Welcome to the Bear Hunting Magazine Hunt Cast. With me Koby moorehead, We're gonna nerd out on bears hunting and the outdoors. We'll tell stories, talk biology, tactics, gear, and the fight to protect the pursuits that we hold dear, So grab your bino's, lace up your boots, load up your barrels, and gather the helnds we venture on this journey together. Welcome back to the Bear Hunting Magazine Hunt Cast,
or should I say it's good to be back. It's been a busy few weeks between designing the magazine, going up to a wedding in South Dakota, congrats Alex and Maria, and then after a few more days head it up on a twenty and a half hour straight solo drive to southeastern Saskatchewe with Eastern skyguiding. W what a mouthful, but I have been quite the road warrior. If you follow our Instagram you know it was a fruitful trip.
But I'm back in Northwest Arkansas and tomorrow I get to start opening up my own baits here in Northwest Arkansas for our upcoming season. But while I was up in Saskatchewan, the day after I tasted sweet success. I sat down with Rich Garaz in this episode. We're talking about the history of their outfit and we're gonna recap my hunt. So hope you enjoy. Let's get into it.
Hey, Rich, finally good to meet you.
Colby.
Yeah, I knew the voice.
You can finally put a face to the name.
Yeah. Yeah, so, uh, I think I know the answer to this. But who kills more big bears? You were Marla? Well, no contest, but I'm gonna say it because you're a busy guy and hire your wife.
I am the hunters only as good as the guide. Yeah.
Yeah. And all your daughters have killed really big bears too growing up.
Yeah. They love doing it as well. They're out there all the time.
So yeah, it's a family tradition, it is.
Yeah, we spend a lot of time in the woods.
So give me some of the history of the outfit in business here real quick. You guys started out as Waterfile outfitters. You've been doing that for what twenty something years?
Yeah, we've I've been in the in the Waterfall, I've been guiding and an old fitting I started guiding in and then we purchased the Waterfall end. I believe it was in two thousand and nine or twenty ten, and then the bear end of it we bought in twenty seventeen.
Yeah, and you guys have been you guys have been getting some good ones. It's crazy. You guys should see and we'll post this on our Instagram, but you should see some of the bears they've got mounted here at the house or the lodge, and it's pretty crazy, like the size and even some of the huge colored bears that they have here. Well, what's been your experience, like what was the hardest thing switching from or not switching, but bringing bears alongside the waterfowl.
I guess just the opportunity to do it. It's always something we've wanted to do, and then the only thing is you have to buy somebody else you can't start or apply for it anymore. So that was the biggest hurdle until we did find an area that we wanted and you know and habit that it is for sale. So that was an opportunity in twenty seventeen. And yeah, it's been awesome, love doing it.
Yeah, awesome. So you guys don't typically run fall hunts. This is just kind of like an oddity.
Yeah, I mean the fall is a nice time. It's just usually this year we had a few tags left, so we thought we'd finish it off before before we run into our bird season. So we run it that the first week in the fall season, which is the last week in August, and then we go into birds beginning of September, and I think you could run it another couple of weeks. It gets tougher as you get later into fall. Yeah, once they start adapting, you know,
to hibernation. They're training their body to slow down, so you'll get you'll still get bears coming in, but it won't be as consistent. Later in the fall. You might get, you know, a bait bombarded for a day and then you might not see them for two or three days.
So yeah, and uh, one of the things that you you talked about was some of these boars seem to travel together or in like proximity to one another, and so that they'll be on one bait all together and then they'll just disappear and then they'll show up on another bait. Tell me a little bit about that.
Yeah, just you're you're getting you know, all them all them boars are that we're fighting in the spring. Now they're all buddies, So you'll and what we're seeing is a lot of that three hundred pound bears. You'll get a group of them come in where you might have, you know, one one evening, you might get four or five bears that come in are all in that same
weight range. Yeah, you know, and uh, I think we've seen that even last night where we had a lot of three hundred pounders and then and then we had a couple couple crankers walking later.
We're gonna and now that was a foreshadowing. I see you, rich oh Man. Well, we wish Marla could be on here, but she's at her day job. Well, one of the things that I haven't I guess I haven't thought of until I was up here is, you know, down in Arkansas, we're always battling that mass crop, mainly acorns and stuff like. That's typically what they're hammering around that time, competing with
our baits. I never thought about competition for baits up here in Canada, except for you guys have agg land everywhere, and I mean it's just a big agricultural agriculture community. And so that's one of the things that we were battling this week is some of those bears were on different ad crops and then they would just come check the bait off and on. And you told me that, what are some of the things that are competing with the baits during this time of year in this particular area.
