Ep. 107: Face to Face with Wyoming Grizzly Bears
01:00:34 Share

Outdoor adventure won't wait for engine problems. Things like hard starts, rough performance, and lost fuel economy are often caused by fuel gum and varnish buildup. Seafoam can help your engine run better and last longer. Simply pour a can in your gas tank. Hunters and anglers rely on Seafoam to keep their engines running the way it should the entire season. Pick up a can of Seafoam today at your local auto parts store or visit seafoamworks.com to learn more.

The only thing better than a successful hunt is celebrating your feet during the after-the-hunt moment. With a smooth taste made to be enjoyed on the rocks or with your favorite mixer, Pendle and Whiskey is perfect for winding down around the fire or putting your feet up after cleaning your game. If you're looking for the perfect drink to celebrate after a great day hunting,

Make it Pendleton whiskey, the official whiskey of the after the hunt moment. It's not just poured, it's earned. Pendleton Distillers, Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Please drink responsibly. Pendleton is a registered trademark of Pendleton Woolen Mills. I'm sure a lot of you guys remember the old ceremonial hunting tradition of eating the heart.

out of the first animal you kill. Meat from those organs are among the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet. You can get those same benefits your ancestors craved via convenient daily capsules from Heart and Soil. Find out more at heartandsoil.co. And remember, use code MEATEATER for 10% off your purchase. ♪ music playing ♪

And we're back with another episode of Cutting the Distance Podcast. I'm Dirk Durham. And today I have a man on the podcast, someone who I admire a whole bunch. He's a family man. He's probably one of the toughest guys I know for backcountry hunting.

Probably the most fearless guy I know for backcountry hunting and very talented and an accomplished bowhunter. Welcome to the show, Ron. Is it Nijolik? That's it. It's kind of spelled like Niziolik, but it's... Niziolik, yeah. Nijolik. Nijolik, yeah. Yeah, thanks for coming on today.

Good to see you again. Yeah. I've known Ron for a number of years. I think we kind of got really well acquainted back in the days, back when I was co-founder of a magazine, an elk hunting magazine called Extreme Elk. And Ron came aboard to edit articles and to write articles for us on there and got acquainted with him and got to know about all of his activities.

backcountry experiences in the beautiful state of Wyoming. And I will kind of say one thing that always kind of stood out is bear encounters. You always, you know, you always had a good elk hunting story, but it seems like there was always some bear encounters or one from one way or another, you know, every few years, you know, whether it was black bears or grizzlies.

Mostly grizzlies, but yeah, there's definitely been a few through the years, but this year was just a little ridiculous, to put it mildly. Yeah. Lots of bears. Yeah. Yeah. You know, ever since, you know, a few years ago, then they got those things delisted, and then we all thought we were going to get a bear hunting season, and then that got shut down.

So I think we've all been kind of sitting here holding our breath, hoping that we get a grizzly bear season, you know, even, even if it is a very limited opportunity because I know Wyoming and Montana, the grizzly populations have exploded and which trickle into Idaho pretty well. So what's your take on this on, on the whole grizzly hunting season? Should we, should we open that up and get that thing going? Yeah.

Absolutely. It's what should be done. But, you know, anymore, it seems like seasons are set, especially for the predator animals. The seasons are determined by voters instead of by biology. So voters and or judges and, you know, the grizzly situation, it's just the anti hunters find a sympathetic judge to their cause. And just with a magic wand, they just put

you know, the season that we did have, they put the debauch on it and it's, yeah, it's just a pipe dream at this point. I don't know if it'll ever happen. Yeah. Yeah.

Which makes elk hunting kind of scary, you know, or any kind of outdoor recreation, whether you're a hunter or not. If you're an outdoor enthusiast, shoot, I can't imagine backpacking in Wyoming with my wife and kids, you know, just enjoying a beautiful day in the woods and having a grizzly bear wreck that.

Yeah, we, my philosophy is I try not to let them determine where I'm going to go and what I'm going to do. So, you know, if I want to hunt elk in a particular drainage, as long as I'm not aware that somebody else has killed a bull in there, there might be, you know, opportunity for a grizzly to be on a carcass or, you know, just.

a really well-known spot, tons of bears, you know, for the most part, I just go wherever I want. Um, I'm not scared, but definitely, uh,

a little bit cautious and, uh, just have a little bit of respect for what they can do. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm sure you probably take some pretty good measures and some things you do, do, do, and things you don't do when you're in bear country. Yeah, we do. We, we,

We were talking a little earlier about backpack hunting, and I know you said you weren't a real big fan, and I feel like backpack hunting in grizzly country, that's definitely something you have to be careful with.

Now that in particular, I'm not worried about because first off, my philosophy on the bears is I've never heard a report of anybody hiking in the dark that's been attacked or mauled by a grizzly. And I know there have been instances where they go tent hopping and kill or pull out some unfortunate person and chew on them. But for the most part,

At night, honestly, I just put earplugs in so I'm not awake listening to sounds all night. And I just try to get the best night's sleep. And like I said, with earplugs and then, you know, at least I won't hear them chewing on me. Yeah. Yeah. Now, that reminded me of the story you told here a couple years ago. I heard you talk about an encounter in your little camp with a wolf.

um you and a buddy you knew a buddy and there was some pretty good shenanigans that went on there with that freaking wolf um it if you don't mind telling that story i'm sure our listeners would love to hear it oh i can do that so a young friend and i were backpacked in about seven miles and we were doing some horn hunting and uh one of my favorite things to do at least it used to be until i got too busted up but um anyway so we backpacked in one weekend and

got the tent set up and just a little tent and took off going horn hunting and scouting for the rest of the afternoon. And we came back to camp that evening and the tents broken down, you know, the poles were sticking out everywhere and it's just demolished by a bear. The bear chewed on my buddy's wife's sleeping bag, left mine alone. So anyway, with nothing better to do, he just broke the tent down and

threw our sleeping bags out on the, on the ground cloth. So, and I was on one side, my buddies on the side, right next to a big rock. And we had our backpacks propped up there. He had his, uh, his socks and his shirt laid out on top of sagebrush. I just stuck mine in my sleeping bag to hopefully dry them out. And then, uh,

