We had been hearing stories about the elk hunting in Bear Valley around Blue Bunch Mountain so this year we decided to try it. The party consisted of Harry, Bud, Uncle Charlie, Tex, Uncle Lewie, and me. This seems like a large group for a hunting trip, but we let anyone come along that wants to be a part of it. Bud and Uncle Charlie were in there hunting once before and knew about where the area was and how to get there. Everything was loaded into three trucks. Bud pulled the trailer house with his truck; Uncle Charlie brought his camper to sleep. Uncle Lewie brought his truck and camper, so he would have plenty of room to sleep and it had a furnace to keep him warm.
We all stayed. Close together on the way to Bear Valley. If someone had truck Problems we would nearby to help. Since we had so far to go, we did not bother with taking any horses or motorcycles, there was enough of a load without them along. There was no problem with the trucks on the way in and we followed the map to where we wanted to Camp. A large grove fir and pine trees served as a place to snuggle the trailer house up to. It would be out of the wind, and we would tie tarps on some strong poles were cut for sides and the top to stretch the plastic around and over. The nights and early mornings would be cold trying to fix meals in the open air. At that altitude we could have a snowstorm at any time. Soon the camp was ready to be our home for a week. A couple of trees were sawed down near the camp for firewood. We would burn quite a bit, in a weeks’ time, Uncle Charlie had to have his big fire going all the time.
Now that everything was set up, we wanted to take a short scouting walk to get some exercise and see if there were any elk around. The camp was within walking distance of Blue Bunch Mountain, more like a tall tree covered knob with lots of brush and aspen groves. We would use this hill as a landmark so we could keep track of where camp was Located. There were plenty of fresh tracks around, so we were hopeful for a good hunt. There were large meadows and creeks surrounding the mountain where deer and elk feed at night in the moonlight. We found places where they would sometimes bed down in the tall grass instead of going to the deep timber. This was a beautiful place to spend a week of vacation time. The first night, we cooked hamburgers and pan-fried potatoes with a couple cans of vegetables. With this many hunters in camp, we try to plan our meals in a menu form. Most of the time that does not work because Somone would suggest of what to fix and the menu plan was out the door. We brought packages of elk steak from last year’s hunt, for several meals. Elk steak and fried potatoes with mushroom gravy taste good after a hard day hunting. We bring fruit to have for dessert along with plenty of milk and cookies. We must have cookies and milk right before turning in at night, it does not do much to help going to sleep but it tastes Good.
The first few days went walking up Blue Bunch Mountain, checking the places to hide some elk. They had been in there early in the fall but seemed to have moved out for now. It was a wonderful place to hunt, the aspen trees were as colorful as they could get in the fall. The leaves on the brush were starting to fall exposing the elk’s hiding places.
One morning, Uncle Charlie and Harry were hunting together and had strayed away from the rest of us to check out some brushy side hills. About noon they caught up with the rest of us, with a wild story to tell. As they were wild eyed and still shaking, they must have seen something to give them a start. They were going through a thick patch of huckleberry bushes when an old black bear went down the hill in front of them. All they saw was the animal running from them. They surmised the bear was Long gone as they normally do when disturbed. They were pondering on which way to go, when behind them came a loud growl. As they turned to look, a large male black bear stood up on his hind legs and challenged them for the rights to the berry patch. He was shiny black with a white front meaning he was an old male of many years. He had quietly circled around behind them to get the advantage of surprise if he decided to attack. Well now, Harry and Uncle Charlie gave him all the rights he wanted, even the rights to the mountain if he wanted it. The bear was not aggressive and went back to eating berries. No one saw the bear again, but we knew he was always around somewhere watching us all the time.
One day we all piled into one of the trucks for a little road hunting and sightseeing trip. We really did not know much about that Country anyway. We checked out most of the roads and drove through some of the meadows. There just did not seem to be much game around at all. We had put in stuff to fix lunch with and planned to be out most of the day. Finally, with evening coming on, we headed back to camp to fix supper and play a few games of Pinochle before turning in for the night. We decided to keep hunting around camp for a few more days. Harry and Bud produced the wise idea of finding some grouse for a meal for a change of diet. Meanwhile, the rest of us would spend the afternoon playing cards, while they were gone. Now Harry and Bud are great ones for playing practical jokes whenever they could. They came up on the blind side of camp so we would not know they were back. Harry threw a rock at the plastic lean-to, while Bud shot his pistol in the air. They timed it perfectly, so the rock hit just as the pistol went off. We hit the floor in one quick move. We did not know what was going on. There was no more shooting, so we gathered ourselves up and tore out the door to find the two of them laying on the ground laughing their fool heads off. We called them everything but gentlemen because we really thought they had shot at the camp. We survived the scare, but I took a while to settle back down to finish the card game. They never found any grouse for supper. Of course, there was plenty of meat and potatoes for dinner anyway. We still gave them a tough time about being Such poor hunters.
We hunted, Camped, and enjoyed the rest of the trip for the next few days then packed up for the journey home. All We had to show for trip was fond memories of another safe trip. We will find someplace else to go next year.