I guess berries, you know, your berry bushes are your biggest that's their go to this fall. Our berries were way down. We just don't have near the berries this fall like we normally do. Choke cherries, cranberries, you know, stuff like that. Oats Fields are another big drawing card you get into them oats fields. They love going in
there and sitting down and filling up. But even some of the baits we had were close to oats fields and you're still pulling them out of the oats and then they go back into the oats, so they're back and forth trading, and it just makes it nicer when you don't have the options like berries are down, so it gathers them a little more to them to them feeding areas, so what they do have access to.
Yeah, yeah, I think we really saw that on this hunt. And yeah, so this week it was just me and one other hunter Bob. Bob was a nice guy, Yeah he was. He got out of here quick, Yeah done, and he stayed a little longer. But no, Bob is turns out he's quite the bear hunter. He's a he's just absolutely eat up with it. And so I'll let you I'll let you tell the story about Bob's first hunt. First day.
Yeah, we went, we set them up. We had a couple couple of good pictures of some good bears coming, uh one one really good heavy bear that was showing up at midnight, and a couple you know in that three hundred pound It's just nice when you get a bear that has a certain mark or you know, a scar or something that you can you can show that picture and get somebody to watch it, you know, watch for that bear. And that's what happened with Bob's is basically we had you know, that was one of them.
He had a really unique mark on the chest and and I told him, you know, if he comes in, you know, he's a pretty good bear, check him out, see what you think. And and yeah, that was first first sit for Bob. And that's that was one of the bears that did come out later and it had that mark, and he checked him out and he was happy with him. He wasn't going to give him another chance to leave.
So, yeah, it was a it was a good looking bear. Yeah, if you guys want to see it, you can look on their post. I guess it would have been August twenty six that y'all posted on your Instagram. Yeah, I think star guiding, and it was a it was a really good bear, good photo. And he he shot that bear with a shotgun at six point thirty and dropped it in his tracks. Yeah, it's pretty wild. Yeah, that he was shooting a Remington slug.
No, I did a good job. He had laid him out right there, he didn't there was no tracking.
Yeah, well, day one I saw several bears. I think it's hard because they look so similar in that area. They were all black, and you're trying to pick out different markings on their face and just trying to decide is that the same bear a different one? And I'm sure most of you know that that pain. But I didn't have a bear that came in that. There was one that came in that tempted me and and I think it was a mid three fifty, I mean a
mid three hundred bear. Wait wise, after talking to you guys and just what I was, what I was looking at, he had a little bit of a gut, he had a good But I am slow to pull the trigger on day one. And it's not because I'm against taking a bear on the first day. It's just I don't have a good understanding of what kind of bears I'm dealing with. And so unless it's just a no brainer a bear that I would you know, typically you know, jump on at different areas, I would let pass the
first day, and he tempted me. I mean, he stood out there for how it felt like three or four minutes, just sitting there breathing at Broadside at like twenty one yards. But it just didn't feel like it just didn't feel like the a bear I was interested in at the time. And uh, and it was one of those I hope I'm not. I don't regret passing this bear up, but I think it's the right call for me. And so day one, like you guys were ready to come in and get me, I didn't know that Bobby had gotten
a bear. Yeah you need You're sneaky. You didn't even you didn't even tell me. We got to the truck and it was like Koby Yaro talked to Bob there and see what the story was.
I didn't want to blow the excitement for Bob.
Yeah, oh man. And then we got back to the uh. We got back to dress out as bear, and I was fading. I couldn't hang. I was out there for a while, and I was in and out of conversation, like I would be hot in the conversation and all of a sudden I would be kind of aloof. And I had driven twenty and a half consecutive hours from Arkansas to to this southeastern part of Saskatchewan. It's Lincolnberg
or you say it different Langenburg Langenburg. Yeah. I do that with Canadian cities, and I do that with Oklahoma cities. They're always pronounced differently than I expect. But but yeah, I had a really I mean, it was a solid bear, but it was one of those those three hundreds. And with just knowing, I mean, we've dealt with these guys for several years, and seeing the photos of the quality of bears that are here, if he'd have more weight on him and been he he was a little thin
in his front end. I like a really strong looking bear, like I like stove pipe legs and just blocky yeah and yeah, and and my goals coming into this hunt was I wanted to bear that had some good weight. I wanted to bear with a lot of fat so I could render it down and uh yeah, I mean
those were my main things. And and whenever I go into hunt, since we're since we're doing content, I wanted to take a really good representation for the outfitter, so like that'll also that's also in my mind whenever I'm doing this, because I want to be able to show people what they can expect, and you know, and and the more that I hold out and the longer I go inside of a hunt, it's it's good for a
few different reasons. One, it gives me a good ability at seeing a lot of bears and sharpening my skills at judging bears in the field, seeing how they act, seeing what they do. Like it's me sharpening my my skills and my understanding of bears. Just helps other people too, whenever they come to me and ask me questions. And even when I was on this SNE, I had an email from a guy asking what he could do to get a bear to come in and explain the situation.
