Tagged a smaller boar this morning.
About to hit the highway. Story and all that good stuff coming this evening.
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Tagged a smaller boar this morning.
About to hit the highway. Story and all that good stuff coming this evening.
Good job! I like your stories, can't wait to read this one...
that aboy...
right on...
Right on looking for ward to the story and pictures.
Congrats sir! I got mine yesterday evening.. just posted my thread, can't wait to read about yours!Quote:
Originally Posted by caddisguy
Good show! Hope you all thin them down some.
I wouldn't be surprised if the boar I stumbled across has fed on his fare share of calves.. I'll continue doing my part, sits well in my stomach :)Quote:
Originally Posted by gcreek
Not a great story but here it goes
We headed out on Friday around noon. Stopped along the way for a sight-in as I had my rifle go for a good thunk while I was unpacking the jeep when we got home last trip. Rifle was fine but good to know for sure.
Got to our camp around 4pm and did what was said we were going to do in the 2018 bear thread. We were going to dedicate Friday to going after the bear that has been bothering us and failing that, we would go for "any bear" on Saturday.
We know where he likes to hang out sometimes but the only way to get in there unnoticed is if the wind is just right you can hike up a little mossy old growth knob that overlooks where he looks like hang out. Well, we hiked all the way up there and down, the wind was perfect and everything felt perfect like something was going to happen, but it didn't despite waiting for a couple hours. We covered a little ground for last night but turned up nothing. No bear, no deer, no ticks, hardly even any grouse drumming. Well, you know from the title... we didn't get that guy.
Well, off to bed, tomorrow is any bear. We set up our jeep nest and caught some zzzz's. We slept pretty late until around 7am. The thought of doing a 4:30am-8:30pm shift seemed a little daunting.
Anyway, we stumbled out of the jeep and wipe the cobwebs off our faces, tied up my boots and we went for a little stroll. Not 5 minutes from being in a full on sleep I am looking at a bear about 20 yards away. It's a smaller boar, but I think of the saying "don't pass up anything you wouldn't pass on up the last day of the season", so I am leaning towards shooting and he busts me. Nose in the air sniffing right at me. I line him up for an easy standing shot and WHAM. Bang-flop, or not?!
Always be ready to fire a second round. I usually am but I have bang-flopped enough bears I didn't think he would be able to anywhere. He jumps up and books through the thickest nastiest devil club and stinging needle infested crap and into the this drainage where I found the rubber boa snake a couple years back. The crackling didn't stop sudden. It faded away. I know we are in for some work now.
Waited a few mins (not long enough I know) then off we went following the blood trail of a wounded bear into the timber. To think I was still asleep 20 minutes ago. It seemed like he sprung a good leak, but it was on again off again and later more off than on. I would find the odd spec here and there and then the trail seemed to stop. Now I have to circle. I saved up hill until last but because it is least probable but came up with nothing. Now I am starting to get nervous. I start to climb up the side of this knob and I'm back on it. This is bad... up hill? Seriously? I went to turn my head to check on caddisgirl who is busting through all the crap below and I catch the bear in my peripheral, not 5 yards away under a rock ledge.
I'm not really pleased with how it all went down. So what happened? I guess I got a little jumpy when he busted me. Hit a little low and too far back through, luckily through the liver and did not breach the stomach in anyway. It all worked out, but wow that was a close one and after a flawless streak of bang-flops, I feel bad it wasn't instant. The meat score wasn't as much as I hoped either. It makes me appreciate shooting larger boars. Smaller ones seem to have the same amount of fat, fur and bone but I have taken 3x that amount of meat off other bears that "look" similar in size.
The good news? Fawn eater down and now me and caddisgirl get to go fishing. I'm probably done with bears for this year and next. I want to switch up the routine a little.
I'll post up some pics in the next day or two. It's a bit tricky because we filmed everything but didn't take any still photos. I'll grab some frames and post them up. The video is probably going to take a bit as we probably have hours of footage since the season opened (everything from being waist deep in snow to following the blood trail all the way to the bear) I have to review it to find the real goods to turn several hours into a good 5-10 minute re-cap of the season.
Hey Caddisguy glad you got a bear. And your a lucky man to have Caddisgirl to like to hunt to.
And especially nice that you didn't get any ticks on you this trip.
And good luck fishing oh so peacefull.
Good work caddises! (caddi ?) Glad you could finally get up there and barely by the sounds of it, I can't believe how much snow there still is in the hills of region 2. I've seen a similar shot on a bear back on the island, dangerously close to a gutter but took the liver on a quartering away angle. The liver bleeds like crazy its actually not all that bad of a shot they expire quickly. But agreed not the best having a choice. Anyways well done my friend enjoy those tasty meals 8)