The other night my dumbass buddy Rob and I decide to go bear huting the following mornign, despite me trying out some tequila that an employee had brought back form Mexico for me...
So he shows up ealry in the morning, while I am still lying in bed snuggling with The Girl and hoping he wont' show up, since my head hurts a wee bit.
Off we go to some of our favorite bear areas, but there isn't much going on. We glass a few cuts, hike a few trails and roads , and then drive a bit. Eventually we stop at a old road that has been deacvivated for years, and hike up it. Wow- this is where the bears have been hanging out!! There is bear crap everywehere, although much of it is in the small/medium category. There are a few stovepipe size piles, though, which further entices us.
It's getting later in the day, and I havent' eaten, so we drive down to civilization and we dine on some deliscious microwave burritos from the only place round, the gas station. MMmmmmmm...
We drove up tp anpther spot, and hiked up the hills through the long deactivated skidder tracks. One point there was plenty of good scat, but it was so overgorwn it was hard to walk..
Afte rmucking around up there for an hour or so, we decided to head back to my house for lunch, since it was already 2 pm.
After some lunch, we headed out to a different area, one that neither of us had hunted much before, sine it was a little further away.On the way, we saw a nice big sow and her cub feeding.
We also spotted 2 nie bears feeding ona plateau downa steep bank. We stopped and contemplated a s hot, It was far, about 400 yards, but there wasn't much wind and it wasn't a steep angle, so it was doable.
Of course, the recovery of the bears woudl be a #####, due to were they were,and while they were nice, large and fuzzy bears, we left them alone. They werent' *that* big!
We got to our turn off, nd drove up, glassing spots perieodically. Oddly there was *no* scat on the road, yet I the area wa sperfect for bears. FInally, about 7 pm we were driving up to anothe rspot to glass fomr and I saw a bear on the rigth hand side. We stopped but it was gone quickly, so we proceeded further downt he road, and almost immedialtely saw another bear on the opposite side of the road, a small one.
All of a sudden things were getting crazy...we got out and walked up on a 3 legged black bear, that saw us and ran out of there in a hurry!
Out popped a nice (but not really large) cinnamon bear form behind a tree. I told him it wasn't that big, but I am going to shoot anyway, I am in that sort of mood!
He was feeding quartering away at about 50 yards when I sunk to one knee, and placed the crosshairs on him and waited for him to turn broadside, or at least give me somethign other than an ass shot.
FInally, he turned a little and I tucked the reticel behind his shoulder and squeezed.
He humped upa bit and took off as the 168gr TSX form my 300WSM hit it's mark.
We ran up to where he had been standing, and listened- Nothing. No thrashign around, no running and crashing,no branches being broken. We looked for signs of a hit, blood/hair...anything. Nothing- Just what looked to be some broken twigs where he may or may not have run...
We wiated a bit, still looking, and then Rob took one side and I took the other and we walked intot he bush looking for sign. For about 0.000043 seconds when Rob yelled to me..We had made it abotu 20 feet form where he was standing.
There he was, not too big, but quite pretty, and with a weird raccon face.
We didn't have far to drag hiom back,,which was nice.
He ran past his rock, and it looks as if the heart pumped and just blew the blood out the exit hole- it was not smeared on the rock (liek if he had brushed against it) and there was a tree (on the left of the pic) in between the bear and the rock, so it must have spurted several inches.
He was shot at 9PM and skinned and cut in quarters in the back of the truck by 10 15 pm, and we were on our way home.
So he shows up ealry in the morning, while I am still lying in bed snuggling with The Girl and hoping he wont' show up, since my head hurts a wee bit.
Off we go to some of our favorite bear areas, but there isn't much going on. We glass a few cuts, hike a few trails and roads , and then drive a bit. Eventually we stop at a old road that has been deacvivated for years, and hike up it. Wow- this is where the bears have been hanging out!! There is bear crap everywehere, although much of it is in the small/medium category. There are a few stovepipe size piles, though, which further entices us.
It's getting later in the day, and I havent' eaten, so we drive down to civilization and we dine on some deliscious microwave burritos from the only place round, the gas station. MMmmmmmm...
We drove up tp anpther spot, and hiked up the hills through the long deactivated skidder tracks. One point there was plenty of good scat, but it was so overgorwn it was hard to walk..
Afte rmucking around up there for an hour or so, we decided to head back to my house for lunch, since it was already 2 pm.
After some lunch, we headed out to a different area, one that neither of us had hunted much before, sine it was a little further away.On the way, we saw a nice big sow and her cub feeding.
We also spotted 2 nie bears feeding ona plateau downa steep bank. We stopped and contemplated a s hot, It was far, about 400 yards, but there wasn't much wind and it wasn't a steep angle, so it was doable.
Of course, the recovery of the bears woudl be a #####, due to were they were,and while they were nice, large and fuzzy bears, we left them alone. They werent' *that* big!
We got to our turn off, nd drove up, glassing spots perieodically. Oddly there was *no* scat on the road, yet I the area wa sperfect for bears. FInally, about 7 pm we were driving up to anothe rspot to glass fomr and I saw a bear on the rigth hand side. We stopped but it was gone quickly, so we proceeded further downt he road, and almost immedialtely saw another bear on the opposite side of the road, a small one.
All of a sudden things were getting crazy...we got out and walked up on a 3 legged black bear, that saw us and ran out of there in a hurry!
Out popped a nice (but not really large) cinnamon bear form behind a tree. I told him it wasn't that big, but I am going to shoot anyway, I am in that sort of mood!
He was feeding quartering away at about 50 yards when I sunk to one knee, and placed the crosshairs on him and waited for him to turn broadside, or at least give me somethign other than an ass shot.
FInally, he turned a little and I tucked the reticel behind his shoulder and squeezed.
He humped upa bit and took off as the 168gr TSX form my 300WSM hit it's mark.
We ran up to where he had been standing, and listened- Nothing. No thrashign around, no running and crashing,no branches being broken. We looked for signs of a hit, blood/hair...anything. Nothing- Just what looked to be some broken twigs where he may or may not have run...
We wiated a bit, still looking, and then Rob took one side and I took the other and we walked intot he bush looking for sign. For about 0.000043 seconds when Rob yelled to me..We had made it abotu 20 feet form where he was standing.
There he was, not too big, but quite pretty, and with a weird raccon face.
We didn't have far to drag hiom back,,which was nice.
He ran past his rock, and it looks as if the heart pumped and just blew the blood out the exit hole- it was not smeared on the rock (liek if he had brushed against it) and there was a tree (on the left of the pic) in between the bear and the rock, so it must have spurted several inches.
He was shot at 9PM and skinned and cut in quarters in the back of the truck by 10 15 pm, and we were on our way home.
