My son, Jonas, was fortunate to draw a limited draw bear tag for western Colorado. From preliminary information obtained from the Colorado Parks and Wildlife regional manager, the area had a late freeze in the spring of 2017 and the necessary food source for the bear was nonexistent. The bear forage heavily this time of year on acorns and various berries that should be abundant in a normal year. Jonas and I scouted the area a week prior to the season opener and were very discouraged at the lack of food for the bears and no sighting of a bear or any bear sign. We returned home knowing the hunt was going to be difficult at best.
Thursday, August 31, 2017 rolled around and we headed for the hills again, tag in hand. No bear were seen Thursday or Friday on the two days of scouting prior to season. Several campers reported to us that they had seen a small bear feeding in some brush in the area. A local rancher informed us that he had seen some bears and suspected them of recently killing two of his livestock. Based on the rancher's information, we decided to search a ravine in hopes of seeing any fresh bear sign. From this information, we located recent bear scat that contained seeds and grass. The seeded bear scat left us scratching our heads, wondering where this feed was coming from.
We hunted the area of the fresh scat on opening day, September 2nd. No bear stepped out, and we spent the morning admiring a dozen turkeys that flew down from their roost and strutted around. We returned to camp for lunch and a brief nap. Our plan for the afternoon was to travel further up the ravine and use a predator call to tempt any nearby bear with a hot meal. After a couple of unsuccessful attempts, Jonas suggested walking the cattle trail deeper into the ravine. After approximately one mile on the bone-dry cattle trail, we saw fresh bear tracks walking out (our way) of the ravine. This got our attention, and the adrenaline started to flow. We continued further but lost sight of the track. However, we did find a lone raspberry on an established raspberry bush. The berry was sweet to taste as if picked in my own backyard. Further surveillance of the area showed numerous stripped raspberry and chokecherry bushes along with mounds of bear scat. We had found the needle in the haystack. I am not a meteorologist, and to this day, I can't explain why this area was not affected by the late freeze.
We pressed on another three-quarters of a mile and located another set of fresh bear tracks heading directly away from us on the well-worn cattle trail. The prints were extremely fresh as we could see each wrinkle of the young bear's paws. We knew we were close now! Our pace slowed to that of a snail in hopes of bumping the culprit of the tracks. The sun had passed over the ridge ahead of us, and the ravine narrowed. The vegetation grew extremely thick, and we could not see more than approximately 10 yards into the dark timber on our left side. Below us was a trickling stream with fresh spring water that was cold to the touch. As Jonas paused to glass the dark timber, a dark figure ran from the thick cover in the bottom near the stream. It was our first bear sighting of the year! We heard the bear enter the dark timber and then all was deathly silent. The adrenaline was peaked at this point! Jonas shadowed the edge of the timber in an attempt to get a glimpse of the bear that he knew was close by. I quietly stalked a bit further on the trail, and for a brief second, I saw the jet-black bear in the timber approximately 20 yards away. The bear ran back in the direction it came. Jonas doubled back and quietly moved through the brush, his 7mm RM at the ready. After approximately two minutes, the bear announced to us his anger with a growl and then he ran off through the brush. Jonas continued to pursue the bear. He later told me he had two opportunities at taking the bear, a head shot and a marginal body shot, but the shots were not ethical, so he waited for a better view.
The bear could be heard from time to time moving about in the timber, but Jonas could not get him to cooperate so he could make the shot. I backtracked toward Jonas, and he motioned for me to stop and wait. I sat down next to the trail and let Jonas do his thing. It was like a work of art to watch Jonas stalk the bear. Jonas left my field of view, and a short time later, I heard the Weatherby's report! Jonas popped up on to the trail and told me, "I shot a small bear, Dad." I rushed over to him and congratulated him on our family's first bear. I couldn't care less about the size of the bear, only of our success with such an elusive animal during the hunting season. Jonas pointed to a dark figure in the bottom of the stream approximately 15 yards from us. He explained to me as he was searching for the bear we had initially bumped he had heard a second bear shuffling through the upper oak brush toward the stream. He immediately stopped and waited. The bear emerged from behind some brush and looked in Jonas' direction. One quick quartering-to shot struck the bear's right front shoulder and removed the bottom portion of the bear's heart. He ran approximately 20 yards total before falling to his death. The single 140 grain Barnes TTSX did all we had asked of it and we had a bear on the ground!
As Jonas and I approached the fallen boar, he continued to grow larger and larger. I told my son, "That is no small bear!" We pulled the bear from the stream for a few quick photos and dressed him. After completing this, the light was gone. Due to the cool temps in the ravine, we decided the meat and hide would be fine until we returned in the morning to pack the bear out the 1.7 miles. After all was said and done, the bear taped out at just shy of 6' and was estimated to weigh 250-300 lbs. alive. The jet-black coat was absolutely perfect, void of any noticeable flaws. The rug will make a great addition to our home. I feel like I have said this so many times, but thanks again to Barnes for a superior product. I won't load and shoot anything else!
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