Well back around Christmas I promised to take my Alberta resident (I'm SK) cousin Gage bear hunting this spring. He came up with us for this last weekend. I got him a few 20 gauge slugs to use in the old Winchester 37 I used to take my first birds when I started to hunt. We took a few shots Thursday night after he was out of school, and we both felt pretty confident his shooting was up to snuff.
We left camp to hunt around 4:30 Saturday. On the way in we saw a bear on the trail about halfway to our stand.
We were sitting up in the tree by 5:30. After around 30-40 minutes Gage was getting bored. He was fidgeting and moving around trying to stay comfortable. I told him if his legs were sore he could stand up but try to be as quiet as possible.
Well at about 7:20 I look over to the side and see a bear coming in. I'd told him earlier that he didn't have to shoot a bear if he didn't want to, we had lots of time to hunt so it didn't have to be this weekend. Well he had already noticed this one before I had. I whispered, "Do you want to shoot him?" A quick head nod was the response.
On Thursday during our target practice I'd explained to him where to aim for a quick kill and showed him a pic of a broadside bear on my phone so he could see exactly what I meant. After around 10 minutes at the bait which included a walk over underneath our tree, the bear headed back to the barrel. He finally turned broadside and Gage wasted no time. It looked like an excellent shot. The bruin bawled a few times as he ran off, but we heard no death moan. The poor kids hands were shaking so bad LOL. I looked over the footage a few times, but the smoke from the muzzle covered the bear at the shot, so it was impossible to tell. We got down and went to the barrel, and found no blood.
I asked Gage,
"Did you make a good shot?"
"I'm pretty sure I did."
We looked for about an hour and a half before we left for the night. Gage told me twice more, "I think I hit him good."
I decided we had better head back in the morning and look again, even though I was starting to think he might have missed. All 5 of us combed the bush where we had last heard him. After about an hour and a half, my buddy Darcy finally spotted the bruin in some dead willows. We all went over to him and looked him over. Sure as sh*t just like he had said, Gage hammered the bear right in the lungs. No exit wound and just a touch forward into the shoulder. He still made it around 125 yards from the bait, laid down and died. We never found a single drop of blood anywhere other than when we rolled him over. All in all it was a great weekend. He says he want to come with me and shoot a deer now!
We left camp to hunt around 4:30 Saturday. On the way in we saw a bear on the trail about halfway to our stand.
We were sitting up in the tree by 5:30. After around 30-40 minutes Gage was getting bored. He was fidgeting and moving around trying to stay comfortable. I told him if his legs were sore he could stand up but try to be as quiet as possible.
Well at about 7:20 I look over to the side and see a bear coming in. I'd told him earlier that he didn't have to shoot a bear if he didn't want to, we had lots of time to hunt so it didn't have to be this weekend. Well he had already noticed this one before I had. I whispered, "Do you want to shoot him?" A quick head nod was the response.
On Thursday during our target practice I'd explained to him where to aim for a quick kill and showed him a pic of a broadside bear on my phone so he could see exactly what I meant. After around 10 minutes at the bait which included a walk over underneath our tree, the bear headed back to the barrel. He finally turned broadside and Gage wasted no time. It looked like an excellent shot. The bruin bawled a few times as he ran off, but we heard no death moan. The poor kids hands were shaking so bad LOL. I looked over the footage a few times, but the smoke from the muzzle covered the bear at the shot, so it was impossible to tell. We got down and went to the barrel, and found no blood.
I asked Gage,
"Did you make a good shot?"
"I'm pretty sure I did."
We looked for about an hour and a half before we left for the night. Gage told me twice more, "I think I hit him good."
I decided we had better head back in the morning and look again, even though I was starting to think he might have missed. All 5 of us combed the bush where we had last heard him. After about an hour and a half, my buddy Darcy finally spotted the bruin in some dead willows. We all went over to him and looked him over. Sure as sh*t just like he had said, Gage hammered the bear right in the lungs. No exit wound and just a touch forward into the shoulder. He still made it around 125 yards from the bait, laid down and died. We never found a single drop of blood anywhere other than when we rolled him over. All in all it was a great weekend. He says he want to come with me and shoot a deer now!
