Bear hunt

After my brother shot his bear in Idaho this spring (the video is up, by the way) I still had a tag in my pocket for Oregon’s Lookout Mountain unit. I hunt elk in this same unit, and have never any bear sign, but have been told that there are a few bears in the unit. Saturday was the last day of the season, and my first real trip.

Dad took the video camera and we headed up I-84 heading towards Baker. Shanna and I had tried making it in several weeks prior with no such luck - snow was still too deep. Dad and I didn’t have any problems getting in this time - except at the gas tanks where the diesel bill was certainly a bit of a problem! We headed out the ridge I do most of my elk hunting on, and did a lot of glassing the open slopes. Later, we resorted to predator calling, but there was no bear sign anywhere. Oh, except in the middle of the road on the way in - real fresh bear scat in the middle of the road - go figure. If dogs were legal to use in Oregon, we could have let them out there and been on our way.

After a morning of wandering around the mountain, we came to a saddle that I love hunting elk during the first couple weeks. We scouted around a bit and Dad suggested taking some tree stands in this fall - which after discussing it, I think could be a great idea. We’ll see this fall, anyways. I’ve had elk around me in this saddle just about every opening day, but something has always gone wrong and I’ve not gotten a shot, yet. I’m hoping these tree stands will give me some good chances to stay hidden and cover some heavy traffic areas.

Later in the day, we scoped some country that looks very good for elk. If you see the common theme here, good for you! This bear hunt was certainly turning into a scouting trip for elk and deer! I’ve always complained that there were too many roads in this unit, making it pretty accessible and by the second or third week, all the elk have disappeared. Well, I think we’ve found some areas that aren’t so easily accessible, and I hope to make that pay off for me this Fall!

We did see some bucks that are showing real nice early growth and a good crop of last year’s fawns that seem to have wintered very well. It was nice to be out with Dad and show him some of this country that he’d never seen before. It was a little disappointing that we could only make one trip in - the snow this year was real heavy. Some locals told us, and it was easy to confirm just by looking at the ground, that the snow had just come off the mountain within the last week and a half. At least I did my part in making a small donation to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife!

Dad did get some pretty good footage - so check out the video below!

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