I’ve only hunted bear two seasons but I spent a lot of time in the mountains and never got an ethical shot at any of the half dozen I’ve seen. I knew it would be difficult without being able to bait or run hounds in this state but honestly I just loved being out in the mountains looking for them. I figured this season would be no different and I went into it telling myself as long as I see one I’m happy! My son just passed hunter safety and I wanted to get him out for the quail opener so we headed up to the ranch. Well little did I know it would be such an eventful weekend...it started of amazing. We went on the search for quail hoping to get my boy a shot at one. I also have a few pug tags as well as a bear tag. After a fairly uneventful morning we switched gears when we started seeing a lot of tree squirrels. We missed on several attempts but he finally got a crack at one that wasn’t aware of us. He put his bead on it with the 20 ga and BOOM! It dropped Luke a rock! I was more proud of him than I’ve ever been throughout days as a dad. Shortly after we ran across a covey of valleys and ended up picking off a couple. Unfortunately he wasn’t able to get one but I knew they’re hard to get even for an experienced wing shooter. We headed back to camp and cleaned the birds and squirrels and decided to get up high and look for a bear. At around 3 in the afternoon we pulled up over a rise in the road and spotted a mountain lion about 30 yards in front of us...we followed behind him in the truck for several hundred yards before he bound up a rock face and bailed! So we kept cruising...a while later we spotted some mountain quail and was able to flush em and shot myself a double! First mountain quail ever!!! We know we were getting close to a spot I saw a ton of bear sign in a couple years back. As we crept down the trail we came to a rise and stopped the truck to take a look. And just like that, we spot a bear!!! She looked at us and just stood there and watched as we got out of the truck and got on her. Put the first shot a tad high and she hit the deck but was rolling around so I put another in and got the lungs! My son was amped and admittedly I was shocked. I know it wasn’t like a backpacked in 5 miles and found it from a mile away but honestly I don’t care. I was with a great friend who had his 9 year old daughter and I had my 11 year old son so I expected to be a truck hunter this weekend. And having them there with me made it that much more special!!!
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