What an exciting time of year! Fall is finally upon us. Hopefully, you’ve got some sweet tags in your pocket and are hitting the hills sooner than later. I’m currently packing for a backcountry archery elk hunt. I cannot wait! September is a special month to be in the mountains. Aside from that, I just wanted to reach out and let you all know that Season 2 of Dialed in Diaries is in FULL SWING over on my Youtube Channel.
I was probably about 12 years old or so. My Dad and I were getting ready to go on a deer hunt here in Arizona and were sitting in the parking lot of the rifle range until it opened. Not too long before that he bought me my first rifle. A 30-30 lever action. On top was a rifle scope I can’t even recall. That was ok though, because we were going hunting. I just had to get this thing sighted in. What I thought would be a quick process ended up not being quick at all and I even got “scoped” in the process. It was that damn scope. Hard to look through, hard to find the right eye relief, and wasn’t “easy on the eye.” Fast forward 20+ years and things are different. Much different. The new Vortex Razor LHT 4.5-22×50 is on another planet when compared to that first nameless scope. I had a chance to test this beast of a scope recently and have some thoughts. Let’s take a closer look at this new Razor LHT from Vortex.
Last year I started a video series on my Youtube Channel called Dialed in Diaries. It was basically a diary in video form that documented all of my hunting adventures. I wanted it to be real and raw, but with a tasteful and polished feel. From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows it’s all there. That series was started in the middle of last year and the response I’ve gotten has been warming. Thank you all that took the time to watch it. 2021 is a new year and will bring new episodes of the series.
There is nothing quite like spring bear season. The mountains are coming alive with green grass, flowing water, and of course black bears roaming their hillsides. Weather is usually pretty dang nice too with an occasional storm passing through. All in all, it’s an epic time of year to be out, and one of my absolute favorites. I’ve been out quite a bit living in the dirt the past few months in search of spring bears having a blast along the way. In light of that, I thought it’d be cool to run through my backcountry hunting system I’m using for these trips. In the past few months I’ve hunted AZ twice and Idaho once. Both states were backpack hunts and both gear lists are almost identical.
Watch down below as I literally pull everything out of my backpack on a backcountry hunting trips for spring bear in Arizona. I show you what I’m carrying, why I’m carrying it, and also go through why I’m putting it where I am in my backpack.
If you haven’t already, please subscribe to both the Youtube Channel and blog to stay up to date with future posts and videos. As always, thanks so much for watching, and look forward to more videos and articles in the future. Until then though, I’ve got some more spring bear hunting to do here in my home state of Arizona. Just a few weeks ago, I helped my buddy Eric kill his first bear ever here and I ended up seeing the biggest bear I’ve ever seen. My dream bear. Now, it’s my turn and I can’t wait to head back out with my bow in search of him. Good luck out there in bear country!
If you have any questions regarding the gear or spring bear hunting in general, feel free to send me an email. I’m always happy to chat with likeminded folks.
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Alright! As you saw in the first episode of Dialed in Diaries, spring bear was a ride on the struggle bus. While I did have an opportunity to shoot a small bear that came in to a call, it just didn’t feel right, so I let him walk and enjoy the rest of his spring. Maybe next year he’ll be ready. So, I left spring bear hunting without taking home a bear. This was a bummer, but also it excited me. Fall would be here in no time.
Fall bear camp has really become more about hanging out with buddies for me. It’s a time when we all break away from our busy lives at home, kick back, and try to do a bit of hunting. We don’t get to hang out nearly as much as we’d all like, so we cherish these times. Along with that mushy stuff, Fall bear is really where I learned how to bear hunt. It’s where I spent the majority of my time in my early years of hunting bruins. So, for me it’s a huge wave of nostalgia between buddies and Fall bear.
The first part of this trip was tough. Food for the bears was hard to locate as was water. We’re going through a severe drought here in Arizona. In all honesty, the bears were slim pickings when compared to years past. These were areas where I’d seen in upwards of 10 bears a day. Now, we were lucky if we’d see one. Which is exactly what happened during our trip. I saw one bear for all of about 2 seconds and a friend saw one the day before the opener at last light. That’s it.
After spending time with friends for 4 days, I was left to hunt alone the last day. It came down to the last evening of the last day for me. Check out episode 3 of Dialed in Diaries below to see how this all shook out!
The above episode concludes Chapter 1 of the series and I hope you all enjoyed it! Chapter 2 will be released on Monday December 7th over on my Youtube Channel. This will kick off my Colorado high country mule deer hunt. It was a grind in some gnarly country! Keep your eyes out for that one and thanks so much for all of the positive feedback you’ve given me. These episodes have been a pleasure to put together and I can’t wait to keep sharing the season with you as it progresses.
For the past 6 months or so, I’ve been working on a new video series. I wanted to create something that documented my hunting season beyond just vlogging. Something more is what I was looking for. A series that explored my season past that of just the hunting part. As a writer, I thought there was no better way to do this than through a diary in film format, hence the name Dialed in Diaries.
My hunting seasons will be split up into chapters, with each chapter representing a different hunt. Within each on of those chapters, there will be episodes that take one along my journey. The number of episodes will vary from hunt to hunt.
In this first chapter, “Bear,” there are 2 episodes. One that walks through my Spring bear season with the next following up with Fall bear here in Arizona. It was a doozy and a hunt I won’t soon forget.
Thanks so much for checking this out and I really hope you enjoyed it. I sure enjoy putting them together. If you did like the video, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube Channel and blog to stay up to date with future posts! Episode 2 we be published November 15th 2020. Stay tuned!
