Another bear downed by SKS

I've taken 3 bears with my SKS so far, and this is the smallest. Misjudged by its ears when I spotted it, thought it might be a medium sized blackie. But after I shot it, it turned out to be a two year old boar, too small for me:redface: .

I took my family out for this long weekend camping. Cuz spring bear is open so I took my SKS and Lee Enfield with me just in case. My plan was to use SKS (123 gr hornady sp handload) for close range whacking and Lee Enfield (174 gr interbond handload) for long range and big ones. So we took off around 4:30pm on Sat. By 7:30pm we hit an area with lots of greenie on both sides of the road. The temperature, wind and weather was just perfect. So I told my wife to keep eyes open as I was pretty sure we were gonna see something. As I was driving at 80KM/hour the corner of my eyes caught a head popping out of the bush 50 yards away from the road. The head looked okay, the ears didn't look that small. But overall the bear was a small one.

I didn't stop right away, instead I kept the truck moving for another 150 yards and stopped. My wife asked me what happended. I said that I saw a bear but it was a small one, but I wanted to hold out for a big boar. She said just go take it, the next one is always better! So off I went with my SKS. The wind was in my face, perfect. I stalked for about 150 yards, got within 15 yards to the back of the bear. And waited. As soon as the bear turned 20 degrees to the right side, I put a a 123 gr hornady sp through his shoulder blades and broke his spine. He dropped right on the spot but didn't die. I sat there for 10 minutes listening to him bawling (for those who has never heard that, that sounds pretty much like a human bawl) and decided to put another one into his head to end his suffering.

I recovered bullet on the far side of his body right under the skin. Totally mushroomed. The rest of the night we saw the other three blackies, all were about the same size, which made me feel a little better:) . So basically the trip ended before it really started. Now I'll have to look for a big one for the rest of the year.

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SKS Bear

Have to agree....waiting 10 minutes on a bawling bear with a semi-auto(rapid fire cheap ammo).......maybe it just felt like 10 minutes.
 
I was going to make the same comment about letting the animal lie there and suffer, but it looks like you've already been reprimanded ;)

With that out of the way, nice story, and not a bad bear really.
ALso, the second picture of you crouching in the bush with the cigarette makes you looks like some sort of partisan commando, it sort of made me chuckle ;)
 
Well folks, do you know that a lot of hunters would wait for at least 30 minutes for the bear to die? :) I ruined a nice skull by putting him out of misery. Maybe I waited less than 10 mins as you can see the my cigarette wasn't quite done yet.:D But honestly even though I've heard this kinda bawling many times, it still sounded pretty saddening. But it's life I guess?

Skippy said:
ALso, the second picture of you crouching in the bush with the cigarette makes you looks like some sort of partisan commando, it sort of made me chuckle ;)
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Are you saying I looked like a filthy VC? ;)
 
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If you are that close, and the bear is bawling, put another one into it's lungs. If you had only hit the spine, it sometimes takes a bit for the animal to die, although it is incapacitated.

10 minutes is an AWFUL long time to listen to aan animal die, I hope you misjudged the time. If it's down and still making noise, the ethical thing to do is put it down.
 
Maybe I misjudged the time, but I did feel like it was a long time though. The longest bawl I've ever heard was a few years ago back in Harrison, that big boar bawled for about half an hour out LOUD in thick stuff. That was the creepest sound I've ever heard in my life.
 
Lol, Rollingrock, I don't know your family background, so I didn't want to insinuate that you looked VC or Red Korean or whatnot. You just looked like some sort of rural partisan ;)

And PS firstbmw: The naysayers don't say that an SKS can't kill, they just say it's generally unethical to trust it solely. Even rollingblock (arguably the SKS's biggest fan on the forums as far as hunting goes) carried a .303 for backup. He knows what he's doing, and that's why he's so successful.
 
This thread proves that a quick kill is not with a crappy rifle like the sks, the fact it didn't die on the spot is proof.I never had a bear do what rockhead is bragging about.Everytime I read one of your posts it makes me wish you didn't hunt at all. I still remember your poaching thread from a while back that you were so proud of..........someday you will meet up with a bear that makes you scream like that. I hope it's soon..........
 
303carbine said:
This thread proves that a quick kill is not with a crappy rifle like the sks, the fact it didn't die on the spot is proof.I never had a bear do what rockhead is bragging about.Everytime I read one of your posts it makes me wish you didn't hunt at all. I still remember your poaching thread from a while back that you were so proud of..........someday you will meet up with a bear that makes you scream like that. I hope it's soon..........
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What an ignorant post.

"A quick kill" is impossible from an SKS? And you base your opinion not from personal experience but one post from a guy that has been hunting for 2 years or so. Saying a SKS isn't capable of making a clean kill at 15 yards is like saying a 30-30 isn't capable at 75 yards...:rolleyes:

Bears making a "death bawl" isn't uncommon, many people describe it occuring.

Maybe Rollingrock isnt the most experienced hunter in the world, but at least he is out there trying, and hopefully will be a little quicker to act next time.

There are plenty of opinions about how to deal with wounded game, from charge right in to wait for 2 hours before tracking- It's not easy for a new guy to figure out exactly what to do in every situation.

Way to encourage new hunters.:rolleyes:
 
Gatehouse:
I wouldn't worry too much about what .303carbine says in an SKS thread, it's basic protocol to ignore him in here ;)
He hates SKS's and anything related to them. I'll also assume by his post that he's never taken a shot at a game animal that didn't result in an instant one-shot kill.

I personally wouldn't hunt with an SKS, at least not anything bigger than a coyote, but in this cases .303carbine is just grasping at threads to defend his position. Had someone else posted this thread in the Hunting forum and said they'd used a .308 I doubt he'd have even spoke up.


.303carbine:
It's already been pointed out that rollingrock probably waited too long before moving in to finish off the bear, so you've added absolutly nothing constructive to the thread, but hey, you've added +1 to your post count. Congrats!
Help keep your blood pressure down by not reading posts in the SKS forum.
 
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I happen to like the SKS for black bear with a 155-160 grain cast bullet. I never seem to find the really large bruins just the smaller ones. I also happen to carry a 45-70 NEF just in case I see a really big one.

Nice bear by the way!

Too bad Ontario did away with the spring bear hunt :(
 
I seen the pic of Rolling rock and his bear, he has a nice truck.Too bad he couldn't spend some of that money for a better bear gun. I don't hunt big game with small calibers like the sks that tend to wound before they kill. I believe if you're going to shoot these critters you owe it to them to take them as quick as possible. I could hunt them with a 22-250 but I don't think it's enough gun. The 7.62x39 is not what I consider to be a big game rifle either. Rollingrock, buy a 45-70 for bears and leave the gopher gun at home....
 
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