And if I have no experience in these things, then it's like what good am I? You know? And and so that's one part of it. Also, I get a lot of imagery. I mean I get a lot of images. I get a lot of video where I can use later down the road, and I can show people what to expect on a on a hunt, you know of this of this quality. And so so day one I made a tough decision, but it and the at the end,
it wasn't too tough a decision. It was just more of a fear that I made the past might have passed the best bird that I might see.
Yeah, yeah, uh that was a tough day with high winds that day too. Oh yeah, Bob was sitting he had a tree come down beside him. Oh sure did Yeah, I saw it. Spoiler alert. I sat in that same stand on day three. I think, yeah, day three, yeah, okay, but.
We were jumping the head. Let's go to day two. So day two I ended up sitting at a different stand. And uh, Marla Rich's wife is she loves bear hunting. I mean it's clear that she eat up with it and and I was like, you want to go sit with me? And she jumped at it. And so she jumped at the opportunity and it was fun. I it was a slower day, and I was in a ladder stand and there's a kind of a box blind with like a three there's three or four walls there and
there's no ceiling or anything. So she's close enough that I can look down and see her, and we can even like whisper and kind of hear each other. Yeah, And she was able to spot bears from her position much faster than me, so you know how like you'll watch a bear on the bait and you'll watch them and like what are they looking at? And they getting excited? And she would let me know almost every single time when a bear was coming in before I would ever
see it. And so we were sitting there and we had a bear that showed up, the first one and Marla was looking at it through by nose and she was like, good bear, and I was like, oh yeah. And then another bear came in and it was a lesser bear than the other one, and so that big bear came in just a little and then he looked up and looked directly at me, and then he backed
away a little, and he kind of skirted to the left. Well, the other bear left, and then he came in with a bear about the same size as him, from our right, and Marla thought that she had misjudged the big bear. Meanwhile, I see the big bear probably you know, fifty yards to our, you know, kind of our to our I don't know, eleven o'clock, ten o'clock, and he's just looking at us. He's broadside. But I can't do anything with the bow out there, and I probably wouldn't because it
was so hard. It would be so hard to judge him anyways, But he looked like a good long bear. And then we never we never saw him again. And so those two bears were in there, and we had a few more come in. And then about twenty minutes before the end of legal shooting light, I look back behind me, and this would be about my you know, four or five o'clock. I look back and I see just this long black mass coming through the woods. And when I first seen, it's just like a gap or
a lane that I can see further out there. And when I first see he's probably ninety yards away and he keeps he's making a bee line for us, and then all of a sudden, I feel the wind hit the back of my neck, and every hunter knows it's like, oh no, and he just boy, he puts the brakes on and then he sniffs the air a little and then he sits on his haunches and he's round and he's long, and he looks just like a black hole, you know, just like I mean, it looks like no
light really escapes him. And he sniffs a little more and then he just like turns like his middle a swivel and just goes back from you know, which he comes. Yeah, and uh. And so you know, it was a slower day as far as bear activity, but we saw two good bears that I think the I think the bear I saw the last twenty or twenty minutes before the end of legal shooting light was a no brainer. Yeah. I mean, he just looked he I just you just knew he was a good bear. Yea.
And the way he acted too, it's just yeah.
And whenever he walked away, he waddled. Yeah, you know. Yeah, and yeah, a no brainer. And I was betrayed by the wind, and the wind only blew that direction. It seemed like for like thirty seconds. Yeah, you know it was just that one instant that that kept him from coming.
Just give him that one swirl that he could teache the air and he's gone.
Yeah, And you know, it seems like with smaller bears, it doesn't really like your sense, not as big of a deal. But when you're dealing with these bigger bears, well, what's your experience with that?
