were back,
sorta never really went,
heres how not to set up a hunt..........

leaving here tuesday, were full of hope. a buddy of mine hunted the spot were going to a couple years ago, spot and stalk and saw 17 in four days. awesome!!! we have our camp stuff, my atv, good maps, food, and are ready for bear! our map was of the mountain, not the road to get there. i had a vague idea on how to get there, but the road out of a small northcentral wyoming town that my buddy had told me about was wrong, and after a short little 1 and a half hour detour, were on the right road, just in time to set up camp in the dark. one little problem emerged, the road into the area we were going into is padlocked shut. its an elk wintering area and it doest open until june (my buddy had said it open first of may, he had been in there shortly after a couple years ago with a local RMEF president, should be a reliable source). okay, our plans are shot, but i know a spot nearby with a good fishing creek, and maybe with a little hike some bear hunting.

we pull into this spot about 10 at night, and ive been up for over a day and a half, worked all night the night before. about 1/4 mile from the camping spot we see headlights. a game warden, right on, well get some answers on this bear area. come to find out my buddy could not have been in that area when he said, they dont even allow anyone to walk through. i think the warden thought we were lying until i pulled out two well marked maps. more bad news, we cant camp at this trail head. we can park for a backpack hunt, but not camp overnight!!! we have to turn around and drive an hour to the nearest camping sight. ouch. caught a break, though, since it was late the game warden said we could camp ther eone night. that was cool.

next day we did hike in a ways and caught some fish....saw no bear sign, as the snow line is miles higher on the mountain. oh well, that game warden was a new transfer, but gave us the address on the long time local game warden who would point us in a good direction. an hour drive later, were looking for this guys house. couldnt find it, directions were wrong. we go to the local store, town of 300, nobody knows were this guy lives. unbelievble. finally find it in the phone book, we were within a mile or so. hes not home. were screwed again. i had one final plan, drive up the mountain on the highway, and see if we could get in anywhere.

didnt work. on top, the snow was too high to get in. we did run across our old friend the game warden, and he showed us on the map were some people were setting baits and getting into bears (like a five or six mile square area) , and we would be able to camp there. so we go to this spot, and theres a big sign on the road that says no wheeled vehicles allowed. mostly snow machines going in, but a cuople law breakers tried it too. we arent law breakers. this is totally frustrating,. there is hardly any snow, just in spots near trees or on norht facing slopes. otherwise the ground is dry. however, the 3 ior 4 roads in all just happen to be hard north facing slopes with snow. we could see a couple miles in across a major river drainage that would be forever and a day walking that there was hardly any snow, and the hunting was probably great. wow

so we came home early. worst hunt ever. this is the short version, but the lesson is no matter now accurate your friend seems, call the local game warden before ya go. we wasted a couple days and too much money on a scenc pickup drive.

brad