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Ran down a sow and boar but turned them both loose. We've spent more days rigging and cutting for tracks than anything. As usual, the large tracks are old when the hounds rig them and the tracks won't hardly start or move while the younger bears are fresh and not turned on. Damn, I sure wish we had the bear population in these parts that are found elsewhere. Driven over 1600 miles....

I don't mean to put a negative spin on bear hunting, cause we did rig around a dozen times one day and found seven of those bear tracks on or near the road; we also had on bitch lion track that only Ike and Choco bumped on. But when a guy hears stories about rigging a bear and choosing not to run it and only having to drive two miles before striking another, well, wouldn't that be nice?

We did turn out on a blind rig yesterday afternoon after rigging all day and only hitting one old boar track and a couple fresh sows. That rig did wind up being a runner that took my hounds into the slide rocks. The rig was a cold trail that warmed up in a few hundred yards and roared out over the top and back down into cliffs over a hundred feet high (the canyon was over a thousand feet deep). The hounds sounded bayed but, if they were, that boar squirted out through the ledges and five of those hounds came out cold trailing an hour or so later. Two dogs were ledged up and one trailed out this morning, the other is still up there........





ike

least you have bears to catch, these yahooos down here have to kill everything they catch lions bears coutamundi pigs skunk you name it. rigged last 4 days, found one rig. there were 9000000000000000000 people on the mountain the bears were hid good.

Same goes up here, fall bear hunting sure is a different game than spring bear hunting.
Areas I've rigged 2-7 bears in less than 10 km this past spring hold none right now. They're all 3,000' + higher in the berry patches in no mans land, makes it darn hard to even get on a bear

Well, that has alot of truth in it az_gogetem, as the limited entry kill season does to some degree protect our small black bear population. I will say, however, that the San Juan, La sal and Book Cliffs are not like hunting where I hunt. That's why everybody around here goes to those places because it's damn hard to find bear up here. Why would a guy travel six hours south if that wasn't the case. Every bear that hits a campground or causes problems around here gets a bullet!

ike

ya there are lots of bears here but lots of fast runing small; one ran all week never treed one. the trail cams have some big bears (500+) but cant get them going. its a good thing we have all fall and the corn and baits are not far.

After half a dozen trips back on the mountain, my son and I finally found a way into my little Rowen dog. She had been ledged up since the bear run on Sunday, and is now safely home after a two day stay. It took ropes and some climbing in sharp country but she's on the chain again............

ike

Cool pics and story Ike. Thanks for sharing; my ears were starting to get a little empty.

azGogetum, where are you hunting. I try to steer clear of holiday weekends, too many people in the woods.

Glad to see you got your dog back IKE. Good luck with the rest of the hunt.

Wishin I knew someone with a tag...

Tough week Ike, glad you got your Rowen dog back, hell of a place to find him. Great picture though the ones memories are made of.

Glad it all turned out good.

Good thing you got your dog back, that always makes for some sleepless nights and long hikes looking for them. I wish I know someone with a tag, we are shut down until Nov. Good luck on the rest of your hunt Ike.

Wow Ike, that place has nasty written all over it !!!! Nice picture.

Thanks for all the comments guys, and I hope everything is going well for the rest of you as well. And yes, that little girl came down the wrong shoot which landed her in a bad place for sure. I think borderpond touched on the right word when he said that place looks nasty! According to my GPS spot message, the topo shows an 1800 feet rise from the canyon bottom. The race went up an adjacent canyon over the top and down above those ledges. There was a place off the cliff several hundred feet to the west had she not slid down onto that ledge, but for whatever reason she landed there...........

ike