A Colorado Black Bear



The High and Lonesome


It was the last of August and the bears were feeding on everything they could find. I was nursing some kind of cold that I had picked up in Denver a couple of weeks earlier. It was the most terrible cough I had ever had. I had received several bear calls earlier that month that did not amount to much. All were trappable bears that the Parks and Wildlife helped with.

This was my fourth year in this county and dealing with black bear depredation. The upside was that I had the equipment and strategy down to an art dealing with the bruins.

Taking care of black bear depredation is not any different than dealing with coyote depredation. The difference is the equipment and, like coyote depredation, one has to have a strategy for every situation one might encounter with the bears. Most bear problems can be eliminated with a simple cage or culvert trap that is baited with a carcass or a formulated bear bait. If that does not work, there are snares, foot snares, dogs, shooting and shooting with night vision.

Misery is the only way to describe how I felt when I got the bear call. Between the coughing and slight fever, I figured the best way to handle this bear call was just to go up and get it out of the way as fast as possible. To do this though, meant that I had to use the night vision equipment. I loaded up the truck and put in some extra prescription cough syrup, along with a travel bag with anything else I might need for the night. I arrived a few hours later at the private ranch in an area called Bon Carbo.

The bear was killing the rancher’s llamas and had just killed one the night before. I don’t know why I bother to ask for a description of the bear because to this day, the description never matches the bear I end up killing.

I asked the rancher if he got a good look at the bear and how big he was. He said, “BIG, maybe 450 pounds.” He concluded by saying, “He knocks the llamas down like they’re rag dolls.” I kind of winced at the description because I have never seen a black bear that big in these mountains. And as far as the bears “knocking the llamas down,” I’ve found that llamas are not that tough when it comes to black bear, but that’s beside the point.

I told him I would be there for the night to hunt the bear. I noticed a Great Pyrenees in the corral with the other llamas and told the rancher to put the dog in the barn with the livestock for the night. Whether he heard me, I do not know. But this would almost cost me dearly later that night.

I found the half eaten llama that had been killed the night before. The smell of the bear was everywhere along with piles of bear scat. The carcass was just across a two-track road against a wall of oak brush with a trail running through it. On the other side it was about the same. There wasn’t a good place to take a stand because of the heavy cover. I would have to sit down across from the carcass and wriggle into a small window of brush. This would put me dangerously close to the bait - I figured the distance at 25 feet - and I would have to be in a sitting position to shoot.

The cold I had was getting worse. I was doubling up on the cough syrup. I know now this was not a good thing to do for this situation, but I was committed now and had to get through it. I decided to head back to the pickup to put on my camouflage and get the equipment I needed for the night hunt.

The rifle I relied on for hunting the bears with the night vision was a DSA, carbine length, .308 semi-auto. This rifle is better known as an FAL and gleaned the phrase – “The world’s battle rifle.” This semi-automatic holds 20 rounds of ammo in a clip. Why such an exotic weapon? Well, it’s simple. I needed multiple rails on the fore-arm to mount infra-red lights and lasers, as well as magnifiers for this type of night work. DSA Arms specializes in different variations of this rifle and sells full rails as well as top rails for the FAL. The .308 chambering is perfect for black bear with 150 grain soft point and with the extra rounds, and being a semi-auto, it adds a safety margin for quick follow up shots. I have used other rifles, as well as shot guns loaded with buck shot and slugs, but hands down for night work, the FAL is the one to have.



.500 Linebaugh - a good backup carry gun.



I used a standard, second generation, night vision headset with a rifle mounted infra-red laser that had a combination light with an infra-red removable lens. The light and laser were activated by a pressure switch, mounted in a convenient place on the forearm, simply activated with finger pressure. I also carried a Ruger Redhawk .500 Linebaugh in a shoulder holster in case something went bad. The rest of the equipment was a full set of camouflage, except for a pair of white tennis shoes which I’ll expand on later.

As I arrived at the dead llama I began to get set up for the night. I was able to squeeze under and into some oak brush. There was just enough room to manipulate the rifle and move around a little in this hole. As twilight began to set in, my cough became worse. I knew that if I could not control it, this hunt was over. As darkness began to envelope me, I pulled the night vision over my head and adjusted each eye piece for focus. I then charged the rifle, pressed the pressure switch and checked the laser and infra-red light and tried to get as comfortable as I could.

Staring through the night vision goggles into the eerie green incandescent world of the night, the dead llama looked dangerously close. I knew between this cold and all of the meds I had taken, that my judgement was somewhat impaired. I hoped I had not made a mistake.

More coughing, sweating now and shaking…I kept telling myself, “Keep focused, it will be over soon.” Then all Hell broke loose. Immediately to my left brush began breaking. And then came the angry growls and barking of a large dog. “WHAT?” I thought to myself. “Didn’t the rancher hear me? This Dog? How can this be happening?” The dog was no more than ten feet to my left and on the other side of some oakbrush and he was mad. I was scared to move because the dog might attack me. But, I also knew the bear must be close or the dog would not be on the offensive. Was I in between the bear and the dog? I hoped not. I moved slowly, scanning as not to alert the dog, looking for the bear. Nothing. The dog was acting more aggressively now and closer. I thought, “What a way to go – trying to hunt this bear, sick, and now I was going to get hammered by the guard dog.”

