So I flew into Great Falls Tuesday the 24th and spent the night before heading out to fly fish with a Trout Montana guide on the Missouri the 25th. We put in at Craig Bridge and floated about 8 miles. Caught a bunch of browns, rainbows, and whitefish.
The outfitter for the hunt was Rich Birdsell with NRO and we were in a house outside Cascade. He leases some land from a private ranch, about 25,000 acres, and we used side by sides to drive up the mountain.
Spent the first 5-6 hours glassing and saw a bunch of sows with smaller cubs. Then we watched a black bear come off a ridge and start to make its way down to the creek bed below.
The ridge were we on was about 1,000 yards away so we drove down and hiked up a ridge between us to get within about 400 yards. By the time we got up the ridge, the bear had already made it's way down into the creek bed. We hung out watching the bed for about an hour when he pops up about 60 yards away, winds us, and hightails it out of there.
The guide said there is only one way for him to get out and it's straight up the ridge he came down. We sat and watched for another 30-45 minutes when he finally popped out at 375 yards. I had an awkward brace and messed up my hold over and shot high twice.
Bear runs up the ridge and is gone.
I'm upset and ready to call it a day around 6:30 but the guides insists we head back up to our glassing ridge because they've been active late in the day and we have 3 more hours of daylight.
Sure enough, about 15 minutes after we get up top, another bear pops up about 1500 yards away and on a super steep hill. She's right above the camp they used to use before it burned down so the guide knows exactly where to go to get a shot.
We head down, drive to the old camp and hike up a fairly steep rock face in the timber to try and get a shot. The guide is looking for about 20-30 minutes when the bear pops up 225 yards away. I get prone, flick the safety off, and pull the trigger. At 225 yards my 300 win is almost dead on, I think it's 3" of drop so I know I can't miss.
She takes off down hill, slows down and starts rolling around on the ground. Guide gets excited because we knew we got her. Then, she did something he's never seen before. She stops rolling around, gets up, and strolls away like nothing happens.
We're both dumbfounded and thinking what the hell just happened. There is no way I missed and he says there is no way she wasn't hurt with how she was acting. We glass for 15-30 minutes looking for her to step out somewhere but she never does so we make the choice to go looking for her with my gun drawn.
Get to the spot and see no blood. We start walking the way she went a few minutes later we see her curled up in a ball between some rocks. We throw some stones to make sure she is down and she doesn't move.
Shot went through the ribs and out the back end since she was quartering toward me when I shot. Ruined a hind quarter so only got three and the back straps.
All in all it was a great trip. I hung around a few days, changed my flight, and ended up leaving out of Helena Sunday morning to get back to the wife and kids a few days early.
). Adversity makes the success that much better.
