Post by mooseman on Sept 23, 2017 8:08:45 GMT -5
Hey all, haven't been here in years. To tell you the truth, I forgot all about this place!
Anyway, so early this summer we rented the camp cove site for a buddy's stag. I showed up early in the afternoon, parked my camper, unhooked my trailer, unloaded the quad and went for a ride.
Just before the camp cove road where the gate is there's a small bridge. Just before the bridge there's a road to the right. It's blocked but you can get around on a quad easily.
The road parallels the main road south for a bit, follows the powerline then you make your way down to the lake.
Right before the lake there's a tricky spot and, being my first ride of the year, I tipped the bike over. Took me a while to right the bike then I went the next 100 feet to the lake.
I enjoyed the view for a bit then headed back up. I was almost back to the main road when I realized I didn't have my sunglasses. nuts. Turned around and went back to where I dumped the bike, got my glasses, and headed back again.
When I got back to the part that parallels the main road I saw this shiny black figure mostly obscured by this tree at the side of the road on the right. Only about 60 yards.
I'm 48 and I've been hunting all my life. I've probably shot more moose than most. I've shot, maybe 6 black bears.
My brain immediately said average size black bear. I didn't slow the bike but as soon as it heard me it took off down the side hill. I stopped the bike and got off where I had seen it and I could hear it runnin like hell down the creek bed towards the lake. It drops off really fast there so I couldn't see it but right then I saw one of my buddys on the road to the camp site across the creek. Even over his bike I could still hear this thing running. I'm still assuming it's a bear at this point.
So now I lit a cigarette and start looking around. I realize where it had to be standing when I saw it. There's a sharp drop off the road at least 4 feet. I can see where the dry ground was disturbed where it was standing. I originally guessed it was about 4 feet tall from what I could see stocking out behind the tree. Now that I can see where it was standing it had to be around 8 feet tall.
I go back to camp and asked if the dogs were acting strange. Everyone said no. I told them I saw something but they laughed and showed me some cel phone pics of some scraggly little black bears. I'm like nope. Not what I saw.
So I convince my brother to come have a look. I showed him where I was when I saw it, showed him where it was standing and all that. He jumped down off the road and started poking around then pointed out where it had disturbed the ground as it ran down the side hill. The stride was about 12 feet but it's pretty steep. We couldn't make out any tracks because the ground was so hard and dry, just scuffs where could tell something ran.
I kinda grinned after he got back up to the road and said well? He just said 'I wanna see a sasquatch too!'
So that's my story. I'll try to check back before I go hunting if anyone has any questions.
Cheers, Don
edit: Forgot to add that I think because I came up the road and turned around, went down the hill and came back, plus my buddy coming the other direction on the other side of the gully it was confused and scared.
You can't see the creek bed from either road so he didn't see anything.
One thing that struck me but didn't compute right away was how fast it was. I know bears can run, I've seen hundreds but the cracking of the branches and smashing as it bolted was crazy.
It was really shiny black too. Almost blue where the sun was shining on it.
Anyway, so early this summer we rented the camp cove site for a buddy's stag. I showed up early in the afternoon, parked my camper, unhooked my trailer, unloaded the quad and went for a ride.
Just before the camp cove road where the gate is there's a small bridge. Just before the bridge there's a road to the right. It's blocked but you can get around on a quad easily.
The road parallels the main road south for a bit, follows the powerline then you make your way down to the lake.
Right before the lake there's a tricky spot and, being my first ride of the year, I tipped the bike over. Took me a while to right the bike then I went the next 100 feet to the lake.
I enjoyed the view for a bit then headed back up. I was almost back to the main road when I realized I didn't have my sunglasses. nuts. Turned around and went back to where I dumped the bike, got my glasses, and headed back again.
When I got back to the part that parallels the main road I saw this shiny black figure mostly obscured by this tree at the side of the road on the right. Only about 60 yards.
I'm 48 and I've been hunting all my life. I've probably shot more moose than most. I've shot, maybe 6 black bears.
My brain immediately said average size black bear. I didn't slow the bike but as soon as it heard me it took off down the side hill. I stopped the bike and got off where I had seen it and I could hear it runnin like hell down the creek bed towards the lake. It drops off really fast there so I couldn't see it but right then I saw one of my buddys on the road to the camp site across the creek. Even over his bike I could still hear this thing running. I'm still assuming it's a bear at this point.
So now I lit a cigarette and start looking around. I realize where it had to be standing when I saw it. There's a sharp drop off the road at least 4 feet. I can see where the dry ground was disturbed where it was standing. I originally guessed it was about 4 feet tall from what I could see stocking out behind the tree. Now that I can see where it was standing it had to be around 8 feet tall.
I go back to camp and asked if the dogs were acting strange. Everyone said no. I told them I saw something but they laughed and showed me some cel phone pics of some scraggly little black bears. I'm like nope. Not what I saw.
So I convince my brother to come have a look. I showed him where I was when I saw it, showed him where it was standing and all that. He jumped down off the road and started poking around then pointed out where it had disturbed the ground as it ran down the side hill. The stride was about 12 feet but it's pretty steep. We couldn't make out any tracks because the ground was so hard and dry, just scuffs where could tell something ran.
I kinda grinned after he got back up to the road and said well? He just said 'I wanna see a sasquatch too!'
So that's my story. I'll try to check back before I go hunting if anyone has any questions.
Cheers, Don
edit: Forgot to add that I think because I came up the road and turned around, went down the hill and came back, plus my buddy coming the other direction on the other side of the gully it was confused and scared.
You can't see the creek bed from either road so he didn't see anything.
One thing that struck me but didn't compute right away was how fast it was. I know bears can run, I've seen hundreds but the cracking of the branches and smashing as it bolted was crazy.
It was really shiny black too. Almost blue where the sun was shining on it.
