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| Colorado Bear |
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| 368yd Shot |
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| Shooter's Rock-Notice the flat dirt spot above the spotting scope's eye piece. The dead bear is in the oak bush just below. |
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| .270 Hornady SST |
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| Looking North |
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| Looking Northwest towards Dolores Triangle |
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| Looking up at Shooter's Rock |
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| Hind Quarters |
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| The light chocolate bear I passed on opening morning- eating berries |
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Bear Scat- with berry seeds |
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| Molars worn down to the gum |
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| Lower Canines-notice how the uppers wore a groove in them |
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| Old Bear |
Packed up and ready to go, I kissed my family goodbye and headed for Colorado on a 5-day, do-it-yourself spot and stalk bear hunt. I would be hunting Unit 61, on the Uncompahgre Plateau, which is known for its good deer, elk and bear populations.
I have always wanted to hunt Western black bear "spot and stalk style" where they live in the most rugged terrain of the Rockies. So after 6 years of applying for a permit, I finally got my chance. I knew this year would be more than likely my only opportunity in my lifetime to fulfill this lifelong dream.
According to DNR harvest data on this unit, previous years hunter's success rates were low. Lots of unfilled permits. It looked like they give just over 100 permits to try to harvest 18-20 bears. I still felt this was one of my best chances to hunt spot and stalk. Colorado bear units along Utah's border are good because the habit is second to none. In the fall, bears are trying to bulk up for Winter hibernation. They are opportunists, spending most the day during Sept.eating acorns and berries. Getting in bear feeding zones where you can glass a bunch of country is a good strategy.
Usually I don't plan all that well for my hunts. I already know where I am going, so I just grab a little of this and that and throw it all into the truck and go. This hunt would need some serious preparation if I wanted it to be successful.
So I laid out all my gear so as to make sure I had what I needed. I shot my gun at both short and long ranges. I studied Colorado's bear hunting regulations and spent hours pouring over Google Earth and unit topo maps plotting them with critical GPS coordinates. I also got some excellent tips and advice on where to hunt from an old high school friend, Brandon Sanchez, who has hunted bears in Colorado on more than one occasion. Thanks Brandon! So when Sept. finally rolled around, I thought I was 100% ready to go.
After the four hour road trip, I pulled into a likely camping spot next to the trail head that I would take each morning. As I was setting up my tent and pulling out supplies, I noticed three key items were missing, in part because I had a 6 yr. old bear hunter named Bron helping me pack. He loves hunting gadgets.
I was missing; 1-my GPS unit (which I had programmed several key hunting coordinates and also needed it so I didn't get lost hiking in the dark), 2- my little backpack cook stove I use to heat my dinners and 3- I also forgot to get 8 bags of ice in my large cooler at Grand Junction to cool the bear hide and meat down if I killed one. How did I let that all happen? Well...at least I didn't forget my bullets and license.
Opening morning found me perched high on the very rock pile I wanted to be at overlooking the canyon fingers below. I was proud of myself for driving the wheeler out and then hiked kind of blind to the very spot without the use of a GPS and topo map to guide me in. Before I could sit down and get out my spotting scope, I could see and hear several bull elk down across the canyon below. With my naked eye I could see two bulls sparring and I could hear their antlers banging together.
I got out my cell phone to text my wife, dad and brothers that I was safe and now in hunt mode. While texting, I looked to the right of the bulls fighting and saw a big black spot that looked out of place on the oak hillside. I pulled up my binos and "Bingo" sure enough it was a very large black boar with a rusty red phase back and shoulders. I got out my spotting scope and could clearly see he was sitting on his fat butt eating berries. I could tell he was a shooter for sure. The only problem was that he was 700 yds away and I felt I needed to get within at least 450 yds with my .270 rifle.
So off I went down into the oak to cut the distance. As I was snaking down through the brush, I saw the big boar had quit stuffing himself and was now working his way down the slope to the aspen creek bottom below for water. When I finally got to a shooting opening at 487 yds, I tried to get the sticks and scope settled on him but it was too late. He was in the thick aspen below and out of sight. I waited for an hour thinking maybe he would come back up out of the creek bottom. I then began to wonder what if he was really now on my side of the drainage right next to me in the 10 ft. tall oak and I didn't even know it?