Went to bed, I put in my famous earplugs and a little while later I could hear a wolf howling or a couple of them. I thought, man, those things are pretty close and just went to sleep. And I got woken up by my buddy just yelling, get out of here, get out of here. So, you know, my immediate thought was bear. So I'm sitting up pulling out earplugs, finding my headlamp, finding my pistol, get all that stuff going.

done and turned on the headlamp well there's a dang wolf like 10 feet from him of not a young wolf but probably medium-sized uh black wolf just sitting there staring him in the face from about 10 feet away and uh so he yells get out of here again well the wolf reaches down and this is no bs like this truly happened the wolf reaches down and grabs a boot and takes off running and

And my buddy panics and he's like, he's got my effing boot. And it's like, it's a brutal backpack job to get in there. I mean, there's just, it's a lot of rock. So hiking out of there barefoot wouldn't have been fun. So the wolf stopped like 20 yards out in the sagebrush. I could see him, but he couldn't. So I cranked around at him. And, you know, the muzzle flash couldn't tell what happened. So got up, stomped into boots and went out there. And I couldn't find any

any sign that I actually hit the wolf, but I did find the boot. And on the way walking back to where we were sleeping, I found his day pack or his backpack. And so we're looking around and I look at the rock where my pack's supposed to be right next to his and mine's gone too. So that dang wolf had drug off both of our packs and

while we were sleeping and then come back and was sniffing my buddy's face. So, but the, the story just gets better and better because the wolf liked to really pick on my buddy. So we, we,

We get up in the morning or I get up, he's still laying in his sleeping bag and I go stomping around just looking for any blood or any sign that I might have hit the wolf and don't find anything. But before I, on my way back to camp, I found both of his socks with the ankle chewed out of one of them. And it was the only pair of socks he had. So for the rest of that day, he hiked around with his ankle right on the leather. But so I was just laughing. I said, dude, look at your socks, you know?

So we get all dressed and we take off hiking and we're gone most of the morning. We had split up and we met up. I don't know, it was like 11 o'clock or so. And he's got this look on his face and he's like, dude, smell my shirt. I think the wolf pissed on it. So I took a whiff and I'm like, oh my God, maybe you want to vomit. You know, it really stunk. So when he put his shirt on in the morning, he thought it was damp from the frost and

You know, that happened overnight. So he didn't pay any attention to it. But the wolf really did piss on his shirt. So it just kept getting funnier for me. I had a big belly laugh. And we go, you know, we were all done antler hunting. We had to hike out of there. So we go walking back to camp and we come down the trail and do a little clearing where we were at camp. Well, the damn wolf is sitting there like at 40 yards just looking at us.

And of course, we're all excited. There he is, you know, little bastard. So anyway, well, he just kind of trots towards us up to 20 yards. Like, what's up, guys? And anyway, it sounded like a gunfight when we escorted him out of the clearing. Went back to camp in the tent or the sleeping bag. The camp's fine. So we loaded up and hiked out of there with our stuff. And it just got funnier two days later.

He texted me again. He's like, dude, check your pack. I think he pissed on mine or he did piss on mine. So when he got home, he left his pack in his trunk and it was really warm for a couple of days. And he opened when he opened the door, that wolf piss had just been marinating in there. And like, yeah, he said it just almost made him puke. So anyway, that's that's

I just got lots of laughs. And we figured the wolf picked on all his stuff because he had five dogs at the time. So I think all that smell kind of spurred on the wolf to pick on all of his stuff. So it was great. And I talked to the game warden the night we got out, and he said that a pack of wolves had come out of Yellowstone Park and were kind of terrorizing up in that area.

And they had shoot on sight orders for them because they were causing so much problems. So anyway, I think they got whacked. But one of the ranches up there actually had a video. It's probably the same younger black wolf. They went out and he wasn't scared at all. And they threw a ball and he actually went and grabbed it. Oh, geez. Yes, it's pretty crazy. But, you know, in the park, it's not crazy.

it's not a pristine environment they're really habituated to people all the animals there so that's why he didn't you know didn't display any fear whatsoever of us he's probably waiting for you guys to throw a twinkie to him or something i know right but anyway my buddy said when that he felt and heard that thing snip in his face he just knew it was a grizzly you know gonna

Come eat him. So he's a little relieved that it was just a wolf. Yeah. Thought he was going to get his face ripped off.

Oh, pretty much. I bet that was pretty scary. And then funny. Mostly funny, you know? Yeah, that's awesome. He was scared a little bit. And honestly, when you turn on a headlamp and there's a wolf 10 feet away staring at you, it's not the best feeling. But yeah, when he grabbed his boot, that was probably the funniest part. Listening to him in his panicked voice saying he's got my effing boot. Man, I love it. Good times. I love it.

Yeah, it's always good to have a buddy to make fun of with something like that, too. Oh, absolutely. I hope something like that happens to Phelps sometime when him and I are out. It'll probably happen to me. You can always hope. He'll make sure he's not armed and then you can pull some kind of a good prank on him. Yeah, right. I'll start messing with his stuff. Oh, man, I think a wolf got into your pack there, bud. Yeah. String everything out of it.

Uh, so I have a question. So you're longtime Archer, very successful. Um, and everybody knows everybody likes to talk about elk hunting and everybody knows I love to talk about elk hunting. What, what do you, what's your mode? Are you a spot and stop guy? Are you a call guy? Are you kind of a hybrid guy? What, what do you do? What's your tactics for, for elk?