It was over as fast as it started. The dog moved off. I relaxed some and coughed as quiet as I could. Sweating, chilling and shaking, I began thinking, “Maybe I ought to pull out of there since the dog was running loose because he will probably keep the bear off of the kill.” And then I thought, “Maybe this dog is worthless, as the bear has been killing these llamas with the dog around.”

Just then I noticed my world was changing again. Everything was becoming real bright. I looked to the east and one of the biggest and brightest full moons I’d ever seen began to rise. As the moon rose, it began to affect the night vision. Out of the corner of my goggles, I could see my hand almost like it was daylight. I looked down my legs with the night vision and noticed my white tennis shoes were actually glowing like 2 size 12 neon signs. “Why did I wear these?” I thought to myself. "Full camo and white tennis shoes?! I must be sicker than I thought."

Then it happened. I looked up and this bear is walking towards me and the llama. With the moon behind the bear, the moonlight combined with the night vision made the bear look white and somewhat glowing. I remember thinking, “Now what? A friggin Polar Bear?” The bear milled around the dead carcass for just an instant. Then it did the worst thing a bear could do in my circumstances. It sat down right in front of the carcass, directly in front of me like a big dog. I was in a sitting position leaning against the brush with my .308 across my lap. With the moonlight on me and those white tennis shoes glowing, I felt like Big Bird sitting on a wire. The bear was looking directly at me and if I moved, I knew that I would get hammered. I thought, “Well, I could try to raise the rifle Wyatt Earp style, and try emptying the clip into the bear’s chest.” “No,no, no; just hold on,” I thought, “He’s got to move.” What seemed like an eternity, was probably only seconds. This bear just sat there looking directly at me making these low belly grunts, all the while shaking his head and moving his lips in a smacking movement. Then my break came. The dog was back.

The bear got up and turned. I threw the rifle up, pressed the pressure switch on the light and laser, put the red dot on the bear’s shoulder and yanked the trigger. At the shot, the bear gave out a brutal bawl, jumped into the air and ran to the right. I sat there for a minute or more, but could only hear the dog barking down the road. I reached for a small pack that held my mag light. I got the flashlight and began stripping off the night vision equipment. All I could do was cough and shake. After I composed myself and walked around a little, I went over and began scanning the area with the light, looking for the bear. Nothing! I walked further. Still no bear or blood. I knew he was hit, but the question was – How well?




I had forgotten to charge my mag light, and being so sick, I decided to come back in the morning with some help and a couple of my dogs to see if I could find the bear.

The next day, feeling a lot better, I loaded the dogs, brought my volunteers with me and headed up to the sight. I started the search at the carcass, looking for blood. Nothing! Next we took the dogs and tried to track the bear. Still nothing. The ground was very rocky and, as hard as we looked, we could not find a trace of him. I decided the bear was hit good and would probably die. I gave up for the time being.

As I drove home, I went over in my mind the shot I made on the bear. The laser was well centered and in the right spot for the heart and then it dawned on me. The rifle was sighted for 50 yards. At the very close range I was shooting from, the bullet would have hit low. And, if my aim was off a little, well, it meant the bear was wounded. GREAT, I thought to myself. Even if the bear died, it was not a good thing as there was no absolute closure to this hunt. And in my experience, unless gravely wounded, a bear will kill again. The only thing I could do was wait and see what developed.

Well, it did not take long – only 5 days – until I received a call that a bear was killing llamas only 5 miles from the original site. I loaded up everything I needed, including one of the bear cage traps I had built. If this was the same bear, I would probably try to use the cage trap unless I was lucky enough to see him and get a shot. When I arrived, there was no doubt in my mind it was bear depredation. The ground was rocky here also, but there was bear scat everywhere. The area where this llama was killed was a wide open meadow with trees and boulders bordering it. The rancher had moved the rest of his llamas out of the area, so all I had was a ¾ piece of an eaten carcass. I decided to try the bear trap and see if I could cage him.

I placed the trap in the middle of the meadow, close to where the llama was killed. I drug the rest of the llama into the trap and wired it in the back of the cage. In retrospect, I did not think I could trap this bear because there was no more livestock in the area for him to prey on. That fact alone, with stock killing bears would be enough.

I was satisfied with the set, but suspected there would be more killing somewhere else. I had other business to attend to so I called the rancher and asked him if he would check the bear trap every day and call me if there was anything in it.

I had not heard a peep from the rancher for 5 days now. I also had not received any more calls of bear killing livestock. I decided to run up and look and check the trap myself and probably pull it. As I went through the gate, and rounded the corner, I looked into the meadow where the trap was. I could not believe my eyes. There was a bear in the trap! I got excited, but also knew that it could be the wrong bear. As I looked the bear over, I noticed it was good sized, maybe weighing in at 375 or so. It appeared in real good health. I looked the bear over but could not see a wound on the shoulder. That was bad because if I decided to kill this bear and it was the wrong one, well, there could be consequences.

As I looked at the bear and prodded him with a stick to move so I could get a better look at him, he became more aggressive and upset. But, instead of the regular jaw popping and hissing, he started this low grunting and shook his head. I thought, “This is him.”

I winched the trap onto the trailer and headed home. Luckily my neighbor was at my house and he could help me pull the bear out of the trap and examine him. Well, bingo! It was the right bear. Low on the brisket was a bullet wound where the 150 grain soft point had cut a channel across the bear’s chest. It was a superficial wound at best.

I learned a lot from this bear hunt, especially what not to do in the same way under the same circumstances. As for the rancher not calling me, he was in injured in a rollover accident. The bear was probably in the cage the first night. It all worked out.











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