This year's my second season hunting deer. I had a shot at a fork on the last day last year, but missed it. This season, I've been out a couple times... After hunting all day opening day & getting my bicycle stolen, & then getting my car stuck that Monday, I took a few days off. I went hunting Saturday the 18th west of Philomath at a walk-in only area I’d never been in before. It’s 10,000 acres of 20+ year-old reprod units mixed with actual never-been-cut old growth stands. The tops of the dryer south facing slopes have a few open meadows & the old growth has some small clearings in thick underbrush, but the newest cut is decades old. The area isn’t managed for timber, so none of it has been thinned, either. It’s definitely not the place to go if you like to spot & stalk, but I like still hunting thick cover & big timber, so it works for me. (Maybe I’m a bit of a masochist…)
After walking the roads (all gated) the whole day to get a feel for the area, & still hunting a few of the promising spots, I had only seen a couple of does. I saw a ton of sign in the spot where I saw the does, so bucks should be in there as the rut heats up. A big tree there overlooked a clearing at the top of a draw crossed by dozens of trails. You could probably put a stand at least 50’ up that tree & watch a good-sized area. I’m not sure they make stands to climb a tree that big, though!
About half an hour before sunset, I was walking down a dead-end road leading in the general direction of my car. The topo map I had (updated about 1981) showed a jeep trail that cut down to the main road leading back to the gate. Either I missed it, or the reprod has grown it out of existence. From the end of the road I was on through the woods back to the main road would be about ½ mile. Since I had run out of water, (I guess a 2L platypus pack isn’t enough for a whole day of hunting) & going back around on the road would add at least a couple of miles – probably closer to 3 or 4, I decided to cut through the woods. I wasn’t excited about possibly crossing an unfamiliar forest in the dark, so I picked up the pace from looking around every couple of steps to a nice steady walk. Then I saw a relatively fresh cougar scrape in the road. I’d seen plenty of dried up old scat, but this was the first time I’d ever seen fresher cat sign.
Picking up the pace a little more, I went 100 yards or so & saw a bear damaged tree right alongside the road – another first for me. I hadn’t seen as much bear scat as cougar, but I think that’s mainly because the cougar scat is right in the middle road – I read they do it that way to mark their territory.
Walking downhill, a little faster with each step, I finally came to the end of the road. Pausing briefly to reconsider the longer way, I then plunged through the brush into the already dim light of the aging reprod. Racing the setting sun, I crashed noisily through the underbrush, sticking to trails when possible, but hastily shoving aside branches I assume deer stealthily avoid. I made my way into an old growth stand where the brush wasn’t quite as thick; and with daylight to spare, I spotted the wide gravel swath of the main road below. Still 2 miles from my car, but only about ½ mile from the safety zone closed to hunting, I slowed down to keep an eye out for deer.
I heard some rustling off in the brush on the downhill side of the road & snuck over to the other side to hide in the grass. I used a “cow talk” bleat with one of the bands pulled tighter to give a higher pitched bleat. Off in the brush, I heard more rustling. Watching the darkening brush, I didn't see any movement; but then I glanced down the road & saw a bear standing on the opposite side about 20 yards away! I had a tag, but at that point in the evening wasn't sure I wanted to shoot one & track it into the brush, let alone get it back to my car.
With my rifle ready, I took a step out of the grass towards the bear & it just stared at me. My aim was less than steady, & I decided to get down in prone. The bear took a step toward the brush as I got down on the ground, but still just looked at me from out in the open. I even had time to change the aperture on my adjustable peep sight. Making the hole smaller gives a more precise sight picture, but it was already dark enough that I decided to move the setting back to wide open where I keep it for quick alignment & low light. Down in the prone position, I had a solid, clear hold right between his eyes. Even though I knew it would probably damage the skull, I decided to take that shot since it was the cleanest angle I had & the best way to avoid tracking a bear through the woods after dark. When I fired, he dropped right in his tracks.
Keeping my rifle ready, I waited a few minutes to approach. I didn’t want to get too close if he was just stunned. I’ve heard plenty of stories about animals that go right down when shot, only to jump up a moment later. It’s one thing to have a deer pull that on you, but quite another situation with a bear! After a few minutes, I slowly approached. Just about then, his body started to settle & his rear legs slid out a bit. Rather than take any chances, I put another shot in his chest & waited a few more minutes. Breath still streamed from his nose when I finally approached from behind & saw that his eyes were open, blankly staring forward. I tapped his eyeball with my front sight & didn’t get any reaction. Repeating that several times, I finally started getting less nervous. Once I put my headlamp on, I still startled every time the beam swept over his face & those two eyes glowed back at me; & when I moved him, he still growled a bit!
I took several pictures with my little digital camera and a disposable 35mm. Now I think I should have taken more, but I was anxious to get to work. I had a few extra shots left on the disposable & just dropped it off for developing a couple days ago, so I haven’t seen those yet. I should have just used the whole roll. My digital camera has a self-timer & I have a small tripod, so I got some shots with me & the bear. I should have looked more closely at the pictures since there’s grass obscuring part of the bear’s face & you can’t see his head well. It wouldn’t have taken long to find a rock or log to prop up his head, but my adrenaline-filled brain couldn’t come up with that at the time. It was hard to get all of the blood off, too. Given the circumstances, after dark, using a pocket-sized tripod & camera, I think it came out ok. Hopefully, I learned enough to get better pictures next time.
Just as I was getting ready to field-dress the bear, I heard a truck & saw headlights coming up the road. I’d already been in one area this season that I thought was closed to vehicles only to find out they open the gates for hunting season, so I worried for a second about that. It turned out the area caretaker had seen my car parked at the gate since before dawn & decided to come looking for me in his pickup. We loaded the bear in the back, & took it back to the gate. (I should have had him take some more pictures, but my brain was still going a mile a minute) He said the bear was probably around 200lbs - big for the area - & he also knew a former professional bear hunter in the neighborhood, so we stopped by there.
Unfortunately, the professional hunter wasn't home, but the bear did fit in the trunk of my car with the rear seats folded down, so I didn't have to make an extra trip home to go get my trailer - which I had left at home in the morning. According to the caretaker, not too many people hunt the area since there aren’t any new clearcuts, & that’s the first bear he’s seen anyone take in there, although he had seen one, possibly the same, from his truck a few days ago. He thinks the animals in there probably hardly ever see a human, so that may be why the bear didn’t run away from me. It was only a ½ mile or so from his house where I got the bear. His wife likes to takes walks in the evening, so I hope she isn’t afraid to go now.
I was up 'til 3 am skinning & quartering the bear so I could get it all in my fridge, a lot of that time in a heavy rain! With all the fat, a bear may not have been the best animal for a first big game cleaning experience. I didn't have a good place to hang it either, so I did all of the cleaning on a tarp on the ground on my patio. Sunday, I cleaned up some of the bear grease from the night before & took the hide to a buddy outside of Portland who does taxidermy. He also helped me trim some of the meat off the quarters. There's so much hide, fat, bone & gristle on a bear that you get surprisingly little meat for an animal that size. I can see why so many guys say they have no interest in shooting another bear.
Steve Seeger
Still trying for my first deer...(long, pics)
but I may have to shoot one one of these days to see what it is all about. [img]graemlins/idea.gif[/img]
Old Coot
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