Bear Encounters On You Elk Hunts!

[ElkNut1]

In most areas we've Elk hunted we come across black bears on a yearly basis. No Grizzly country as of yet! (grin) We've had countless of sightings over the years, some close & some too close! (grin) We've not had any serious stuff happen but they've taken a few steaks from us on occasion when quarters were left all day or overnight before our return, all in all no big deal though! On nearly all of our elk hunts we pack .357mag pistols on our sides "just in case".

Out of all the encounters with them one case stands out well above the others. My son (bowelkdown) & I were working a bull with bull & cow sounds, he was getting pretty worked up & closing the distance to our setup, my son was only a few feet from me & in front on his knees where the bull was making his way to us, he was going to do the shooting. For whatever reason (it now escapes me) Paul II turned around from his knees towards me & immediately went to a sitting position with his bow set across his lap & started pushing himself with the heels of his hands & the heels of his feet trying to put distance between him & me fast, I looked at him sort of startled & held my hands out in a gesture like what are you doing?? He said BEAR. I turned quickly to look behind me thinking he meant a bear was approaching from a distance off, low & behold this black bear was only a few feet from me, needless to say I was taken by surprise real fast, the bear was as startled as we were, he was outa there in a flash! Although he was close we got a big laugh out of it, it happened to fast to be scared! (grin)

How about you folks, any close calls while elk hunting??

ElkNut1

[Ridgernr]

On one of my 1st archery elk hunts we had finished the morning hunt and were moving down an old logging to a new area when we saw the brush move on the downhill side of the road. Thinking it was maybe a deer we nocked an arrow and stepped to the cut bank and waited' very directly a black bear stood up in front of us and stared at us, as we had our stare down my hunting partner leaned a little and said "It's a bear", Like I didnt see it 8 feet infront of us. Any way he ran of snapping his jaws and we had a good laugh.
I tell my wife you have not lived until you stare a bear in the face or have a .357 stuffed in your face (that is another story)
Both experiences will stick with you.

)

[WapitiTalk1]

Will share my very first (although it wasn't on an elk hunt). I was 13 or 14, walking a trail grouse hunting behind Marten City, MT. I was proudly sporting a Savage 20 gauge/.22 over and under my dad had gotten for us boys. Was a cool old gun with a switch on the trigger that changed the hammer to hit on either the .22 or the shotgun barrell. OK, I was in the zone, listening to everything that was going on my hunt... I'd take five steps and stop to listen.. I was in tune with nature on this trail hunting trophy grouse. I approached a old tree that was across the trail (probably 5 feet tall) and did the right thing, the hunters safety thing, and unloaded my gun and placed it over and on the other side of the tree stock down. As I leaned over the tree I felt a soft spot to place the butt of my grouse killing, instrument of death. Then, something lifted it back up into my hand, rather quickly. As the little black bear stood up on the other side of the tree, barely being able to see over the top of the tree, 5 feet away from my face, well... it scared the crap out of both of us.. I ran and he ran. We both stopped after running about 20 yards each and looked back at each other for just a second. He walked off into the brush and I went to find a different trail to hunt

[easeup]

I remember several years back, I walked alone out of our wilderness camp which was horsepacked in about 5mi, one morning about an hour before light. Arrors in the quiver and bow over my back on a sling. My release in my pocket. Both hands free and walking by headlamp. After about a mile up the hill the stench of a gut pile (from the muzzy hunters the week before us) hit me quick and I was mad at myself for litterally walking right into it without seeing it. That concern was shortlived as I saw movement off my left arm about 10 feet away. When I turned my head and headlamp that direction to see a black bear growling and snapping....my heart skipped a few so to say. I had nothing to protect myself that morning except two fists and two legs. My Lord carried me by that one!

after a couple of more bear encounters through the years, I am looking into an lightweight piece to equalize my stature in the wilds.

Next?

[JohnFitzgerald]

Haven't had many bear encounters other than watching their rump as they run off. Now cougar encounters are a different story. I had one stalk use during a cold call setup. On other occasion we encountered one that had no fear of humans. We spotted him at 70 yards paralleling us and at first thought it was a deer, but soon realized it was a very big male cat. He stopped, looked at us, licked it's paw, and then eyeballed us with it's head hung very low. After about 2-3 minutes of this he took a couple steps our way. We dropped the bows and pulled out the sidearms. He made a right turn and disappeared into some thick brush. Never once did I think he was afraid. I do however think he was considering dinning on us. Having three guys probably deterred him. In any case we went the other direction and watched our tail the entire way out.

