sixshot
Buckeye
This is a 2 part story so bear with me as I'm posting both together. Some of you know that I have a spring bear tag in my pocket, one of my grandson's also got a tag & we have a spot that is loaded with bears. Here's the problem, I have one grandson who just recently turned 13 years old who didn't draw, he's been with us many times & seen more bears than most adults who've hunted them all their lives. He was really down when he didn't get a tag.
Idaho recently passed a law where a parent or a grandparent can legally transfer their tag to a son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter as long as they are under 18 years old. I've killed a lot of bears so I went to the Fish & Game office, turned in my tag & had it put in my grandson's name so now him & his 14 year old cousin will be side by side when we leave next week. They are real close pals & this will be a special hunt for all of us, I'll get to watch through the spotting scope as 2 young boys & their dads stalk bears!
This big canyon we hunt is ideal to be able to spot bears & watch as the hunt unfolds, plus a few hand signals can sometimes be helpful, I can't wait. Both of them are crack shots, having taken many rock chucks, a couple of bucks & a record book antelope. If all goes well you'll be seeing 2 young boys with a couple of dandy black bears on the ground in just a few days.
OK, now for the second story. Several times over the years I've warned of inexprienced hunters coming out west & getting in trouble in the Rocky Mountains because of weather. Most people think hunters die from exposure in Dec, Jan & Feb. Thats really not true, a person hunting in those months is usually prepared & pays attention, its the guys who show up in late spring, early summer or early fall wearing tennis shoes, Crocs, T shirts, shorts, no jacket, no rain gear, no matches & no plastic to get under to stay dry that get in real trouble & some of them pay the ultimate price.
Temps can change 40, even 50 degrees in certain situations & one small miscalculation can turn into a disaster in a matter of minutes. Twice I've found men miles from where they thought they were, scared, hungry, bone tired & not having any idea how to get back to where they needed to be, luckily after a little talking & reassurance they were able to make their way back to their own campsites. One had been in the same spot for over 3 days when I found him.
He was lucky enough to find a friends camp & was eating their food & sleeping in their tent but was too scared to leave the campsite, I showed him the way to walk out.
Anyway, just over a week ago a good friend of mine went bear hunting in the same area where we are going, I've known him for over 40 years, we've hunted hundreds of times together, including a 17 day backpack trip in Alaska many years ago, he's a veteran in the mountains, but he made a mistake.
He's had multiple back surgeries & has a terrible limp, he walks with a cane but still hunts & is probably the toughest man I've ever known. He killed a bull moose with my Harton 480.
Him & one of his son's were up on the mountain looking for bears & he started to get sick, they decided to return to their tent along the river. He had been taking a lot of pain medicine & he also told me he had taken part of a sleeping pill.
He woke up as near as he can remember about 10:30 at night, went out & got in the truck which was still hooked up to his trailer with the 4 wheelers in the back & started driving up the mountain.
After a couple of miles he jack knifed the truck & trailer & couldn't move so he got out & started climbing the mountain. He had NO clothers on, no shoes, socks, hat, gloves, nothing but his underwear & was walking in 2" of snow! He said he remembers climbing a long way up the mountain & said the brush was scraping his legs really bad. How he could do this bare footed, in the dark without his cane I'll never know.
After climbing for a long time he said he fell & started tumbling back down the mountain in the dark & he landed in water. He told me he could only remember bits & pieces of what took place he was so out of it from the pain medicine & probably hypothermia. He said it was pitch black but he knelt down & started praying & he was asking for help. I had tears running down my face. He said he crawled under a large pine tree & tried to curl up but was too cold & so he tried to climb the mountain again.
By then he figured it was around 3am, he had been out in the snow & cold at 7,000 elevation for 4-5 hrs. bare footed.
Finally he reached the top of the ridge line & could just barely make out a large meadow, he said he just wandered around & could make out some 4 wheeler trails going in different directions in the snow but couldn't make sense of which way to go. A couple more hours pass & he said he heard a voice & turned & it was Ben, his son yelling at him.
Ben got him down to the truck but the trailer & 4 wheeler had to be left behind, they drove into the nearest town & hired a tow truck to go get it for them while they headed to the hospital.
He has severe frost bite & they have been putting him inside some kind of pressurized tank for over a week now, some of you will know what I'm talking about.