I do everything. Me personally, I prefer the spot and stalk method of things. But having switched hunt areas a while back, this newer one has a lot more timber. It makes the spot and stalk plan a little harder to execute. So I just incorporate everything.

everything that it takes to get it done. Hopefully spot them first or hear them. Close the gap is 99% of the battle, I think, is getting in there close and then either call or finish the stalk. But for me, elk hunting is two speeds, basically. You're either covering ground and

Until you find one, see one or hear one. And then you're, you know, hustling like crazy to get close. And then it slows, slows down either to the calling mode or the stock. So, but yeah, I do, I do a little bit of everything, um,

I've had really good luck calling lately this year since the bull seemed to be super call shy when I finally shot the one I did. Bugle to locate and then I just snuck in quiet and I positioned myself up above three bulls in this one narrow little drainage. Kind of got above the middle one. I was waiting for one of them to come up into a clearing behind me and then I'd make a move and

And the one that I was above just a hundred yards or so, he came up right to me. So it made it really easy. So you hunt quite a bit of gnarly, steep, deep countries, probably high elevation. What are you doing to get in shape and stay in shape to navigate that country? And especially with some of your physical limitations, like you fought back injuries for years. And how do you...

how do you maintain that mental toughness to push through some of that pain and those tough days to just continue to keep grinding? My wife would tell you that I'm more stubborn and stupid than I am tough, but, and sometimes I agree with her. Anyway. Yeah. I've had a long history, 20 plus years of back surgeries. 10, 10 years ago, I had a,

fusion and my third fusion in my back that just didn't work, made everything worse.

So the following year, since I was still struggling with it, I had a spinal cord stimulator put in and that helped with my legs, but it didn't help with my back. So that kept declining. And man, for the last few years, I missed a lot of mostly mornings going out hunting. And I just had to tell my buddies, I can't go. I'm sorry, but I

I'm just not going to make it. And they're all pretty understanding. I think it was probably harder on me than them because I don't like to let anybody down. And then this last summer, I went to the Mayo Clinic just for a last try. You know, is there anything possible that could be done?

Or do I just have to suck it up and live with it? So, and I had doctors in my local area assure me that, oh, yeah, you know, everything's been done that could be done. And the first thing the Mayo told me was that fusion never took whatsoever.

So they recommended, you know, refusing that level and also the next one up. It was time for that one. So anyway, in December, I went there and I had the surgery. They took the rods out of my, you know, real low back, put in some new ones to cover those new levels. And anyway, it took a while for me to recover.

get over it or start making some progress. I was restricted for three months. So March and April or probably April, I was able to at least start walking outdoors a little bit and doing things. And so I

gradually just gotten better and better shape over the summer. I'm still fat and could roll around the hills if you kicked me. But anyway, I just mind over matter, whatever, whatever it is. I'm still limited. You know, I,

certain things I can't do like I like I used to but you just adapt and I don't know and maybe that's why you know I've switched over to more of a calling phase in my hunting so I'm not doing these long you know spot no two or three miles away with an hour to go before dark and take off like a madman and and go get them um just a little bit more patient and slower going yeah so

And then you have a pretty good support group as far as friends you can call if you get a bull down that'll come and help get one out too, don't you? I do. The area where I'm hunting has zero cell phone reception. But over inReach, yeah, I'm able to send some texts out and I have some awesome friends that'll come help me out at a moment's notice pretty much. The other thing is I still prefer to hunt

totally by myself um i just think it's a lot more effective you don't you're not trying to figure out what somebody else is thinking or adapt to how they want to do things it's just all your own decisions but um where i'm hunting it's just you don't you don't follow an elk up

by yourself or if you do um go find it but then go get somebody to come hold legs for you whatever while you're breaking it down and and moving it away from the carcass um so that that's what we try to do i try to have you know somebody else there to at least follow up with me um these grizzlies are just more brazen all the time um

We've had elk taken, like mine from this year, whether it's overnight or just an hour or two. Or we had one that while we're actually skinning the bull, a stout and cubs comes in and they don't care that you're there. They just come in and take over. In that situation, you're supposed to let them legally. It's a tough thing to do. It might...

Nowadays, I think I might cause a little battle if I was actually working on my elk and a bear came in and tried to take it. Like I was there first. It's mine. You know, I'd probably do whatever it took. But years, years past, you know, if that happens, we just back out and just be thankful they didn't come in batting us around and.

So if they do that, like the first one a few years back, the same guy that had the wolf sniff his face, it's his first bull ever. And we had four of us in there, and we're working on the thing. His dad heard a bull bugle, so he went over to hunt this bull. So three of us are there, and we're talking, doing whatever,

and all of a sudden heard a bull bugle. Kid looked up. He said, there it is. He's like, no, it's a grizzly. So the grizzly and her two full-grown cubs came in, I mean, as close as 15 yards before we got out of there and just took it over. We only had bear spray at the time, and it was not on our body. It was on our packs, which were leaned against a log. So we just had nothing. We just had to get out of there.

So anyway, bad, bad deal. It can, it can happen. It seems to be happening more and more. Yeah. That's scary and heartbreaking too. You know, she worked so hard to get an elk and then, you know, Tim monster comes along and steals it. Right. Yeah. And that's what we live on all year too. So, Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thankfully my wife has a cow tag. So hopefully in November next month, we'll, uh,

get some milk meat in the freezer. We've all seen plenty of gadgets and fads come and go, but here's one product that stood the test of time. Seafoam motor treatment. Lots of hunters and anglers know that seafoam helps engines run better and last longer.

It's really simple. When you pour it in your gas tank, sea foam cleans harmful fuel deposits that cause engine problems. I'm talking common stuff like hard starts, rough engine performance, or lost fuel economy. Sea foam is an easy way to prevent or overcome these problems. Just pour a can in your gas tank and let it clean your fuel system. You probably know someone who has used a can of sea foam to get their truck or boat going again. People everywhere rely on sea foam to keep their trucks, boats, and small engines running the way that they should the entire season.

Help your engine run better and last longer. Pick up a can of Seafoam today at your local auto parts store or visit seafoamworks.com to learn more.

The only thing better than a successful hunt is celebrating your feet during the after-the-hunt moment. With a smooth taste made to be enjoyed on the rocks or with your favorite mixer, Pendle and Whiskey is perfect for winding down around the fire or putting your feet up after cleaning your game. If you're looking for the perfect drink to celebrate after a great day hunting,

Make it Pendleton whiskey, the official whiskey of the after the hunt moment. It's not just poured, it's earned. Pendleton Distillers, Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Please drink responsibly. Pendleton is a registered trademark of Pendleton Woolen Mills. You ever get that feeling you're stuck inside staring at screens and a primal urge kicks in? You crave wide open spaces, fresh air, the chance to connect with the land.

