Grace

[Simoman 110]

Look forward to it

[UphillDoc 278]

Little bit of background on me and my gyp, for those I dont already know. The gyp is "Grace" a bull x stag bred by B.M. (Badger on here) she is 25" and 70lbs. She has had everything from hares to bears, day and night, and is not yet 3.

I live in Idaho, on the high desert. I can run jackrabbits (hares), and coyote out my back door to my hearts content, or travel 35 minutes and be in the pine mountains and chase lions and bears. We also have badger, coon, fox, and bobcat to keep ourselves busy.

I have "Grace" and a young upcoming male "Gus" for lurchers now and will be breeding "Grace" in the future, if she doesnt get killed first... I have yet to settle on what I will put her to, as all my running dog friends want me to go that way, and all my tree dog friends want me to go that way, but right now im leaning towards lurcher x lurcher...LOL

 

Here is the story about the bear in the cave that Dan posted the pic of on here.

 

Its been a strange year so far. It seems to be the year of the big bears. The same seems to be true for all the other hunters we are running into/talking to. This weekend was no exception.

 

Friday-B.W., the Cowboy, his son Newt, and I head up to a new spot on the quads. We rig around for about and hour and B.W spots a track in the mud. The dogs dont strike it, but he puts down his good Walker dog "Rokon" to see if he can get it going. "Rokon" is working hard and seems to be making some progress but its COLD. B.W. sends "Domino" and "Ivory" to help and I send "Grace" (she wont cold trail at all, but hope she is close if they get it jumped) The Cowboy isnt interested, and tells us so. The dogs trail down the drainage, and out of hearing. We jump back on the quads and try to get out ahead, "Grace" comes up to meet me, so we know they are still cold trailing. We cant hear them but the signal says down. We head back around the other side of the drainage, and can hear them below us still trailing, and heading farther down the drainage. We loop down trying to get ahead again, but this time we cant find them. The signal is in and out. We hike over to the rim and just as we top the rim we can hear them again. We are standing on the rim and cant tell if they are below us or across from us, as the sound is strange. B.W., and I head down to see what it sounds like as we get into the cut. I let "Grace" follow us in to help us sort out the sound. We are about half way down when the sound changes and it sounds like they are behind us...LOL "Grace" acted like they were across from us and headed down to them. When she reaches the bottom she turns and heads back up towards us, and angles back to the rock face we had been standing on. About that time, B.W spots one of his dogs at the mouth of a cave, in the rock face. We turn and climb back to them. "Grace" gets there ahead of us and heads into the cave. It sounds like a bomb goes off. I just know Im going to be collecting bodies instead of a bear... B.W. looks at me and shakes his head. All of his dogs are in the cave with her. We climb as fast as we can. We get there and the fight is still on. The rock is vibrating from the noise and the fight. Im about to write "Grace" off for dead, when I finally hear her baying. B.W. tries to crawl in to grab dogs, and the bear charges forward and knocks the dogs back into him. He pops back out, so I give it a try. They are in about 12 foot and the light isnt good. I notice a crack in the rock that has a ledge I think I can scoot in on, parellel to the dogs. I get back in with the dogs and cant see well at first. The dogs are lined up 4 wide shoulder to shoulder, and are baying for all they are worth. The noise is AWESOME! I scoot back out and tell B.W. whats going on. We yell up to the Cowboy and Newt to come down and to bring my pack. I want to get some video of the whole thing. The dogs know we are there and the fight seems to be escalating again. I believe the bear keeps tuning his head away from the dogs and they move in on him. Then he spins and bulls them back towards the mouth of the cave. Its going back and forth like this, and no signs of anything changing. By the time they get my pack down, and listening to the fight, I have gone from wanting to video, to "green eyed" killing mode. I crawl back in with my pistol. The Cowboy and B.W. are waiting at the mouth. I ask them if they want me to kill it, and they say "what ever you think" The dogs move in on the bear and it turns and faces them. When it moves forward at us...I shoot him in the head from about 2 feet away. The dogs grab him and start wooling him. I shout out that its dead. Almost as quickly as it happened, Im wishing I hadnt shot him. The work of getting him out of the cave, and humped up the hill doesnt seem like any fun. I know that I may have saved us from a bad wreck, but cant help from wishing it ended differently. The dogs are cut and tired, but none seem hurt too bad. I dont know how one wasnt killed, but am thankful none were.

