Spring bear primer!!

[willyqbc]

Noone gonna help out with some spring bear stories?? OK, I will tell another

May 2010, a buddy of mine I met shooting 3d archery decides he wants to come up for 4 or 5 days of bowhunting for bears. Great! Lets do it! Buddy arrives around noon on a friday....checks his bow and we are off for an afternoon hunt to an area that i knew held some good bears. One in particular was a nice color phase, which I knew he would love to get. After a bunch of assorted sightings of runners and little ones on the way out, we arrive at the old deactivated road i was wanting to check and get geared up for the evening. Its about a km walk down the road before it opens into the old cuts... as we approach the first cut something catches my eye in the ditch about 100 yds into the block....something is moving!! Everyone takes a knee and up come the bino's....all I can make out is some rusty blonde hair right on the top of his back! What luck...its him...and the wind is perfect. Long story short...the stalk goes perfect, buddy gets set up and the bear obliges by wandering up on to the roadside offering a broadside shot at 37 yds if I recall....buddy ranges and comes to full draw....he's quite a capable archer so I'm assuming nothing but the best as I focus my bino's on the sweet spot behind the shoulder. I hear the shot and watch the arrow come in low and fluff the hair on his brisket....DOH!!! Obviously the bear takes off like a scalded cat....no hair, no blood and the video confirmed what I thought I saw during the shot. We spent the rest of the evening looking anyway, just to be sure...but there was no way around it...he was gone!
The next several days resulted in lots of bears sighted and lots stalked with no success. One stalk in particular was on a real cranker that I ended up getting 1 or 2 years later....can't remember, but thats a story for another day! So anyway, we're down to our last afternoon hunt and My buddy decides its his only spring bear trip out of the lower mainland...time to pick up the rifle. Sure enough....soon as the rifle is in his hands, the bear sightings dry up alltogether. We're now down to our last hour and slowly making our way out towards the highway in the truck. There are a few farms to go through and then one more spot to check before coming back out on the highway. We are just passing the first field on my left and there is a cranker standing in the middle of the field!!!! Buddy is lamenting his bad luck to see a bear like that on private property....but I happen to know theres a nice little open track behind the field that is outside the fence and on crown land....it is also the most logical direction for the bear to take leaving the field. So off we go, quickly and quietly we get in and pick our spot, where we can see the bear and have a good 100yds in front of us if he leaves the field before dark. The minutes tick by and this bear is very content right smack dab in the middle of the field....doesn't look like he's goin anywhere anytime soon...I figure we're pooched. All of sudden his head snaps up and he's staring hard to the opposite side of the field from us...."get ready...somethings happening out there". as I look back to the bear he is running full bore towards a spot about 70 yards in front of us....PWANG...I hear the barb wire as he blasts through it and before I know it he's breaking into our lane.....BOOM!!! Full somersault across the opening and he's up and running into the bush.....couple seconds later we hear the crash and death moan!! High fives all around, buddy is just stoked...but I don't think he realized the quality of the bear he just shot as he asked me...." whattya think? he's a decent bear eh?" ....."uhh YEAH!!! He's a beauty!!! Never did figure out what spooked him, but whatever it was, sure worked out for us!! I cant recall the actual measurement on this guy...but he was BIG and THICK!!



So there ya go...story #2....anybody else gonna help out and post up some stories??? Everyone keeps complaining there's too much BS and not enough hunting content....so lets load up on the hunting stories. It don't matter if you've posted it before...POST IT AGAIN!!!

Chris

[willyqbc]

dragging sucks balls

I was younger, stronger....and less intelligent then!! Have since discovered that big chunks in a pack frame is MUCH BETTER!!!

[REMINGTON JIM]

Great stories Chris Hopefully we will be making a NEW one this spring ! The 416 is ready to go ! LOL RJ

[HarryToolips]

I've always found dragging a heck of a lot more work. Skin, quarter, and put on your back. You're going to have to skin and quarter it anyways.

Couldn't agree more....great thread...