Well, maybe it's time to find your own piece of the wild. But searching for property can be a maze. That's where Land.com comes in. They got millions of listings across the country, from mountain ranches to hidden fishing holes. Their search tools are like a seasoned guide helping you narrow down what you want. Land.com isn't just about buying and selling.

It's about finding a place to hunt, fish, explore, or simply sit by a campfire and listen to the crickets. So head over to land.com today to turn one day into today. Because trust me, there's nothing quite like the feeling of standing on your own piece of earth.

So reading, reading your post on Facebook here a week or so ago, then I started reading down through it and I always, I always wait for your posts every year cause they're always really good. Like I talked before you're, you've got a, you're a writer, so you have a good way to lay things out. It's always a good story. And, and, and as I'm reading through it, I was like, Oh yeah, this is going to be a good story. And then, then I start seeing these, these, uh,

these numbers start showing up of how many grizzlies you saw and what distances you saw them. And I'm like, what the heck's going on? Then, then I read the rest of the story. I'm like, Oh my God, I, I gotta get Ron on here to tell this story. So, so give it, give us the breakdown how your elk season went this fall. So,

My brother came out to visit while my mom had some knee surgery done right at the end of August. So I took him to the airport September 1st, and then I was just going to go to the mountains September 2nd.

Well, of course, I got back to town and there's still daylight left. It's like, man, I just ought to go. I want to spend the night in the mountains at least. So I did that, got up there at dark. So from September 2nd to the 27th, I saw 41 grizzlies. Most of them I have pictures of or somebody was with me. And...

Like my post said, I think it was five or six were at long distance. A few more were under 200 yards. A few more under 100 yards. And there's 26 of these instances that were under 50 yards. And on five of those occasions, we had pistols out. Holy cow. That's a little unnerving.

Yeah, I shot once this fall, mainly because I was pissed off. I wasn't trying to hit the bear. It was a boar that...

He just didn't care at all that we were there. You know, we were walking along this trail and my buddy was leading and he blew out, you know, this bear at 20 yards, pretty close. And he took off up the hill. So when I got up to him, he's like, did you see that? And I said, I saw something. I couldn't tell you what it was. He said it was a grizzly.

So we looked, took a couple more steps. Well, the bear, he was still only at 40 yards. And as we're standing there talking, he's looking at us and he starts coming at us. So it wasn't a charge. He was just walking at us, but we got our pistols out. And then he got to 25 to 30 yards probably. And I'm like, that's enough. And

I didn't know at the time my buddy was actually aiming at the bear practice and getting his sight sight picture, you know, and, uh, he didn't know that I was going to shoot. So I'm glad when I shot, I shot like 10 feet to the side of the bear. Um,

I'm just glad he didn't twitch and actually shoot because he was actually aiming. Right. So anyway, yeah, there was that one. And I think he was mainly trying nets because when I got my bull –

And we got charged, and I can go into that story. But when that bear came at us, neither one of us was using our sights. We were just kind of, you know, we had our stance or whatever, and we had the grip on the pistol, but we were more watching the bear.

You know, maybe judging its reaction before we were going to start shooting. But both times that bear charged, it was five, six yards, right in that range. And neither one of us shot. And neither one of us acquired that sight picture either. You know, bad on our part. But, you know, we're still learning with all this too. But I'm pretty positive how we started shooting, the bear was going to be in trouble. You know, especially being that close.

We might have been too, but the bear definitely would have caught some lead. Yeah. I've always figured, you know, if I had to shoot a bear, I would have to wait until it got really close because at a distance, even 10, 20, 30 yards, whatever, moving, that's a hard target to hit. Right. And I feel like with my level of pistolero-ship, then that thing's going to have to be almost...

just right on me you know that way i don't miss and i can give him every bullet i got and hopefully that'll take you know and he maybe he'll die before he gets a couple bites out of me no kidding and from our experience reinforced this year they don't even care that you're yelling at them

Um, and when I, when I shot next to that bear, he didn't care. He, uh, he kind of moved quick to the side, you know, maybe two yards and he started eating again.

and digging up stuff. He disappeared, you know, the front half of them disappeared under a pine tree. They're eating the whitebark pine. And pretty soon there's these big swaths of dirt coming out when he's, you know, just digging up stuff to eat. And that was right after I shot. That's crazy. That's crazy. So yeah, warning shots, which would be what it was. If I was trying to shoot a bear that was charging me at 20 or 30 yards,

I'm giving them warning shots because I'm probably going to miss. I've always been like-minded with you. Just don't even start until they're close. That way you have more time to read the situation. Not that I'm opposed to shooting these things because I'm really not. But at the same time, I'm just as happy if I don't have to. So...

I don't know. A lot of people might, might disagree. Um, I disagree with myself sometimes on it. Like some of these things need to start dying, especially the problem ones, but honestly in the situation this year, not with that particular one, but with the one that charged us, um, it was just doing what, what bears do. Um, thankfully didn't make contact, uh,

So that's about the best scenario. We don't get chewed on and the bear's not dead. It's crazy that the bear's behavior, like you guys, the kid was coming towards you, cracked off a shot, and then he just kind of went back to feeding you.

What's going through that bear's mind? It's like, hey, what the heck are these things standing here? I guess they're no bother. I guess I'll just go back. I don't know. That's so weird. We ran into that particular bear the following evening as well. And that time you did bluff charges a little bit. But honestly, right before that, we were talking to a backpacker that was coming.

That was coming out and he had a can of bear spray on his back and not in a easily accessible area, which happens a lot with people around here. They just don't know how fast you need to get something into action and that you should practice doing that.

But we were talking to him for a while. He told us what he, you know, what he had seen up there. He saw some bear tracks up high and some mountain lion tracks. And we had told him, like, just back behind you a couple hundred yards, you know, the day before was a big grizzly. We had that encounter with. And he's like, oh, that would have been cool to see.