[dotman]

Never have had the stare down moment. All bears I have seen were in the distance and the 1 mt lion encounter last year was more of a reminder that i'm not the only one out there. Not sure if I was being stalked or if he was just curious but i'mglad I made a big loop and who knows if ever did see me but he didn't act like it. He was just following my cold trail and the bench I was on wasn't to big so when I was heading back towards camp was when I saw him, doubled back and waited and he was still on my old trail. Never once did he look at me but when the wind changed he just turned and headed off the trail.

Have had a bear come close to camp that once he got wind of it took off hauling butt! Seems like most bears run off like a scolded dog but I always plan for that 1 bear or cat. I think the people that don't pay attentionto their surrondings are the ones trouble finds, this goes for anywhere not just the wilderness.

[WapitiTalk1]

OK.. "elk hunting" bear encounters.. Sorry, I couldn't resist posting my first one up above. Was hunting with my partner Joe about 5 or 6 years ago in a WA wilderness area. We'd dropped off the access trail right a daylight.. Worked our way down into some rolling benches, above some natural meadows, where we'd gottem into em before. It was Joes turn to call (which isn't really the best thing for me LOL). I set up down from him about 30 yards and he unleashed the Thunder Stick (Berry thunder bugle, but as we affectionally call it, the thunder stick). Bang.. immediate answer from below us about 100 yards.. He didn't sound like a monster, but was worth working up to see what headgear he was wearing. I started moving in chunks towards the bull and Joe was keeping track of my movement, moving with me but 20-30 yards above (thermals obviously filtering down hill).. Set up again.. Another thunder stick blasted behind me. This time, I caught movement up and to my right.. the little 4X was on his way to distant lands.. game off. I sat there for just a few seconds thinking about what just occurred. I heard light splashing coming from down to my left about 40 yards in tiny wet draw. Hmmm.. could be the little guy had some cows down there and I may be between him and his girls. Started inching my way down the game trail I was on and saw what was making the noise.. Below me about 25 yards, a small cub "ran" across the trail in front of me from left to right... Uh, oh.. I've been here before.. too many times. When momma crossed the trail, she paused to see me standing tall with my bow above me head. I yelled "hey, hey, hey"...loudly and.. here she came If you've ever been false charged by a bear, you know that they run kinda sideways.. very quickly for 10 to 20 yards and then stop to see if if you're changing your shorts yet. She did this, got to within 20 yards of me listening to me scream and yell "hey, hey, yaaaahhh, yaaaahhh" very loudly.. She stopped, jumped up and down on her front feet a few times and then moved off in the direction of the cub. I kind of speed walked back up to where Joe was at.. The look on his face was priceless as he had no idea what was going on with the yelling.. Fun day in the elk woods.

[2OArchery]

We've encountered several, only one that made me nervous. We spotted a group of elk bedded down in a canyon. It was about a 1,500 foot drop in elevation, hell of a hike. I dropped down the first qaurter of the way and there was a thick section of brush along a spring. I found a hole and had to crawl through, apparently a bear/cattle trail. I crawled through and once I got through, I stopped and took a piss. My bow was laying on top of a big sage brush and I was standing there with my pants down, so to speak. A bear cub came bursting through the trail that I just came through. He ran by less than 15 feet. I don't know if he saw me, he didn't show it.

The only thing I can say is its a good thing I had my pants down.

[DaleVR]

I had a adrenaline rush several years back while archery elk huting in WA, this was before they permitted us to carry sidearms. I was hunting solo and at day break returned to a brushy area just outside a good size meadow I found elk at dark the evening before. I heard animals crashing the brush coming in my direction, figuring it to be elk giong toward the meadow I knocked one and got ready. To my surprise a bear flies out of the brush 10 yrds in front of me, she sees me and darts straight away, I remember thinking WOW! than I hear scratching and look at the tree where she came from (10 yards in front of me) and see a cub scrambling up, than I remembering thinking, NOT GOOD! I glance to the ground and see her up on her back legs 30ish yrds out and she starts popping her lips, she drops down takes a step forward and back up on 2 down again 1 step foward, up on 2. Quick glance at the cub, 30 ft up! I really didn't want to shoot a bear and waste precious elk hunting time(crazy thought looking back now), I start backing slowly out gaining 10-15yrds from her. She was just going up and down popping her lips than here she comes a running, OH S___T! I wanted out there! I start back pedalling ( I know not the best move) she came came as far as the base of the tree her cub was up in about 1 second so it seemed and stopped. I think I was yelling and running backwards, wantin to be in the big meadow seemed comforting for some reason. I lost sight of her and spent the entire day looking over my shoulder.

