Idaho Bear Hunt Report

[Bowwild]

I spent last week in a bear camp near Avery, Idaho along the St Joe river.  Our party of four was entirely family; myself, brother, son, and grandson (61-11 years of age). I was the only person in the party who had hunted, killed, or even seen a live bear outside a zoo before.

Here's a picture of some of the most mild terrain we were in.  

This location is about 40 miles from the town of St. Regis, Montana (over the mountain). The river is famous for cutthroat trout fishing -- single, barbless hooks, catch and release only.

 

[Homey88]

Beautiful country!

[shreffler]

Now that looks like a little slice of heaven. I can imagine the trout fishing is incredible along that stretch of river.

[Huntrdfk]

Already looking forward to the rest of this hunt, that country is beautiful!

David

[Bowwild]

We chose to hunt Idaho instead of country in Eastern Canada (Ontario and New Brunswick) that I've hunted bears in before. We thought it would be a dramatic change to hunt bears in the rockies. We love the mountains, the trees, and streams in our western country.

We hunted with RussellPond Outfitters which has been operating in Idaho for 20 years and also has an operation in Maine (30 years). We landed in Spokane at 1PM on Sunday, rented a Ford PU (new Alum body got 21 MPG) and arrived in camp by 6PM that evening.

Camp was only about 200 yards off the main highway. As the picture illustrates we stayed in wall tents. Since our party of 4 was the only group in camp we paired up in our own tents. There was also a kitchen tent and shower tent (generator and propane water heater for very hot showers!). We shared camp with one cook and two guides (24 and 28 year old guides).

     

[Bowwild]

Our typical day was spent:

Awake and up at 5AM (Pacific Time Zone). Shower and wander around camp. Breakfast at 7:30 then off to the river.

We explored trails around the river. We had spinning tackle with us and tried fishing for 3 days (3-day license included with hunting license).  My brother caught 2 cutthroat and we saw a couple caught by fly fishermen.  My favorite attraction, besides the beauty of the river itself, was this cable bridge across the St. Joe.

   

[Bowwild]

My 11-year old grandson Lucas loved the river!  He waded it ever day looking for special sticks and rocks!  Lucas was on his first bear hunt but I won't go into it because he wasn't using archery tackle.

I don't think he had ever skipped rocks before. He added a lot of rocks to the river on this trip!

I'm lucky that Lucas and his brother live behind the woods about 1/2 mile from my wife and I. We see he and his 3-year old brother almost every day. But it was terrific spending 24/7 with him this week.

 

[Steve O]

Spectacular. And we've not even heard about the bears yet!

[Bowwild]

We explored, fished, and visited the little town of Avery (population 24) every day.  One day we drove into Montana to a meat processor...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

 

My brother Tony abandoned our spinner plan and put a dry fly 2 feet behind a red and white bobber.  He caught two cutthroats right away. He was very excited .... like a birder who had just ticked off another species from his bucket list!

 

[Bowwild]

One of the reasons we left camp early each day for the river was  to escape the heat. Our week was extremely hot with temperatures 94+. We had beautiful clear weather all week though.

We arrived back in camp each day in time for lunch at 1:30-2:30.   We piled in two trucks with guides each day around 3-4pm. We left a bit later every day because of the heat.   The guides had about 45 bait sites and were actively monitoring 15 of them during our week.  They were extremely confident that all of us would see bears every sit.

Stands were hang-on (mostly Gorillas) about 25 feet high. The stands we experienced were extremely stable and step systems extended above the stand making for easy, safe entry and exit. We all brought our own safety harnesses as mandated by the outfitter.

Baits were uphill from the stand which made for nearly level shots, as if on the ground.

The terrain was extremely steep!  I don't know why but I figured before arriving we'd be hunting river bottoms...level or slightly inclined areas.  Boy was I WRONG!  Our stands were straight up the mountainside from 250 to 750 yards. We'd zig-zag (switchback) up the mountain to our stands. The guides were patient but we certainly had to stop and go up the mountain to catch our breath and push our hearts back down out of our hats!

I hunted solo on Monday. My son took his son to a ground blind because the grandson was rifle hunting. My brother was taken to the top of a mountain for a level walk in and short but steep climb to his tree stand. My brother's shot was downhill about 40 feet.

Our closest stand to camp was about 10 miles and we were scattered from 10-30 miles from camp at the drop off.  

The hunt rule was to hunt until dark (around 8:45PM), climb down, and follow the trail downhill (thank goodness!) to the road. The St Joe river was never out of earshot so finding our way off the mountain was easy.

We had to switch back and forth along the trail though because one slip and you would roll and bounce until you reached the bottom or a big western red cedar, hemlock, ponderosa pine, or spruce stopped your progress.

[Bowwild]

We were the 5th group to be in camp this year. Our group would close the camp for the 2015 Spring Bear season.  So far 20 bears had been taken. Some with rifles, some with compounds, and none with recurves. In fact, no group had needed to hunt past Wednesday to fill their tags.

