.
Tent, sleeping bags shredded, down fill blowin' all over the place. It even rolled the rocks on the fire pit. Just a single set of bear paw prints around in the dirt. Must have been one pissed off bear.
That was a long night for us, makeshift shelter fir boughs, spent with fire next to rock face uphill a distance away. At dawn, we hiked the hell out of there. Cutting our planned 7 day trip to 4 days.

I've never gone back to MT....
and this was all back in the late 1980's. Grizz Bear population much higher now.

today when archery hunting elk & deer, I go in with Glock20 and bear spray...always, anywhere.
But honestly, although tempted by Montana, I avoid states or areas with grizzlies.
Used the spray on puma in AZ 2017 and a S&W 357mag on CO black bear 2009.
It seems the best deer/elk areas have the most predators.

 

[NDGuy]

Used the spray on puma in AZ 2017 and a S&W 357mag on CO black bear 2009.
It seems the best deer/elk areas have the most predators.

That kitty got close eh?

Black bear charged?

 

[TAArrowood]

In Wy. 1993... Killed a nice 6x6 in a small meadow .... Field dressed the bull and went back to camp to get hunting buddies and packs.. When we got back to the kill site, the bull was gone, but there was a bloody trail where the bull had been dragged across the meadow and into the trees on the other side (about 50 yards)... We followed the trail another 30 yards to find what was left.. We were able to salvage the head and about half the meat.. Next day I went back to the same site hoping to kill a coyote or two over the remains.. I observed a very large grizzly standing off a whole pack of coyotes.. They ran him ragged.. Every time one would get close, he'd leave the gut pile and chase the coyote away only to have another one come in.. It was a wild scene.. I never got closer than about 75 yard of the action, but that was plenty close enough.. The sounds were unbelievable..

 

[NW307]

I was chasing elk with my bow a few years ago here in NW WY and we had had several opportunities that morning and the particular drainage we were in was full of rutted up and receptive bulls. It was an awesome day until it wasn't. We spotted the king of the mountain at the head of the drainage and decided to hunker down and watch him bed and make a move in the afternoon.

We posted up about 1/2 mile away and got settled in for a nap. I was already half asleep when my buddy uttered the one word that makes your blood run cold in the wyoming mountains, BEAR! He doesn't use optics with his stick bow set up so I knew that the bear must be close, unlike when someone sees one in the spotter. It was about 300 yds away and working it's way up the drainage with purpose nose to the wind. We were archery hunting so it wasn't like we had open cans of tuna or something but this thing was definitely winding us and basically running a grid to our location. We had about enough time to draw our side arms and bear spray before it was uncomfortably close. We both started yelling when it was 100 yds or so out and it stopped, stood up, smelled our wind again and hit the ground running directly at us. It blitzed a small meadow and was blasting through downed timber and in our laps within a few seconds. I was just about to drop the hammer on the thing when it turned a quick 90 and was close enough to kick dirt and sticks on us. I was so amped up I forgot my bow and had to return to the spot to get it, talk about the longest 100 yd walk. I've had plenty of close encounters with bears but being actively hunted like that was really spooky. I don't know what made him turn but I'm thankful he did. It's becoming a treat to actually see a black bear around here haha.

 

[Bobbyboe]

Great stories, but making my heart beat fast thinking about my elk hunt this fall. I'll be in NW Wyoming, hunting elk for the first time ever. I'm really thinking about truck camping instead of packing in.....

 

[3forks]

This didn’t happen to me, but it did happen to close friends...

Four guys were fishing in the Sun River Game Preserve. All had bear spray, but two also had .44 mag pistols.

The 4 just happened to separate into 2 groups, with each pair having one guy with a pistol. One pair were wading in river, with one guy tying on a fly and another guy walking downstream towards his buddy.

The other pair were standing about 50 yards above them on a high bank/hill that they had climbed up to get a better view of the river below them. One of the guys spots a grizzly coming out of the tules and across gravel bar at about a 45 to the pair wading.

The next part happens quickly.

The pair observing start yelling to the pair fishing about the bear; but the distance between them and the noise of the river prevents them being heard. The guy with the pistol draws it and is pulling back the hammer, not sure whether he should fire a warning shot for both the bear and to get our friend’s attention - or whether he should get ready to shoot the bear. At about the same time, the bear had crossed the gravel bar and starts loping through some thick cover front of guys fishing and the guys on the bank lose sight of it for a moment... The guys on the bank are expecting there to be some sort of confrontation between the guys wading and the bear, but just as it comes into view again - it crashes out of the bushes and into the river at what they estimate to be 30 yards or so behind/upstream of the 2 guys in the river.

