Host of TV show CARNIVORE on the Pursuit Channel, Gary Roberson from south Texas goes black bear hunting in the Navajo Reservation with friends.

As we gathered our gear, Calvin Redhouse was giving instructions to Rosanna Roberson: “When we get in there and can see the bear, I am going to call the dogs off so that you can take the shot. As soon as the dogs are clear, take him!”

We were black bear hunting with great friends, Calvin and Tytus Sandoval on the Navajo Reservation. It was the second trip in the last month for Rosanna, Cristy Burch, Clint Roberson, Steve Roberson and myself. Cristy’s husband, Brandon made the first trip but remained in Menard with the kids while Cristy returned to finish the job that we had started. While we had encounters with several bears on the first trip, we were not able to get a shot at a bear that was as large as we wanted.

Our gun of choice for this very specialized hunt was the Ruger model 77/44 stainless. We were shooting Hornady Custom 44 magnum loaded with 240 grain XTP bullets. In my opinion, this combination is perfect for this hunt as the extremely rugged lightweight rifle is easy to carry, shots are generally less than 50 yards and the rapidly expanding bullet rarely exits the thick body. I have seen five bears shot with this rifle and ammo and it is amazing how quickly the bears expire reducing risk to hunters and dogs.

Cristy, Steve and I left Menard early Sunday morning on October 7 while Clint and Rosanna would join us on Tuesday evening. Our plans were for Christy to kill a bear before Rosanna arrived to relieve some of the pressure of treeing two mature bears in two days.

We arrived in Chinle, Arizona Sunday evening and Monday morning found us in the Chuska Mountains with friends, Calvin, Tytus and nine eager hounds. The temperature was a chilly 34 degrees with drizzle to light rainfall, not ideal hunting conditions for bear or bear hunters. We hunted from daylight to almost 3PM without cutting a track. We returned to the motel in Chinle while Calvin and Ty went into another area to scout for the next morning’s hunt.

Our confidence for the next day’s hunt got a shot in the arm when Calvin texted me photos of six different bear tracks they had seen while scouting after we parted. I guaranteed Cristy that we would have a good bear in the tree tomorrow morning but my only concern was the extremely rugged terrain where we would be hunting.

About 8:30AM the next morning, the two rig dogs (the dogs that ride on top of the dog box in order to get the scent of any bear in the area) began to bark, excited by the scent of bear drifting in the southerly breeze. Calvin put the two rig dogs on the ground and when they struck the track of the bear, he released the other dogs into the race. The race was a short one when the dogs treed approximately 500 yards away. We grabbed guns, dog leads, cameras and anything else that we thought we might need and headed for the roar of nine fresh dogs treeing on a bear.

Upon arriving at the tree, we found a beautiful mature bear with a heavy black coat. After a short discussion, we decided that this would be a great bear to take. Cristy took careful aim and made a great killing shot hitting the broadside bear in the heart. As we were taking photos of Cristy and her trophy, a heavy snow began to fall, letting us know that winter was rapidly approaching north-east Arizona.

As soon as we were in cell phone service, we called Clint to let him know that Cristy had a bear on the ground and now it was Rosie’s turn. Clint and Rosanna got a late start leaving Menard and arrived in Chinle at 4AM. After a very short night, I had everyone up at 5AM so that we could meet up with Calvin and Ty on top of the mountain at daybreak.

Action started early when the dogs rigged a bear and took it about a mile before falling off into a very deep canyon where they were treed. We were able to drive within 350 yards of the tree, unfortunately, most of 300 yards was a change in elevation. Thank God, Calvin, a Marine that proudly served our great country on five tours of duty volunteered to go to the tree. The plan was that he would whistle if the bear was a trophy, if not, he would call the dogs off and climb back out of the extremely steep canyon.

After reaching the tree, I did not hear a whistle. A few minutes later, Calvin texted a photo of the bear and all of us agreed to leave it and go find a bigger one. While I wanted Rosanna to have an opportunity to kill a bear, I must admit that I was dreading the recovery of this one.

We did not go far before the dogs were on the trail of another bear and to my dismay, it appeared as if this bear was going into the bottom of the same canyon as the first one. After dipping into the canyon, the dogs continued along the canyon wall before climbing up and treeing near the rim. We were able to drive close to this tree, unfortunately it held another young bear.

It was almost noon when we started bear number three. This bear was really running and the pack was scattered over a half mile stretch. One of the young dogs on the lead caught up to the bruin without any support and the bear sent it fleeing back through the pack. After a mile and a half race, three or four of the older dogs stopped the bear and were fighting him on the ground as we tried to gather some of the other dogs and put them in the race.

The toughest bear to kill is the one that doesn’t want to climb a tree, rather fight it out on the ground with the dogs and generally moving into rougher terrain. When we bailed off into the drainage we were not sure how far we might go before getting an opportunity to kill the bear. When we were about 100 yards from the melee, the tone of the barking changed from fighting to treeing.

The bear had all he wanted of the dogs and climbed 40 feet up into a huge Ponderosa pine. Rosie’s aim was true and the Ruger 44 magnum rifle made a clean kill. It was a great hunt and one that I will not soon forget. The beauty of the mountains when the Aspens are turning yellow, snow falling in high places and hunting with friends and family. The hunt was even more memorable when the shooters were two very special blondes.

This hunt will be aired next season on CARNIVORE.