Yeah, I think they're definitely more cautious, you know, And I think that's the when you compare spring hunt to a fall hunt. You know, that's that's some of your pros and cons. In the spring, you've got that sow that you know might still lure him in even though he knows there's something up. Yeah, you know, that can be a deciding factor. In the fall, you don't have that, so now you're just relying on a food source that
you're trying to draw him in. So, I mean, you get some of them bears, they get pretty smart, Yeah, you know they and if if they don't have the girlfriend to lure him in, and you're just trying to suck him in on a piece of candy, yeah, you know, you got to have a lot of stuff in your favor too.
So yeah, yeah, but it's.
That's what makes it hunting. I guess if you had everything figured out, it wouldn't.
Be right shopping, right. Yeah. Well all right, so day two is done, So we jumped to date three, and day three we were rich was going and pulling cards and everything, and we were looking through things, or we were looking through the different cards and figuring out what we wanted to do and come up with a game plan. And on day three we decided that I should go and sit on the stand that Bob shot his bear out of. And uh, there's two big bears that had
been in there in the last week. One is probably, what would you say, y'all's biggest bear you'll have on camera.
Yeah, the one he's yeah, he's well over five hundred.
Yeah and long, and y'all call him Hugo, right, yeah, yeah, Hugo is huge. And then there's a new bear that showed up, that really big bear that had a short ear on his right ear. Yeah, And and either one of those bears would be no brainers. And so we went and sat there, or I went and sat there, and I saw a lot of color I saw a lot of color phase, I mean, and there was a chocolate bear in there when we went in, and it
and another bear were there most of the evening. And then I had a Sal and a solo cub, and then I had another Sal come in with three cubs. Two of them were black and one of them was kind of a cinnamon blond like kind of on the edge there.
Yeah, and uh, yeah, it's a pretty bear.
Yeah, it was beautiful, and I mean it was a fun hunt. I mean, anytime you get to see bear behavior, it really it's really awesome. And watching those sALS and how the two different sALS acted, how they were with their cubs was really cool. I mean, one of them was a really solid sal. Both of them were good sALS had a really crazy blaze on her chest. Yeah and uh and uh So while I was on this hunt, I looked down and I noticed that the back stabilizer
bar was missing off of my bow. And I didn't know, like if I had lost it just then or if it had been gone the whole trip. Like it's nothing that I ever take off, so I never I never check it, and so somehow it must have rattled out and so I noticed that. And then the next day, day four, we decided to go back to Ron's. And one thing we didn't say is Bob stayed an extra day and went and sat that stand And this is the stand that I was on day one and day two.
Bob sat there and saw a lot more bears than I even saw the first night.
Yeah, it was pretty active that night.
Yeah. What did he saw? What? Several good three hundreds.
And yeah, he had a he had a lot of three hundred pounders come through, and then he had one big one and uh later in the evening. Yeah. And then when we did check the card that yeah, the card was just loaded with bears coming and going and yeah, and more mature bears that day two.
Yeah. Uh. Whenever you're setting up a bait site, what are you thinking in terms of wind? Because one of the things I noticed is I was getting a lot of wind, but I looked at the leaves surrounding the bait site and it's like there was almost no wind down there. Is that something you take into account whenever you're setting up a bait side or choosing one.
Yeah, I mean you try to, you know, the best you can, and I mean it every locations different, and the biggest thing is, you know, trying to put your your bait at your more dominant end and then having your tree stand on your exit point so that you don't have to pass that bait going out. Yeah, you know. So it's a safety concern that you're you know, you're more on the end of going out to begin with, you don't have to go through that bait.
Site coming up.
Yeah. As far as wind direction, it's really tough, you know, to plan for it. You can try to figure it out the best you can, but they're gonna gonna if they want to swing around that entire bait safe before they step in, they're going to do it anyway.
Yeah, you know.
So it's it's a matter of how bad they won in where that saw that was in heat where she came in.
Those are the yeah, okay, Day three. You guys wanted me to go back to Ron because it was hot when when Bob sat there, and for some reason, I just wanted to go to the Elkstan, uh, like I wanted to go after the big bears. So whenever I went and sat night too with Marla. We chose that location because there's a bear that you guys put on on Instagram last year's like why should we call him?
And I was like, he looks like a captain to me, and y'all y'all took it the suggestion and uh, and so I was caught up in the I was caught up and just how cool would it be if I named that bear not knowing I was gonna come hunt here? And then I killed that bear? Yeah, you know, yeah, I was like, I want the captain. And the Captain is probably your second biggest bear. Yeah. Uh from what Marlo was saying, Uh, he is about the same as Hugo, just not as long.
Yeah, and I think that's who you've seen that night.
Yeah, probably Captain. Yeah, but he's given you guys the skirter on several Hunters.