As of tonight he's still in the hospital & still kind of out of his head, he may lose some toe's but he's probably going to make it, his son is headed back to get the trailer. Mother Nature can be brutal, I almost lost a very dear friend who's as experienced as anyone I know. The pain medicine did something that effected his mind & decision making & he was very lucky to survive.
Dick
Idaho recently passed a law where a parent or a grandparent can legally transfer their tag to a son, daughter, grandson or granddaughter as long as they are under 18 years old. I've killed a lot of bears so I went to the Fish & Game office, turned in my tag & had it put in my grandson's name so now him & his 14 year old cousin will be side by side when we leave next week. They are real close pals & this will be a special hunt for all of us, I'll get to watch through the spotting scope as 2 young boys & their dads stalk bears!
This big canyon we hunt is ideal to be able to spot bears & watch as the hunt unfolds, plus a few hand signals can sometimes be helpful, I can't wait. Both of them are crack shots, having taken many rock chucks, a couple of bucks & a record book antelope. If all goes well you'll be seeing 2 young boys with a couple of dandy black bears on the ground in just a few days.
OK, now for the second story. Several times over the years I've warned of inexprienced hunters coming out west & getting in trouble in the Rocky Mountains because of weather. Most people think hunters die from exposure in Dec, Jan & Feb. Thats really not true, a person hunting in those months is usually prepared & pays attention, its the guys who show up in late spring, early summer or early fall wearing tennis shoes, Crocs, T shirts, shorts, no jacket, no rain gear, no matches & no plastic to get under to stay dry that get in real trouble & some of them pay the ultimate price.
Temps can change 40, even 50 degrees in certain situations & one small miscalculation can turn into a disaster in a matter of minutes. Twice I've found men miles from where they thought they were, scared, hungry, bone tired & not having any idea how to get back to where they needed to be, luckily after a little talking & reassurance they were able to make their way back to their own campsites. One had been in the same spot for over 3 days when I found him.
He was lucky enough to find a friends camp & was eating their food & sleeping in their tent but was too scared to leave the campsite, I showed him the way to walk out.
Anyway, just over a week ago a good friend of mine went bear hunting in the same area where we are going, I've known him for over 40 years, we've hunted hundreds of times together, including a 17 day backpack trip in Alaska many years ago, he's a veteran in the mountains, but he made a mistake.
He's had multiple back surgeries & has a terrible limp, he walks with a cane but still hunts & is probably the toughest man I've ever known. He killed a bull moose with my Harton 480.
Him & one of his son's were up on the mountain looking for bears & he started to get sick, they decided to return to their tent along the river. He had been taking a lot of pain medicine & he also told me he had taken part of a sleeping pill.
He woke up as near as he can remember about 10:30 at night, went out & got in the truck which was still hooked up to his trailer with the 4 wheelers in the back & started driving up the mountain.
After a couple of miles he jack knifed the truck & trailer & couldn't move so he got out & started climbing the mountain. He had NO clothers on, no shoes, socks, hat, gloves, nothing but his underwear & was walking in 2" of snow! He said he remembers climbing a long way up the mountain & said the brush was scraping his legs really bad. How he could do this bare footed, in the dark without his cane I'll never know.
After climbing for a long time he said he fell & started tumbling back down the mountain in the dark & he landed in water. He told me he could only remember bits & pieces of what took place he was so out of it from the pain medicine & probably hypothermia. He said it was pitch black but he knelt down & started praying & he was asking for help. I had tears running down my face. He said he crawled under a large pine tree & tried to curl up but was too cold & so he tried to climb the mountain again.
By then he figured it was around 3am, he had been out in the snow & cold at 7,000 elevation for 4-5 hrs. bare footed.
Finally he reached the top of the ridge line & could just barely make out a large meadow, he said he just wandered around & could make out some 4 wheeler trails going in different directions in the snow but couldn't make sense of which way to go. A couple more hours pass & he said he heard a voice & turned & it was Ben, his son yelling at him.
Ben got him down to the truck but the trailer & 4 wheeler had to be left behind, they drove into the nearest town & hired a tow truck to go get it for them while they headed to the hospital.
He has severe frost bite & they have been putting him inside some kind of pressurized tank for over a week now, some of you will know what I'm talking about.
As of tonight he's still in the hospital & still kind of out of his head, he may lose some toe's but he's probably going to make it, his son is headed back to get the trailer. Mother Nature can be brutal, I almost lost a very dear friend who's as experienced as anyone I know. The pain medicine did something that effected his mind & decision making & he was very lucky to survive.
Dick
