On morning number five a bank of fog rolls in that is thick
enough to cut and eat for breakfast, but we opted for Mr.s. Ruth’s
breakfast burritos instead. After five days of sunshine, warm
weather and tons of hiking, the little delay is a welcome break
and we’ll soon find out that this late start was just the ticket for
the long long day we have in store for us.
Around 10:30 am, the fog is breaking enough to pick our way
back to our spotting knoll. We are not there long when I spot a
bear walking into an alder patch on a side hill up at the head of
the bay and the hunt is on!
We could see the bear crawl into the alders, but with some of the
fog still hanging around it is difficult to track his progress. After
glassing the edges of the alders for a while, we are convinced
that our bear is bedded up in them so we pack up and head after
him. We slip around the bay and after a mile and a half we spot
him balled up in the alders having a little siesta. At this point, we
are 600 yards from him and Andy is starting to get excited about
getting a shot on his first Alaskan brown bear.
24
T G
OUT!
A G
With the wind in our
ED
favour and the old
boar snoozing away,
we get in single file to minimize our foot print and start hot
footing it from one piece of cover to the next. A method I like
to use for a stalk like this is to have one person advance while
the other person (two in this case) watches, hopscotching from
cover to cover, keeping an eye on the bear to ensure we do not
get busted. We manage to get within 150 yards of the bear and
setup on the edge of a creek bank to wait him out. The last thing
we want to do is to try and place a shot on him in the alders
where placing a follow-up shot could be difficult to accomplish.
As the old saying goes, good things come to those who wait, and
sure enough here comes the old bruin walking out of the alders
and offering Andy a great shot opportunity. Not one to pass up
a good thing, Andy is already setup on his bipod and he places a
shot right in the shoulder with his .375 H&H magnum dropping
the bear on the open side hill.
Click and Like LIVE THE WILD LIFE today!