[Lefty]

I had heard all the bear stories from my father-in-law, Too much testosterone, and cofidence.. " nothing to be afraid of a black bear". He had killed a number of them with .22, one with a hammer another with a crowbar.
My first bear ; 18 years ago in the Galliton mts. I followed a track in the fresh snow for over a mile. I was going the same direction the bear was. It crawled into a den under a big overturned tree roots. I stuck my head in the hole, I could see the branchers and leaves moving What was I thinking? OK I guess I wasnt thinking. The only way out of that den was thru my face. Never even thought much of it at the time, I didnt even tell guys back at camp

I had shot and missed a big bull, my scope lense was loose. I checked out the shot. The bull had spooked a bear in the bottom of a gully. Terrible nasty , five feet of powder snow,.. no real encounter, but I had been close to that bear all morning. I was hunting, the bear was sleeping

Mt lions dont seem to be much of a problem and dont want anything to do with people.
I had a student this year 2 cubs had taken up eating neigborhood cat and dog food and sleeping in the window well of her basement bedroom
A family in town and the news channle got some footage of a yearling the slept under a wood deck
My wife had patients that lost dogs goats and house cats right out of the yard

My hair-raising happened early one morning going up the mt. on my ATV
A cloud moved in and dropped frost in just miutes. I was putting on my coveralls and heavy jacket. I thought I saw "something" in front of of the ATV on the fringe of the head-lights 25-30 feet. Thinking it was a rabbit I walked up and could see the cat track

[POk3s]

Bear Encounter #1 - I was 11 years old walking behind my dad as we were deer hunting. We had seen several coyotes that morning (hint #1). My father and I found a trail that was absolutely beat up by deer tracks. Looked like one of those mountain cattle trails but no cattle tracks to be seen. We started following the trail and quickly found ourselves within ear shot of a bunch of ravens going nuts (hint #2). I remember my dad making the remark, "sounds like we're in a monkey pen in the zoo". Kept walking towards them and me being 11, couldn't hardly see over the tall green grass in the creek bottom we were walking through. I remember seeing a shadow on the ground and was just about to say "coyote" when a bear stood up. No farther then 40 yards away standing on it's hind legs my dad quickly grabbed me by my jacket collar and pushed me behind him as he dropped to one knee and took aim. I remember him saying, "if it takes one step this way he's done for". Luckily for the bear he dropped down onto all fours and ran up the hillside. He stopped about 150 yards out, sat down and stared at us. We watched him and then he stood back up and started sidehilling back behind us and my dad figured it was a good time to get out of there. He was feeding on a wounded 4 point buck and apparently sleeping. That grass being so tall he simply had to stand up to see what just woke him up, but how he sept through the ravens going bananas above his head in the tree is beyond me.

Bear Encounter #2 - I've told this story on here already but it's worth sharing again.....It was September 4th, 2009. I know this because I had killed my very first archery elk the day before. My buddy had been up there since the last day in August. Spent a day scouting and then season opened on the first. He had never killed an elk before but had been up there archery hunting with me the last two years. His family never was much into hunting and I have since gotten him into the sport. Anyway, I show up to camp on the evening of September 2nd. To my surprise he had seen elk everyday but everything was a long ways off. He had spent 2 nights in a tent on the mountain by himself. We were both 18 and he hadn't hunted much so I was surprised how well his hunting had gone so far. The next morning he had to leave to go back to work for one day and then he would be back that night. Well of course I killed a spike within 15 minutes of being in the elk woods on my first day of hunting. Spent all day looking for it as I hit it low, finally found it at dusk and packed it out.....got to sleep at about 3 AM and he rolls into camp an hour or so later.

I tell him the story in the darkness and as we're about to head out for the morning (me being the caller now) he drops his bow. We look it over and see nothing wrong. We take off down the old logging road when he hear him say, "oh ****". To which I turn around and reply "what". As he felt up and down the string of his bow he noticed his peep site, of all things, had fallen out. I had a spare one in my bow case and we weren't too far from camp so we jogged back, I put the new peep on and told him to shoot his bow and move the peep until he was sited in right. It was barely light enough to see at this point. I told him I would hustle back behind camp, take a look around and see where everything is going as daylight rose. Sure enough I say a raghorn bull and two cows cross a meadow about a half mile away. I ran the 70 yards back to camp, told him about the elk, he said his peep was good, I tied it in, and we took off. This meadow was on a steep ridge so as we got to the bottom of it I let out a couple cow calls.....nothing. There was a line of trees that separated the meadow into two halves. We got to the little group of trees and I looked to my right to see an elk in the trees laying down, quartered away from me. It was about 125 yards away and so I dropped down to a knee and put my binoculars up to my face. That's when I see it's not an elk and it's a grizzly bear....quartered to me. What I thought was the butt of an elk was the head of a grizzly bear. It's head was tucked into it's chest so what looked like the elk's tail was the bear's ear. I said a few cuss words as my buddy didn't know what was going on. I turned around and told him to knock an arrow, it was a grizzly bear. He didn't have a side arm and I had a .357 on my hip.....and then I remembered it only had two bullets in it as I shot a few rounds the day before just because I hadn't shot it in years. Of course I forgot to reload it and this was a great time to remember that. I looked back up after the conversation with my buddy and the bear was walking right towards us. I peed a little and then the bear layed back down facing away. He was simply readjusting where he wanted to sleep but it was enough to send a very bad feeling down my spine. If you've never had a grizzly bear walk toward toward you at 125 yards it's a very intimidating site! Regardless me and my buddy decided to back out and go around him as he didn't know we were there. We go way around and get above the bear and are at the top of that same meadow when I go to step over a pine bush. All of the sudden it erupts with 5 pine grouse. Still very full of adrenaline and a little scared, I jump about 10 feet to my right, crouch down and have my hands out towards the little birdies. I am snapped back to reality by my buddy in full out, stomach holding laughter. Trying to be quiet only makes it funnier to him as I sit there freaked out over a few birds. I stand up, say a few words as they fly off........

