Hi this is Darren Dunham Outfitter and owner of Royal Outfitters. Just a quick update on the most recent happenings here in Hall, Montana.
Our first bear hunters of the season were here last week, and while the weather was hit and miss, there were groundsquirrels to be plinked and 1 bear that was stalked. This was a hunt shortened by the work committments of our guests but the 3 days of hunting did supply fun and excitement.
Jerrad, a perrenial spring bear hunter with Royal Outfitteres brought his super neat 8 year old daughter Makena this year, and Mike a friend of Jerrad’s brought his daughter as well. The two young girls were great sports and enjoyed their adventure.
You can check out a humorous adventure with Jerrad and his daughter under the Funny Stuff Category.
Anyway, I had the pleasure of guiding Jerrad and Makena. Our first morning out was an exploration of roads that have not been traveled since November. We ran into a lot of snow and although we did find some green grass, and some old bear tracks, we did not see an bear.
In the afternoon however, we were glassing a small strip of meadows in an expansive stand of second growth lodgepole pine when Jerrad spotted our first bear of the season. Jerrad (like any good friend) was especially excited that he spotted the bear, and enjoyed bringing attention to the fact that I had put down my binoculars and was beginning to get ready to head to the next lookout when he spotted the bear.
Anyway, the plan was made, and we set off in pursuit of the unsuspecting bear. It was about a mile hike down a gently sloping ridgetop. Our progress was slowed for a while as we picked our way through a deadfall that was further cluttered with young lodgepole pines. As we finally broke into the open, we found an old overgrown logging trail that lead us directly to where the bear was grazing. We paused a few times along the way to stand up on an old stump to get a better view of some of the landmarks we had noted during our brief planning session. The lone tall fir was spotted and we knew we were within a couple hundred yards of our little meadow. We slowed the pace and even the young Makena, made a great effort to keep quiet by not swishing he pantlegs together as she walked and to carefully pick her footfalls to avoid snapping twigs. So, we found ourselves within easy rifle range of the big lone fir and hopefully be bear. Our visibility was still hampered by the thick lodgepole. It is amazing how different a mountainside can be from what you saw from a distance. We chose our path and very slowly made our way toward the opening that we knew was ahead, expecting the bear to be very near. Jerrad lead since he was the shooter, then Makena, and I brought up the rear.
I heard a faint swoosh of a pine bough to my right, and turned my head as I caught the motion of a swaying branch. I knew that the bear was probably onto us and as I tried to probe the obstructed view I noticed a slight movement on the ground about 30 yards away. The shape of a bears front paws, one planted on the ground, and one hung in the air like a pointing bird dog, became clear in an instant. The rest of the bear was obstructed by the forest, but by the position of his paws it was obvious that he was looking in our direction. I knew that we had been spotted, and althought the wind was in our favor, I knew we had only seconds. “Jerr….. Jer….Psst.” I tried to whisper and get Jerrads attention, on the third psst, Jerrad turned and I pointed to my right to alert him to our friend. As Jerrad backtracked on the trail, careful not to trample his lovely daugter, the bear decided that he had seen enough, whirled and rumbled off across the meadow. Jerrad and I ran afer him hoping to get a look at him in the open, but all we saw was the black rump dissappearing into the trees on the opposite side of the small clearing.
As we regrouped and began to evaluate our adventure, my cell phone began to silently vibrate in my shirt pocket. It was my good friend Larry, who was calling to for a bear hunting update. I wish we had a little better news for him, but we could not complain, it was an exciting stalk. We headed back to the landcruiser, to plan our next move. With several hours of daylight left, we decided to try to drive down into the drainage that the bear would have likely headed into. There are some nice green meadows in the bottom that may interest him, and since he didn’t seem really spooked, we decided to give it a shot. Little did we know, that we were just begining another adventure. Read about our trek under the category, Funny Stuff. The post is titled “The inaugural mission of the OSK”.