So after he left, we went 200 yards up the trail and there was a branch broken off of one of these trees. And the bears do that at times to get to some of the pine cones. They can reach a branch and they'll pull it down. So I saw the branch laying there and I said, oh, look, the bear's been here breaking branches. Then I'm like, holy crap, he's right there. And he was. He was right in the trees and he was less than 30 yards off the trail that that kid walked by.

The kid had no idea the bear was there. And I might not have either if I hadn't joked about that branch. But it just seems like in that one's case, he was perfectly content to let people go back and forth and go buy them. But

So we stopped the day before and he didn't like it much, came towards us, but he wasn't really aggressive. And, but that night he didn't like us standing there talking. And, uh, so he bluff charged us then, um, then what,

just back to doing his stuff. I filmed him, you know, just grubbing around and eating and digging. We went on our way and came back. So on the way back, I told my buddy, I said, well, you're in charge of this one because if he charges us, I'm going to film you shooting him, you know. So I was walking along with my phone up, videotaping the whole walk back by there, but we didn't see him. Oh, man. Thank God. Yeah. Yeah.

Uh, so tell us, tell us how it all went down with, uh, um, so you guys, you, you killed this bull. You were tracking it. You found it. You were. Oh yeah. Okay. So tell us how that all played out. I, uh,

I already told you that I, you know, snuck in close to the bugle and that one came up the hill right to me. And I had a narrow hole to shoot through the trees. It was like 30 yards. I shot him and just briefly saw it when he spun. But my impression was, oh, I hit him back. And it was...

Like seven in the evening or close to there, half hour before dark. I'm like, I'm not comfortable following this up today. I know it's a chance, but I'll wait until tomorrow. So.

I got a couple of buddies, had a friend there from Oklahoma that was hunting the same unit, got a hold of him and he said he'd be there in the morning. And my other buddy came from halfway across the state to get there in time. And so the three of us went up there to track this bear in the morning.

We get in there and the one from Oklahoma, he doesn't have bear spray. He wouldn't carry bear spray or a pistol. It's just his own hunting philosophy. Like if he gets taken out, he gets taken out. It's his time. Yeah. But.

Man, when you're trailing these things, I mean, we've had them find us and the elk in a half hour's time before. Sometimes it might take them two days to get on the elk or it might take four hours, but it's happened quick before. So my buddy Randy and I were ready.

And so we had our 10 millimeters, 15 shots each. We get in there, I show them where it all went down, and then we get on this bull's trail. Oh, and down the hill where he came from the night before, I had a trail camera set up over a wallow, just to see what might be around in there.

So when I shot this thing, I'm like, man, with any luck, he ran down there past that camera and I'll be able to see where I did hit him. So we get on this trail and the blood trail is really good. So I'm starting to doubt like, man, did I hit him back or not? And we get down out of the thick trees into this clearing where the wallows are. Blood trail is still good, but he hooks up a little bit and he was too far away from the trail camera to pick it up.

Anyway, we're just turning the corner, starting to go into this thick patch of trees. Well, it's not just a patch. It's dense forest, really good bedding area for elk. So we were just getting ready to enter into there. And I was like, I don't know, six yards, six or eight yards to the right of Randy and Eddie. Eddie's the one without a pistol or spray. And all of a sudden I hear a crack.

And I look up, didn't see anything right away. But Eddie said, there it is. Oh, it's coming. You know, he didn't say it was a bear. He just, you know, surprised. Oh, it's coming. And he ducked back behind Randy and

And that's where the bear charged first was at him. And Randy says he was just thinking, oh, man, why is he charging Ron instead of me? Get him. Yeah, that's the first thing through his mind, I guess. That's a real friend. Yeah, real friend. So anyway, we both had pistols out really quick. And like I say, we're just pointing them, though, not aiming, which wasn't good.

wasn't the best deal so anyway this bear randy must have seen that it was slowing down or it turns it turned its attention over towards me because you know we're we were yelling we can't even remember what all we yelled um i remember when it charged the second time what i said but um

Anyway, so the bear comes really close to him, you know, five, six yards, turns and runs back to where it came from, which like we could see 30 yards ahead of us, maybe that far. And then...

At that point, you know, I saw where it ran to, and then I saw cubs. Didn't know how many, but they were big. So then I know it's a she. Well, she charges again. This time she does come at me. And I had a few choice words to say to her, and I think that's why she stopped. She didn't like that language. Yeah, she might be opposed to some foul language.

Anyway, along the lines, I will blank and shoot you, you know. And anyway, she stopped really close. My finger was I was squeezing, not not shooting yet, but like all the slack was taken up and just it wouldn't have taken, you know, another half a yard or something. And I was going to start shooting. But she she broke off. She never took her eyes off me.

Until she turned and went back. Like she wasn't distracted by anything else, but she did turn back, which was good. So, um,

backed up a few steps and Randy and Eddie backed up. And then they're like, let's, let's get back out of here. And I'm like, well, I need to get my bow, which those two steps that I backed up, my bows laying up in front of me. So I did go get my bow and we backed up and it, man, it was around that time. I was, I remembered, Holy crap. We're,

We're like out in front of this trail camera. Maybe we got some pictures of all this stuff happening. We did get a...

