So I went up to my moose hunting country, a long muddy ATV ride, off a remote logging road in the Swan Hills. We go 40 kms up the logging road and then it's another 35 kms by ATV, so it's quite a ways.
On the weekend of May 30-June the nephew Matt went with me. I was solo for the weekend of June 6-9th.
The weather was awful, this past weekend! It was raining off and on. Bigger creeks were impassable.
I'll cut to the bear.
On Friday I had been riding checking out some cutblocks and busted a 6' blackie on the trail, right by my camp. After he buggered off, I decided to try to ride through a trail we cut through the bush a few years ago. It was a f**king quagmire and I turned around. Insane mud holes.
I pulled back up to my campsite and stopped to have a snack; first mistake.
I wasted 5 or 10 minutes sitting there, then decided to head up the trail to a vantage point, where I could look over the cutblock where the 6' blackie had gone.
As soon as I rolled up there I saw a MONSTER black bear. This bear looked like a goddamn Black Angus standing there. I am saying based on all the bears I have seen in person, shot, pics on the internet etc... I have maybe seen a handful of bears that were bigger. My guess is 7-1/2' and 500 lbs. He had a coal black face and a massive head. I will stake my testicles that he is a record book bear.
But he was moving along slowly and near the end of a skidder trail, and then there was a thick stand of pines 7-10' tall. He was probably 500 yards away, plus he was across a valley, with a little creek flowing through it.
Second mistake: I was packing the stupid 8x57, when I shoulda had the .338WM. Because I had the 8x57, I had to get a lot closer. I had to get down across the creek and then climb up the hill to locate the bear. With my .338WM I coulda took a long shot; 300-350 yards across the valley...
Anyways, I get over there and I had one opportunity. I got up on a small stump and I could see him something like 150-200 yards away, but he had his ass to me. He looked back over his shoulder at that point; I think he had caught my scent, cuz the air was swirling.
That was the only chance I had. I should have stayed up on that stump and yelled to hopefully have him turn sideways, then shot. But I thought I needed to get closer. The bear was so big I could not afford to make a poor shot and wound it.
End of this story, I got over the hill to where the bear had last been and he was gone.
So now I've named this bear Angus, and I hope to see him again. I have only a few days left and I'm not sure if I will get back this year. You can bet that I will be looking for him; we will be up there in Oct hunting moose and maybe I will bump into him then. I will definitely be back there in 2009.
A few pics.
Matt shooting the .458 Lott.
June 1 2008. This snow bank was still there on the 8th... of June!
Tracks of a 6' chocloate bear that circled my quad while we were stalking another bear. It was standing beside the ATV when we got back to it.
A shed of a 50" class moose that I picked up near our moose camp.
The arsenal: M-700 8x57, M-1895XLR .45-70 and the CZ-550 .458 Lott.
Grizzly hind print; 7" x 12". May 30 2008.
Matt's size 13 will fit inside the hind footprint.
Front print...
Sunrise in the Swan Hills. May 31 2008.
On the weekend of May 30-June the nephew Matt went with me. I was solo for the weekend of June 6-9th.
The weather was awful, this past weekend! It was raining off and on. Bigger creeks were impassable.
I'll cut to the bear.
On Friday I had been riding checking out some cutblocks and busted a 6' blackie on the trail, right by my camp. After he buggered off, I decided to try to ride through a trail we cut through the bush a few years ago. It was a f**king quagmire and I turned around. Insane mud holes.
I pulled back up to my campsite and stopped to have a snack; first mistake.
I wasted 5 or 10 minutes sitting there, then decided to head up the trail to a vantage point, where I could look over the cutblock where the 6' blackie had gone.
As soon as I rolled up there I saw a MONSTER black bear. This bear looked like a goddamn Black Angus standing there. I am saying based on all the bears I have seen in person, shot, pics on the internet etc... I have maybe seen a handful of bears that were bigger. My guess is 7-1/2' and 500 lbs. He had a coal black face and a massive head. I will stake my testicles that he is a record book bear.
But he was moving along slowly and near the end of a skidder trail, and then there was a thick stand of pines 7-10' tall. He was probably 500 yards away, plus he was across a valley, with a little creek flowing through it.
Second mistake: I was packing the stupid 8x57, when I shoulda had the .338WM. Because I had the 8x57, I had to get a lot closer. I had to get down across the creek and then climb up the hill to locate the bear. With my .338WM I coulda took a long shot; 300-350 yards across the valley...
Anyways, I get over there and I had one opportunity. I got up on a small stump and I could see him something like 150-200 yards away, but he had his ass to me. He looked back over his shoulder at that point; I think he had caught my scent, cuz the air was swirling.
That was the only chance I had. I should have stayed up on that stump and yelled to hopefully have him turn sideways, then shot. But I thought I needed to get closer. The bear was so big I could not afford to make a poor shot and wound it.
End of this story, I got over the hill to where the bear had last been and he was gone.
So now I've named this bear Angus, and I hope to see him again. I have only a few days left and I'm not sure if I will get back this year. You can bet that I will be looking for him; we will be up there in Oct hunting moose and maybe I will bump into him then. I will definitely be back there in 2009.
A few pics.
Matt shooting the .458 Lott.
June 1 2008. This snow bank was still there on the 8th... of June!
Tracks of a 6' chocloate bear that circled my quad while we were stalking another bear. It was standing beside the ATV when we got back to it.
A shed of a 50" class moose that I picked up near our moose camp.
The arsenal: M-700 8x57, M-1895XLR .45-70 and the CZ-550 .458 Lott.
Grizzly hind print; 7" x 12". May 30 2008.
Matt's size 13 will fit inside the hind footprint.
Front print...
Sunrise in the Swan Hills. May 31 2008.
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