Near the end of my climb to the stand on the first night (Monday)  I had been breathless for what seemed an eternity. My heart was pounding, and even though humidity was low and I was dressed very lightly (t-shirt), I was starting to sweat. I would have been soaked had I exerted that much in KY.  I knew, for mountain hunting what I was going through was a walk in the park.  I began to wonder why in the world did I dream of Big Horn Sheep hunting!

Then the guide stopped and went on alert. I didn't know it because I was 30 feet below him, but he was looking at the bait. The bait spot is a hole in the ground with logs or rocks around it. The timber is composed of very large  trees and lots of blowdowns. A very closed canopy making for lots of shadows on the forest floor.

The guide had heard something run. He motioned for me to come to his level. (He had jogged up that last 30 feet!). When I arrived he pointed to the stand I would be climbing it. Just beyond my stand in the adjacent tree was a small chocolate bear. He had been on the bait and we spooked him up that spruce. I asked the guide if a sow was around, he said no.

Then I went about arranging my gear to climb into the stand. It felt really weird knowing that little bear was watching my every move. The guide went up another 25 feet to refresh the bait.

I was very winded and thought I was taking way too long to arrange my gear, tie my bow, pack and arrows on my haul line. (You have to bring your own haul line and take it out every hunt to reduce scent.) My haul line was about 5 feet too short at 20'.  So, when I reached the end of my rope (more ways than one) I had to lift the load off the ground to climb the last few rungs of the ladder. The new Blacktail T2 Sitka swung into the ladder...ouch!  

You can see the little ding a bolt end made in the finish of my now favorite recurve. (56", 47#@26").

NOTE:  (You'll see that Bisch let me know below that this "ding" was caused by a Great Northern QD bolt attachment I had been playing with at home...incorrectly. I have since adjusted that little quiver bolt so it won't do more damage. )

I thought about having this blemish repaired but I'm leaving it as another momento of this bear hunting experience. It is covered anyway by the Great Northern Bow Quiver QD limb bolt attachments. I bought the quiver on this site's St. Jude Auction (Thanks Stan!).

     

[shreffler]

Type faster    

[Bowwild]

I know I'm dragging this on...

Once settled in the tree I sat down and turned to face the bait. I was surprised the guide was standing there and had been waiting on me to get strapped in and settled. I thought he had gone on down the mountain. I felt bad that I had been "taking my time" and that I had held him up.  Thumbs up though and down he went to take my brother Tony to the mountain top stand.

I'm sorry to report that I was so pooped that I didn't even care much about the small bear in the tree next too me. It took me 20 minutes before even thinking to take his picture. I dug out my video camera and got footage of him climbing down.  His tree was only 15 feet away from me and he was at eye level to me. Pretty cool to see him fidget around on the fragile limbs of the spruce.

When he climbed to the ground he jumped back up on the tree, as if he wasn't sure it was safe on the ground yet. Then he dropped again and scurried on down the mountain about 30 yards. He contoured away and out of my view.

The wait was on....

I have to say that it took me from about 3:30-5PM to fully recover from the climb up. I figured the climb was better proof than an EKG that my ticker was ok! I can't say it made me stronger but it didn't kill me.  

During that first hour in that stand I felt like climbing down and just laying at the base of the tree. Of course that would have ruined my hunt and the bait site. I needed to get my act together.  If I could fill my tag this night, I could then sit in the rifle blind with my grandson to allow my son a better solo bow hunt sit.

I watched the squirrels, chipmunks, and a pine marten raid the bait on a constant basis.  

Then the bear showed up.

Funny, it seems that one of the purposes of these small beasts at the bait is to calibrate your eyes for seeing small things. So, when the bear appeared at 6:30PM he appeared HUGE by comparison!  As soon as I saw him, on a contour trail about 40 yards to the right of the bait, I knew he was one I would shoot. He was brown and looked like many of the pictures I had seen near camp.

He stopped about 30 yards short of the bait (about 40 yards from me). He put his nose up, rotated his head around and looked towards the bait and all around. He didn't pay any more attention to  me in my tree than any other direction though. I knew the breeze was swirling (too early for evening thermal affect) as I felt it on the back of my arms (I still  had the maroon-colored t-shirt on).  

Then he just ambled above the bait and out of sight, never getting closer than 30 yards or so. No shot.

I had seen this type of thing before in the mid-1980's on DIY Ontario bear hunts. So I figured he would be back (I'm being presumptuous that "he" was a "he" by the way).

About 15 minutes later he came down from above the bait. He walked all the way down to the top edge of the bait, but there was a small spruce between us,  blocking most of my view of the bear's vitals. I wanted a perfect, 16-yard shot. He didn't eat any bait he just nosed the air and then retreated back up and out of sight, above the bait.

