Beaver Pond Bear Excursion

June 17, 2013


Kyle decided he wanted to go on a bear hunt. He was supposed to be taking it easy after having minor surgery that morning, but of course he didn't listen. He said we would go for a drive and then just for a nice, easy walk. Nothing strenuous. So, Kyles mom offered to take the kids for the evening and we would be back to pick up the kids just after dark.

We headed out to an area that I grew up in, trail riding horses. As we were driving down the back road we noticed a blue quad coming towards us. Kyle made a comment that if it were my dad he would laugh. I looked a little harder and noticed the person on the quad had no shirt on. I told Kyle that I guaranteed it was my dad. Sure enough, my dad pulled up beside us, shirtless. He told us he had just seen a massive black bear just up the road about a half hour ago. So we followed him up to the clearing he seen it. We decided to drive up to a spot above the clearing and walk down a grown in road. We walked for a bit and decided to try out the predator call in one of the next clearings. We set up the rabbit and went and settled in. After 30 seconds I was getting eaten alive. The area we were in is thick with rich, green vegetation and buzzing with mosquitoes. We only sat for about 10 minutes before we both couldn't stand it any longer. We drove up to the top of the mountain and scanned the lower valley, trying to hatch out a plan. Do we stay in this area hoping that bear was still around, or do we go try somewhere else? We decided to try a different area, a quieter area.

We drove for a while seeing nothing. Soon the land started to change into mountains surrounded by marsh. The marsh was full of beaver huts. Kyle started to get a little more optimistic about the area. As we continued on I seen a massive black figure across the marsh make its way up the clearing on the side of the mountain towards the trees. I said," Bear, Kyle bear! " He stopped and backed up so we could get a look at it. I got first glimpse and said he's a BIG bear. Kyle jumped out with the rifle and set up. I was watching the bear through my binos and talking to Kyle. Mainly reminding him that he is supposed to be keeping it easy and that he would not be an easy retrieval. Once he seen the bear he didn't care, this was the biggest bear he had ever seen. He was a brute of a bear. Kyle yelled to try to get him to stop climbing. He did. And he turned around towards us, sat down and started looking down toward the marsh. He didn't know we were there. This bear was so big, he had no neck or ears. He was just a tank. I kept an eye on him while Kyle was getting ready. Bang! He took a head on shot aiming for his chest. He hit him and the bear took off up the mountain and to the tree line. I watched until he disappeared amongst the trees. We quickly grabbed our packs and set off down the side of the hill. The hillside wasn't too bad, a little thick, but we soon discovered there was no fast way around the marsh. We came to a halt where the mud was separated by a patch of water running into the larger part of the marsh. Kyle took the first leap and didn't make it. The water swallowed in around him up to above his knees. It was apparently deeper then it looked also. Seeing how deep it was on him made me re-think this trip down. I leaped as far as the mud would let me and I hit the freezing, black, smelly water. It was up to my waist. We then had a hike straight up a mountain. Hiking with soaked boots sucks. My socks were making that gross smooshing sound in my boots. And yes, I ended up with hot spots on my feet! At least they weren't blisters. We managed to get up into the tree line he had disappeared into. Kyle wanted to get back to the spot he shot him and try tracking him from there. We scoured the area and found no sign besides the spot he was shot. As we were walking through, searching we heard a moan. Kyle looked at me, I said I think that was him. It sounded like a bear moan. So we started walking towards where we heard it. Nothing for the longest while. We then heard this weird sound, it sounded like a moan but I wasn't sure. Kyle thought it was the bear again. So we followed the new sound. As we were going along I was getting suspicious of this "moan". I was starting to think the birds were taking us on a run around. So I slowed down while Kyle was trying to cover as much ground as possible. He eventually caught on to the birds as well. By the time he had I was standing on one of the ridges scanning the clearings. And right below me was a calf Moose, watching me. I started talking to her as I walked and she started following me parallel to the ridge, then turned and started to jog straight towards me. Made me a little nervous since moose aren't known for being the nicest animals. But when she seen Kyle coming towards me she turned and took off to the treeline where the bear had gone. Kyle didn't even know she was there. It was starting to get to dark and I didn't want to have to cross the marsh in the pitch black so we decided to head back to the other side where the Jeep was parked. Thankfully we found a dam we could walk across. But we ended up having to fight our way up the other side of the mountain. It was steeper then where we came down and full of thick vegetation and blow down. I didn't care, as long as I didn't have to go swimming again. We decided to come back in the morning to see if we could find him.

The next morning we got the kids up and all our gear loaded. Kyle had been up during the night trying to see if there was an easier way to get to the mountain surrounded by marsh. He discovered using google earth that there was an old road that would get us across the marsh and then we could walk in. As we were heading in it was pouring rain. He figured we wouldn't see any bears at all. We did. A little black bear that was as blond as blond could be. Just a little guy, but he was sure beautiful. I managed to video him but the video is extremely shaky because the hand strap was set for Kyles hands and way to big for me. So we continued on. We soon discovered the road had been washed out before we got to the marsh. We parked and got the kids out with their rain gear on and started walking the road. Luckily it was more like a creek then a marsh where we had to cross. So nobody got their feet wet...from the creek anyway. By the time we got to the tree line where we lost sight of the bear Easton was done, he was soaked, tired and crying. So I stayed with him down in the clearing while Pheonix and Kyle walked up into the trees to look. He didn't find him, but he did find some large rocks that had been turned over that weren't like that before and that only a bear could have moved besides us. So he figured he must have hit him between the ribs and should. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the hunt and mistakes can be made. We will be making more trips up there in hopes to see the brute again.

Nikita