Hunting in grizzly country

[tommymo]

So I know this has been covered and I was able to find some good information and tips on staying safe and dealing with what might become the inevitable, but I still have some questions that I hope you guys/gals can clear up for me. I am new to back country elk hunting and the chances of me going into a grizzly area in the next couple of years is slim, but nonetheless its interesting to me and plan on a future Wyoming/Montana hunt.

1. Have an extra set of cloths for when your cooking and don't wear them to sleep or in camp?

Are guys caring an extra set of cloths to cook in? I plan on doing a bivy hunt and all of my cooking will be boiling water and rehydrating food. Will a mountain house create that much scent that I should worry about it infusing my cloths?

Also when your away from your camp hunting are you guys carrying food with you for the day? I live in NJ and we have a shit ton of BIG bears, I spend a lot of time in the woods with food on me while hiking or hunting and have run into many bears, never worried about it whats so ever. But just this past year a Rutgers student was mauled to death and some reports indicate that he had food on him which might of lured in the bear. Needless to say I have not experienced any such curiosity while a field and am not too worried about black bears, but grizzlies make me nervous.

2. After the Kill.

So I plan on doing a Solo hunt, would love not to, but the reality of it is that I do not have anyone I would remotely trust in my circle of friends to go out and do a DIY back country hunt with me. I understand what a colossal task its going to be to pack out an elk on my own and have been looking to line up packers in any of the states/units that I have been looking into. What is unclear to me is for the guys packing meat out and having the possibly of taking more then a day. What do you do with the cloths/pack that you are now wearing that are not covered in blood and scent? How do you go back to camp to sleep knowing you just contaminated your camp with scent? Do you know carry an extra set of cloths when you return to camp to sleep in preparation to finish the pack out the next morning?

Thanks

 

[Bubblehide]

I normally carry 2 sets of clothes to hunt in. I normally sleep in light weight thermals bottoms if it is really cold, shorts and a hooded tee if it is not. I carry a couple sets of those long (elbow or longer) light weight plastic gloves and exam gloves. I usually do not any blood on me. When in Grizzly country, I cook and eat away from where I sleep. As long as I don't spill any food on me, I have never worried about infusing any food odors. I do think it could be a valid concern though. But I think the biggest thing, is camp away from the areas and travel routes of bears, and take the above precautions, and over 90% of any possible issues are covered. When packing in, we are limited to what we can carry, and the extent we can go to eliminating all odors. I do however carry unscented baby wipes, not only to keep my odor down, but also to be able to clean up and limit odors as much as possible.

In over 35 years of hunting, I have only had 2 bear issues. The first was decades ago, a black bear getting into my hanging food stash. He managed to climb a tree ( about 25 feet up) the rope was tied off to and cut the rope, thus dropping the stash to the ground while we were out hunting; luckily we also had food in a bear canister; but it happened due to us not having all our food in bear canisters, so we could only blame ourselves. The other time was also while we were out hunting, a sow black bear with cubs came into our camp, and the cubs, out of what appeared be curiosity, put a few holes in the tent, managed to collapse it, and they ate the silicone off the stove jack. Based on the tracks left, the sow never came into our camp. I carry sail repair tape (it's waterproof) and we managed to get by for the rest of the trip. But the tent, was no longer a reliable shelter; it simply would not have held up in windy conditions.

 

[Bulldawg]

Hunted Montana last year and had a few grizzly encounters and I've had a couple encounters on previous camping trips in griz country. This year my partner didn't abide by the no food of any sort in the tent rule and forgot a candy bar wrapper in his gear, so when we got back his stuff had been ransacked and torn to shreds, my stuff was untouched and the bear had to almost step over my tent to get to his. Our food wasn't touched tied in s tree. I also had a run in with a bear while hunting, while scary it didn't get dangerous, he smelt me and ran off a ways then left. I'm not scared to sleep in the clothes I ate in as long as I don't spill on me. Just make sure the food is stored properly and when you leave nothing in your tent has a scent. It really sucks when you come back from putting 11 miles on and your pad is flat and your sleeping bag is torn with down everywhere.

 

[tommymo]

Bulldawg,

Have you ever put an animal down in grizzly country?

 

[Bulldawg]

Haha no, not for lack of trying! Last year was my first year hunting in griz country, this year I will. I did talk to a fella who was hunting, he shot a bull, waited an hour to track it and when he got up on it there was three bears eating it up, needless to say he walked away and let the Bears keep it.

 

[airlocksniffer]

Keep a clean camp, hang all food etc. That's about all I do. Thing is griz and black bears have such good noses that even with all of that, you'll still stink to them. Other than that I don't lose any sleep over it. Be prepared but don't let fear of a highly unlikely encounter keep you from hunting hard.

 

[coyoteman]

I do the same as what everyone else has said, other than leave candy wrappers in my pack A couple other things that help me sleep at night is having a sidearm next to me while sleeping since the spray wont do much other than blind you if yogi tries to bunk with you and also brushing in your tent. Basically fencing in your camp with brush if available so a bear that is coming in for a look at night has to make a little noise, hopefully waking and giving you a chance to grab the sidearm. Maybe excessive but it helps me sleep. Tylenol PM also helps.

 

[Gobbler36]

killed an Elk in greater Yellowstone unit in Wyoming last year, we were camped in a drainage that a griz had been on an elk carcass, i shot my elk late in the evening and decided to gut the elk and roll the gut pile to the bottom of the hill and come back at first lite. Still had to walk through the drainage making noise and singing to the top of our lungs, pretty intense mile and half back to camp but were were smart and stayed out of the thick stuff and walked a ridge and dropped down to camp. It worked out and no bears on my elk in the morning which is lucky but a chance I felt worth taking, point is embrace being in an area with grizzly bears, very few people make it into that kind of country and it only adds to the experience of a great western hunt. As long as you are prepared for an encounter, have respect the animal, and keep a clean camp like others have stated and you'll have a great time. Good luck on your future endeavors.

