120 Northwest Sportsman AUGUST 2019 | nwsportsmanmag.com
HUNTING
source for the specific time of year
you’re afield. That’s because bear
forage changes throughout the year,
from grass, tree cambium, fawns and
calves in late spring after they emerge
from their den, to berries, mast, ants
and more through summer and fall.
Focusing on ripe berries and other
fruits is key this time of year. They’re
a high-calorie food source that doesn’t
require the bear to chase it down andare usually abundant.
The second rule is to find fresh
sign. Usually, if you have followed
rule number one, rule number
two comes with the territory – but
not always. If you are working a
berry patch that is ripe and are not
finding sign such as scat or prints in
mud puddles or creek edges, move
along. You’ll find that bear like to
keep cool in the late summer heat,
so creek bottoms, shaded draws and
anywhere else they can escape the
heat are good places to look too.I REMEMBER A September hunt when
my brothers and I were tagging along
with our father, who’d drawn a once-
in-a-lifetime mountain goat tag.
I’d brought a pistol for protection
but not a rifle, as my father’s success
was the focus of the hunt. John,
one of my younger brothers, had
brought his rifle, however, and in the
late afternoon on a rocky crag while
he and I were glassing for goat we
spotted a bear probably 800 yards
down into a bowl. The bear was
blissfully unaware of our presence
as it munched through a blueberry
patch that crawled up the bowl’s
edge and receded like a hairline at
the crown of the stone hogsback. The
bowl was covered in reds and yellows
and greens from the ever-changing
colors of the season. I’ve often
wondered how long it has been since
the blueberry plants first took hold in
that bowl. A hundred years? Three
hundred? Likely longer – something
to contemplate and appreciate, and
part of the allure of hunting bruins.
We glassed the bear for a while,
trying to decide if my brother should
go for it or not. It seemed like a good
bear, but from that distance it was
difficult to tell for sure. It was hard
to see if it had a large blocky head or
muscle crease down the center of its
skull, both of which are telltale signs
of a mature animal. Most of the time
its face was buried in the blueberries
as it ate with the fever pitch brought
on by an internal clock warning of
the coming, unstoppable winter.to the high alpine lonesomes of wind-
swept mountain peaks. They can be
everywhere and nowhere at the same
time, it seems. They are savage and yet
bashful, inquisitive and seclusive. To
put it simply, I think they are one of the
most underappreciated game animals
in North America, but not by me.
The first rule you want to follow
when bear hunting, especially if you
are just starting out, is find the foodMountain goats aren’t the only game denizen
of the alpine; bruins haunt these often mist-
shrouded but also brilliantly colored slopes,
particular as they hurry to pack on the pounds
before denning. (DOUGLAS BOZE)TIME TESTED
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