Black Bear Hunt 2010

jaydog said:
Awesome hunt story and a nice bear! :D You got me confused though- you're posing with the wood stocked rifle and supposedly used it to shoot the bear, but after the kill have the dark camo stocked gun in the pics. Whats up?

Gunnutz need gun details! ;)
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I had 2 rifles with me. I was sitting watching the line, holding my M-700 .35Whelen, and posed with it, for a self-timer shot just for the hell of it.

But when that bear came along, I decided to grab the .416, cuz I wanted to 'test' the 400gr Hornady Interbond, that I loaded. That's the rifle I shot the bear with and posed for the bear pics.

For the record, it's a 1989 production Brno ZKK-602, in .416RM. Awesome rifle! I just had some work done to it. That dark grey, zebra stock, is a McMillan CZ Express. Between the cost of the stock and then the gunsmithing involved, you're looking at a grand... not even mentioning the rifle, scope etc... Because I had the front sight removed, then re-installed, plus a barrel band installed, those areas have weak bluing and are susceptible to rusting from all the damn rain, so I had the .416 in the case to try to keep it dry.

I have to say, the 400gr Hornady did a fantastic job! Violent expansion!


redrider said:
Goose Tower?
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The area is a state secret... ;)


FYI, Before I went on this hunt I was given the specific location of a bear that is supposed to be 8'. And that's from a pretty reliable source. Now that's pretty big and I was sorely tempted, but I had this hunt and location planned, so I went ahead with it. But I've got the location of that monster filed in the memory bank.
 
Demonical said:
Skull measurements, 7-5/16" wide by 12-10/16" long. So green score 19-15/16".


Bear001.jpg
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What's the Alberta record book minimum? 19" ? The 60 day drying period is best done in the freezer! ;)

Great story, nice pictures and big bear !!!!!! Congrats!
 
^ I'd only worry about that if it was a 21" bear, which this is not. The skull is sitting on the woodpile for now. Figured I'd let the birds have a feed off it, then I'm gonna bury it.

Anybody have ideas on the best way to do that? I've heard that burying the skull in an ant hill works great, and I've got one in my back yard.

Any tips let me know! :)
 
Demonical said:
^ I'd only worry about that if it was a 21" bear, which this is not. The skull is sitting on the woodpile for now. Figured I'd let the birds have a feed off it, then I'm gonna bury it.

Anybody have ideas on the best way to do that? I've heard that burying the skull in an ant hill works great, and I've got one in my back yard.

Any tips let me know! :)
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Use some stainless snare wire to hold the lower jaw and the skull together and leave a couple of feet extra, then use a shovel to open a hole in the hill. Then drop the skull in the hole close the hole off, leave the wire hanging out for easy removal. Leave it in the hill till the fall and it should be nice and clean.
 
Demonical said:
^ I'd only worry about that if it was a 21" bear, which this is not. The skull is sitting on the woodpile for now. Figured I'd let the birds have a feed off it, then I'm gonna bury it.

Anybody have ideas on the best way to do that? I've heard that burying the skull in an ant hill works great, and I've got one in my back yard.

Any tips let me know! :)
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I've tried that, but it takes a while and there's many other critters that can steal the skull; dogs,coyotes,other bears, etc.

I've always boiled them with laundry detergent for about 3 hours and then clean. After that, soak it in 30% peroxide from a hair salon.
 
Good job, nice pics! nice bear.
Shoulda wacked him with the 35.. btw what load an projie are you using in the Whelen? is it a ruger? what vel are you gettin from your loads?

Ta
WL
 
Ah sorry mate, i see you already gave me this info in the hornady thread. my apoligies to insist on the re post.

not to jack your thread, im goin to use RE15, have you had experience with this?

2400 for a 250gr sounds about where i want to be at. load development will be goin ahead in the next few weeks when i get back home.
 
Nice bear DM, great story too. That .416RM sure did a number on his heart, eh?

I took a smaller bear up that way a couple weeks ago, down closer to Blue Ridge though. Saw a monster of a bear up on a cut line off the Blue Ridge haul road when I was still driving up to camp, glassed/ranged it out at 772 yds. Parked the truck, grabbed the gear, and started the stalk up the cut line. Got to within 400 yds and stopped to have a look at it again when up from behind the ridge it was feeding on popped a cub, followed by a second cub, followed by a THIRD cub!! Crap!! Beauty of a sow, looked to be a nice chocolate colour, and even at 400 yds she was BIG. I turned around and headed back to the truck. Still not convinced that brown sow with the 3 cubs was a black bear though. We camped for 2 nights in the wall tent and I ended up taking a smaller bear with the 280 Rem the next evening. BTW, it was nice and dry the whole time we were up there :p.
 
BigRacks, there's a pile of grizzlies roaming the country up here. The numbers are re-bounding like crazy. You likely saw a sow grizzly, if it's as big as you describe but had cubs.

Ops in the field area near our remote plant have pics of 18 different grizzlies, and that's in just one small area. There's got to be 100-150 grizzlies in the Swan Hills alone, which is good. Some of 'em are not too friendly either...
 
Demonical said:
BigRacks, there's a pile of grizzlies roaming the country up here. The numbers are re-bounding like crazy. You likely saw a sow grizzly, if it's as big as you describe but had cubs.

Ops in the field area near our remote plant have pics of 18 different grizzlies, and that's in just one small area. There's got to be 100-150 grizzlies in the Swan Hills alone, which is good. Some of 'em are not too friendly either...
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C'mon, we all know the grizzly is extinct. :rolleyes:
 
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