As you would know from my last post, yesterday afterschool I went up to the mountains by myself to have a go at the elk. When i got there, i didn' t get 100 yards from my truck before i saw 2 black bears feeding in an opening above me about 300 yards away. I made a stalk on them, but both were small. I saw two more bears during the remainder of the day, then i got some elk action right before sunset. I was up on a ridge, glassing, when boom...right below me, a massive bugle. I belted out a spike bugle, then closed the gap to 100 yards and used a variety of cowtalk. He was pissed, and very hot...he was thrashing the brush and working his way towards me. Thats when it happened...

i was concentrating on the elk when i happened to notice something out of the corner of my eye. I slowly swiveled my head over and saw the biggest bear i have ever seen ambling towards me at about 30 yards. I had a tag, and it was season. I was focused on getting the elk, which i was sure would be within range soon. So, trying to make the right decision FOR ONCE, i passed on the bear, which was 6. 5 to 7 ft, huge head, just a big round ball.

As luck would have it, the elk hung up about at 80 yrds, and i never got a shot. Now i' m kickin myself for not taking the shot. Oh well,

but for any of you who are hunting the front soon, the bears are EVERYWHERE!
good luck, i' ll be back at em on saturday and sunday

Dan

Hey Dan,
That sounds realy cool,to bad on the bull and the bear.
Can you give me some location,not asking for direct honye hole just,are you hunting closer to Glacier or Choteau or are you hunting around Augusta.Also what are they eating are they cleaning up left over berries or clearings.Any direction would help.
BBJ

P.S. I' m asking about the bears not the elk

montana,
great story.
Sounds like an excellent day in the field!
What do they say about a bear in hand. I would have taken the bear if he was a sure thing. A really big bear is an awesome trophy.
You can always hunt elk another day. But that' s me.

Keep the stories coming. Good luck getting a nice bull.
So were they fired up with the cooler weather??

I' ll tell you what, i can' t give you the location. It was about halfway between augusta and the blackfeet boundary, along the front. I' ve hunted augusta, dupuyer, and the badger two medicine so far this year. All have A LOT OF BEARS. You will have no problem getting a bear, just get up high, and glass. They' re staying out in the open feeding on leftover berries and doing a little grazing as well. The elk are farther back in, they still haven' t come out onto the front much yet....just some locals.

I should have tooken the bear, there' s no excuse for passing a shot like that. But, i' ll just keep going after em and eventually it' l pay off....just got to put in the time and effort. I' m going to be out all of saturday, and during the morning and evening of sunday.

Bareback, if i was you, i' d go in through benchmark and head north by Renshaw. The bears are down on the creek bottoms, stay away from up high. Good luck, you will get a bear easy if you work for it.

Dan

To bad on the bear and elk, maybe next time. I personaly would of took the bear but thats just me. Good luck next time.[8D] still sounds like u had a blast.

Ya, I can relate. I passed one up a couple years ago that turned out to be a state record. One thing to remember though, If you don' t pass anything up you won' t get anything better.

BLNT (Better Luck Next Time)

Thanks Dan for the info.
I left befor I could read your reply,we hab no luck on seeing any bears.we did go up to Benchmark Sat. afternoon and Sunday.All we saw were elk and deer.I seen a real nice bull on Friday evening(as luck would have it no bow)I' m guessing 360 maybe 370.Went down on the game range on satuday morrning saw 2 cows and a 4x5 bull.We saw a lot of bear sign in blubber and elk creek but the bow hunters were every all over,looks to be crowded for rifle opener.Stoped by sun canyon on sunday on our way out and they had a nice 6x6 and 2 5x6.He said out of all his hunters they had taken at least a 5x5' s or had at least 3 the shots at bigger bulls.I will be back up in a couple weeks and try again.Thanks BBJ

Wish I was in your shoes and had had the opportunity to choose. Wish it had worked out better for you, but for the record....I' d have took the bear!!!

Where did you guys go into? I' m headin up there in a week to look for some elk and scout around. What do you think would be the best shot for a bull?