Black Bear King of the internet COVID edition

Thanks Mk, he’s in my estimation close to the often said and seldom weighed 1/4 tonner. That’s one of the heavier black bears I’ve stalked up on. He was wary but got to recurve range, could tell he was the boss locally as when he left, it was a gruff and laboured stroll rather than flight.

Ran into this guy end of the day, not the same class but quite a pig for this early in the year nonetheless. If bear photography is distorting the meaning of the thread don’t be afraid to say so Bwana, I’m having fun with this so thanks for the patience.

Probably goes without saying, but massive bodies and average to big average heads are the norm locally. Colour phase other than blue is almost non-existent.

3pC3YpA.jpg
 
No Kidding! Thanks for all the fine pictures guys. If I can stop splitting wood for a friend of mine who is really needing help, 12 cords of logs that are starting to discolour from fungus, I will get out for a day. We are now halfway through it.

Ted
 
Ardent said:
Thanks Mk, he’s in my estimation close to the often said and seldom weighed 1/4 tonner. That’s one of the heavier black bears I’ve stalked up on. He was wary but got to recurve range, could tell he was the boss locally as when he left, it was a gruff and laboured stroll rather than flight.

Ran into this guy end of the day, not the same class but quite a pig for this early in the year nonetheless. If bear photography is distorting the meaning of the thread don’t be afraid to say so Bwana, I’m having fun with this so thanks for the patience.

Probably goes without saying, but massive bodies and average to big average heads are the norm locally. Colour phase other than blue is almost non-existent.

3pC3YpA.jpg
Click to expand...

Light em up Angus, I'm enjoying the pics as much as anyone else and will be going next week to my honey hole looking for a brute like that, pics are great motivational material.
 
Thanks fun making them :d Those are three different bears over the last couple days. I stalk big ones for the kicks to where I know I could use the recurve, better than coffee, but I’m not down for the work anymore on black bear. There’s a skull just into the 21s on the shelf and I don’t suspect I’ll beat it anyhow (coincidentally 2016s BwanaDave™️ black bear king of the Internet). Sounds like one fellow already has beat it in 2020, hearty kudos to scruffee.

There’s still a Goliath out there I haven’t got a photo of yet, will try.
 
Why not? said:
No Kidding! Thanks for all the fine pictures guys. If I can stop splitting wood for a friend of mine who is really needing help, 12 cords of logs that are starting to discolour from fungus, I will get out for a day. We are now halfway through it.

Ted
Click to expand...

Helping a Friend in need is a priority, good for you, splitting timber is a good workout too
 
Nice Bear Rob, did you shoot it in the mountains?

Another BC double for the books:

TL/DR: Small to middlin' cinnamon boar with a nice rug on it. Gun was a Ruger M77 MkII .338 wm shooting 225 grain federal ammo that came with the gun. Scope is a leupold VX Freedom 3-9x40, excellent low light performance and used on both bears.

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I went out to the swampy muskeg/river breaks grassland transition area where I shot the first bear but saw nothing and decided to go to the mountains quickly and see if anything was grazing in the evening.

Just as the altitude increased a small, fat blonde grizzly was spotted. Surprisingly near bye another brown shape was grazing on some grass overlooking a sheer scree drop and a 45 degree slope covered in mature pine trees.

I was fairly certain that it was just another grizzly bear, of darker colouration so I didn't do much but sit and look at it. I own a good spotting scope and bad binoculars and had been using the scope as a monocular, took a long time to get the parallax adjusted and realized that it was in fact a black bear. Not a size thing, I saw its side at around 300 yard and assumed it was just a grizzly bum.

Took me forever to get steady, lots of bear fever on this one. Cinnamons are rare on this side of the rockies in my experience, but apparently this area yields a few of them. Greatly increased the excitement factor.

I went tried to steady myself from sitting at around 250 metres but I was way too jacked up.

I closed around 100-130 yards and by then the bear had come downhill and was scratching its head on a poplar on the edge of the slope. I dropped to prone on the rocks, slid my safety off and popped one right behind his shoulder.

Best shot I have ever taken in my life on a game animal. Much less meat damage than the 270 win bear due to shot placement. A few ribs lost and clean entrance and exit wounds. The heart was nothing but liquid. Textbook.

He headed downhill. I didn't have a good sight picture because of the recoil/position. So I wasn't too sure if I had connected, waited a while and went up to where he was. He had tumbled down the side slope onto another flat carried by his own momentum. Did not make it far.

Met some other hunters and they assisted in gutting the bear, and then carrying it up the slope to level ground. Really nice folks, they had also taken a black bear.

The meat on this mountain bear looks even better than the meat on the swamp bear, which is absolutely delicious. I made katsus with curry sauce with some of its loin the other night.

More sausage and hams to come. Very excited to finally get some bears, great meat for curing and smoking.
 
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