Outfitter: Wolverine Valley Guides
Guide: Tim Millward
Location: Wolverine Valley (near Tumbler Ridge) BC
Dates: May 25-30, 2012
Logistics: Flew Birmingham to Edmonton AB then drove eight hours to base camp
Rifles: Steyr Scout in .308 Win and FN Mauser in 9.3x64 Brenneke
Ammo: 180 grain Barnes TSX for the .308 and 286 grain Barnes TSX for the 9.3; loaded by John LaSala at Safari Arms
Scopes: Leupold 3-9x50 (illuminated reticle) VX-R for the Steyr and Trijicon 3-9x40 for the Mauser
Binos: Swarovski 8x32 SLC

I will add to this report as time permits but wanted to get a couple of photos on as soon as possible.

My 12 year old son Will and I went to BC with Wolverine Valley Guides on a spring bear hunt set up for us by AR's own Wade Derby (thanks Wade!) http://www.crosshairconsulting.com/. Will has taken a hog and shot his first deer last October, and I have done pretty much only hunting on two Zimbabwe hunts. So we were both pretty much greenhorns as far as bear hunting and mountain hunting goes.

The Wolverine Valley is in northern BC right up on the east side of the Continental Divide. Tim Millward has a remote 167,000 acre hunting area which has very low hunting pressure, especially in the spring. We had four hunters in camp, my son and me, my friend David from So. Cal., and a grizzly bear hunter from Oregon. As it turned out we got four bears with four bullets in five days. We saw about the same number of grizzly as blacks, and saw a few moose, elk, and whitetail as well. Saw several wolf tracks but no wolves.

We generally drove the logging roads, natural gas well service roads, walked the railroad track (there is a large open pit coal mine in the Valley and a train runs from there to the coast), or walked game trails through the logging cuts. I found that you can see black bears from quite a distance away. You see black rocks and black tree stumps but you learn quickly that nothing is as black as a bear. The bears were usually spotted on the sides of the road eating grass. Will and I each had two unsuccessful stalks before getting our bears on the third attempt. Will took his bear at 75 yards on day two and I took mine at 40 yards on day four. We left as early as 6:30 a.m. some days and rarely made it back before dark at 9:30 p.m.

Tim's operation was very family friendly and he was great with Will; he got the biggest bear. The kid made the perfect shot and it was almost as if he listened to me and studied his 'Perfect Shot' book. I was amazed by the effectiveness of the .308 on the bears. After the shot they both ran maybe 20 feet before falling down. His Steyr Scout worked very well for us and we both used the built-in bipod to get into a prone shooting position. Hey, I am a tradtional guy (all my rifles are Mausers except for my double rifle) but I ended up using the Steyr as well, ugly as it is. The Leupold VX-R with the red dot illumination was just perfect for the dark animal.

Tim does fall backcounty hunts for bear, moose, elk, deer, and caribou: http://wolverinevalleyguides.com/.

All in all, we had a perfect hunt.

The Valley:











Will's bear:







My bear:







Grizzly and wolf tracks:





Camp from above:

Congratulations!

Well Done, great shooting. Sounds likem a good fun hunt.

Yes them Steyr Scout Rifles are ugly...

But Ugly is as Ugly does.

A short light rifle in 308 makes a great hunting gun.

If I was not such a Blaser R 93 system user, I would definately have a Steyr 308 Scout.

Paul thanks for your trust. Tell Will he needs to stop outdoing the adults though! It is great to see the next generation out there. See in you in camp somewhere soon. Best, Wade

Paul, great hunt....one I'm sure you'll always remember.

Paul, how fantastic, my 6 year old son has told me many times the first animal he wants to hunt is black bear and I can't wait till I can take him with me. Congrats to you and your son and thanks for sharing.

Cool hunt with your son
Congratulations.

Paul,

Thank you for the story and photos.

Tim

Thanks guys. I'm really proud of The Boy and am happy we both took good bears. I had two major surprises on this hunt: (1) bear hunting is a lot harder than I expected; and (2) bears die a lot easier than I expected.

Also, I have to say, if you want an guy who can find good hunts for you and who will always tell it like it is, call Wade Derby. He will go the extra mile for you every time. Thanks Wade!

Great hunt and what an experince to have with your son.

The pitures remind me of my hunt in the Frazer river area near Williams Lake BC. No grizzlies in that area though they had big horn sheep, moose, mule deer and wolves.

2 really good looking bears. Congratulations to you and your son.

Congrats on a great hunt! I would be interested to hear a few more your thoughts on this area for Grizz....you mentioned seeing a few? Were they down low with the black bears or higher up?

James

James,

I think overall we saw more grizzly than blacks. We saw at least two of both types every day. We were very close to one big boar and luckily he went the other way when he saw us. These grizz were almost all relatively light colored.

We saw a sow grizzly with two cubs one day, and then single grizzlies after that. There were grizz tracks all over the place; I think I only saw one black bear track.

All the grizzly I saw were down low with the blacks on the roads and the railroad track, although one of the guides glassed a grizz up high in the snow. The three guides said they thought the grizz were moving up and probably would be gone from the valley within a couple of weeks.

Thanks, Paul

Congratulations for the great hunt!
This outfitter got some very big whitetail also
http://www.wolverinevalleyguid...es/whitetaildeer.jpg

I know this's kind of an old thread, but just read this hunt report.

Great pics and write up, and real nice bears.

Yes, a special hunt when you take your son.

Thanks guys. Will and I are going to Zimbabwe in July, I am really looking forward to it.

That is cool as hell.

What memories to make with your son. Looks like one hell of a good time and some great father and son bonding !!

Great to see our up and coming youth in the field. Glad is was a huge success and hopefully many more to come!!

Well done, gents.