Anyway, we backed out of there. It took a little while. We got things, our pistols holstered up and we're talking and then just finally left. Like we were a hundred percent sure that that bear was on my elk because it's right where the trail was going. So, and there's nowhere, like we couldn't climb up anywhere, climb a tree. You couldn't see where it was. Really thick. There's nowhere to get a good look, but pretty confident, especially,

with a little experience with these stupid bears of,

She was protecting a food source is what I figured because we were talking while we were trailing. So she knew we were there for a while before she charged. We just ended up getting too close to what she was protecting. Anyway, it turns out the trail camera got a little bit of the action. You can never see the bear, but you can see one picture has Randy and Eddie trailing.

on it. The next picture has Eddie kind of behind Randy and me up to the right, crouched down, ready to shoot. And then from there on, it was just us backing out of there and BS and then finally leaving. I did grab the camera when we left just so I could check, check everything. But so yeah,

after that all happened, we waited, I think it was like five days or so. We got dumped on with a bunch of snow. And then, uh, me and Randy and, uh,

friend uh adam and mary miles adam was out hunting uh mary came with us and she's a good pistol shot she's really quick on the draw too so she came with us and we had a shotgun to go in there to just to try to recover the antlers and they were right there right where we figured they would be um and luckily we got out of there just ton of bear sign um they dug up

you know, probably a 20 foot wide by 40 foot long area where the, you know, the dead elk was. And they just had everything torn up and there was nothing left of the elk except the head and the antlers, the hide and the lower legs. That was it. They even, the bears even skinned his face and ate all the meat off the face.

Yeah, it was pretty wild. They were hungry. Yeah, got that all cut off with my buddy standing guard, and we got out of there, thankfully, with the rack. But yeah, no meat. And in all honesty, even if we would have pressed the issue and gone in there and maybe gotten in a gunfight with a bear, yeah.

chances are the elk would have been ruined by then anyway. So we would have exposed ourselves to a lot more danger, maybe legal troubles, um, and probably still wouldn't have gotten any of the elk anyway. So I've heard once they, once they start, um, chewing on it, um,

the game and fish people says you don't want any, you don't want any part of it. Yeah. So yeah, probably introduce a lot of bacteria to the meat. Yeah. I think they do. Plus bears, they like to scrape up a lot of pine needles and dirt and cover it up and they make a mess. Yep. They, they do like to, uh,

And it's amazing if you have a bull die kind of in a grassy area, they make it look manicured because they sweep up all the pine needles, pine cones, branches, whatever might be there, and they pile it over the carcass.

The best one of those was a few years back. Buddy Jason Stafford killed a bull, and we got it all taken apart, moved the quarters away from the carcass, and came in there like eight people the next day to pack it out. And that bear...

Had completely buried the carcass. It did go down and it grabbed one of the quarters and the game bag brought it back. It was under the pile and he went around and he picked up all the lower legs and he put those in the pile with everything else too. Really? Yeah. So weird. That place looked like it was a manicured lawn. He just, he swept it up so nice. It was unbelievable. Like he had a weed whacker and a rake in there. Yeah. Yeah.

It was pretty interesting. In your opinion, how far is far enough-ish to get your quarters away from the carcass? I like to say at least 100 yards, but

I want to be where I can see the carcass. Like I want to, I want to be able to see the quarters and see the carcass if possible. Um, if I, if I can't, then I try to move the quarters, um, farther away, which is what we did last year with my bull. Um, Adam and Mary had come up. Um, I texted them and they came out of where they were at and, um,

help me go in there and get my bull cut up. And we packed those quarters since it was in that same really dense bedding area. We packed them about 350, 400 yards away. Like we made two trips that day instead of making one trip and then coming back the next day and getting in there at all close to where the carcass was.

So it just depends. I like it best if I can go in there and if I can see all these nice white bags, count them up, make sure everything's there, see if anything's on the carcass, see if it's been buried or not. That's what we prefer, just a little sense of comfort. If you can actually see where a bear might be, not to say they can't be anywhere around there, but...

Being able to see all your bags of meat lined up on top of a log in a tree or whatever you do with them is the best thing when you're coming back for them. Because that's where I think either trailing an elk or coming back for meat is where I think the most danger lies. Yeah. Yeah, you always hear that.

folks who have a negative encounter it's oftentimes after they've they've killed a bull um got stuff in a tree maybe pack one load out and then they go back and then that's when when uh the tragedy strikes yep the old bear that's why it's important to move it yeah a few years ago well it was the first time i hunted wyoming in the part that has grizzlies um

And a buddy of mine, there were three of us, plus a camera guy. And one of my buddies killed this bull. And it was right at the edge of this timber, but then like kind of a nice little hillside with an open meadow. You could actually see from the highway. You could see it several hundred yards away from the highway.

So after we broke this bull down, got our packs loaded, we were in one trip, this thing out that way we don't have to go back in. Cause it's notorious for a grizzly. Right. And I said, Hey, you know what? Cause there were bulls bugling in there still. So that's a good spot. We'd like to come back and hunt again.

But if there's grizzlies in here, we don't want to. So I'm like, you know what? Let's drag that carcass out into this open meadow on this hillside. And then we can glass it up from a long distance and see if anything's been on it. So, oh yeah, that's a good idea. So we do this. And a couple of days later, it's like, well, you know, maybe we'd like to go back in there. So we get out, pull over on the highway and we start glassing and immediately we

And so I don't know why, but I'm the first one who got my binoculars out. They're readily available. I'm like, huh? Yeah, the carcass is gone. So I'm looking. I'm like, huh? You'd think it'd just be obviously right there. And I focus, focus into the timber. And in the timber, I'm like, oh, there it is. I can see the rib cage. And then I focus a little, like, look a little harder. It's like, there's a freaking grizzly standing over the rib cage.

And it's this great big sucker. And I'm like, holy cow. Camera guys are scrambling, you know, for their long lenses. And my buddies are getting their stuff out. And I'm like, oh, there's another one. And here comes another grizzly. He walks out right out in front in that little meadow. And I'm like, holy cow, there's another one there. You know, he's walking out there and he's kind of paces back and forth.

camera guys you know of course they're just like man where's my big lens this and where's my big lens that and all of a sudden that big bear charges out and they start fighting and i'm just like oh god they're fighting now then they're really scrambling like oh they can't really get their cameras together quick enough but anyway so they're fighting and

And then all of a sudden I can hear the sound. And the first thing that came to mind was, huh, there's somebody riding dirt bikes, like four stroke dirt bikes up, up in there. It's like, and I'm like, I'm like kind of come to like, my sense is like, that's the bears. You could hear those things roaring from that distance. It was a few hundred yards away and you could hear them. It was that loud, which I was just blew me away.

