It was a beautiful scene even in the rain . Looking across the lake ; the fall colors of the larch and the birch brightened our lunch as we talked over the events from the morning . I was joking about wishing that I could have videoed the charging grizzly but didn ’ t want to risk taking the time to get out my camera .
After lunch , we again moved away from this area and headed back towards camp in a roundabout way . Hours later , as we were getting closer to camp , we came upon a forked-horn whitetail . Victor made a good shot on him . I think that he forgot all about the bears and how tired he was from all the miles we had hiked while he held onto the horns for his pictures . His excitement was boiling over . After all the years and all the harvests of deer and elk by these youngsters I think that I enjoy each one more than the last . It is so satisfying to be able to share that moment with someone . We field dressed the buck , then went to get the pickup .
Back at camp , we had to replace the meat pole from last year that had disappeared . We tied a new pole back in the trees twenty feet from the motor home . Then we hoisted up the buck , skinned him , and put a game bag over it . As we were skinning the deer , a car stopped by and said to be careful because he just saw a big black bear cross the road right before our camp . I tied the rope around a nearby tree and we went into cleanup and had supper . Victor said that he sure hoped that the bears would not get his deer . I reassured him that we have never had a bear come in here and take one before . With some time left before the end of shooting hours ; we drove to another location to scout for a deer for Hannah for Saturday . Just before dark , we spotted a four-point whitetail .
Next morning , we slept in later than usual . With Victor ’ s tag filled , we were just going to look for grouse anyway . At daybreak , I opened the door but did not see a deer hanging from the meat pole . I looked back at Victor and asked if he saw his deer ? It was gone ! We finished getting ready and decided to go to an area with cell service to call a game warden . Stepping out of the motor home , I saw the rope that the deer had hung from was stretched out tight . I followed the rope and there was what was left of his deer . Apparently , the bear had somehow untied the rope from the nearby tree . We had made sure that the deer was at least ten feet from the ground and more than four feet from the nearest tree . We took some pictures of what was left then drove down towards the highway to get cell service . I contacted our local game warden and explained what happened to Victor ’ s first deer . The game warden gave us permission to get Victor another tag so that he could try to get another deer .
We went out for another short hunt before needing to be back at camp to meet up with Hannah at two o ’ clock . After eating some hot soup , we drove to the location where we had seen the four-point the evening before . On the way , the kids spotted another buck about a hundred yards away . Victor got out of the truck and into a shooting position . He waited for the buck to give him a good angle . One well placed shot through both lungs , and Victor had his second buck down in his first two days of hunting . It was well past dark when we got back to camp , we were all a little nervous about skinning the deer in the dark with flashlights . We figured the bear was probably still in the neighborhood . We worked out a plan . Hannah would watch for the bear with the most powerful flashlight ; while Victor and I skinned the deer .
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BEAR COUNTRY CONTINUED
After finishing , we were sure to load the deer into the back of the pickup with the topper . To avoid any more bear problems , we even moved the truck two miles away , parking it close to the highway . Victor wanted to save the head and hide so he placed it on top of the motorhome . After the long hard day , we went to bed early . About two o ’ clock in Victor Perez of Polson , with one of the morning , I was awakened by a loud crash . Thinking that one of the kids had fallen out of bed , I got up to check on his deer for the season . A bear ate them . Both were wide awake and still in their beds . There were four big eyes looking back at me ; it wasn ’ t us they said . his first deer , so the game warden It must have been the bear outside . I turned on the outside lights but couldn ’ t see anything . I started the generator and provided him another tag . turned a bunch of lights on the inside . I said that should scare the bear away , so we went back to bed . An hour later we were awakened again by a loud noise and a shaking motor home . This time I started the main motor , honked the horn several times , we looked outside with all the lights on but still could not see anything . Victor said that he had heard the bear breathing outside the window next to where he was sleeping earlier . Back to bed we went ; until I awoke with the alarm . Poor Victor said that he had not slept the rest of the night .
After breakfast , we headed down to the highway in Hannah ’ s car to get the pickup . From there , we loaded up the hunting gear and headed for the area where we had seen the four-point buck on Thursday evening . We had made one pass through the area at first shooting light but did not see any deer . We returned about an hour later to make another pass . Then Victor spotted the buck not far from where we had first spotted him . Hannah tried a shot at 100 yards . She had to shoot through some limbs and missed . The buck just walked over a hill , so she had to move to a higher spot to see . This time she made the 150 yard shot ! This was her sixth deer and I think that she was just as excited as her first one . After tagging and field dressing , we tried to drag the buck up the hill toward a road but it was tough . We decided to go back to the truck and got the game cart which made the job much easier .
We had planned on staying until Sunday , but after a short discussion , it was decided to get back to camp and then head home . As we approached the camp a large black bear was standing in the road by the camp . Continued on page 6 .