Turkey hunting in northwest Montana

[elkoholic]

As I mentioned in my last day bird post, the weather this spring has been anything but pleasant to hunt turkeys. High winds with trees blowing over along with rain, sleet and snow, and below average temperatures made turkey sightings rare. It seems that many areas of the country had to deal with the same situation. My hunting area has one other thing to add a twist to the turkey hunting experience. On one of the better weather days I was checking out a new spot when I saw a several hens and a gobbler working their way along the edge of a clear cut. That particular clear cut angled up hill and then leveled off where it bordered a thick brushy strip about 30 yards wide and then there was another clear cut. I circled around to the upper clear cut where I had planned to sneak down through the strip of brush and set up just off the edge of the lower clear cut and intercept the birds as they worked their way along the edge. I was about half way through the thick stuff when I saw movement 15 to 20 feet in front of me. At first I thought maybe it was a deer but it was very dark in color. Then a bear stood up in a 3/4 standing pose looking my way for the source of whatever disturbed it's midday nap. That is the first time I have ever wondered about the bear stopping power of 3.5 inch magnum # 5 heavy shot. The bear, about a 450 pound grizzly, continued to look about and finally seemed to focus in on me as I tried not to look directly at it. It dropped down on all fours and angled slightly towards me before standing once more and staring in my direction. It huffed a couple of times and then added a growl at the end of the huffs to see if I would react. Finally it dropped back down and started walking away and at about 40 yards it stood and gazed in my direction one more time, threw in a couple of huffing growls, before moving off. At this point I decided to leave the turkeys for the bear and beat a hasty retreat. Now turkey hunting is an adrenaline rush, but this encounter raised the bar a little bit. I sure do love the outdoors!

[Rhino]

I can sure understand how that would cause an adrenaline rush. That's not a problem we have to deal with but snakes always give me an adrenaline rush here too.

[Covehnter]

Wow. You guys out west really have a lot of interesting elements and wildlife that is sure different from what we are able to find here in the southeast. What an awesome encounter.

[pointing_dogs_rule]

Holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good luck to all

the dog