While waiting, I noticed another chocolate phase bear further up the drainage. It was then that I made a bad choice. I decided to make a play on this other bear leaving my post. I moved to within 240 yds of this second bear which was eating berries too. I sized him up and decided it was a decent bear in weight with a nice light chocolate coat, but he looked to be a younger bear in the face. I made a tough choice to pass on him. Bears in shooting range are hard to come by no matter where you hunt in the West. It was hard for me to let it go. I did because it was only the first morning of a 5 day hunt and the big black bear was on my mind.
So I turned him down and was heading back to my post, when I noticed that big black boar working his way up the hillside where he came down from and impatient me was again 700 yds away from him. I tried to cut the distance in half, but it was too late. He was already up over the top and out of sight.... Dang it!
I climbed up to my original high vantage point from the morning sit and sat for another 8 hours in the hot baking sun glassing for that same bear or any other new bear. I spotted a sow with two cubs come in at 1pm for a drink in the creek below. She was very nervous and would pace back and forth and stomp her front legs when she caught scent of the old boar that had just been there.
At 5pm, I heard an elk bark and bark and bark down on the creek. The small bull busted up the face to the South of me. I found that odd, so I kept glassing behind him. I finally glassed up the culprit, a 200lb jet black bear following behind. I figured it looked like a full grown sow to me, but I wasn't sure. They are hard to tell apart.
The bear quickly made it up on top of the bench and it had both the rag bull and three cow elk right around it at less than 50 yds. The elk knew the bear was there and they finally busted out. The bear turned up closer towards me milling around, so I bailed off and cut the distance to 575 yds before I lost it in the tall oak.
I climbed back up a third time to the rock point and worked my way back to my wheeler before it got too dark, since I didn't have my GPS. I felt my first day of my hunt was awesome other than getting sun baked. However, seeing 4 adult bear on the very first day of my hunt made it worthwhile.
Day two I hiked out onto the same ridge and rock pile and glassed again at first light. Man what a difference a day makes. There wasn't a single elk in sight....Gone! It wasn't me that bumped the elk. I think it was the bears. I glassed for about an hour and finally picked up what I thought at first was a solo bull elk way down on the face of another ridge.
Upon further inspection I could see it wasn't an elk it was a bear. The spotting scope revealed it was a huge blond bear. He had chocolate legs and a big dark head but the rest of him was as blond as an elk. He had the colors of a grizzly bear. I was excited to go after this one. I didn't know how I was going to get it out if I shot him though.
He stood there for 10 minutes just moving his head around a little. I should have watched him longer to see if he was feeding or on the move? I figured if he would stay there on the hillside another 20 minutes, I could fly down off the face and "run" way down the ridge to a cliff and be within 300 yds from him.
So off I went at a blistering pace, only stopping to pull cactus out of my ankles. When I got to the ledge and peaked across... he was gone. I couldn't turn him up either. I waited all day under a tree for 6 hours and never did see that bear again. He must of topped over the ridge or was down along the creek.
At 1pm I spotted an ugly black and cinnamon phase bear a mile away on the move to the South of me. I held my post this time, but no big grizzly colored boar showed himself. It was getting late in the afternoon and I still had to get myself back to camp without getting lost. The hike was terrible getting out, but I made it.
I learned on day two that there were no acorns this year and could see that the berries were all but eaten or almost dried out on the vine. I began to worry that my first day was a fluke and that each day after might get tougher to get a bear within range. I knew now why I was not seeing bears up higher towards the top of the rim in the shorter oak. There wasn't much to eat with no acorns. I knew the bears were all mostly going to be in the lower range where more berry patches were found.
When I arrived to camp I was totally exhausted. I was too tired to want to make a fire to cook my dinner. Man was I wishing I had my little cook stove. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was fast asleep... That is until I heard my lantern fall over breaking its glass in the middle of the night. I knew it was on its stand sitting on the bed of my wheeler trailer next to a tank of gas and a jug of water. You bet I was up fast and my heart was racing. I had only one thought..." I have a BEAR in camp!"
