It Looked Like No Bear for Me…
It was no easy task, but after six hard days of hunting, I got my big bear! It was my second bear, and I got him in Kamiah, Idaho, with Mike Popps Nature Adventures. I had several opportunities to take a bear on this hunt but turned them all down. The dogs had treed one bear, but it was too little, and we had seen two bigger ones at the baits. One day we sat at the bait for seven hours, another day seven and half hours, other days were four to five hours on a bait, and we took the dogs out every morning. We were up at 4:30 am and in bed by 9 pm. We did everything right, but no bear for me. That’s hunting!
I had decided I wasn’t going to take another bear unless it was bigger than my first or a color-phase bear. So, I passed on the three that crossed my path. We were supposed to leave the next morning, but we decided to go out one more time with the dogs. We checked the baits to see if anything had hit them and planned to call in the dogs to see if they could strike a scent…. And boy did they! We had gone to the bait where we had seen a nice big bear with a unique marking on his chest. The bait had been hit and the dogs struck out. We could only hope the bear the dogs were chasing was that bear.
Perseverance paid off and after about a three-hour chase, the dogs had the bear up a tree. The only problem was that he was 300 yards straight down the mountain and the vegetation was too thick to get through. So, we had to walk further across and angle our way down about half a mile. I had to do some climbing for my first bear but nothing like this. I just kept pushing through until I made it to the bottom, and there he was at the top of an old cedar tree – the big bear that we had seen on the trail camera!
The shot was tricky because he was moving around and there were so many branches and other foliage around him. I was on my knees because the shot was pretty much straight up, and the best angle just happened to be on the edge of a muddy elk wallow… awesome. So, kneeling in the wallow, I took my shot, and I got him! He’s a beauty with beautiful black fur and an interesting H-shaped blaze on his chest. We guessed he would easily weigh between 275 and 300 pounds. My husband insists he’s well over 300, but who knows!
All I cared about was pushing myself to not give up and doing it the right way – with patience, perseverance, faith and challenging myself more than I ever had. Every second of baiting, sitting at blinds and chasing with the dogs was worth it. I got my bear, and the experience will be with me forever! I’m grateful every day for both. – Lisa Gingerich Olson