Gastro Gnome - Eat Better Wherever

2016 Hunt Talk Bear Hunt

Good news Sytes, the blow didn't knock out your common sense. Good cautious reaction to the field situation, and with appropriate medical attention and a few shut eyes and you should ready to roll once again.
 
Sytes, A thousand years from now they will dig up your grave and they will say "Look at the Scars and Broken bones, this man must have been a Mighty Warrior!" LOL John

...looks like a low eye relief up-hill 300 RUM bite. Damn the luck Charles.
 
Sorry Charles. I was checking the thread hoping to see who drew first blood ................. but expecting it to be a bear's. Good luck and speedy recovery.
 
It's a bitter pill to swallow but I think you made the right decision.

Last fall I was putting up a tree stand and caught a small branch in the eye. As much as I wanted to tough it out I drove in to the emergency room to have it check out. They flushed it and checked it out but had me follow up with the eye Doc a few days later which I did. The eye Doc saw something that concerned him and sent me to a cornea specialist who informed my I had a fungal infection that was ulcerating my eye. Anyway, after a couple of months and some very very expensive eye drops hourly that was about the consistency of pancake batter, bi-weekly exams and some nice medical bills I luckily got past it without any damage to my vision.

Yes, expensive but cheap when considering what your sight is worth.

So, yes you made the right choice no matter how disappointing it might of been. Best Wishes, Tom
 
Ya, cheers all. Just the way the cookie crumbled...

Been a while since an update. Dark thirty, no news - good news? Will miss John's cooking and the camp fire b.s.'ing.

Pics lady and gents!
 
Julie, Ty and I went in deep and steep today. It paid off, thanks to Gerald and Travis for the suggestion. Julie pulled out a nice black bear!! Very happy with today's results. We also crossed 50+ miles for our trip... My legs feel like Jello tonight!!
 
As a bump to this thread... I wish I could claim this as "scope-eye" though not lucky enough to have anything to "scope"... :D Good ole' fashion trip up to find this great color. 20160515_104408.jpg odd sideways pic though unable to rotate.
Looking forward to work tomorrow... haha!

LCH not the pic of the bear though least a pic to get a Sunday funnies chuckle from. ;)
 
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Sitting in Spokane waiting for our flight back to Minneapolis. I will try and post more details once I dig out from the mountain of work email. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for a memorable trip. It was fun, tough, educational and humbling all at the same time. Special thanks to the following: Gerald and Travis for pointing us flat landers in the right direction (saw 10-12 bears in a two day period, several in closer proximity than I care to get to a predator); Travis for breaking me in the first night; Gerald for the room in the Wall tent; Gerald, Cush, JR, Jeff and Ben for your cooking and brewing expertise.

Good luck and safe travels to everyone-Ed
 
Last night Julie, Dave, Ty and I went back into a spot we had found a bear several days before. We worked smarter but still hard and we were in a great position for last hour success. As luck would have it a bear came out in the last hour at 930 yards. The stalk was on as the wind howled. We quickly closed the distant to 710 yards and the bear patiently fed on the green grass. We tried to get closer for an ethical shot but the bear had other plans and disappeared into the brush. And that concluded our evening. As we walked out in the dark under a pretty moon and a blanket of stars I thought of how thankful I am for the friends and memories that these hunts have created.
 
Sitting in Spokane waiting for our flight back to Minneapolis. I will try and post more details once I dig out from the mountain of work email. However, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone for a memorable trip. It was fun, tough, educational and humbling all at the same time. Special thanks to the following: Gerald and Travis for pointing us flat landers in the right direction (saw 10-12 bears in a two day period, several in closer proximity than I care to get to a predator); Travis for breaking me in the first night; Gerald for the room in the Wall tent; Gerald, Cush, JR, Jeff and Ben for your cooking and brewing expertise.

Good luck and safe travels to everyone-Ed

Give me a heads up next year and I'll buy you coffee while you're waiting for your plane.
 
Back home and showered. A very memorable time in the woods. Gerald and Travis, you're over the top hosts. Ed, Jason, Randy, Gerald, Jeff and JR, thanks for sharing a mountain with me. Pics to come.
 
On the long road home I can't help but think how blessed I am to have this experience. Two years in a row I have gotten to spend time with an awesome group of guys. I thank all of you for teaching me all that you know and coordinating this event. Special thanks to Gerald and Travis for sharing your hunting spots with us. As always it comes and goes way too fast. I am already looking forward to next years gathering. Julieimage.jpg
 
I just pulled into Dillon. My phone didn't work where we were so I wasn't able to update. My hunts weren't nearly as productive as the others'. In fact, I didn't see a bear on any of my hunts. The closest thing was a bag of cinnamon gummy bears. Ben Lamb and I did manage to call in a jake turkey from my truck but alas I was without a legal weapon otherwise we would have dined on some roast gobbler and Gerald's famous jalapeno poppers.

Congrats to Julie on the bear. She's a hiking/killing machine
 
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Just a few more photos to add to the thread. As usual I took far too photos to remember the events.

Jason and Ed on the way up, they were gracious enough to stop often so I could pretend to keep up.




This sign got more frequent the farther up we went.




You stare at countless black stumps thinking one has to be a bear. But nothing is as distinctly black on a hill side as a big black bear.




This pair was likely a boar and sow. Ed spotted one or two more on the same hill side as this couple.




At such a long distance this was the best my point and shoot could do for zoom. Enough to know he was big. He's still up there.




Something to keep me occupied while I wait for the group to reconvene before the long walk down the hill.

 
The softer side of Cush.

20160514_085727_zps4rhyjdz4.jpg
 
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