Yeah. He's a cagey character. Yeah, yeah, I know he is. And it's I'm glad we made that the change after I think you would have seen him again. But there's a few changes that we're going to do there to trick him up.
But yeah, well they spoiler alert, They've got some good developments that are going to bring it all together, I think, Yeah, but you have to you have to track them to see what what they're going to do. Uh so day four, So day four that will day three. You go in there and pull the card and the batteries have died. Yeah, and uh so we didn't have a fresh card to take out of there, and you never know, batteries and trail cams, like everybody knows that struggle. So we get
there on day four. You have me sneak in and you give me some time and then you come in on the quad and to freshen up the bait and everything. And so I go in, I get in the stand and while I'm setting up, there's a bear coming in and it's a smaller bear, a younger bear, and coming into the bait. And then you come in and freshen everything up and pull the card. Well not too long.
You tell me there's three thousand pictures from the night before, like since you had replaced that card in the batteries, So three thousand photos in one night on that bait. And then you bring a camera with you and you're like, I'll send you the photos, So tell me what you saw whenever you were going through.
Yeah, it was just NonStop activity, bears there all night, you know, trading back and forth all afternoon, all into the night. Through the day it slowed down. You could tell it was picking up again just before we got there, but through the day it was pretty pretty quiet, which is a good sign. You know, everything was relaxed. And now we're going back into the afternoon again. But but yeah, you could tell the caliber was way better, you know,
it was. It was in that category of you know, them three hundred pound plus stuff hanging together that were there, and then a couple good, good crankers that that showed up later in the afternoon, you know, or later in the evening, so and it was still still within everything that was good was all in shooting time, so it.
Was Yeah, you said that the the three hundred pounders would show up around six thirty, and they did. And then you told me that a better barrel show up around seven to fifteen, and you're pretty close. Yeah, yeah, you're with intimate probably would.
Have came at seven fifteen, but it was a cloudy day, so.
Yeah, yeah, oh man, that's funny. But you sent me a picture of a bear that was a no brainer that uh well over the barrel that was there at too. And I came in and I was set up by three thirty. I think I was walking in around three and uh, but we were a little delayed. We were going to get an early start. But I've made it a ritual and I've been really disciplined about shooting my bow at a target with a sacrificial broadhead on every hunt.
So I brought a broadhead target and I was shooting it and my bow was hitting way off, and uh, that's when I knew that I had lost that stabilizer bar, that rear bar here like the night before. And so with all of the big bears and even the no brainer that showed up at the end of the day, I'm glad I went to the other stand because if if I had lost that, I lost that bar between shooting on day three here at camp and then going
out to the stands. So if I'd just shot at a bear, I'd have wounded it, like yeah, I wouldn't have killed what I was aiming at. It was way low, like way low, yeah, And it was the It was just one of those things that right before the hunt, I was freaking out. I had some anxiety, and I get my bows tuned at Outdoor America. Back home in Springdale, Arkansas and the guy that helps me a ton and you know, gives me. He helps me make sure my form's good, and uh, you know, he's just there, takes
his time with me. And we had made sure I was on the Broadheads before I came h Steve had had tipped to Steve. I messaged Steve on his day off and I'm like, man, I lost my rear bar and now this thing is just giving me troubles. And he was like, wells I shouldn't be a too big of a deal. He's like, uh, He's like, pull your front bar in quite a bit and then shoot and see what it does. And so I did that and
then it was better. And then I had to dial an extra five yards on my dial, and all of a sudden, I was I was hitting dead center bullseyes, you know. And you know, part of my not shooting great at first too, was once I hit that first shot and it hit low, I was in my head.
And so just having him to to uh, having him on the other side of the phone and just being calm and like it ain't a big deal, like help me get back and you know, the right mindset and so that, I mean, that was I needed that that calm, steady,
confident boost of confidence. And so I made the changes and I just I was like, all right, whatever, yard is just bears at I got to a five yards and then I went out and sent a couple at thirty and I was, you know, within an inch of ciner punching where I was aiming, and so I felt, you know, finally it's like I got my confidence back. Yeah, but I was rattled, you know, I was real rattle. I was like, I was like, Rich, you got anything I can I will pew pew.
I almost said, yelled with a sling shot.
