This is a good... yet bad for me.. one.
I was out hunting in this valley a few days ago, decided to explore, hiked up to the top of the ridge in the back and back down, out for hours, no bears. Coming back, I see a small black bear, less than 100 lbs about 20 feet in front of me. I yell at him to get out of the way, no move, yell again, he scampers off. Then 30 yards up, a large bear, good sized, 6'5" or so comes out on the snow next to this little ridge, I think, uh oh, momma's gonna be pissed.
Bear looks behind it's self... nothing comes, so she keeps walking across the snow, sees me and gets up in the alders on the other side of the little chute, no cub, no worries. Me: That's not momma!! So I put my scope on him to find that I can't really see that well. In Alaska this time of year, that means late, I look, 12:45AM, decide not to follow and it's time to call it a night. If I hadn't seen that first bear, it would have been a 30 yard shot at a black bear on white snow. I couldn't think of an easier shot. But better safe than sorry, there's plenty more out there.
