BEAR CENTRAL WYOMING

A horseback bear hunt in the Big Horns, and much, much more.

By Tom Kacheroski 

Mosquitoes were buzzing my head on my final night on stand. They were daring me to swat them - to move and maybe alert my bear thinking about coming to the bait. I figured I had an hour of daylight left and wouldn't take their dare. Besides, mosquito bites go away after a short time, but the memory of a big bear would last forever.

It had been an incredible week, but still I had not had a big bear give me a shot. Though it was my first crack at bowhunting bears, I was confident I would return from Wyoming and my pack-in horse trip to the Big Horn Mountains with a bruin. But now I was running out of time.

The snap of a twig behind me perked my ears. I could hear the movement getting closer. I hardly breathed. It was walking in directly under my stand.

I'd already learned that my guide for this trip was hardly exaggerating when he'd greeted me on my arrival to Wyoming's Big Horn Mountains.

"Welcome to Bear Central!"  were the words of Tim Doud, Bliss Creek Outfitter owner and chief guide.

Tim informed me I had come at just the right time. The bears had risen from their winter slumber and were hungry. They knew where to go for dinner because some of Bliss Creek Outfitters - baits have been active for 13 years.

We were met at the trailhead by one of Tim's guides, Mike Nooy, who brought the horses and mules we would need for the six-mile trip to camp.

When we arrived, we were met by camp jack Robert Hicks, and after a quick bite to eat, he informed me there was action at "Camp Bait"  - so called because it is within spotting scope sight of camp. There was already a big bear and a little bear feeding at the site. Both bears soon left, and we made our way to the bait. On the way we saw a print where the big bear had stopped. Tim measured it - 5 1/4 inches! He said the formula for determining a bear's size is to add 1 to the width of the print. That meant the bear we had spotted was almost a 6 1/2-foot bear - a good one!

Around an hour and a half later, the smaller bear we had watched with the spotting scope came in to the bait. It stayed for about an hour. Twice he grabbed some meat and took it 15 yards away and ate it. Twice he tried to climb my tree!

It turned out the big bear never came in that night. When I returned to camp, Mike and Robert said they saw the big bear in a clearing a quarter-mile from my stand.

It rained hard that evening and continued to drip Sunday morning. Mike returned after leaving some deep-fry grease at a couple of baits and said both had been hit hard. Tim decided I should give Camp Bait another chance, hoping the big bear was still around.

Not much happening that evening, and it rained off and on, making for bone-chilling cold. Tim and I left after breakfast Monday to check a couple of the baits. The scenery at 7,000 feet was overwhelming - snowcapped peaks in the distance along with fantastic lush green meadows and pines as far as the eye could see. Add in some curious mule deer and wildflowers shimmering in the afternoon sun, and I knew then when you hunt bear with Bliss Creek Outfitters, you get much more than just a bear hunt.

On the way to the first bait, we saw a small bear. As we were riding down the path, Tim spotted him, and we stopped to check him out. The bear trotted down a hill toward the trail we were on, but stopped when he saw us. He eyed us for a few seconds before bounding back into the woods. We also got off the horses farther down the trail when Tim spotted three bear tracks. He thought they were from a sow, a cub, and another bear. Along with seeing mule deer, we also heard a turkey gobbling. We stopped the horses on the way back to camp, and Tim, using his voice, called the gobbler within 30 yards before he spotted us. "He had a big beard, didn't he?"  Tim smiled.

The baits we checked were both hit hard, and I hunted one of them that night, a bait called "Kong".  After a couple hours, I heard something move about 35 yards to my left.  I kept my eyes peeled and was surprised to see a cow elk come out of some deep woods and walk behind me.

A couple of hours later, I saw something dark out of the corner of my eye. I impulsively snapped my head to the left, and sure enough, 40 yards away was a big black bear! My heart sank as I realized he already stopped and was gazing up at me. I froze, but the big bruin sauntered up the hill and turned away in the other direction.

I felt sick.

We rode back to camp under the stars, but not even their beauty could keep me from kicking myself for turning my head so quickly at the sight of that bear. I went back the next night to Kong hoping that big one would return. Tim once again was encouraging and very optimistic. "There are going to be so many bears there tonight, you are going to have to shoot one in self-defense",  he said.