Yeah. Yeah, well, as long as you gave me paintballs, I'd start tagging bears and knowing how many I saw. But uh, anyways, So so I'm out in the stand and Rich sends me this picture of a no brainer that was there about an hour and a half before I was there, and this bait it's just on fire, like it just lights up. I mean it's firing on
all cylinders. There might have been ten minutes that I didn't have bears on that in front of me, you know, and I think I had as many as five that I saw at one time, which Bob still beat me there. He had eight in there at the end of the day. So and I'm messaging Rich throughout. I had just enough signal to get text messages out. And it starts out
and it's bears that I watched the first day. It's the smaller you know, one hundred, one hundred and mid hundreds, upper hundreds, and then some you know, and throughout the day it just kept gaining in size. If you looked at a chart, it was it was a steady climb, yeah, you know, and just like clockwork, about six thirty, the three hundred start showing up.
Yeah.
And that's when I started getting getting nervy about judging these bears because these bears. The barrels are way off the ground, because these bears are just eating up that grease and like I guess they're digging it out, eating it out. I mean they are. That's one thing I noticed is they are they are grease sounds.
Yeah, they like it.
Yeah. I mean your bait set up is like sweets in one barrel, right, yeah, and then a grease sparrow where it's like baking grease, cooking grease.
Yeah.
And then sometimes you put a beaver out.
Yeah, we got beaver cages, so they've got some options, you know, to dig around in and they never get sick of the same thing, and changing it up it helps.
Yeah. And one thing you did was you sprayed something. You sprayed scent all around and uh I could smell it strong. It was like a bacon smell. Yeah. Yeah, it's like it was. It was making me hungry.
It smells good.
Oh. But I'm sitting there and I am constantly like, I'm so used to having a barrel flat on the ground as my measuring rod, and uh I couldn't lean on that as a crutch this time, you know, and uh it chewed over. Yeah.
There, so you get some dips and dives.
And all the barrels are on their sides because they, you know, are pulling them over as fast as they can. And I'm watching them pull these logs and stuff you'd stuck in there out. Anyways, it was about I think it. I think it was about seven o five seven o seven within two minutes of there. And uh I looked to my left because the bears alerted me, and I looked to my left and there's just this jet black
just chonk of a bear, you know. I mean, and his coat was just shiny and beautiful, and he was blocky. He was thick and I didn't think he was that tall, but it was because he was so so thick. Yeah.
Yeah, he had a lot of widths to him and big old gut. Yeah. And it's that's the other thing in the fall is they really have that shiny, shiny fur.
Yeah.
You know, it looks like they come right out of a salon. Yeah, you know, beautiful. Yeah, it's not as long hair like it is in the spring, but it's really really shined up.
And laid down to Yeah, he had it was ridged up on his back like he had a cool little ridge back. Yeah. But he came in and I licking back. I was just in my head. I he was a no brainer, you know. And he came in and he's the first bear that's come in where my heart skipped a beat and I was like, that's a good bear.
Yeah.
And uh And if he'd have kept walking straight, I probably would have sent it, Like I think I probably wouldn't have let him get up to the barrel. But he saw me. He looked up and saw me because I, like I was moving the camera around like I was like, oh, he's the one, and and he saw me in the commotion. I was like, I was hoping he would just keep his eyes on the bait. And so I wasn't like going crazy, but I was moving stuff and like, all right,
let's get already for the shot. And uh, I guess he just caught the movement out of the corner of his eye, and so he was a little nervy all of a sudden. I was like, God, I just screwed this up. And he turned and walked in behind the bait into the thicket. I'm like, oh, man, I hope he comes out. And then he starts getting real close to the bait. I can see the I can see his black fur through like little breaks in the vegetation, and I'm like, oh, he's gonna come in. He wants
it too bad. And the wind is perfect, Like he never smelled me. The wind was in my face. And you know, maybe with some of these big bears, it's like with a white toe, where it's like they might see but as long as they don't smell you, he might be safe. Yeah, But he he comes in from behind the bait, and it's pretty quick. It's probably within three minutes, and squabbles with another bear and man. Once he gets beside the barrels and it being lifted off
the ground. I was, I was, I was really questioning things, you know, because I'm like you always it's drilled into you back of the barrel or taller. And so anyways, long story short, he sits and just just chomping on on the cookies and different bait that's out there, and and I was a little nervous I was going to run out of time, and I was still waiting on, like I wonder if a bigger bear's gonna come in Like that was a real good bear on photo on
me on the the picture you sent me. But the more I looked at him, the more I was like, golly, he looks thick. He's thick. I think I told you he was thick. With three c's, he was thick. But anyways, there's a smaller bore out there that he was, probably two hundred. But he had the attitude of a big
old bear. Yeah, yeah, bigger bearon I've ever seen. And he would get he got pushed off the bait one time, or he had left and come back and there was all this competition, and he would get out there in that thicket and he was you could just hear him just like stomp as hard as he could, huff at him and just causing a racket. And at first they were a little jumping and they were like, oh, it's just you, and so they stayed there, and so he
they wasn't taking the bluff. So he went up there and he pushed my berry, which was more than twice his elder. Yeah, and uh off. And I was like, I might not get another opportunity. So I'm like, I start rolling and I'm I'm ready to draw and uh and so I come to full draw and uh, well he he leaves the bait, makes a little circle coming back to it, and he's facing to my left and he's, uh, he's just almost perfectly broadside, a little little quarter towards me,
but I would consider it straight broadside. Uh. And I pulled back and I'm just like middle middle for just little and I and I let it go and straight pass through. He takes off and while he's going, like the way that the the way that the low vegetation is here, you can see as he's running he's just pushing these it looks like I mean, it looks like if you ever watched drastic part like the Ye, like the Lost Raptors coming through the through the grass or
the whatever. Yeah, or like you know, just like you could just see it moving. And he went, I mean I was guessing thirty yards, but when we were actually standing at the where he was to where he went like, I don't know, twenty something.
