Black Bear King of the internet COVID edition

[hoytcanon]

Beauty bear Hoyt - what general area of the province? (guessing Sudbury through Sault Ste Marie?)

Considerably west of the Sault...

 

[Johnn Peterson]

Congrats Greg. Well done and I love the photos.

 

[hoytcanon]

Congrats Greg. Well done and I love the photos.

Thanks, Johnn... cheers.

 

[Drillbit]

Took the boys out looking for a spring Bear.
The Kid has been wanting to shoot one since he shot his first deer last fall.

Santa brought a Xbolt 223 with a Leupold markAR and a case of 1000 rounds and dropped it under the tree, I was Shocked!!

It's a really nice rifle, so it's not surprising the case of ammo is getting pretty light. The Kid can ring all the gongs easy from the bench out to 550 at the range here, is getting really good leaning on a post, and is now always trying to get better freehand.

So we went out to find a bear, he wanted a decent sized one, so that was good to hear we would get some chances at judging sizes.

First one we saw on the road was a nice bear. After deciding we'd let it go, we put the "350 sneak" on it. That's a prairie term I grew up with, of which there are 2 types of 350 sneak. We were doing the low speed version. The high speed version is pretty fun, but is no good for BC bear hunting.
As the bear waddled along eating we'd slowly roll up the rd towards it. When it stopped, we'd stop.
I thought I did a pretty damn good 350sneak and was pretty proud of my skills till I realized the bear just didn't care about my truck at all haha Drove right up to it.

So that was the baseline. I had to find bigger than that.....
Found a few that were similar in size, found a few with cubs. It was pretty good, the boys had lots of action and chances to bail out of the truck and get ready and also to sneak up on a few using cover through logging blocks. And of course a few 350 sneaks.

Then we saw a nice one! Had the good waddle going on! But it was a long way off. 339yards.
The Kid said that was the one, so he set up with a good rest. We watched awhile made sure it was alone and was big enough. We were quite a bit higher than it so we set the turret to 300 and The Kid settled down in to shoot and it was all business now.

I saw the bullet hit and the bear jumped and tried to run. I could tell it was hit hard. It piled up on a tree and I told him to shoot again. He put some insurance into it and there it was, still on the tree. I never even had to move it to set it up for the pictures.

It was a really FAT bear!
Skull came out to 19" green. Swizzle stick is 6" right on the $
Great first bear for a 12 year old.

 

[hoytcanon]

That is a terrific first bear and terrific shooting, for any age, let alone 12... congrats to your son, and to you for passing on the hunting heritage.

 

[conor_90]

Nice one! Congrats to your son!


If I may counter with the 250 sneak; ripping past the bear at high speed and approaching on foot once out of sight in the hopes it has returned to its section of the ditch

 

[Jim870]

Great first bear, good shooting by your kid and great job as a parent Drillbit.

Is that his Christmas present he is seen proudly holding?

 

[Drillbit]

Great first bear, good shooting by your kid and great job as a parent Drillbit.

Is that his Christmas present he is seen proudly holding?

Thanks everyone!

It is yep, it's a beauty rifle.

 

[bearkilr]

Well, I managed to get the brown phase bear I was looking for... this chocolate boar was considerably larger than last year's bear, at 500 pounds and a green score of 21". I spotted a good sized black heading into a slough that cut back into the thorn thickets... it appeared to be worth a look-see, so I hot footed it up along the downwind edge, getting within 100 yards. When I spotted the black bear, there was a brown shape behind it shifting around in the reeds and cattails. Their position was well chosen, as they were virtually unapproachable due to 270 degrees of dense thorn thickets and 90 degrees of perfect visibility and wind direction... there was far too much brush to chance a shot, so I decided to stay put and wait it out. Over the next hour the brown bear appeared briefly several times and it was clearly a huge bear... the black was a sow, and she was in heat... I watched the boar mount her several times... hoping that they would move my way. Some times it is better to be lucky than good... the two bears had separated by 30 yards when suddenly a big black boar charged out of the thorns and took a run at the sow... she bolted, with the black boar behind her and the brown boar behind him... she ran past me at 30 yards right through a six foot opening, I rolled to my knees and shouldered my rifle as the black boar ran through the same opening. In my periphery I could see the brown boar approaching, I was preparing for a running shot as he passed through, but for some reason it skidded to a halt and stood broadside without a twig between us. I settled the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger, it was as though he got swatted with a large paddle, he lurched forward on his offside shoulder and face, let out a huff and never flinched again. This was the non-black bear I was hoping to get, and it only worked out with a huge dose of luck.