And those things fought and they were just rolling around fighting. And then all of a sudden they just stopped. They froze like they had each other in a good bear hold bite, a bite or something. They just froze. And then they separated and the smaller one ran off.

And the big one, he kind of sauntered right back up to the carcass and the smaller one we could watch him. Cause this big hillside, you can just, it was just laid out perfectly like a, like a movie screen. Right. And he kind of walked down a big pile of brush and walked around the corner on the side. And he went over there and he just plopped down on his butt and put kind of hung his head. Like the pat, like it was pouting. Like, man, I just got my ass kicked. I can't believe I really wanted some of that elk. Yeah.

So as we're watching this, I'm like, man, that's cool. And this crazy watching that. And then all of a sudden another bear comes up out of the draw to the willows. So this is bear number three walks up there and he kind of paces back and forth a little bit. And then he, he, he don't want none of that big bear. So he kind of waters off. And then,

A little bit later, another one comes up. We sit there for two hours and five different bears. They come out from different places. You know, it's not the same ones because they come out and disappear and go a different direction. So I know they weren't the same bears, but five different bears came out. And the last bear that came out, it was getting pretty dark. But the last bear that came out, those those two disappeared.

uh, fought again. Like it was a, you know, there was another fight and they got kind of got up into the timber there and we're fighting around. So you couldn't really see him good. It was a little bit too dark, but I was like, I've at that point in my life, I'd never seen a grizzly bear.

And all of a sudden I saw five in one night, in one setting. And we look at each other and I'm like, yeah, we're not hunting there tomorrow. We're not going back, right? And my one buddy's like, yeah, but now we know where all the bears are. We just have to make a big circle around them and get back in there. I'm like, yeah, no. What about the other ones that haven't made it there yet? I'm like, I'm good. I think we need to find a different spot. Yeah.

We've all seen plenty of gadgets and fads come and go, but here's one product that stood the test of time: Seafoam Motor Treatment. Lots of hunters and anglers know that Seafoam helps engines run better and last longer.

It's really simple. When you pour it in your gas tank, sea foam cleans harmful fuel deposits that cause engine problems. I'm talking common stuff like hard starts, rough engine performance, or lost fuel economy. Sea foam is an easy way to prevent or overcome these problems. Just pour a can in your gas tank and let it clean your fuel system. You probably know someone who has used a can of sea foam to get their truck or boat going again. People everywhere rely on sea foam to keep their trucks, boats, and small engines running the way that they should the entire season.

Help your engine run better and last longer. Pick up a can of Seafoam today at your local auto parts store or visit seafoamworks.com to learn more.

The only thing better than a successful hunt is celebrating your feet during the after-the-hunt moment. With a smooth taste made to be enjoyed on the rocks or with your favorite mixer, Pendle and Whiskey is perfect for winding down around the fire or putting your feet up after cleaning your game. If you're looking for the perfect drink to celebrate after a great day hunting,

Make it Pendleton whiskey, the official whiskey of the after the hunt moment. It's not just poured, it's earned. Pendleton Distillers, Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Please drink responsibly. Pendleton is a registered trademark of Pendleton Woolen Mills. You ever get that feeling you're stuck inside staring at screens and a primal urge kicks in? You crave wide open spaces, fresh air, the chance to connect with the land.

Well, maybe it's time to find your own piece of the wild. But searching for property can be a maze. That's where Land.com comes in. They got millions of listings across the country, from mountain ranches to hidden fishing holes. Their search tools are like a seasoned guide helping you narrow down what you want. Land.com isn't just about buying and selling.

It's about finding a place to hunt, fish, explore, or simply sit by a campfire and listen to the crickets. So head over to land.com today to turn one day into today. Because trust me, there's nothing quite like the feeling of standing on your own piece of earth. That's pretty interesting. You mentioned that, you know, what sounded to you like a dirt bike or something. So when we were getting close, we were still out in that clearing, tracking my bull, and

And Randy put his hand out like, quiet. We listened for a little bit. I didn't hear anything. He's like, oh, it must have been a four-wheeler or something.

He heard it, and it was, I'm sure it was the bear's low growl. Or, you know, maybe they were squabbling over the meat, her and her three cubs. But anyway, he had heard that. You know, at first he just blew it off, and Eddie and I didn't hear it. But, you know, Randy just blew it off. Yeah, it must have been a four-wheeler in the distance or something. But I'm sure it was a growl from over where we got charged from. Yeah.

But yeah, if you could have heard that, you know, those ones fighting from that far away, it'd be pretty cool to listen to it up close. Yeah. I just, I wish those camera guys would have, you know, I wish we'd have been ready. You know, we had no idea we were going to see that, but dang, if they'd had their long lenses to capture the bear fights and stuff, that would have been so cool. I took videos. In fact, it was, it was before the,

I shot my elk. I was up hunting a different area, probably a mile and a half, two miles away. And I was up on this knob. And I watched the bull feed down this drainage, push a cow down into some trees. And I was thinking about going after him, got all my gear on and started down this ridge. And then I'm like, well, crap, there's four bears. And it was the same sow with three cubs. Saw her a few times. And

I got to watch and video a couple of those cubs, just my cell phone. It's probably 200 yards away, but they play fought for probably 15 minutes. I got to listen to him, watch him. Yeah, it was pretty neat. The third one came out and just kind of ignored them, and the mom spent most of her time in the trees. Yeah.

I ran into a sow and two cubs there one morning in the dark when I was going around trying to hunt this one drainage in there. And I knew there's probably bears around. And I walked into them 40 yards in my headlamp. I'm like, well, crap. Pistol was out and I'm

I was pretty well ready, and I started talking to her, playing with my headlamp, put it on strobe, and just whatever I could do to make them go away. The sow went away, but her two cubs were up a tree.

you know, probably messing around, getting the pine cones, you know, grizzlies can climb it, especially if they have branches and stuff. So, but I didn't know they were in a tree until the mom walked off. And I'm like, Oh crap, I think I'll go the other way. So I made a bigger loop and went and didn't kill a bull that morning, but coming back through, it was like, God dang it. I know I'm going to run into them again in the daylight. And I did about 60 yards. They didn't see me at all. And I was able to circle down and around them, but yeah,

Yeah, the joys of hunting grizzly country. What do you think are the chances of those larger type cubs getting involved in a charge or an attack? Do they usually do that, or are they kind of pretty timid still? I don't really know. I'm very curious about that myself. So I got to, you know...