Yeah, I'd say realistically probably like twenty yards straight.
Line, Yeah, twenty yards. And then I saw like it was like he was spinning around or something like it was like a washing machine going off and where he was standing. Yeah, And and then the movement kind of stopped, and I just heard some lild gurgling, you know. And so I was I was feeling pretty good, and I was waiting for the for the moan that never came. And then so he was there and we weren't going
to pressuring. Another bear must have gone toward words, because I heard a commotion and then a smaller bear popped out real quick, like he was not happy, and yeah, so then I let you know, real fast, yeah, like a shot a bear. Think the think the shot was good. And then I went into research mode. I get on my camera and I'm like replaying the footage and taking it in slow mode, and I was like, I feel real good about that shot. And h while I'm doing that, a big old bear comes out and I don't know
that he was He didn't. It didn't seem like he had the fat on him like my bear. He wasn't like blocky, but he was tall, long, and he had some weight on him. It's hard to say which bear
I would have chosen between the two. I really liked the bear that that I ended up with and and he had Well, I'll let you take over some of this, like the recovery and some of your thoughts on what things you go through whenever we recover a bear, like things that that I did that helped you out, and kind of what you want from hunters inside of that scenario.
Yeah, Like I mean the footage to play back is that's a bonus for sure. I mean, that is super nice to be able to see, you know, the shot placement, and it gives you a good time, you know, a good idea. How much time to give him, you know, we we were probably we probably it was probably half an hour until from the time you shot till we went in Yeah, and yeah, I mean it's the other thing is you know, knowing what direction that bear went, how far? How far did you hear noise? You know,
it gives you an idea how far he is deep in? Yeah, death mooned to listen to. You know, those are all important things for sure. And I mean direction, what trail did he run down? Because you might not get blood right away, yeah, so you could you could spend a lot of time just trying to find the right trail, yeah, because they have so many different avenues they're branched off of and if if you're not on it right away, it just gets harder.
Yeah. I think we started finding blood at like eight ten yards, yeah, somewhere around there.
Yeah, it wasn't too far.
Yeah, And it was like the first blood we found was on the side of a small tree, yeah, or vegetation, and then we had drops here and there, like he was bleeding relatively good. Yeah, I thought it was pretty good. Like we were finding blood every I don't know, two and a half three.
Feet yeah, and he didn't go that far, so it's not like he had a ton of time to really yeah, to drop.
It old either but yeah, And one of the things that that I've consciously built is anytime I used to it would shoot an animal, I I wouldn't pay attention to the after In fact, I would get caught up in the moment at the shot, like, oh my god, did I get him, like or I was the shot like I would be replanted in my head automatically. And so I've been working on the ability to like mature in my after shot, you know, checklist. And so it was like I paid attention. I didn't just like let
go of the arrow. I was paying attention and watching where the arrow hit and big growth for me. And then I was trying to watch where I thought that bear went into the thing. I was off two trails on this one, so it was good to have the footage to know exactly which he went because I was I was two bear trails off, which was ten feet.
But whenever he ran off and I saw everything go down where I thought he laid down and stayed, I was like counting trees, all right, one, two, three trees and then there's another one to the right of that third tree like six seven feet, and he was exactly where I thought he was. And so and then just because my memory is not great, I pulled my phone out and started recording, and I was like, all right, one, two,
three trees, he's between those two. Yeah, because I was, I just wanted to make sure I had that information in that I have a tendency that whenever I keep going over the same thing over and over, the story starts changing and I start second guessing myself.
