Howdy
So this past weekend I found my new bear hunting spot while scootering around on my packraft. Unfortunately my camera passed away in its sleep last week, so no pictures until I get my disposable camera roll developed.
General description of the terrain:
I approach the site via a deep and slow creek/slough, the last two hundred yards of which I have to walk my boat as it shallows up. once I get to my boat drop-off point, I stow my boat, and shoot up this meter-wide spring-fed stream for approximately 75 yards. The stream moves under a thick, nasty grove of alders, and judging from the sign I found along the stream bed, is heavily trafficked by both species of bears, along with a number of Appetizer-sized critters.
Once through the alder gauntlet, I emerge into a beautiful grove of Spruce trees with wide open understory and huge fields of fire, with overwatch on two big meadows full of berry bushes and all other sorts of delicious bear-friendly stuff. The understory and meadows have well-used game trails shooting across all over the place, including a few that go up through the spruce grove toward the ridgeline above.
From the sign I identified, there is one small sow black bear and cub that transit the area, a decent sized Black bear of indeterminate sex, and a decent sized brown.
The approach through the tunnel of alder is extremely tight, magnified by the fact that the stream bed is about 1 meter lower than the surrounding terrain, and about halfway up, I realized just how utterly screwed I was if I ran into a Bruin, and rolled red-direct with my 1895 the rest of the time I was in there.
I really don't want to find myself opening an encounter with a bear already in knife-fighting range plus zero freedom-of-maneuver this fall, and am thinking of trimming back the alder along the stream bed with a shrub-lopper. nothing too extensive, just enough to where I don't have to low-crawl up the stream bed, and allow me to bring my rifle on target if I were to run into something nasty while in there.
the hunt will be at least a month or two from now, and possibly next spring. Will this negatively affect trail use by the bears? How would they react to such a change in their surroundings?
Any further wisdom you have regarding this adventure would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
So this past weekend I found my new bear hunting spot while scootering around on my packraft. Unfortunately my camera passed away in its sleep last week, so no pictures until I get my disposable camera roll developed.
General description of the terrain:
I approach the site via a deep and slow creek/slough, the last two hundred yards of which I have to walk my boat as it shallows up. once I get to my boat drop-off point, I stow my boat, and shoot up this meter-wide spring-fed stream for approximately 75 yards. The stream moves under a thick, nasty grove of alders, and judging from the sign I found along the stream bed, is heavily trafficked by both species of bears, along with a number of Appetizer-sized critters.
Once through the alder gauntlet, I emerge into a beautiful grove of Spruce trees with wide open understory and huge fields of fire, with overwatch on two big meadows full of berry bushes and all other sorts of delicious bear-friendly stuff. The understory and meadows have well-used game trails shooting across all over the place, including a few that go up through the spruce grove toward the ridgeline above.
From the sign I identified, there is one small sow black bear and cub that transit the area, a decent sized Black bear of indeterminate sex, and a decent sized brown.
The approach through the tunnel of alder is extremely tight, magnified by the fact that the stream bed is about 1 meter lower than the surrounding terrain, and about halfway up, I realized just how utterly screwed I was if I ran into a Bruin, and rolled red-direct with my 1895 the rest of the time I was in there.
I really don't want to find myself opening an encounter with a bear already in knife-fighting range plus zero freedom-of-maneuver this fall, and am thinking of trimming back the alder along the stream bed with a shrub-lopper. nothing too extensive, just enough to where I don't have to low-crawl up the stream bed, and allow me to bring my rifle on target if I were to run into something nasty while in there.
the hunt will be at least a month or two from now, and possibly next spring. Will this negatively affect trail use by the bears? How would they react to such a change in their surroundings?
Any further wisdom you have regarding this adventure would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