I quickly got my headlamp on and my gun, of course I was sleeping with it. I slowly unzipped the tent and stepped out into the dark night in my underwear expecting to see two beady eyes reflecting back at me. I saw nothing...Nada? I figured the glass breaking scared whatever it was that knocked it over. So I went back to bed. However, It sure was hard to fall back asleep. The next morning no bear tracks in the dirt around my trailer. I think it must have been a squirrel or Bigfoot.
The morning of day three I decided to move one ridge to the North and sit on another rock outcropping down on the far West end of it. I figured it would place me a littler closer to the bottom where I had been seeing the bears. It also allowed me to look into some new country to the North breaking up the scenery. It was very steep on all three sides. I was sitting on a boulder about the size of a truck. I had a great little perch and planned to glass all day long and rest up from yesterday's hiking.
As the sun was coming up, I noticed some hunters had bumped a six point bull elk. It was working its way down below them getting closer to me. I got out my spotting scope to watch the elk and the hunters just for fun. After they were both gone, I leaned my rifle against my tripod and began glassing for bears with my binos to the South where I had seen the big black bear on day one. This vantage point also looked better into the far canyon where the blond bear was the day before.
After about 15 minutes of nothing, I pulled out my rangefinder. I began hitting different distances in the saddle below me, just in case I got surprised by a bear coming around the rim in the oak below. One particular opening with a distinct flat dirt spot I hit and got a hold for range of 368 yds. (my range finder also showed it was a 22% down hill grade and the line of sight was 407 yds.) I got back to glassing for another 10-15 minutes. Just as I pulled down my binos, I spotted a bear right below me on the move. It wasn't feeding, it was heading to water. I had to scramble quick.
I grabbed my gun and used my spotting scope as a rest. It's amazing how quick the mind can race. I had to adjust my body and get to one knee to make the makeshift rest work because it was too tall for the downhill angle. I had to size up the bear through my scope too. It wasn't a large bear like what I had seen earlier in the week, but it was a good sized bear. It looked and acted mature and I really liked the colors of its thick coat. Now I needed to wait a bit and make sure cubs weren't following it.
All that waiting got me "Bucky"! As soon as I could tell it was a lone bear, I divided my second(300) and third(400) crosshairs on my scope. I had no wind to worry about, it was calm and quiet. Once I settled in, I took the first shot as the bear was quartered away walking. The bear just stopped and stood there, it didn't even flinch. I racked another shell and as it was about to walk into a small patch of oak, I sent a second bullet on its way.... Again nothing? This is exactly why I bow hunt was the thought that went through my mind at the time...Good grief!
Note: I still don't know if I shot over it, under it or to the side of it...but I missed it clean both times. My guess is I shot over his back both times?
The bear was nervous to get through the small patch of oak after the second shot and it popped out and stopped broadside standing on the same dirt flat that I had just ranged at 368 yds a few minutes ago. I cut the 300 and 400 crosshairs again holding where I thought 370 should be. I was beginning to second guess if I had read my rangefinder right. This time I was more calm and squeezed off the third round.
I heard the distinct sound of a solid hit and the bear folded up and tumbled head over heal twice. It stopped motionless on its side in some short oak brush below. I thought for sure it would still be moving or trying to get back up, but not even an ear twitched. I had done it!... I had a bear on the ground!!
I gave it a few minutes to make sure it wasn't going anywhere. It was then that I got the uncontrollable shakes. It's a feeling all hunters can relate to. I finally got composed and worked my way down the steep terrain towards my bear. I was wanting to make sure it was dead dead before I got too close.
I don't care who you are, its unnerving walking up to a bear you can't quite see but you know it is there less than 10 yards in front of you in the shrubs. I finally got a visual on it at 5 yards and could see it lying there in the brush motionless. As I got even closer, I could see I hit it right behind the shoulder taking out both the heart and lungs.
And here I was worried I didn't have enough gun for bears in this big country. I guess you could say I did it Jack O'Conner style. Jack was a long time hunter and writer for Outdoor Life and is the father of making the .270 such a popular all around hunting caliber on big game animals.