[willyqbc]

We'll see what we can do about getting that 416 some work RJ

[todbartell]

May31, in the evening my partner & I hiked up a grassy deactivated road which winds up a hill through the timber to the top of a cutblock. 1/3 the way up we spotted a small sow feeding towards us, she got to 21 yards but he didnt want to shoot it with his bow even though it would of been his first archery kill. We kept going up to the top and spotted another bear, he walked across the road feeding and we could tell right away he was a much bigger bear and worth a close look.

We crept up there and got to where he was but he was gone. Then we heard WOOF WOOF and CRASH CRASH CRASH as it ran away through the timber. He must of smelled or heard us approaching. We sat behind a log for 5 minutes to listen and wait but the bear seemed to be long gone, so we walked down another 50 yards and partner took a piss and then we sat on a log and quietly talked.

Then I heard some cracking in the bush above us and I could see some small trees swaying only 20 yards away then WOOF WOOF WOOOF WOOF but we couldnt see it because we were about 20 feet below it on the road. I could hear the bear going to our left in the cutblock above us, so we slowly moved down the road when I spotted him cutting across the hillside 60 yards away. Then he sat down and watched me, my partner was below me in ditch, couldnt see bear. I motion for him to move slow and he does, he gets to where he can see the bear which is still sitting on its ass watching me

After a couple minutes it snorts and gets up and begins to run off, parnter yelled and it stopped broadside at like 60 yards and he fired, arrow hit low and into the dirt, the bear, he takes off into the bush running, we could hear it crashing and getting further away for a minute or so.

We walked up and got his arrow out of the dirt, walked back down to the road and carried on along the grassy road in the cutblock, we made it about 200 yards from where we last seen the bear. We stopped for a rest and I could hear some branches breaking in the bush above us, 75 yards away.

A minute or so later after some more noise, we spot it stepping up onto a blowdown with its front legs, watching us, my parntner says "shoot that **********!" so I raise my rifle but as I do so, Mr Bear drops off the log and out of sight behind the brush. WOOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF
crash crash
WOOOF WOOOF WOOOF WOOOF
this went on for about 3 minutes

I can hear the crashing getting further off to the right, heading back the way we came, so we begin to go back along the road. There is a big rock cliff between where we were and where we last seen it, and I figured he was circling back trying to get out wind, which was perfect btw, heading downhill the whole time

We get back to the other side of the cliff, standing there for 5 minutes or so when I hear a branch break above us. I hear another branch break, a minute later my partner whispers THERE he is
as he steps out of the timber to the edge of the block. He has us pegged, staring right at us, & there is a ****ing small spruce tree between me and him! in my way.

I slowly side step until clear lane
lift up, he is facing me dead on at about 75 yards.
I level it center mass and sent bullet on it's way. Due to the recoil I didnt see what happened but my parntner was watching through his 10x swarvoskis and said it bowled him right over backwards and he spun and took a jump and disappeared behind a blowdown. I reloaded from shoulder like Camp Cook! and was ready to start WWIII!

I could hear some brush breaking but no movement. After 10-15 seconds there was no sounds. We slowly made our way up to the edge of the timber, he made it about 10 feet from point of impact & fell in a slight depression behind a blowdown

nice boar, 5'7" from nose to tail, 79" from front paw to rear paw across its body. So 6'1" square. This was my first bear I've pulled the trigger on since 2003. I messed up and forgot to sit 5 feet behind it for the pics, sorry!

[LYKTOHUNT]

Sorry I have no story or pictures as all my past bear hunting has been bear hunting but hoping to never see any, but we always do in which case we quickly turn our back and go the other way, so as to avoid getting sweaty and dirty but this year I am actually going to try to shoot one.I have an old Husky 9.3x57 that I have fixed up some that I think would be great on a bear

[Numenor604]

Cool hunt stories willyqbc!

I've got one from last spring : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUf84DULMkM

I apologize in advance for the foul language and less than stellar videography skills. I make these vids mostly for my own amusement. Cant wait for this Spring . Good luck everyone.

[willyqbc]

Now we're talkin!! Bitchin story bartel!!! How old is that story...you look about 12 in the picture!! Haha!

Thanks for chippin in numenor! Beauty bear there!

Keep it goin folks...lets get some more bears up!!

Chris

[REMINGTON JIM]

Good Storey Mark Nice Bear RJ