Unfortunately, it was a quiet night. I didn't spot any bears. I hunted a different bait, called "Canyon",  next. It was one we checked out a couple of days earlier that was getting hit hard.

Tim told me this was the stand a bear climbed once, chewed on the seat, ripped it loose, brought it down, and threw it into the bait barrel. I thought this was going to be my night because we spotted another bear on the way to the bait.

And I did have activity. I saw a bear out of the corner of my eye. He came out of the woods on my left, cut in front of me, and circled behind before coming to the bait. He just smelled the bait for a couple of minutes and then left.  An hour later, I heard something over my left shoulder. Out of the corner of my eye I could see something coming. I thought to myself, "OK, the little one is gone, this must be the big one!" 

I moaned.

It was the same bear that had visited me earlier in the evening. This time he came straight into the bait and nosed around the grease. He walked straight up to my tree and tried to climb it. He got down off his haunches, strolled to the bait, and then seemed disinterested and went off into the woods.

The next day we left early to check both Kong and Canyon before I went on stand at "Cabin".  Tim was his usual optimistic self, chiding me that I was going to see not one or two, but three bears and, "You are going to have to kill one just to get off the stand."  My only company that evening, however, were three pesky red squirrels.

It was Friday and I began to worry. This was my last official night to hunt, but I knew Tim would let me hunt one more night if it proved fruitless. I was feeling kind of down as I answered the breakfast bell, but Tim changed all that.

"We are pulling out all the stops today - you are going to hunt a bait we've baited but never hunted for three years",  he explained. "The last person who hunted there said he missed a 7-footer. Oh yeah",  he added dryly. "It's about a four-hour ride to get there." 

Four, six, eight - it didn't matter. I was so excited and so wanted to get a big bear that no distance seemed too far.

I couldn't wait.

We left for our long, but beautiful ride late in the morning. Besides the white pockets of snow set against lush green meadows filled with purple and blue wildflowers and the warm pine-scented breezes, we rode a good portion of the ride along a bustling river with roaring rapids. It was a shutterbug's dream.

When we arrived at "Meadow",  Tim was ahead of me, and I heard him curse under his breath. I didn't know why until I took a closer look at the bait. Besides the bait barrel being tipped over, the treestand I was to use looked mangled. It was still connected to the tree, but was turned sideways and the seat was ripped off. Tim found the seat in the bushes and pushed it back in place. I thought that this surely would be my night. But it turned out unbearable. Pun intended.

Tim did let me hunt an extra night. And yes, it was a new, different bait - the "River Bait".  Tim checked the bait and found not only had it been hit, but there was nearly a wide bear trail leading to the bait. He also spotted a big track. Mike would meet us later with the horses and mules with my gear, for we were going back to the truck and eventually back to Cody later that evening. I was confident I could make the shot if I could just get a big one to come in.

It was walking in right under my stand. I stayed quiet, motionless. "Yes",  I thought to myself. "I am going to get a shot."  I needed a couple more feet to see how big he was. There we go & wouldn't you know! It wasn't a bear, but a moose! He sauntered up to the bait, took a whiff, and moved on.

The sun set and it was time to climb back on ol' Sundance for the ride back to the trailhead. I didn;t return from the Big Horns with a bruin, but I came back with a new respect for treestand hunting over bait and some wonderful memories of a true wilderness experience. And learning there is much more to bowhunting black bears when you are in the Big Horn Mountains.

Author's note:  Tim Doud has guided and outfitted hunters for the past 14 years and is a member of the Wyoming Outfitters Association. The Shoshone National Forest awarded Tim its 1993 Outfitter of the Year award. Tim and his group are very friendly and provide all the comforts of home. Top-shelf meals and an excellent wood stove provide the two things every bowhunters seeks on a hunt - food and warmth.

Tim takes just six spring bear bowhunters a year. The price of the seven-day, one-on-one hunt is $2,100. Hunting is from the beginning of May to mid-June.

Though I didn't get a bear, two bears were taken on the other hunts that year. Bliss Creek Outfitters also runs popular archery elk, moose, mule deer, bighorn sheep, summer pack trips, fishing, and photography trips. Tim also operates a Professional Guide School and, along with his partner Doris Roesch, puts on a Camp Cook School.

For information on any of the activities, contact Bliss Creek Outfitters, 326 Diamond Basin Rd., Cody, WY 82414, (307) 527-6103, FAX - (307) 527-6523.