Note: I would suggest using a .300 ultra for this hunt if you have one.
I really liked my bear when I got to see it better and get my hands on it. Come to find out it was not a boar like I had thought. I was surprised to see it was a large very healthy looking sow. I would say it weighed 200 lbs and we measured her rug when we got it home at a modest 5'11'' long from nose to tail.
What I really like about my bear is the different colors of her coat. The sun in the photos makes her look more brown than she really is. She actually looks kind of like a silver back gorilla. She has some white on her back mixed in with lots of grey and then it transitions from light to dark brown/grey/black on her paws and dark face.
I also like the fact that she is a "really" old bear, as every one of her teeth from her molars to her canines are terribly worn down. I am curious to hear back from the DNR just how old her tooth sample says she is. I believe she is for sure older than 10 and it wouldn't surprise me if it comes back she is 20 years old.
Well, I quickly learned that all my hunting fun was over after my shooting. I skinned her out for a rug in the field, which isn't easy to do. Their skin is thin and they have lots of greasy fat in the Fall. I cut off her front and hind quarters and her back straps to take them out with me. I hung the meat under a local pine tree in the shade inside game bags to keep the flies off the meat. In Colorado, you have to take all the bear meat out with you and you also have to check it in along with the hide to the local DNR office.
I packed out the head and cape with all my hunting gear on my first trip. I have to say it was "THE" most brutal pack out I have ever done in my entire life and I have been on plenty of bad ones. This pack out took the cake, hands down! It was straight uphill(9,500 ft elevation) with not enough drinking water and too much weight on my back. I was sore from the day before and the temperature was way too hot, as the sun was beating straight down on top of me with zero wind to cool you off.
I hiked straight up the face to the top of the plateau in the mid-day heat from 1-3pm. I had to stop like 40 times to catch my wind. Why didn't I wait until evening you ask? With a bear you need to get the hide cooled quick or the fur can slip at the tannery. I felt the shade that day wasn't enough to wait in the heat. The best thing was to get it quickly air dried at camp in the shade of the pines and then to the cooler on ice. I have never been so happy to see my wheeler that day.
Note: Yes I was glad that I had been optimistic enough the night before and drove clear back to Grand Junction late at night to buy some ice.
The next day I hiked in at first light and took all four quarters out in one trip. I figured it was 90-100lbs. This pack out was very heavy too, but I had way more energy and the morning temp.was cooler for hiking. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't as bad as the day before. I got up out of there and to the wheeler in just over an hour.
I really love new hunting adventures and this one now ranks up there towards the top. I love it when a hunting plan comes together. It started with a wish when I was a teen to finally fulfilling this dream at 42. It was well worth the wait. I really appreciate my bear and I am grateful I got to see other bears on this hunt in their natural environment. They are a fascinating species that have my respect. My bear will have a special place in my man cave, along side my other cool stuff, to remind me of everything about this entire experience in Colorado.
Someone this week asked Tara if my hunting bucket list is complete now that I got my bear and she just laughed. I really don't have a list. OK... I do have two more all time hunts I would want to go on though. I really want to harvest a moose with my bow and also a bighorn sheep would be my "all time epic hunt".
The moose will happen some day hopefully before I am 50, as I have many Utah points for them. So it should happen. The sheep? Well... that most likely will never happen. The few bighorn sheep permits they offer in the draw make it almost impossible and it is way-way too expensive to buy a sheep permit. I guess you can always have fun dreaming about it though. For now, I will just enjoy this Colorado solo bear hunt on Unit 61 fora very long time. It really was a dream come true. It was a hunt that felt like it connected me with those old time trappers who trapped and hunted bear in the Rockies during the 1800's.
Note: Myself and the kids cooked up some bear back straps today. The flavor was fine, but it was tough as leather and this was supposed to be the most tender cut. It tasted like eating a 10 year old ewe. I thought it taste like mutton. Now I have heard it is really good to eat, so don't just take my word. My bear might just be too old and tough. Maybe jerky will taste better? I was told to make sausage out of the meat.
