Hunting in grizzly country

[Steve]

You can always sink the meat in a creek or lake until you are able to get it all out. Last year we kept our meat in a creek for 4 days until the hunt was over and it was fine. I heard it will keep for about a week or so.

 

[Jimss]

I didn't have time to wade through the posts but I had bear problems in Alaska a few years ago. Every time we left camp for the day and returned from hunting something new was shredded by bears. We had a clean camp. There were no trees to hang food so that was another problem! After that trip I did some research and found that many experienced guys in bear hunting use solar fences around their camps, food, meat, etc. There are several portable solar fences that seem like they would make life a lot safer and easier!

 

[Indian Summer]

Bear fences are great but I wouldn't go solar. You can buy a bear fence kit from Outfitters Supply or other places. Or just go to a local farm store such as Agway and buy a Gallagher portable fencer. They run on 2 or 4 D cell batteries. You can also pick up some insulators and fence tape there. If you know you'll be somewhere like Jim with no trees then pick up 4 stakes as well which are cheap. Otherwise I take some bale twine to tie insulators off to trees or small bushes.

 

[Live Montana]

I would agree with most of these comments. Personally I think BugleBush is right. I have spent a little time researching, I do hunt solo and I'm going to be doing a lot more this year. I have not found to much of anything with bear issues at night in a tent with a person being in the tent. Not that it can't happen and you certainly don't want to be stupid. As far a blood goes, if you use the gutless method that will help a lot. Look up Aron Snyder's video on the method, he does a great job.

I'm not sure on the pistol. From what I have read the pistol increases adrenaline in the bear and the spray stops the desire pretty effectively. I would like to hear what others thinks.

As far as bear fences. I have thought about solo, but in a group, not really, you can all get yourselves organized and deal with the bear before your buddy gets drug off to far. <smile>

When it comes down to it, you just have to accept the fact that they are out there and embrace it. The odds are in your favor and attacks are crazy rare considering the numbers of people that enter griz country each year. You have a much much higher chance of getting killed driving to your hunting spot. Does that stop you from going hunting! The bears should not either. Just think how famous you will be if you go that way.

 

[tommymo]

When it comes down to it, you just have to accept the fact that they are out there and embrace it. The odds are in your favor and attacks are crazy rare considering the numbers of people that enter griz country each year. You have a much much higher chance of getting killed driving to your hunting spot. Does that stop you from going hunting! The bears should not either. Just think how famous you will be if you go that way.

Right on! The chances are extremely improbable and as long as you take care to pay attention to details and exercise common sense you should be OK.

 

[littlebrotherC]

My two hunting partners and I had 14 grizzly encounters between the three of us in 2014. Two of the encounters were bears we called in. We didn't hunt that country last year due to fires. We choose not to pack bear spray. One partner killed an elk that year and saw the elk go down. Within 15 minutes a grizzly was approaching. He fired a warning shot and the grizzly ran off. You can't do that with spray. That year another hunting party shot an elk in that same country. Before the elk went down a grizzly attacked the elk and took it down. They emptied two cans of bear spray and the bear didn't budge. They consented to give the elk up. I don't doubt that bear spray is going to get the job done the majority of the time but I don't think it's adequate when dealing with downed elk.
I shot an elk in 2012 and the trees in area were not conducive to hanging the meat. We moved the meat down the hill 150 hundred yards. Two grizzlies moved in that night. They tore open my meat bags and moved up the hill to the guts. My point is they like to eat the guts first. They want to let the meat ferment. Keep this in mind if you get an elk down. I should also add that we had to fire a warning shot when we returned to the elk. The grizzlies weren't there initially but returned as we were packing up the meat.
I heard a story of a guy who knew that grizzlies go for the guts first. He gutted his elk and pulled the gut pile down hill away from the carcass. When he came back the bear took gut pile and reinserted it into carcass and started to bury the carcass. My point here is that bears are goofy critters behave unpredictably.
My hunting partner carries two space blankets in his kill kit. One is used as a ground cloth to set the meat on as he's deboning. The second he tents over the meat to keep birds off and believes it deters the bears as well. I've heard of guys adding a glow stick to this strategy. They hang the glow stick in a tree and it reflects off the space blanket. I've also heard of sprinkling chile powder around the area where your meat will be. I don't have experience with this but I carry them after having the grizzlies on my carcass on the elk in 2012. Has anyone else attempted this?
I have not had any grizzly encounters in camp. However I do have livestock most of the time that I'm in grizzly country and I think this helps.
I'd like to know of any lightweight bear fence options. I've done some research but everything is so heavy.

 

[littlebrotherC]

Here's an option that's 3.7 pounds. http://www.udap.com/mm5/product/BEF Does anyone have experience with this?

 

[J_hol]

I found this video from NOLS pretty interesting, they are testing electric fences on grizzlies:

https://youtu.be/Sv2G-aRDvyY

I'm not sure if the link will work, but you can also search "Bear Fence Test" on you tube to find it.

 

[Shrek]

Of course if it goes sideways with one it can be catastrophic ! One swipe is all it takes !

 

[AK Troutbum]

The one I have weighs 38 oz. (this includes The heavy duty canvas stuff sack and a second set of spare batteries) and I can tell you from experience that it works. It goes with me on most of my hunts and all of my Kodiak hunts.

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[Mike7]

AK Troutbum, which one do you have...or is it a DIY project?

 

[AK Troutbum]

Of course if it goes sideways with one it can be catastrophic ! One swipe is all it takes !

Here's a little better picture of that one.

And then, just a couple weeks later, after our kick ass surgeons at Matsu Regional Hospital took care of him.

 

[realunlucky]

Wish I would not have seen this picture. So thankful they got him patched up. Hope my kids don't ever stumble across his picture I'll never get them outside again

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[Bulldawg]

Anybody have the link to the story on this attack? Was it this year or is this an older incidence

 

[Mtslackcountry]

Holy ****! I cant believe he looks that good a few weeks later. That is some of the nastiest looking shit I have ever seen.

 

[ohoopee]

Well, Troutman has just assured that no one is going to try and steal his little honey hole!!! Kind of the guy to stand there and let people take pics. Surely this is photo shopped?

EDIT: I apologize for making light of the attack. I thought the pics and story were fake. My thoughts
and prayers to a very tough man.

 

[AK Troutbum]

He was bear hunting with his son off the Denali highway In mid April of this year. There are two different stories floating around about how this mauling occurred. Bottom line is, he survived, and only lost his left eye. I imagine he'll be dealing with a little bit of PTSD over this for quite some time though.


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[AK Troutbum]

AK Troutbum, which one do you have...or is it a DIY project?

This is the one I have. So just under 33 ounces without the required two AA batteries.

And just the weight of everything without the bag.

And, like I said, I've seen this thing work and for only 2 pounds, it's going in my pack pretty much all the time.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Well, Troutman has just assured that no one is going to try and steal his little honey hole!!! Kind of the guy to stand there and let people take pics. Surely this is photo shopped?

Nope, not photo shopped. Believe whatever you want, but this is the real deal. I work with a Dr. that was working at the hospital when they medevac'd this guy in.

 

[BroodBuster]

Yikes!