This year(2020) I was fortunate enough to draw a spring bear tag right here in Arizona. That hunt has long passed and spring bear is now but a memory. During the hunt though, I placed a few trail cameras out. I never did get a chance to check those bad boys during the heat of the season. There was actually a National Forest closure, due to fire danger. It was a bummer to say the least, but I get it. Now, that we are out of those weeds, I decided to go and do a trail camera pull! I was so pumped to see what was lurking around the area while I was gone.
On my way into check these cameras, I kept finding piles of bear scat. These certainly weren’t here when I was actually hunting earlier in the year. I just knew that I was going to have bears on camera, and turned out I was right. Every camera I had out had bears hitting the water there. Some really cool ones too. There was a blonde bear that I had a close call on while hunting that showed up, a mean looking solid boar, and quite a few other ones as well with some cool colors. It’s always fun getting bears on camera!
Another thing was the lions! I had a lion or lions on each camera as well. In fact, I had 3 lions in one picture! I’ve never caught that before and my jaw dropped when I saw it on the screen.
You’ll notice in the video below that there’s a bear named “Latch Breaker.” Upon my arrival at one of the cameras, I noticed that the latch was open. Well, I thought it was open. Turned out, it was actually broken. The bear snapped it right off. These bears are always so curious, which is why normally my cameras are in lockboxes. This one wasn’t and suffered the consequences!
Another funny thing that happened was the loss of my bungee cord. If you remember in a video that I did earlier in the season, one of these cameras was held up by rope and a bungee cord. Well, when I got there a few weeks ago, the bungee cord was missing! I looked all over that little drainage and couldn’t turn it up. Bear must have gotten a present for itself, haha!
On a side note, I’ve been super happy with these Stealth Cams that I recently picked up. They’re affordable, super easy to use, and take good pictures.
If you enjoyed the video, be sure to SUBSCRIBE to the YouTube channel and blog to stay up to date with future content! Going through these photos, I absolutely cannot wait until next spring bear season. Until then though, I’ve got a late archery bull elk tag for November 2020. Be sure to keep your eyes out for content surrounding that. It’s going to be the first time my brother and I ever have elk tags together. For that, I am beyond excited!
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It’s trail camera day! A few episodes back I set a few trail cameras for my upcoming spring bear tag here in Arizona. These are set on secluded water sources that looked pretty “beary” to me. It’s been over a month since I’ve been there, so my brother and I were pretty stoked to drop down into this country and pull these cards.
My plan with this hunt is to check my trail cameras one more time before the opener. That will be about 2-3 days out from when I’m actually planning to hunt for a few days. If I’ve got bears hitting my cameras regularly, then I’ll backpack down into this area and sit the water. If they aren’t quite hitting the water yet, I’m going to backpack into a different area and put the glass to use for a spot and stalk hunt. Either way, I’m stoked to get out there! You’ll also see me pick out potential camp spots in the video below.
One of the things I’m most excited about with this particular area where my cameras are is that it’s where my spring bear hunting bug started. I knew next to nothing back then. At that point, I had never even seen a spring bear. This was the first spot I had ever hunted spring black bears in Arizona, and one that I’ve thought about since then. Returning is pretty nostalgic for me, which makes the trips all the more better. Harvesting a bear there would be nothing short of epic for me. Another thing I’m excited about is I don’t usually ambush hunt. Spot and stalk hunting is usually my main course of action. Sitting water like this and waiting brings a whole different level of adrenaline. When an animal comes into an area that doesn’t know you’re there, it’s a great way to get the blood pumping. Not to mention, if that animal is a black bear.
As always, if you like the video, I’d super appreciate if you hit the like button and SUBSCRIBE to the Youtube and blog to stay up to date with future posts. This whole video thing I’ve undertaken over the past 6 months has been a learning process for sure. I’ve been enjoying every second of sharing the adventure with you all though. Thanks for watching and until next time, stay safe out there.
Glassing has become such a huge part of my hunting, not just here in Arizona, but in the West as a whole. Sitting down behind a quality set of optics and watching animals act like animals from a distance is incredibly valuable to a hunter. It gives us the chance to really hone our stalking game and make a quality play at the critter. There’s some flat out big country out there though. Sometimes, so much that it’s intimidating to glass all together.
So, what do you do when there’s “too much” to look at? Down below, I break down my process for doing just that. Now, keep in mind, there is more than one way to skin a cat of course. These things are just what has worked for me personally behind the glass. If you’ve got some tips to add, feel free to drop them in the comments. I’d love to hear your thoughts. Until then though, I hope you enjoy the video!
As always, if you enjoyed the video, I’d super appreciate if you SUBSCRIBED to the Youtube and blog to stay up to date with future posts. Also, if you haven’t yet, check out my new book Becoming a Backpack Hunter. It’s a from start to finish beginner’s guide to backpack hunting, and I think you’ll really enjoy it.
We are right at the cusp of spring bear really getting good here in Arizona! I’m so pumped to get out there and put in the work. With any luck, I’ll be bringing an Arizona Spring Black Bear home with me!
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Here we are! Winter is finally starting to wave through the rear view mirror and spring is coming in hot. Turkeys are starting to gobble, vegetation is greening up and the bears are coming out to play. It truly is one of my favorite times of the year. In this episode, we continue with the spring bear hunting season 2020. My brother and I head up for a few days to try our hand at finding a lurking spring bear. We head into an area that we’ve never been before and experience all sorts of weather.
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