There is a mile long section of river surrounded by BLM about 10 minutes from my house. I have killed several nice deer there over the years and it is well known for being prime Griz habitat. If I don’t see one everytime I go there I certainly see their tracks/scat.
Last year I had two small boars stand up a hundred yards from me and gave me the leave our river grunt, so I packed up for the day.
A few years ago I killed this WT buck and the next day a hunter walked into a large boar dining on my gut pile. He ended in the hospital for a few days with some serious wounds but he survived.
We have too many Whitetail deer so I get as many doe tags as I can to do my part as they are a serious threat to our nervous by nature Mule deer population, so hunting the river bottoms is a necessity.
3 days ago I went down there at first light and saw some does take refuge in the cottonwoods and heavy brush/high grass across the river. There is no public access to the river from the North side, even though there is a strip of BLM that borders the rivers edge several hundred yards deep. The WT know that there is less pressure there, so they tend to make their day time beds in the thick stuff.
So I glassed the timber from the South side of the river and setup with my crossbow after seeing a patch of tell tail white on a bedded doe. After a few patient hours hiding behind the brush on my side she got up and stepped into a narrow shooting lane 61 yards away so I sent one across the river. I gave her about ten minutes and continued to scour the area for bears, saw none so I went over to retrieve her. Small doe but perfect double lunger.
I normally bone everything out where they drop, but saw lots of Griz tracks and drug the deer quickly to a more open part of the river a few hundred yards away, climbed onto a big boulder and boned her out in the middle of the river, with a hundred yard open perimeter to help me at least have a chance with my sidearm.
Thankfully one trip to the truck and I was out of there without incident.
The next day I took a bear break and got my two antelope.
This afternoon I went to the river again to try to locate a good buck with my crossbow and dint find anything I wanted to harvest. I began to pack up and head for my SXS down the 2 track and took one more look at the river.
I have seen a lot of bears in my day BUT this guy headed my way was a FREIGHT train of a beast! Probably the largest boar I have ever seen. I ranged him at 400 yards and closing in my direction with rapidity. Needless to say I didn’t stay for a photo shoot and got to my CanAm with alacrity.
The recent judicial interference with our Grizzly hunt is ludicrous. All we want to is to let them know we are the top dog in the chain of command. A limited hunt like we had in place would go a long ways in protecting everyone, including the great bruin.