We are finally able to get the bear out of the cave, and then the joking around starts. Im telling them they owe me their lives, and they are telling me I go too much bulldog in me, and that I can never bring a gun again... I tell the Cowboy its his fault, since he is the one that always is saying how dumb I am not to have a gun. It was such a rodeo, the Cowboy never even thought about turning his dogs into them. We take a few pics and start the hump up the hill with the bear. We are exhausted when we finally get the bear up to where we can get a quad.

 

Take care.

[UphillDoc 278]

Here is another hunt from the same weekend. This is a more commen type hunt.

 

Sun-B.W. and I decide to give it a go on our usual ground, hunting out of the truck. We rig around for about 2 hours without a strike and find a spot that still has a snow drift too deep to drive thru... We are on our way out when the dogs strike. We dump the box and they head up roaring. We drive up to the top hoping to see them cross, but are behind them. They are into the next draw and are still roaring. They start to climb up the other side and I spot them and the bear. Its a big black bear and they are closing in on him. As they get near the crest of the hill I see them again and they have him surrounded. He breaks and goes around the knob of the hill and trees. We hike over to them and get some pics. He is as shiny a black bear as I have ever seen, Not a bit of color on his muzzle or chest. It was such a nice race we decide not to get greedy and just enjoy the day. We head over to the NV boys camp to see how they did. We pull into camp and they have another big bear down... The beer and stories flow for the rest of the day as we sit around the campfire. Its been quite a weekend. Im hoping next weekend will be as good, as I have friends from 3 different states coming over.

 

Take care.

[Simoman 110]

Great read, thanks for sharing

[littletimmy 71]

Good stories, i am awaiting some more and some pics

[the fezz 44]

this is the best thread that has been on here for months , thanks very much for sharing hope to hear more in the future,Fezz

[spartacus 22]

Cracking cant wait to see the pics

[sniper 30]

good stories mate.

[Kye 77]

Hey Doc..

 

Maybe when my young mate comes over again, we will have another road trip, this time though we will go south through OK, then TX, NM, AZ...maybe take him to Vegas for a weekend, then head up your way!...that would be some trip wouldnt it!..lol.

 

Blister is doing well mate...missing half the fur on his face now, thanks to them pesky raccoons...man them claws can do some work..lol.

 

All the best mate,..

 

Jay,..

 

PS...im sure if you do decide on a Grace x Blister litter, they would be mustard mate...with Blisters speed, stamina, and his nature sounds JUST LIKE Graces, and with the added power and grit from Grace...wow, watch out anything with fur!..lol.

[UphillDoc 278]

Kye-Hope we can hook up sometime. If I move to KS in the future, you can be sure Blister x Grace will happen. Im going to be at Loomis for the big running dog event in Oct. You should come over if possible. Grace may even be in heat at that time!

 

Take care.

[gazza01 0]

FANTASTIC, CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR MORE,,,,,,

[nighteyes 275]

great reading thats proper hunting

[mackem 26,486]

Get pics of the bear-spear hunt Do you throw it?Repeated-thrust?Bayonet-charge?Have you ever seen it done?

[blackpack 70]

cracking thread really interesting jeds it coming

[ljhharrison 0]

amazing stories them pal. ive got misel a Canadian Citizenship, got relatives in Ontario, apparently its cash n carry over there. lions, bear even moose, but thats jst well spurred me and me 4 leeged tool out there.