[Swede]

I too have had many sightings of Black bears while hunting or scouting. I will share three incidents that I think are most memorable.
1. I was just finished hanging my tree stnad when a bear came into the water hole while I was resting in my stand. I watched him come to the water, get a drink, wade in and swim around for a couple minutes. When the bear was finished it walked out, shook off and went right back in the direction it came from. That was fun to watch.
2. I was heading down a narrow path through some dense pine reproduction. Just as I turned a corner on that narrow path I encountered a very large bear only about fifteen feet in front of me. I ran toward it, through up my hands and yelled. I got close enough that I could have kicked it. My pastor friend was about ten wards behind me and asked what I was doing when he caught up to where I was. I explained and he ran back to where he could see the bear climbing the adjacent hill. After he saw the bear he said to me, "don't worry, I have my knife and if that bear had attacked you, I would have been on him". I looked at him and with a very straight face said, "thats all right. If that bear had not turned, I was running back and you could have had that bear to yourself".
3. A couple seasons back I was sitting in my tree stand when I saw a bear walking up a trail toward the water hole and wallow I was watching. Instead of getting a drink it went behind a twenty foot tall White fir where he was hidden from view. As I looked over the situation I observed that there was no possible way for that bear to leave without me seeing it again. I had a bear tag in my pocket, but I had no desire to shoot it. After waiting a few l minutes, the bear came out and walked up the trail a little farther, stopped and sniffed the ladder that led up to my stand. As the bear sniffed and looked, I was having a biological urge. That urge and a devious mind came together so I unzipped and urinated on it. The bear seemed to have no sense of humor and instantly left. It sure didn't wait for me to finish.

[bugleemin]

Alot of Grizz where I hunt, we see them from time to time but have not had an "encounter" thus far, hopefully our luck holds.

[westaner]

2 seasons ago I was charged by a sow grizzly and her 2 or 3 year old cub. I was moving in on two bulls screaming when I spotted her head at 25yds, I thought maybe I could get a pic. Then our eyes met and her ears pinned forward stood up a little. I had no idea if it was a sow or boar, so I yelled hey bear,Wrong!! I just escalated the situation. She ran 7 yards around to the front me,then back popping teeth and huffing. That's when I saw the second bear slightly smaller.
I was still yelling, Wrong! Still escalating the situation. My hand was on my bearspray, but still hadn't taken the safety off.
She then ran circleing back around to my front and seemed determined, I let go of the spray on my chest and pulled my 44mag from my hip and cocked the hammer back as she plowed trees over charging in! My bow still in one hand and gun in other she rounded the last tree. I remember thinking this is gonna hurt not thinking I could stop her even with 5 shots! As she rounded the tree at 20 feet I swung the gun and shot blowing the ground up inches in front of her nose! Time stood still as I saw the miss and tried squeezing the trigger again. Without the hammer cocked I thought "Oh no my trigger finger is to weak!" but the blast of the concussion was enough to change her mind she just swung back to the cub.
My mind was so frazzled I just can't place when the cub charged before or after the shot. All I remember was it was coming in fast with out a tree in its path and for some reason looking away to focus on the mother. I'm guessing it was right as momma charged. I've went over it many times trying to figure out when the cub charged, before the shot or after, but I did look away from the cubs charge.

Lessons learned, dont yell at a sow with cubs and bearspray is better in a highstake situation.

[ElkNut1]

Westaner, WOW, double WOW1!! Heck of a story! Next time have the .44mag in one hand & the Bears Spray in the other! (grin) Kidding of course!!!

ElkNut1