Post incident analyzing things, you know, and that bear charged us. Why didn't, why didn't we shoot? Cause I mean, it was plenty close. We'd have been fine in that situation doing that, but.

Part of me thinks after the fact, I wonder, you know, if we just didn't like one shot killer outright, I'm sure she'd have been growling, snarling, whatever, maybe chewing on us. And I wonder if that wouldn't have spurred those cubs to do the same, you know, wouldn't have brought them out. And then, you know, we're trying to shoot out with a, with four bears instead of one. So I don't know the answer, but I think, um,

If we would have shot that sow and she would have gone to snarling, growling, whatever, I really think it might have brought them out to do the same thing. Yeah, they would have came to her aid because, like you said, they were pretty big. They weren't like little guys. Yeah, and they were only 25, 30 yards away, so it wouldn't have taken them much to get there. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and even a bear that size has a lot of power.

Yeah, they were big cubs. Like, I'm sure she'll kick them off this next spring. But, you know, and she's got, we have three new grizzlies out there that know, oh, we don't have to fear humans. We just go do what we want. So they keep, for whatever reason, up in this area, there's at least two sows that are having triplets, you know, every two, three years. However often they pump them out, they have triplets almost every year. Wow.

Wow. Well, what, uh, what kind of advice do you have for our listeners if they're going to go hunt grizzly bear country? Um, it sounds like you've dealt with bears for a long time. What kind of advice do you got for them? Uh,

First off, they need to be honest. Yeah, need to be honest with themselves. Can they or can't they do it comfortably? Some people think they can and they come here and, you know, like the situation you were in, you saw those five bears. There's times that just overwhelms people and they'll just pack up and go home. So it just has to do with readiness and you can be the most

cocky person on earth oh i just go in there i'd shoot them all or whatever yeah sometimes it really doesn't work like that um they may have more of an effect on you than you might imagine i guess is what i would say to a lot of people and that's just that's not just trying to keep them out of my area which would be awesome too but um it's just not for everybody

Um, seeing them as seeing them, one thing is one thing, especially at a distance. Oh, that's cool. You know, um, seeing them up and close does something a little bit different to you and then having encounters, um,

I don't know. I guess you get to see what you're made of. And some people have a flight reflex. Some people have fight or whatever. Um, the group of people that I share camp with, not every year, just, you know, whoever draws tags, um, we kind of hunt together or follow up, you know, things together, even if we camp separate, um,

None of them have that flight reflex. Like everybody's there. Everybody's ready. We're all experienced with it. And the biggest thing, if somebody does come hunt grizzly country, the biggest piece of advice I think is whether you carry a gun or spray,

Practice with it. Be very comfortable with it. That's where your hand goes naturally. And don't waste time. Like if you see or hear something, you don't quite know what it is.

is start reaching for your spray or your pistol at that time while you're trying to figure out what it is that you saw or heard because that could make the difference yeah you were telling me about a friend fast you're telling me about a friend of yours that had an encounter can you can you tell that story real quick um it just happened like just a few days ago i haven't

talk to them. I just saw a Facebook post about it, but this son and dad were hunting together. I don't know if they shot an elk and were following it up or if they'd just gone into the trees after some elk, but the son heard what he was pretty sure wasn't elk. And he pulled his pistol, which happens to be a 10 millimeter and he,

What he heard was a grizzly bear and the grizzly charged at him, not his dad. And he was able to, he shot.

15 times or however many he hit the bear, like four times it turned and it sounded like he hit it twice more. So that's pretty, pretty good. Um, he did the moment, you know, if you could hit one four or six times out of 15 shots or even get all 15 shots off at close quarters, you know, that's pretty good. Um, and then I also read that the dad, um,

either didn't get his rifle off his shoulder or he did, but the, he couldn't get the safety to work, you know, Jack in a shell gets safety off in time to help out. So yeah, it happened fast. And this kid was on his toes and, uh,

He just maybe had that instinct like, hey, I don't think that's elk. And he, without even seeing the bear, he got his pistol out. So he was kind of ready when it happened. And that's just what you have to do.

You know, had Randy been sure, like, hey, I think that was a growl I heard when we were tracking my bull, we would have had him out right then and been ready. But as it was, we didn't get him out until she was already charging. Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome information and scary, too. Well, man, thanks for coming on the podcast today. Where can people find you if they want to look you up on social?

Just my name, Ron Niziolek on Instagram and Facebook. Yeah, sounds good. Well, I appreciate you coming on. Good catching up with you. Hopefully we will. Yeah, it's good to catch up. It won't be so long until we catch up again. I haven't talked to you for a while. All right. Sounds good. All right. Well, thanks. Thanks, Dirk.

Outdoor adventure won't wait for engine problems. Things like hard starts, rough performance, and lost fuel economy are often caused by fuel gum and varnish buildup. Seafoam can help your engine run better and last longer. Simply pour a can in your gas tank. Hunters and anglers rely on seafoam to keep their engines running the way it should the entire season. Pick up a can of seafoam today at your local auto parts store or visit seafoamworks.com to learn more.

The only thing better than a successful hunt is celebrating your feet during the after-the-hunt moment. With a smooth taste made to be enjoyed on the rocks or with your favorite mixer, Pendleton Whiskey is perfect for winding down around the fire or putting your feet up after cleaning your game. If you're looking for the perfect drink to celebrate after a great day hunting,

I'm sure a lot of you guys remember the old ceremonial hunting tradition of eating the heart.

out of the first animal you kill. Meat from those organs are among the most nutrient-rich foods on the planet. You can get those same benefits your ancestors craved via convenient daily capsules from Heart and Soil. Find out more at heartandsoil.co. And remember, use code MEATEATER for 10% off your purchase.