D-MAC
FNG
Got my Colorado muzzle loader bear!! Between work, the floods, and being activated for the floods, I ended up with a day and a half to hunt. I had three tags a bear tag, cow elk, and buck mule deer tag. I had planned to spend most of the last week in the field trying to fill these tags, but oh well, that's how life goes. The night before I arrived into camp one of my buddys had taken a nice cow elk. He gave me the coordinates to the gut pile with the suggestion I sit on it in the morning in case a bear had found it. That was my plan, I figured I would check it in the morning and watch it periodically and a few meadows in the are for elk and deer.
I was walking in the morning along a ridge line looking for a trail to bail off on to approach the gut pile from downwind. I saw two elk on a neighboring ridge line about 400 yards away! Looked to be like a bull and a cow. They were making a bee line for the top of the ridge and the dark timber on the other side. They didn't appear to be spooked, just moving a with a purpose. I dove into the woods about 10 yards of the top of the ridge and rushed forward a about 200 yards, then snuck in close till I found where their tracks had entered the woods. All the fresh rain helped me be certain I was on the right tracks. I started trailing them and peering through the trees trying to make the appear. I followed their trail for about two tenths of a mile, down a steep hillside with a lot of blowdowns. All of the sudden I got a whiff of guts!
I remembered, "oh yeah, I was going into a gut pile". Then I thought no way those elk would go that way either, once they smelled that they would go a different way for sure. Sure enough the tracks started heading off to the left towards one of the meadows. I knew I had to be close to the pile so I pulled out my GPS to check. Sure enough I was within a 300 feet of it, the blowdowns were thick so I couldn't see it. I got a fix on the right direction and figured I would just take a quick peek. I snuck up about 50 yards and and saw the elk's hide in the gut pile. All of the sudden the hide moved!!
Great a ghost elk come back to get revenge! No a blond black bear!! I could see the bear's head in the guts just going to town. I kept sneaking forward as I had good wind and cover. I got to 27 yards (I checked it later). All of the sudden the bear put her paws up on a log and started glaring my way. I figured the gig was up so I sent a bullet her way. She roared, spun around, and then lay right next to the gut pile, stone dead. The bullet had entered behind her right shoulder and ended up lodging itself in her neck, just below the skin on the left side. Once my heart resumed a normal rate I went about getting her gutted and packed out. Called a buddy on the radio, he agreed to come carry my ruck out so I could attach her to my pack frame. She is a smaller bear, (the game warden estimated her 2.5-3.5) which I was thankful for on the pack out, My pack still came in at 123 pounds! All those hikes around the neighborhood with a pack were paying off now! The pack out was steep and a lot of blowdowns to navigate, but that was only until I gained the ridge, then it was ok.
Grilled some up that night. It was pretty good!! I hear a lot of differing opinions on the merits of bear meat. I'm sure there are some bad ones, but she was pretty good, not as good as elk though. My other two tags went unfilled. Now time to focus on antelope in October. I hope the pictures show up correctly on here.
I was walking in the morning along a ridge line looking for a trail to bail off on to approach the gut pile from downwind. I saw two elk on a neighboring ridge line about 400 yards away! Looked to be like a bull and a cow. They were making a bee line for the top of the ridge and the dark timber on the other side. They didn't appear to be spooked, just moving a with a purpose. I dove into the woods about 10 yards of the top of the ridge and rushed forward a about 200 yards, then snuck in close till I found where their tracks had entered the woods. All the fresh rain helped me be certain I was on the right tracks. I started trailing them and peering through the trees trying to make the appear. I followed their trail for about two tenths of a mile, down a steep hillside with a lot of blowdowns. All of the sudden I got a whiff of guts!
I remembered, "oh yeah, I was going into a gut pile". Then I thought no way those elk would go that way either, once they smelled that they would go a different way for sure. Sure enough the tracks started heading off to the left towards one of the meadows. I knew I had to be close to the pile so I pulled out my GPS to check. Sure enough I was within a 300 feet of it, the blowdowns were thick so I couldn't see it. I got a fix on the right direction and figured I would just take a quick peek. I snuck up about 50 yards and and saw the elk's hide in the gut pile. All of the sudden the hide moved!!
Great a ghost elk come back to get revenge! No a blond black bear!! I could see the bear's head in the guts just going to town. I kept sneaking forward as I had good wind and cover. I got to 27 yards (I checked it later). All of the sudden the bear put her paws up on a log and started glaring my way. I figured the gig was up so I sent a bullet her way. She roared, spun around, and then lay right next to the gut pile, stone dead. The bullet had entered behind her right shoulder and ended up lodging itself in her neck, just below the skin on the left side. Once my heart resumed a normal rate I went about getting her gutted and packed out. Called a buddy on the radio, he agreed to come carry my ruck out so I could attach her to my pack frame. She is a smaller bear, (the game warden estimated her 2.5-3.5) which I was thankful for on the pack out, My pack still came in at 123 pounds! All those hikes around the neighborhood with a pack were paying off now! The pack out was steep and a lot of blowdowns to navigate, but that was only until I gained the ridge, then it was ok.
Grilled some up that night. It was pretty good!! I hear a lot of differing opinions on the merits of bear meat. I'm sure there are some bad ones, but she was pretty good, not as good as elk though. My other two tags went unfilled. Now time to focus on antelope in October. I hope the pictures show up correctly on here.