Then at 7:20 the bear returned. This time he came from above and from the left. He had effectively made a half-circle around the bait from where I had first seen him.  He seemed to be walking with more of a purpose and more confidence. I suppose he was becoming satisfied that all was ok?  He came straight in to the bait and sat down .... FACING me.  Of course that was no shot so I continued to wait.

All this time, every time he came in, I was reminding myself to pick spot behind his shoulder and "paint" my face during follow through. Over and over again.

I wondered if the bear would consume all the bait without every giving me a proper shot angle. Sure, I thought that maybe I should take the quartering towards me shot. However I feared he'd drop his head, move a leg, or do something to prove that such a decision would be a poor one. So I waited.

Then he did it. He turned almost completely broadside. I drew, anchored and released just a little quicker than it took me to type this sentence.  My draw arm follow through didn't feel good. I saw the fletching of the arrow sticking out of what appeared to be his neck at the shoulder, angled back a bit.  I thought it was an "ok" shot, but not quite where I had been looking.  The bear immediately whirled and high-tailed it back to the right and slightly above the trail upon which he had first arrived, an hour earlier.

I took the shot at 7:30PM.  The arrow was an Easton FMJ Deep Six tipped with a Strickland Helix, 2-blade, single bevel 155 grain broached. 455 total grains.

I watched the bear leave. I thought I saw him drop in the understory at about 40 yards. Then I saw what appeared to be a pair of somersaults down the mountain. I heard some rumbling from the bear. Then all was silent. It took less than 5 seconds I'm sure.

I figured the bear was dead right then. I had 1.5 hours before dark but I wanted to know.  So I arranged my gear, lowered the load, swinging it up the mountain to make up for a too-short haul line, and softly landed the bow, pack and arrow tube on the ground.

I unhooked and descended to the ground. I left my pack at this tree stand base and took only my arrow tube and bow to check on the bear. I didn't nock an arrow. I figured walking on that steep mountainside with a nocked arrow, was far more dangerous than what I figured would be a dead bear.

Note: A couple folks on this forum have heard me tell of a bear I killed in Ontario in 1985.  If so you can imagine how I wondered if this bear would still be alive or not when I approached him. That Ontario bear had been quite alive and required another arrow!

I quietly slipped along the very worn path the bear had taken to  first come to the bait site. Then I peeked around a spruce and there he laid, wrapped against the base of a small tree. I watched him for 30-45 seconds looking for signs of life. Seeing none, I touched his rump with my recurve limb tip. He didn't move. Both the bear and I were done.

The entry turned out to be perfect, behind the shoulder, midway up. The exit was angled a bit back but out the lungs. Once again I was reminded, what you think you see at the moment an arrow strikes, isn't always factual.  The broadhead was poking half-way out the hole. I pulled the broken bottom half of the arrow out, and put it in my quiver. I left the fletched half with the bear.

I grabbed a foreleg thinking to  move the bear about 15 feet down to the highly visible trail for the guides to retrieve later. As soon as I budged the bear, to my horror he started rolling down the mountain! He rolled to and then past the trail and only stopped at another trail about 20 feet below the trail. I decided to stop messing with the bear before I rolled him into a God-awful blow down pile. I poked a stick in the middle of the trail and put a piece of white terry cloth, I found on the ground, on the stick to "flag" the spot.

I gathered my stuff, and down the mountain  I went.

         

[kevsuperg]

nice opening photo. i think i can see my new house from there.
 wonderful story, great to spend time with friends and family in such beautiful country and congrats on the bear.

[Bowwild]

I was happy to get this bear. He is badly rubbed, I had never seen a rubbed bear and I thought he was two-toned when I shot him. I would have shot him even if I knew he was badly rubbed because I needed to tag out so I could take over sitting duties with my grandson.

My son killed a bear (compound) the next evening and my brother killed one on Day 3 (compound).

My grandson got a shot on Thursday with his rifle but no bear.

What an adventure we had!  This was my first shot at a bear with a recurve.  My brother and son saw, shot at and killed the first bears of their lives on this trip.

Here are a couple more of my favorite pictures.

Father and son tossing rocks:
   

Grandfather (me) and grandson being corny next to a "Looking to the Future" statue in Spokane, Washington waiting for the plane ride home.
   

I'm already planning a bear hunt for us next spring. I'm looking back to Canada though and bigger, unrubbed bears.

[Kevin Dill]

Really nice story, there. Big congrats on your bear...good shooting!

[shreffler]

Congrats!! Looks like you had a great trip. Hard to beat those views    

Congrats to all of y'all!

Bisch

P.S. - I don't think that mark on your bow is from dinnging the stand. It is from the screw in the QD mount. sometimes the screw goes too deep and sticks out the back side of the mount a bit when tightened. I have the exact same mark on my bow! Lay your QD mount on the top of your limb, and I'll bet my bottom dollar that the screw lines up exactly with that mark.

[Izzy]

What a hunt with your family. Congrats!!!

[Bowwild]

Bisch, I'll bet you are correct! I'll check that out!