Pendleton Stock Field Test

[Dinny]

2 DEC (Day 3): Clear, windy and am average temp of 34 deg. This was the big day! We had fair weather and the waters were down. I drove with another hunter to the top of Shenandoah Mountain. We ascended down the mountain from an elevation of 3800ft to US Hwy 250. Our dog ran off about half way through our 5 mile hike and was heard barking almost a mile ahead of us. The GPS collars helped locate and keep the dog safe while he crossed US Hwy 250 in hot pursuit of a bear. About an hour later the dog showed treed and a couple of other dogs were turned loose to accompany it. We arrived a little while later to a ~90lb yearling in the tree. After a few pictures we walked off and let it to meander off on it's own.



Shortly thereafter I was driven back up the mountain and took off on another hike with a different hunter. What I thought would be a repeat of the morning hike (mostly a downhill hike) turned into much more than I bargained for. We walked down a high ridge and walked around in the bottom of a hollow for almost two hours looking for signs of bear or good food sources still available. Two of the dogs had struck a scent trail and took off. They left us in the dust and were a good 2 miles ahead of us running another bear. From there we had to walk back up the ridge to get back to the mountain road. My legs felt like jello around 1500 and I was dragging my behind. We got to the truck and started heading down the mountain when a call came through the CB radio that the dogs had circled back towards us and were showing treed only about 1.5 miles behind us (further up the mountain road). We were driving down the mountain in search of a place to turn around when someone ahead called saying there was a bear cub next to the trail past where we were parked. We drove up and got out looking over this tiny cub. It probably didn't weigh anymore than 25lbs. We suspect it was either sick or it's mother had been killed and it was dying of hunger. Someone called a family member who works at a nearby animal rehab clinic and the cub was later picked up.