That's a beauty, congrats!

 

[thehunterman]

Gorgeous bear and great rifle choice! Is the rifle a homage to your profile namesake?
Albert Johnson carried a 1899 F takedown in 30-30

 

[park.city]

Congrats Hoyt, amazing bear. Great to hear you got the Brown one you were after, what are your plans with it ? mount, rug ?

 

[hoytcanon]

Congrats Hoyt, amazing bear. Great to hear you got the Brown one you were after, what are your plans with it ? mount, rug ?

Thanks... Meat is in the freezer, deboned and waiting for a sausage run... skull is in the beetle box, hide is out for tanning... no taxidermy, just tanning... I have lots of friends with camps looking for bear rugs.

 

[medvedqc]

Well, I managed to get the brown phase bear I was looking for... this chocolate boar was considerably larger than last year's bear, at 500 pounds and a green score of 21". I spotted a good sized black heading into a slough that cut back into the thorn thickets... it appeared to be worth a look-see, so I hot footed it up along the downwind edge, getting within 100 yards. When I spotted the black bear, there was a brown shape behind it shifting around in the reeds and cattails. Their position was well chosen, as they were virtually unapproachable due to 270 degrees of dense thorn thickets and 90 degrees of perfect visibility and wind direction... there was far too much brush to chance a shot, so I decided to stay put and wait it out. Over the next hour the brown bear appeared briefly several times and it was clearly a huge bear... the black was a sow, and she was in heat... I watched the boar mount her several times... hoping that they would move my way. Some times it is better to be lucky than good... the two bears had separated by 30 yards when suddenly a big black boar charged out of the thorns and took a run at the sow... she bolted, with the black boar behind her and the brown boar behind him... she ran past me at 30 yards right through a six foot opening, I rolled to my knees and shouldered my rifle as the black boar ran through the same opening. In my periphery I could see the brown boar approaching, I was preparing for a running shot as he passed through, but for some reason it skidded to a halt and stood broadside without a twig between us. I settled the crosshairs and squeezed the trigger, it was as though he got swatted with a large paddle, he lurched forward on his offside shoulder and face, let out a huff and never flinched again. This was the non-black bear I was hoping to get, and it only worked out with a huge dose of luck.

congrats Greg great history and great bear.

 

[medvedqc]

Took the boys out looking for a spring Bear.
The Kid has been wanting to shoot one since he shot his first deer last fall.

Santa brought a Xbolt 223 with a Leupold markAR and a case of 1000 rounds and dropped it under the tree, I was Shocked!!

It's a really nice rifle, so it's not surprising the case of ammo is getting pretty light. The Kid can ring all the gongs easy from the bench out to 550 at the range here, is getting really good leaning on a post, and is now always trying to get better freehand.

So we went out to find a bear, he wanted a decent sized one, so that was good to hear we would get some chances at judging sizes.

First one we saw on the road was a nice bear. After deciding we'd let it go, we put the "350 sneak" on it. That's a prairie term I grew up with, of which there are 2 types of 350 sneak. We were doing the low speed version. The high speed version is pretty fun, but is no good for BC bear hunting.
As the bear waddled along eating we'd slowly roll up the rd towards it. When it stopped, we'd stop.
I thought I did a pretty damn good 350sneak and was pretty proud of my skills till I realized the bear just didn't care about my truck at all haha Drove right up to it.

So that was the baseline. I had to find bigger than that.....
Found a few that were similar in size, found a few with cubs. It was pretty good, the boys had lots of action and chances to bail out of the truck and get ready and also to sneak up on a few using cover through logging blocks. And of course a few 350 sneaks.

Then we saw a nice one! Had the good waddle going on! But it was a long way off. 339yards.
The Kid said that was the one, so he set up with a good rest. We watched awhile made sure it was alone and was big enough. We were quite a bit higher than it so we set the turret to 300 and The Kid settled down in to shoot and it was all business now.

I saw the bullet hit and the bear jumped and tried to run. I could tell it was hit hard. It piled up on a tree and I told him to shoot again. He put some insurance into it and there it was, still on the tree. I never even had to move it to set it up for the pictures.

It was a really FAT bear!
Skull came out to 19" green. Swizzle stick is 6" right on the $
Great first bear for a 12 year old.

that is great.

congrats..