One hunt in the books, one less bear on the mountain. Pumped to put meat in the freezer! Ive not posted on here before but I've been lurking and learning from you all.
So I feel I got pretty lucky on this one, especially for my first time out. Spent 5 hours Friday morning hiking up to 'base camp', it was gruelling terrain, minimal trails and 2600' elevation gain. Beautiful country though, and saw half a dozen bucks and a dozen doe, so marking this spot for the fall! After an hour or so of getting settled into camp (and recovering from the first real hike I've done in a year) with my two buddies, I take a minute to glass up the mountain. Boom, right there in a large open spot this guy was just grazing.
The three of us quickly grab our gear and hustle up to where he was, took us maybe an hour to get where he was last seen. We ride the treeline in the direction he was moving when I spot him coming out of an adjacent treeline. We are now 50-60 yards away. We watch him for 15 mins, debating whether he was big enough, whether it was a male, whether I wanted to clip my tag so soon into our trip. As we go over all of this, he is grazing his way towards us so a decision had to be made. I almost passed on him when a blondie walks out behind him. Beautiful colour but not looking too healthy, bare spots on her hide and she was small in comparison. That size difference was all I needed to turn this guy into a shooter. Probably 30 yards away at this point I take the shot, blondie looked like she was going to make a move on us when we all stood up and she bolted. The boar goes for a run about 50 yards, lays down, rolls down the hill a little and I hit him again. Done deal. An amazing experience getting so close to these animals, and the meat is delicious! Not decided on what I'm doing with the hide, I'm in Langley if anyone has recommendations on where to take it, thanks in advance!