I decided in early June that I was going on a bear hunt in Idaho with Gary Haight, owner of Weitas Creek Outfitters. Gary's operation is located in North Central Idaho and based out of the tiny town of Kamiah, Id.
I had originally planned on going alone, but when my brother in law caught wind of the trip he was on board and ready to go. We left on September 4th at 3:30 am. We slowly picked our way up to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore. We then headed West across Montana to North Central Idaho. We arrived in Kamiah late Thursday night and got settled into small motel. After meeting with the Outfitter's wife Friday morning, she lead us into to the mountains to camp. It took, from the time we left the oil top road, two and a half hours of logging roads to reach Gary's remote camp. The hunt started Saturday evening. I was posted on the ground 12 yards from the bait. Neither Jim or I saw anything the first night. The second night I hunted a different bait. Around 5:30pm I heard something coming to the bait. A small bear eased in and circled the bait and offered several shot opportunities. While watching this "small" bear at 10 yards for 9 minutes I was shocked when he reared up on his hind legs and looked in my direction. I had NO idea he would look that tall on his back legs. I decided to wait on a larger bear seeing that it was early on the second day of a 6 day hunt. The next day was the most eventful of the trip. Jim, my brother in law, went to the bait that I hunting the first night. I went to a bait that that was a 45 minute drive from camp, even further into the wilderness. I arrived at the tree stand around 3:30. The stand, 20' high, was the smallest lock-on I've ever seen. I got it situated for a left handed shooter and sat down to see what would happen. Around 6:40pm I heard something coming and eventually saw that it was a bear, a really nice bear. My heart went into overdrive. I normally am able to control this until after the shot, but this was almost too exciting. The bear slowly worked its way into the bait. Then, just as it was entering the bait it stopped, backed up and began to circle the bait. He walked out to about 15 yards and was just about to step into my wind. He stopped broad side, I decided to take the shot. I'll never forget watching that arrow fly 4 inches over his back. He huffed at me and left the bait area. I wanted to throw up, but I instantly knew what I did. I didn't hit anchor or pick a spot. I just shot! I pulled the card from the camera on my way out. When I got back to camp, still in shock that I had missed such an "easy" shot, I learned that Jim had killed a really nice black bear. When we looked at the camera card from my stand we saw that there was a really nice color phase bear hitting this bait. Gary said he felt confident the bear would show in the daylight, with a little enticing. The next three days were spent baiting with the best baits available and spending a lot of hours on stand. The last three days of the hunt I got in the stand at 10:00 am and hunted until dark (7:20 pm)
At one point in the long sits I really got pretty mad at the thought of all the trouble I went through to get there and MISS a golden opportunity. Then it hit me that it really wasn't all about killing a bear. If that was the case, I'd have a Remington sitting across my lap and not a longbow! I realized then that I was sitting in some of the most remote and beautiful country that I'd ever seen, doing what I love to do more that anything in the world...Hunting. The last day of the hunt I was on stand by 10. I sat through two sleet storms, three rains, and an awesome snow fall all within a 5 hour timeframe. The afternoon was perfect and sunny and around 45 degrees. The bear didn't want to cooperate, but I completely enjoyed myself. My outfitter told to me stay and hunt until I killed a bear, but it was time for us to head back south. I will head back up there hopefully next year to try again. Yes, with my longbow!
I had originally planned on going alone, but when my brother in law caught wind of the trip he was on board and ready to go. We left on September 4th at 3:30 am. We slowly picked our way up to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore. We then headed West across Montana to North Central Idaho. We arrived in Kamiah late Thursday night and got settled into small motel. After meeting with the Outfitter's wife Friday morning, she lead us into to the mountains to camp. It took, from the time we left the oil top road, two and a half hours of logging roads to reach Gary's remote camp. The hunt started Saturday evening. I was posted on the ground 12 yards from the bait. Neither Jim or I saw anything the first night. The second night I hunted a different bait. Around 5:30pm I heard something coming to the bait. A small bear eased in and circled the bait and offered several shot opportunities. While watching this "small" bear at 10 yards for 9 minutes I was shocked when he reared up on his hind legs and looked in my direction. I had NO idea he would look that tall on his back legs. I decided to wait on a larger bear seeing that it was early on the second day of a 6 day hunt. The next day was the most eventful of the trip. Jim, my brother in law, went to the bait that I hunting the first night. I went to a bait that that was a 45 minute drive from camp, even further into the wilderness. I arrived at the tree stand around 3:30. The stand, 20' high, was the smallest lock-on I've ever seen. I got it situated for a left handed shooter and sat down to see what would happen. Around 6:40pm I heard something coming and eventually saw that it was a bear, a really nice bear. My heart went into overdrive. I normally am able to control this until after the shot, but this was almost too exciting. The bear slowly worked its way into the bait. Then, just as it was entering the bait it stopped, backed up and began to circle the bait. He walked out to about 15 yards and was just about to step into my wind. He stopped broad side, I decided to take the shot. I'll never forget watching that arrow fly 4 inches over his back. He huffed at me and left the bait area. I wanted to throw up, but I instantly knew what I did. I didn't hit anchor or pick a spot. I just shot! I pulled the card from the camera on my way out. When I got back to camp, still in shock that I had missed such an "easy" shot, I learned that Jim had killed a really nice black bear. When we looked at the camera card from my stand we saw that there was a really nice color phase bear hitting this bait. Gary said he felt confident the bear would show in the daylight, with a little enticing. The next three days were spent baiting with the best baits available and spending a lot of hours on stand. The last three days of the hunt I got in the stand at 10:00 am and hunted until dark (7:20 pm)
At one point in the long sits I really got pretty mad at the thought of all the trouble I went through to get there and MISS a golden opportunity. Then it hit me that it really wasn't all about killing a bear. If that was the case, I'd have a Remington sitting across my lap and not a longbow! I realized then that I was sitting in some of the most remote and beautiful country that I'd ever seen, doing what I love to do more that anything in the world...Hunting. The last day of the hunt I was on stand by 10. I sat through two sleet storms, three rains, and an awesome snow fall all within a 5 hour timeframe. The afternoon was perfect and sunny and around 45 degrees. The bear didn't want to cooperate, but I completely enjoyed myself. My outfitter told to me stay and hunt until I killed a bear, but it was time for us to head back south. I will head back up there hopefully next year to try again. Yes, with my longbow!
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