 

[jonny5]

Do any of you guys pack in a bear fence?

 

[Buglebrush]

While sleeping might be the scarier time I don't believe it is the more dangerous time. I was reading a spread sheet that had all the fatal bear attacks in the last 20 years or so. It is amazing how many of them occured while a hunter was field dressing game. Pretty astonishing considering how small a sample size that represents compared to all the time people are camping, hiking, hunting, etc... Miniscule! I have hunted in Grizzly Bear country my entire life, and have had 3 encounters that were very close, but only one was with a Grizzly. ( 1 was a black bear I killed point blank with my pistol and 1 was a cat ) Bottom line for me is that I always pack a pistol. ALWAYS. Other than that just general good sense things, but I never worry about clean clothes etc...

 

[MTguy0341]

I spend almost all season in griz country. If i kill something, I'll take a quarter and head back to camp and load camp and head back for the night. I don't like the idea of sleeping in griz country with bloody clothes near me. I'll just come back in the next day and pack out the rest. I typically leave a shirt with human scent on the carcass and will take a pee around it for more scent. Just what i was taught, and always had pretty good luck. Only thing I've ever had on a carcass when I came back was a golden eagle. Scared the sh*t outta me when he flew off since it was in a brushy area.

 

[tommymo]

I spend almost all season in griz country. If i kill something, I'll take a quarter and head back to camp and load camp and head back for the night. I don't like the idea of sleeping in griz country with bloody clothes near me. I'll just come back in the next day and pack out the rest. I typically leave a shirt with human scent on the carcass and will take a pee around it for more scent. Just what i was taught, and always had pretty good luck. Only thing I've ever had on a carcass when I came back was a golden eagle. Scared the sh*t outta me when he flew off since it was in a brushy area.

That sounds like a good idea, come off the mountain and sleep in the truck and come back the next day. This is really my biggest concern.

 

[BuckSmasher]

I have hunted in Griz country the last two seasons. It looks like this year may be solo, you don't happen to be in the Houston area do you?

We saw one Grizzly in 2014 and none last year. Last year I shot my bull on the last full day of the elk hunt and packed him back to our camp, and then to the truck the next day. We didn't go back to the carcass because it was early in the morning when I shot him and we finished packing in the afternoon.

We used an electric fence and hung all our food from trees. We never ate in camp and hung the meat 150 yards or so away.

I can not overstate how nervous we were the first few nights arranged in a circle in one man tents in Grizzly country LOL! We are still laughing about it. I love the area we hunt but I am not keen on doing it solo.

I would like to get together if you are in the Southeast Texas area.

 

[id450]

Good questions. This is good helpful info for many of us. My in-laws live out side Missoula and I visit there a few weeks a year since 06. I love the place, I whish everyday I could live there. I've done a ton of fishing and recreation around the region and Idaho but for some reason I can't seem to put myself out there in grizz country hunting with my bow and arrow. . I think you may be like me and should maybe consider finding someone or an outfitter to help u out the first time and gain some confidence and learn the tricks to working in grizz land. It's big , thick country. Hunting adds a whole different aspect to being out there. the exposure, busting brush, staying silent etc... Blood, camping. I whish u good luck on the endeavor . Listening to some of these seasoned guys is really encouraging. I guess after 10 years I just need to buck up and get after it in Montana.

 

[MTguy0341]

That sounds like a good idea, come off the mountain and sleep in the truck and come back the next day. This is really my biggest concern.

Granted if your miles from the truck, could be a pain in the ass. All depends. I'd try and leave my bloody clothes a couple hundred yards from camp and make sure I washed up good before I get in my sleeping bag. Otherwise known as a grizzly softshell if you know what i mean.

 

[tommymo]

So another question:

You put an animal down and your want to hang the meat up in a tree. Any advice on how to do this while your solo? Do any guys carry any back country pullies? How high are you hanging the meat up in a tree? I would think that it wouldn't be an easy task to haul up 80 lbs meat 10-20 feet up with just some 550 cord.

 

[Jason Snyder]

I try to move it at least 100 yards or more from the carcass and then hang them as high as I can. Sometimes that isn't very high.

I don't worry too much about different clothes for cooking, sleeping, etc, particularly if you're just doing dehydrated food.

You shouldn't be THAT bloody that you couldn't clean yourself up reasonably well if you kill an animal. I guess if you wanted you could hang your pants in a tree away from your tent. I sure wouldn't make a special trip out to the trailhead and sleep there unless it just so happened that it was where I landed for the night.

 

[bcimport]

Get the meat hung away from the guts. Clean yourself off and wherever you camp try and stay upwind from the meat. After that try and set camp off game trails. Keep the rifle loaded and handy. Anyone who thinks they are going to have time to run the bolt when a bear charges is fooling themselves. You're odds of a conflict are low so don't let it ruin your ability to have a good time in the woods.

 

[TX1]

So another question:

You put an animal down and your want to hang the meat up in a tree. Any advice on how to do this while your solo? Do any guys carry any back country pullies? How high are you hanging the meat up in a tree? I would think that it wouldn't be an easy task to haul up 80 lbs meat 10-20 feet up with just some 550 cord.

Google how to make a pulley using carribeaners

 

[Buglebrush]

I would add that if you are new to back-country elk hunting I wouldn't go solo. If you are going solo break yourself in with some back country mule deer hunts. Too much extra work with an elk when solo to be starting out that way IMO.