Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Bear Hunt Part IV - IT'S OVER!!

First off, if you don't want to see photos of dead animals- JUST STOP READING and come back when there is a new post! For those of you who stayed you will enjoy! There is going to be quite a few photo's BUT I can do it, this is my journal!

So I have to start at the beginning on Friday while we were waiting for Brett to get out of surgery Colby sent Kaid and Trevor up to the bait site to change out the SD cards and to set out more bait. Kaid called and said that there were 116 photos- Colby said that he would wait until later to come home and see them, he wanted to wait until Brett was a little coherent. So about 10:00 Colby headed out and said that he would be RIGHT back, they saw this bear! He called Shad and Jared both of them came over and were shocked. They both told him that it was HUGE and that he needed to try and take this one. So Saturday he went up in the morning- NOTHING while he was in the tree stand, but the bear had come back in and was on the camera. He was bummed but Brett was now out of the hospital so he hung out with him.
On Sunday morning Colby had church meetings and so he sent Kaid out again to get the SD cards and set bait. I was a nervous wreck, Kaid was by himself so I kept trying his cell phone and once he got service he called. He proceeds to tell me that he saw the bear and that it was HUGE (he could have NOT told me 1- that he saw the bear and 2- that it was HUGE.) The bear watched him put the food at the site and watched him walk out.

So on Monday Colby and Kaid went up first thing in the morning (2am) they sat in the stands for hours- NOTHING! So they came home and Kaid went to school and Colby got the trailer and headed back up. I was at home and just had gotten Brett settled and Colby called the cell phone, it was all static and I could not get everything he was saying....I kept hearing Kaid....At....Time....Kaid...then I lost the call. He called back more of the same, he called again and was farther down the canyon and had better reception I hear......I got a bear, where is Kaid I need help getting it out.....I said you got a bear? My house erupted in screaming! (you would have thought that Brock won the world series on HIS OWN!) he was screaming and jumping up and down! Brett called Kaid and said you need to get home NOW!


Once Colby was home there were several people waiting to head back up the canyon to help him bring it out. Brett decided that he wanted to go up so I went up with them so that I could stay behind with him. The entire way up Colby kept saying I got the little one. Shad was saying either way you got a bear- don't worry. We finally made it up the canyon to the river where they had to cross at about 10:00pm- they all headed out and said they would holler once they were back so that I could turn on the truck lights for them to cross the river. Brett, Riley (his friend) and myself went to the trailer we played games for awhile and slept. We decided around 11:30 that the guys should be getting back soon so we went back to the river. We waited....waited....and I think finally fell asleep. At 1:05am I heard them, I fumbled for the lights and once I turned them on I saw the bear on the edge of the river Jared was one of the first ones to cross the river, once he got to me he said "That's going in the record book" each person that came across told me the same thing.

With the river being as fast and as deep as it was they decided that they would hook a rope up to the truck and have the truck pull the bear across the river, Colby was holding on too a set of ropes and about mid way across the river the bear flipped and Colby went in head first, I was worried that he and the bear were going to go down the river! But everything was ok.

They decided to bring it out whole so that we could get photo's of Brett with the bear, he had gone up there so many times with Colby during the hunt. It was really nice that the guys would do that for Brett, I know it meant a lot to him and myself.

Colby took the bear to the taxidermist and in about a year I will be adding a new addition to the family! He also called the University of Utah to come get the carcass, they came out last night and the weighed the fur and the carcass and it was 412 lbs. that was with out the guts. So they say that if the bear would have made it until the fall it would have easily gone to 525-550 lbs. It was a HUGE bear. They measured around the bears front forearm and it measures 22 inches. Colby is so excited and I am really glad that he could kill it with out any one getting hurt!
Sat's on this : 15 yard shot with a bow
1 dead bear
4 happy guys at our house
This is the group up at the site back row: Shad, Kaid, Scott, Brady, Ryan Front Jared, Brock (yes Colby was true to his word that he would carry him across the river once the bear was dead) Vern and Colby. We finally made it home around 3:30am. THANKS to all of you that helped! It was so appreciated. We know that you all sacrificed your time and muscles! Thanks again!
Erika

3 comments:

Krista said...

Colby...Eric and I have enjoyed following the Bear Hunt. We we're pumped with excitement for your awesome kill. That Bear is HUGE! I bet that was a RUSH! Congrats! Eric and Krista

Fiddlefish said...

Holy cow....holy cow....HOLY COW!!!! Where are you going to have room for a beast that big?

blkris said...

WOW! That is a BIG bear! It was fun to see you a few months ago. Hopefully we can all get together sometime soon.