Bear raffle tag hunt

[azhuntnut]

This past weekend I had the opportunity to join a friend of mine that won the Az game and fish big game raffle bear tag. He was contacted by a very nice gentlemen named Kevin Presmyk who runs Full Draw Guide Service. Kevin offered to take him out and run his dogs until we found a big bear. We started out Saturday morning around 5am, and hit a trail around 7am. The dogs took off on the trail while we hung back and listened. After a while, Kevin got out a tracking device got a good idea where the dogs ended up. They had been on a good trail, but had ran the wrong direction and ended up where the bear had beded that night. It took us a while to round up all of the dogs and by that time it was getting hot and the dogs needed a little rest. We all decided to start again early Sunday morning. Sunday was pretty slow. We drove around for about three hours before the dogs found anything. We were pretty close to a canyon when they took off back towards the forest instead of down into the canyon. We were all relieved that we would not have to go down into it. While waiting for the dogs to tree the bear, I decided to glass the canyon for a while. I hadn't even been glassing for a couple minutes when I spotted a little black bear at the very bottom of the canyon about a half mile away. We all agreed it was just a small bear and decided to go see what the dogs had found. It took us a while, but found the dogs a couple miles from where we let them off. Once again they had gone the wrong direction and ended at the bears bedding site.

We all talked for a while and thought we should go back to the canyon and see if there was another bear hanging around. I went out on a point and started glassing the same area, but couldn't find any bears, but did see three nice bulls feeding. Kevin then decided to head down into the canyon with about ten dogs and try to tree the bear so we could get some pics. He had a few youngs dogs along and wanted to get them on a bear. My buddy Mark, who won the tag decided to stay up top since he is older and doesn't hike that much anymore, while myself and five other guys went down. The rest of the group got out ahead of me since I was just pokin along looking for sheds. When I was almost to the bottom, I could see the guys were going in the wrong direction. I turned them around to where I had seen the bear. When Kevin got with 50 yards of where I saw the bear, one of the other guys below me about 100 yards yelled out that there was a brown bear just ahead of a dog. It had a couple cubs with it. When the dogs hit the scent, they really started to sing. About ten seconds later he yelled "theres another bear". Of course all of the guys on the bottom of the canyon were yelling "where are they". They couldn't see around all of the brush. It got real exciting at this point, and I wanted to get a better view. I tried slabbing the side of the canyon, but it was very steep and starting to rain, making it very hard to stay on my feet. I finally made it to a better spot to see three dogs corner a bear across the canyon under a big rock. One dog got knocked around, but didn't get hurt. I watched for about ten minutes, and then they started calling the dogs off.

It was now pouring rain, and you couldn't see very far. I decided to head back up to the top. Boy, I am still out of shape. When I met up with my friend Mark at the top, he asked me if I had seen all of the bears. I told him I had seen the two. He then proceeded to tell me that six bears had ran out of the same thicket, and were running up all sides of the canyon. There were four browns, one black, and a brown one that turned blond half way back. Apparently the blond one came up my side and crossed right above me. I heard a log role just above me, but didn't see the bear. He said they scattered just like Javelina getting spooked. Most of them were small, except the sow was pretty big. It took about an hour to get the rest of the guys and dogs out of the canyon.

We called it a day at this point since the dogs were worn out and the rain was coming down pretty hard. It was a very exciting weekend and I don't think I will ever come across that many bears in one canyon again. I marked it on my GPS, so hopefully I can check it out again when the regular season starts in that unit.

If anybody is looking for a great hunt behind dogs, Kevin was real nice and answered all of our stupid questions with a smile. He does lion and bears hunts. He is also guiding the bear auction tag buying this year. David

[couesdiehard]

Were you guys up on the 300 road Saturday. I passed a maroon Chevy P/U with a bunch of dogs and guys around it. Wondered if that was you guys.

Lee

[TwoGuns]

Those Presmyks are a good family. They were my neighbors for years here in Camp Verde, and always great to talk to. Kevin does drive a maroon chevy with dog racks in the back end. His dad, Kevin Sr. is a serious hunter and great guy. He has the most impressive room full of mounts I have ever seen. He actually added on a whole room to his house a few years ago just to put all his mounts in. I would certainly jump at the opportunity to chase bears or lions with those guys.

 

darren

[Lance]

Thanks for the story. Thats awesome! That is quite the bear hole Did you happen to notice what they were feeding on in there?

 

Lance

[Guest 300ultramag.]

I have yet to hunt Bear isnt the window of glassing them up only some 30-45 min.

[coues7]

300ultramag.

 

You lost me on your comment? what did you mean to say.....a person only has a 30-45 minute window (timeframe) to find a bear and then there is no chance?

[azhuntnut]

Lance, They were hitting the berries. The guys on the bottom said that all of the bears came out of the bushes when they got close. I had just glassed the bushes thirty minutes before, but couldn't see anything since it was so thick.

 

 

 

Thanks for the story. Thats awesome! That is quite the bear hole Did you happen to notice what they were feeding on in there?

 

Lance

[firstcoueswas80]

6 bears in one canyon/thicket? holy cow thats awesome! that sure sounds like a exciting weekend!