I went down to Cabin Creek again this year. Bill (our pastor) and I hunted 3 days. On the first day we didn't see any elk but did hear them bugling. Some were within 200 yards of us in the timber.
On the second day, I spotted 3 bull elk feeding up high on the mountain side. They were about a mile away. I trotted over there on the horse as fast as I could. On my way there, I rode by a big Grizzly Bear in a meadow. He stood up on his hind legs and looked at me trotting by. He looked very suprised- I guess he had never seen someone trotting on a horse before- so he turned and ran.
I made it over to the elk, tied up the horse and tried to get as close as I could.
I managed to get within about 60 yards but the wind swirled or they saw me so they spooked a little and ran away a short distance. I tried to circle around and get in front of them again. I was walking by a clump of trees and I heard a big crashing noise in there and figured I must have spooked another elk out of there. I bugled with my elk call and out stepped Grizzly Bear #2 at 50 yards! I got my bear spray out as he started walking toward me. I got a short video of him running away after I yelled at him:
I moved on around to where I thought the elk were and decided to sit down and wait until the evening to see if they would come out again. After a few hours of sitting there, I looked over and there were 3 more Grizzly bears coming out of the timber- a sow and two medium size cubs. They were about 200 yards away. I watched the cubs chasing after birds and digging in the dirt. After awhile they started moving in my direction so I headed on out of there.
We had some snow that evening. The next morning, we got up and spotted 6 bulls up on the mountain about 1/4 mile away. We sneaked in on them but they spooked when I was about 60 yards away.
In three days of hunting, I saw 2 bull moose, 5 grizzly bears, 9 bull elk and 52 mountain goats!