The guys in the river we’re looking the other direction and never even saw or heard it! The pair standing above the guys in the river watched the bear lope into the timber above them and saw it looking back toward the guys in the river.

Relieved, the pair observing all this scramble down the hill, and tell our other buddies what just happened. All four move downstream quite a ways and try to keep fishing - but everyone is too rattled/paranoid to want to stay.

On a few different occasions, I’ve helped with grizzly bear projects in Glacier NP, and also been in Yellowstone to help with spring bison counts just as bears were coming out of hibernation. Doing this stuff, we were always within CLOSE proximity to bears. If we were near a radio collared bear, we were aware of its location. It’s an understatement to say that if we didn’t know the bear’s location, we would walk right past as you would never think a bear would be in its daybed in such location or sparse cover.

I think hunting when encountering bears is a completely different situation from why I was in close proximity to bears. However, I think guys hunting in grizzly country would be shocked at how often they may be close to bears and oblivious to them - just like my buddies wading in river.

It‘s odd, but now that I’m back living and hunting in Colorado - I definitely don’t get the same charge from hunting/backpacking. It’s definitely more convenient to not have to worry about griz encounters in Colorado, but I guess I got addicted to feeling of those things being around... Now, I kind of miss that.

 

[nowen22]

Great stories, but making my heart beat fast thinking about my elk hunt this fall. I'll be in NW Wyoming, hunting elk for the first time ever. I'm really thinking about truck camping instead of packing in.....

Nah you’ll be fine. Just take the proper precautions and keep your head on a swivel and you’ll have a good time.

 

[hartigjosh]

Second story, same trip as the one I posted earlier. Stepdad shot an elk. They worked on it as we took quarters and moved them 150+ yards away down the hill to horses. We got all the meat down there and they started to load some horses. I hung out next to a horse and watched for bears not expecting any really (even though i had seen a bunch at this point in the trip) and to my surprise I look up when a horse got squirelly and no more than 45 yards away was a grizzly sitting on its a$$ looking at me.

"Uh guys, bear, uh guys....." "get your gun out and dont move."

We grouped up and they pushed the bear out. Half the guys went back to camp with the meat, and we stayed and hunted. It was quite the feeling going back in the pitch black on a 2 hour ride & slide (had to dismount and walk em) that night. Before we mounted up I was informed that when a grizzly chargers at you in the dark you wont see its eyes light up as they have their head down so just plan on shooting from the horse and hold on.... awesome.

2nd pic is a bear that walked right through camp at noon and could care less about gun shots to try and scare it.

 

[Beendare]

Oh cmon, nobody has a story of shooting a bear on an elk hunt?

Friend of a friend type stuff......

___

 

[Scrappy]

Oh cmon, nobody has a story of shooting a bear on an elk hunt?

Friend of a friend type stuff......

___

Those stories would fall under the category of SSS.

 

[SneakyThunderCat]

I thoroughly enjoy threads like this one. Appreciate the stories.

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[John Henry1]

I had a few encounters while hunting in Montana, nothing as exciting as Cornhusker. I did manage to capture this photo of one when I was above a creek bottom in the BOB cow calling in the morning and bumped him out of his bed. I dropped the pack and grabbed the camera, luckily he didn’t stick around and was more interested in leaving the area.

 

[Beendare]

Those stories would fall under the category of SSS.

And I'm sure there are many of them.

If its not you....and you don't mention names......friend of a friend of a friend that you don't even know the guys name [grin] ....no GW is going to come knocking on your door.

______-

 

[Rich M]

LOL friend of a friend's sister's cousin's nephew...

They need to open a season on those things.
Maybe if the governor's daughter gets vet while camping...

I'm deaf and you won't catch me in grizzly country without someone and a dog watching over me. I swim w sharks and hunt with black bears, panthers and poisonous snakes but don't want to play with a big nasty old bear.

Be neat to see one tho.

 

[Archer_32]

Loving this thread. Born and raised in Southern Ohio, moved to Montana last fall. Two weeks ago did my first day hunt in the Montana Wilderness for spring bear. No bear, grizz or otherwise.

Packed in with spray on my chest, 9mm on my hip, and 30-06 in my hands. I didn't know I could be so on edge for 10 miles (5 miles out and back). That said, I nearly had a heart attack when a trail runner came running up from behind in a thicket without making his presence known. Now I know I don't have the nerve to hunt that stuff alone, much less camp in that backcountry.

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