I was introduced to Wade Lemon by a booking agent friend of mine from Bronze Bull Outfitting, Craig Kauffman. I met Wade at the SCI show in Reno this past year and booked a desert sheep hunt with him for October 2008. He casually mentioned that he had access to a Conservation Black Bear tag through SCI. I ended up purchasing the tax deductible tag from the Utah SCI Chapter. Wade agreed to add mountain lion to the hunt but he rated my chances at about 15% since it was so late in the season and not the best time to be hunting cats.

I knew this could potentially be a very physically demanding hunt. I started working out in late February and was hiking about 12 miles per week and running 7 to 8 miles per week. I like to be in decent shape for any hunt that I do and I'm sure glad I was on this one. It turned out to be one of the toughest hunts I’ve ever done. Climbing (and running at times) at 7,000 to 9,000 feet of altitude probably didn’t help. I live in Pennsylvania at about 400 feet above sea level.

I flew into Salt Lake City, rented a car and drove to Price, Utah. I stayed at the Best Western which was very comfortable. Each morning I would meet Wade and his crew in the parking lot at 4:15 am. We would drive about 45 minutes to the Nine Mile/Range Creek area. I believe we hunted about 3 hours south of Salt Lake City. It was beautiful country and we would spend many hours driving the mountains looking for bear and lion tracks.

The first day we found a good set of tracks and chased a nice bear but could not catch up to him. We hiked quite a few hard miles that day and I quickly got a taste of what black bear hunting is like in the steep mountains of Utah. It was clear that these big bear don’t just run up the first tree they find. The next 3 days were not very conducive to hunting with dogs as it rained heavily on and off each day. We were still out trying though and found a few average size tracks that I decided to pass on.

On day five we had about 3 to 4 inches of snow high in the mountains. Wade and I drove to the top and on the way down I spotted mountain lion tracks. Wade cut the dogs loose and within 10 minutes they had this beautiful tom in a tree about 100 yards off the trail. He quickly jumped the tree and went about 200 yards up another tree and I caught up with him there. We had this cat on the ground by 6:45 am. I understand that this is not the norm as they all called me the luckiest hunter in the world.

Later that morning we found a nice bear track and cut the dogs loose again. We thought they had caught him so we dove off the top into the valley after him. We spent the next 6 hours chasing this bear up and down the canyons and never did catch up to him. I was physically exhausted that night and could not imagine duplicating a hike like that again the next day. It’s amazing how 5 good hours of sleep can change the way you feel.

Mid morning on day 6 we found a great set of tracks that were fairly fresh. We cut the dogs loose and about an hour later we thought they had the bear pinned down somewhere in the valley. We were on the very top of the mountain so one of the guides and I dove off the top (again) and started after it. Once again the big bear would not tree or hole up. He went up over the mountain and down into the next canyon. My guide Dan and I kept a steady pace after him and were literally running at times trying to close the distance.

As my guide encouraged me up, around and over the mountain we finally caught up with the bear. He was moving across the canyon at 300 yards and I sat down to a quick rest and waited for him to reappear. I pulled the trigger when he was at 350 yards which turned out to be a clean miss. I believe I shot just under him. He disappeared into the trees with the dogs baying about 30 to 40 yards behind him. One of the guides had me move to an old deadfall to get a better rest which was perfect. I could see bits and pieces of the bear as he moved up the mountain but not enough for a clean shot. He eventually came out to a small clearing at just over 500 yards. (I have to add here that I did a Marco Polo hunt last year that required a lot of shooting practice out to 700 yards. I knew my rifle well and that it shot 28 inches low at 500 yards.) I was totally confident with the shot when Wade’s son Kalan yelled that he’s just over 500 yards out.

The bear was quartering away when I made the shot. At this point there were 5 guides/assistants sitting with me and they just exploded when the bear fell to the shot. It was an exciting moment! It took us a while to get around the canyon to where we saw the bear last. I think it took about 20 minutes. We followed a good blood trail (and the baying dogs) for about 200 yards to a huge ponderosa pine. It was really thick around the base of the tree and we all looked up into the tree but couldn’t find the bear. About that time we heard him popping his jaw or snapping his teeth or something. He was on the ground at the base of the tree and we had to bust our way in to about 10 yards for the final shot. This was one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had as a hunter! We spent the next 30 minutes celebrating over this great bear.

Final thoughts “ This was one of the most satisfying hunts I’ve ever done due to the physical demands, great guides, beautiful country, and the great trophies taken. I’m not much for record books and scoring and don’t record my book animals unless the outfitter requests it. I do however appreciate and respect a great mature trophy. These were both great animals and I couldn’t be happier. They will make beautiful full body mounts. (Wade called just today and said that both animals will be very close to making Boone and Crocket.)

I was extremely impressed with Wade Lemon and all of his guides. Bowdy, Travis, Dan and his dad, Gary, Gunner, Kalan, Nick, and James. These are quality people that know how to work and just love to hunt! I met and hunted with 9 different guides during the course of my 6 day hunt. Most days there were 4 or 5 guys out with us looking for tracks and I was the only hunter there. Wade is known for having some of the best hunting dogs anywhere and he has plenty of them. I would recommend Wade and his crew in a heartbeat.

Doug