I had 1 goal heading into the bush this past fall; to fill one of the last Grizzly Bear tags in British Columbia. By now, most people know that BC will no longer allow trophy hunting of Grizzly Bears after November 30, 2017. Realizing that this could be my only opportunity to hunt Grizz in BC, I made finding a good bear my priority of this hunt. We were headed into an area that I’ve been told also holds some of the biggest Canadian Moose, so if time allowed, we’d be moose hunting as well. This is how it all played out:
Day 1
After a long night of preparation I woke up to the sound of horse bells this morning, which to me means one thing; it’s finally fall and I’m finally back in the north country. The plan today is to get our string of horses packed up and head into the bush. The outfitter, Leif Gunster, just finished a 2 week hunt in this area only 4 days ago so it’s a quick turn around for him.
Our goal for day 1 is to trail the horses about 20 miles to an old cabin where my good friend Seth Elliiot is waiting for us. It was a sketchy trail in and we almost lost a horse on the way but we made it to camp an hour before dark. After unsaddling the horses we spent the last 30 minutes of light glassing the mountain above us for Stone Sheep and Mountain Goat. Our plan for tomorrow was to hit the trail early to head deeper into the bush but after finding 2 big billys above us, I think the horses will have a day of rest and we’ll try to take a closer look at the goats above us. I’m a little worried though…after pulling hard trying to get a fallen horse to stand up, I peed straight blood. I have no idea what’s wrong, but I’m going to keep my mouth shut for now. Lord please don’t let this be the start to a big problem. I’m a days ride back to basecamp and another days drive to the closest hospital in Whitehorse.
Follow Stephen West’s daily dispatches as he goes for a once-in-a-lifetime British Columbia Grizzly.