Yeah, And I mean when you come down from the stand, everything looks different too from where you're drop in the stand. Yeah, it's it makes it tough if you can if you can have some kind of a landmark or like a log laying there, or a piece of twig or anything that you could pick up when you get down there that distinguishes that that's where it went in, you know, it helps big time.
Yeah, because I mean we were several yards into that thicket before we found the first blood. So if you were just relying on oh I shot him and he ran that way, Like, I imagine how long do you take to find first blood at times?
Yeah. Yeah, They've just got so many trails in there that it's it's just if you can kind of get a line of sight or get an idea of the direction he's going. At least you can work that trail further to try to find another spec of blood or yeah, anything, you know.
Yeah, have you have you found any general tendencies that bears may have whenever they're shot, either shot really good or poor shot placement or less an ideal shot placement.
I guess one thing, you know, if they're you get past you know, if they're hit really good, generally you'll find them thirty forty yards. Yeah, and they're piled up. If they're not hit exactly where they should be and you start pushing, you know, north of eighty one hundred yards, it's usually not a good sign. Yeah, once you get
past that distance. But what we have found is if we went back to recover him the next morning, to look, you know, you know, on a on a longer retrieve, if you can find if you've got any kind of water source in the area, Yeah, that's usually what they're going to aim for.
Really. Yeah, Okay, that's good enough.
So if you're if you're totally going blind, sometimes it's better to hit that water source and work the edges of it, and it might give you a better leader. You might find them at the edge. We've found quite a few like that.
Or really, yeah, really that's a that's a good hot tip. Yeah, all right, well take me from there, which direct? What do you think Whenever you walked up on that bear?
I thought you did pretty good.
I tell you, I've been wanting your seal of approval the whole time, but your stial of approval was not the most important. The most important seal of approval was marvelous. I know, you know. And and what did I tell you? Whenever we run our way back you dropped me off at the cabin.
Yeah, as soon as I got home, you told well, she was good. She wanted to look at it. You weren't there yet, and I said, you cannot look at that bear until Toby gets here.
I got strict orders. I told her.
He's like really, I said, yeah really.
I told Rich I was like, don't let Marlow see it. I was like, I need to be there when she sees it for the first time, and I want to see how excited she is. And I said, and I know you won't let her see it because you're all about customer service. Oh man, oh man. But yeah, but he's just heavy. I mean even getting him inside of the sled and stuff was just rolling him over was hard.
Yeah, I know he's a beauty bear. Yeah, really thick, wide, his hot head on him just so.
Yeah, he's he's poping young but not quite a booner.
Yeah.
I think we were at nineteen and five sixteenth since.
Just yeah, yeah, he had good length. He was just a little bit short on the on the width, but either way, it's it's a it's a beauty Yeah, it's not a bear that anybody could really pass when he comes.
To no, no, no, unless he's blind, yeah, like me. Uh no. And then we when we went to skin the bearer, he had just the thickest slabs of fat on him. I mean we put a tape measure on it. In some parts it was three inches deep. Yeah, just solid fat. And uh it's crazy, Like I I got everything that I wanted inside of a bear. I wanted a big, mature boar. I wanted a lot of meat, and I wanted a lot of fat, and I had I had just like I had mentioned to you guys, I wanted a bear that was thick in the front,
just looked looked tough like a bodybuilder. And then I wanted him to. Uh, I really wanted one with a really dark muzzle. I tend to go more for those dark muzzled bears. Yeah, I mean he checked every single box. Yeah, you know, and uh, anyways, it was a it was a great hunt. And uh, you guys would have seven tags for next year still.
Yeah, we've got seven seven available for next.
Next spring, so some of you guys are to jump on that. You guys listening, It's like this has been the way it's been all all week. We've just been laughing and having a good time and cutting up and.
Yeah, no, it was. It was fun to Avenue Colby.
Yeah, you know, it's such a treat to to be on a hunt where where it's just one or two guys, you know. Yeah, and because it's more relaxed and laid back and it feels more like a hunting hunting buddies and then uh, you know, then you being busy the whole time. Yeah, me just being aloof or with other folks or whatever. Yeah, but cool.
Thanks Rich, Okay, thanks.
Buddy, Thank you for listening. The Bear Hunting Magazine Hunt Cast is recorded by Bear Hunting Magazine and produced by Mountain Gravity Media. Be sure leave us a five star review on iTunes, and keep guarding the gate.