Z71&Gun
Lil-Rokslider
I'll start:
Our black bear opened here in Washington on August 1. I scouted a new area over the summer, narrowed it down to one ridge and a couple drainages. My buddy and I scouted the area for ripe berries the third weekend of July. I set up camp, checked the spots and made the plan on July 31. My hunting partner and I spent 3 HOT days getting wrecked by mosquitos. We saw 6 bears but weren't able to connect all the dots before he had to go back to work. I moved camp on the night of the 3rd to be closer to where we were seeing bears. I spent the evening glassing from inside my one-man tent to get a break from the mosquitos. Next morning I hiked for an hour in the dark with the plan of getting down closer and "mixing it up" with the bears. Idea being that it will be easier to connect the final dots if I'm under 100 yards away.
About 90 minutes after first light I saw him. Well, I saw the tops of the saplings he was knocking down. I watched, listened and paralleled him for the next hour or so. I got the occasional glimpse as the giant boar calmly crashed through the brush at about 100 yards. I set up for a shot a half dozen times as he side-hilled through the valley. His path was on a diagonal toward the closed logging road I was on. Eventually, I thought, he'll cross my path.
As he was closing in from about 40 yards on the left side of the path, a smaller bear presented himself right in front of me at under 30 yards. I knew I didn't want to shoot the smaller jet black boar and spook my dream bear. I aimed at him out of fear just in case. As he reached the tall grass strip in the middle of the two-track, he looked left, saw me and turned 180 bounding back into the thick brush.
The sound of the smaller bear seemed to anger my boar. He charged toward the road and began chomping and woofing in Jet Black's direction. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! He was within 25 yards down trail and hung up 10 yards back in the brush. Rested on the bino saddle on my Bog Pod, eye in the scope, I stood for what seemed like an eternity as the big cinnamon boar chomped and woofed and made short, fast bursts toward the road.
He finally showed himself! Just his head and neck emerged broadside. I steadied on the base of his head, breathed out and squeezed. The shot went off and the bear hit the ground as I reached the bottom of my breath.
I let the mosquitoes eat while I tagged him, skinned back his underside, made the rug cuts and gutted him. I hurried back to the truck for my "offroad adventure dolly." The pack out process was arduous even with the wheels. I couldn't believe how heavy he was. It was like hauling my gun safe 3 1/2 miles through the woods, except the bear wanted to roll off and rub on the ground or the wheels. I was careful to protect the hide and less careful about hernia prevention. I used my folding table as a ramp to get him in the truck. I tied him to the bed corners just long enough to surround and cover him with ice such that he'd be in a workable position if rigor set in during transit. Then I cut the rope to prevent rubbing, covered him and the pile of ice bags with a tarp and more ice. Then I headed home on an absolute HIGH.
Stats:
79" nose to tail
81" claw to claw
100 pounds of trimmed meat after a bit of meat loss
15 pounds of fat
Skull: 18 7/8
I have a bunch of better photos but all are screenshots from video since I was by myself using a tripod. Can't figure out how to post them. File too big.
Our black bear opened here in Washington on August 1. I scouted a new area over the summer, narrowed it down to one ridge and a couple drainages. My buddy and I scouted the area for ripe berries the third weekend of July. I set up camp, checked the spots and made the plan on July 31. My hunting partner and I spent 3 HOT days getting wrecked by mosquitos. We saw 6 bears but weren't able to connect all the dots before he had to go back to work. I moved camp on the night of the 3rd to be closer to where we were seeing bears. I spent the evening glassing from inside my one-man tent to get a break from the mosquitos. Next morning I hiked for an hour in the dark with the plan of getting down closer and "mixing it up" with the bears. Idea being that it will be easier to connect the final dots if I'm under 100 yards away.
About 90 minutes after first light I saw him. Well, I saw the tops of the saplings he was knocking down. I watched, listened and paralleled him for the next hour or so. I got the occasional glimpse as the giant boar calmly crashed through the brush at about 100 yards. I set up for a shot a half dozen times as he side-hilled through the valley. His path was on a diagonal toward the closed logging road I was on. Eventually, I thought, he'll cross my path.
As he was closing in from about 40 yards on the left side of the path, a smaller bear presented himself right in front of me at under 30 yards. I knew I didn't want to shoot the smaller jet black boar and spook my dream bear. I aimed at him out of fear just in case. As he reached the tall grass strip in the middle of the two-track, he looked left, saw me and turned 180 bounding back into the thick brush.
The sound of the smaller bear seemed to anger my boar. He charged toward the road and began chomping and woofing in Jet Black's direction. RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! He was within 25 yards down trail and hung up 10 yards back in the brush. Rested on the bino saddle on my Bog Pod, eye in the scope, I stood for what seemed like an eternity as the big cinnamon boar chomped and woofed and made short, fast bursts toward the road.
He finally showed himself! Just his head and neck emerged broadside. I steadied on the base of his head, breathed out and squeezed. The shot went off and the bear hit the ground as I reached the bottom of my breath.
I let the mosquitoes eat while I tagged him, skinned back his underside, made the rug cuts and gutted him. I hurried back to the truck for my "offroad adventure dolly." The pack out process was arduous even with the wheels. I couldn't believe how heavy he was. It was like hauling my gun safe 3 1/2 miles through the woods, except the bear wanted to roll off and rub on the ground or the wheels. I was careful to protect the hide and less careful about hernia prevention. I used my folding table as a ramp to get him in the truck. I tied him to the bed corners just long enough to surround and cover him with ice such that he'd be in a workable position if rigor set in during transit. Then I cut the rope to prevent rubbing, covered him and the pile of ice bags with a tarp and more ice. Then I headed home on an absolute HIGH.
Stats:
79" nose to tail
81" claw to claw
100 pounds of trimmed meat after a bit of meat loss
15 pounds of fat
Skull: 18 7/8
I have a bunch of better photos but all are screenshots from video since I was by myself using a tripod. Can't figure out how to post them. File too big.
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