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Thread: The Burn part II: One last shot

  1. #1
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    The Burn part II: One last shot

    For the folks with no time to read, scroll down for the video. For everyone else, get the bourbon out and enjoy...it's gonna be a long one.

    Caddisguy guaranteed I would see a bear in this burn. At the time I remember wishing that was a real guarantee that I could hold him to and not just a phrase, little did I know how serious a Caddis guarantee is.


    My girlfriend Kat had wanted to come hunting with my son and I for a while now, she's made overnight trips with me before but we've never gone out as a family so we had planned to do that on the weekend of the 21st...I would be tied up the following weekend so this was going to be our final chance at putting a bear in the freezer before the season closed. We both booked the Friday off work and I chose to take us to the region 3 burn my son and I had hunted 4 weeks prior. No bears were spotted that time around but we saw loads of sign and set up a trail cam while we were there. Figured this would be more of a family camping trip, a hike in to check the cam, and a stroll through the burn with my bow than anything else since I've been struggling all spring just to lay eyes on a bear in a legal hunting area...of course in the back of my mind I hoped this would be the time things finally came together.


    We drove up Friday morning, parked my 2WD, 2 door Cavalier at the bottom of an old overgrown fire road and began hiking in. The road goes up about 2.5km, the burn begins at 1km and continues to the top. I looked back at historic satellite imagery on Google Earth to see if I could find out when the burn happened, it only goes back to 2004 though and it was already burned at that point. Any resources to help satisfy my curiosity would be much appreciated.


    The trail cam is at the bottom of the burn on a game trail that had lots of sign last month, only one bear and two mule deer on the card though. Also not seeing many scat piles on the road anymore, not sure what happens to them over time but piles that were there a few weeks ago had disappeared, every pile of moose droppings was right where I had stepped over it before though. Getting a bit discouraged with the lack of sign we continued to slowly make our way up to the top as we planned to camp right near the end of the road. Berries are everywhere up there and should be ripe pretty soon, will be a great summer for the bears but with the lack of sign on the road I'm thinking they may be up higher now. Oh well, I know I'll still get to spend some quality time with the family and at the end of the day that's what really matters...or is that just what bad hunters say?

    Last edited by 45freezer; 07-01-2019 at 11:09 AM.
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

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  3. #2
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    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    I set up camp while my son collected wood, I figured I would let it cool down a bit and go for a poke around 4. Kat just wanted to hang out in camp while we hunted so off we went back down the hill, moving as slowly and quietly as possible. About half a KM down the road Blake flushed his first blue grouse, definitely gave him a shock and a half. I explained to him that even though it would be easy to bring it back as camp meat, the season is closed right now for a reason and that ethics are about what you do when nobody is around to see. He could appreciate that and explained the same thing to Kat later when she asked who would even know if we ate one...moments like that make me one proud dad, lets me know he's picking up what I'm putting down and that he's onboard. We didn't see any bears that evening or even one fresh pile of scat but every rotten stump we saw was torn apart, every rock was flipped over, and there were broken saplings with fur on them everywhere. They've definitely been around here but that doesn't help us if they've moved on to greener pastures already. Around 9 we were both getting a bit tired and hungry so we headed back to camp feeling somewhat defeated by the utter lack of fresh sign. How do these animals that everyone describes as the most easily hunted species in BC keep outsmarting me? I must be the worst hunter since Elmer Fudd. A fire, some freeze dried mesquite BBQ chicken and a few hours of sleep was just what the doctor ordered to get a bit of motivation back.


    Sunrise came early, I had slept in my clothes so I could jump out of bed and get going right away and that's exactly what I did. Checked the wind and slowly started making my way in the favorable direction, slowing down to a snails pace whenever I would come to corners or areas with more visibility. There's a spur road that branches up into another section of the burn and I decided to check that area on the way down. The amount of broken saplings on this road was unreal, almost every one was snapped, some had dead needles past the point of the snap which I assume indicates being from a prior season, some on the other hand were entirely green though which in my mind says they're from this year, correct me if I'm wrong. Loads of moose sign in here, one of the unbroken saplings looked like it had been rubbed at with antlers and I began to wonder if the broken saplings are even from bears or if an angry bull had just torn that section of the road up. Saw a rock flipped over that had to weigh at LEAST 60-80lbs though, definitely been bears around.



    I walked the grassy road down to the bottom of the burn to pick up some water we had staged there and also trim away some foliage that had been giving false triggers on the trail cam. Spent about 15 minutes doing that and came back to the road just as the morning thermals were beginning to get a bit swirly. I sure had taken my time hunting my way down, it was already 11. Figured I would head back up, eat breakfast and maybe take a nap before the evening hunt. On the way up I flushed a couple more mama grouse, those sure can scare the bejeezus out of you when you're moving slowly and waiting to run into a bear at close range.


    All that slow walking sure worked up an appetite. The mountain house biscuits and gravy is one of my favorite breakfasts, Blake must have been a tired cowboy because he was just starting to get up. We sat down to eat breakfast together while Kat made herself a coffee. I was almost done my mountain house when I heard some loud crunching in the timber less than 100 yards from camp, Blake confirmed that he heard it too. A minute later I heard it again and decided to go investigate with bow in hand. I crunched my own way off of the road and into the burn where the trees are sparse. I took note that it would be impossible to get close enough to see whatever is making the noise without it knowing I was there from my own noise, at that point I could hear breathing that sounded like a dog and my mind said bear. I know people have huffed bears in but that they can come in pretty pissed when that's the case. If Blake had been beside me I wouldn't have tried this but I figured with him being back at camp with Kat I would give it a try. I let out one loud "HUFF" and a second later saw a flash of reddish brown fur pass between two trees. I know there are color phase bears up there but for whatever reason that threw me off, if it had been black fur I think I would have drew back right then but my mind told me to wait until I know exactly what I'm looking at. As I was thinking that a huge color phase bear broke the timber at 15 yards looking left and right for the bear that he was about to fight, walking straight towards me. He was so close I could see the scars all over his face growing closer as his eyes stared through me. I drew back and centered my pin between his shoulder blades but before I could put my finger on my release I saw his eyes focus on me, watched him realize what was going on, spin off and crash back into Neverland. Blake heard that and thought I had "taken a tumble," amazing how those things can kick it into gear at the drop of a hat like that. I tried to call him out but he seemed to have ran into the next time zone...so much for that nap, my mind had been made up to pound that timber until dark.
    Last edited by 45freezer; 07-01-2019 at 11:32 AM.
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

  4. #3
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    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    Caddisguy had recommended I try poking in and out of feeding spots periodically throughout the day...only problem was the spots that were prime feeding areas a few weeks before were just like almost every other part of the mountain at this point. There's no better fresh sign than a pissed off bear at spitting distance and he has to be eating somewhere, I just have to figure out where. I asked Blake if he thinks that bear lives around here or if he's just cruising through looking for a sow, he said just cruising through...shucks, the kid tends to be right at least half the time. No reason to give up though, we decided to let him cool off for a bit then see if we could call him in. "A bit" didn't end up being very long, about 20 minutes later we set up on a game trail (more like a game highway) that he seemed to have been coming down from. I spent about 30 minutes calling with no action, it was so dry in there I wasn't worried about anything sneaking up without us being well aware ahead of time. Went back to camp for some water and to regroup, about 15 minutes later I heard some sticks snap and looked up to see a mule deer doe coming in to investigate the distress calling. We watched her for a few minutes before she hopped off, we went and looked at her tracks and they were within 10 yards of where I had been calling from...unreal satellite ears on those things.


    Now that I knew how loud it was when they're moving through the dry timber I decided we would take it from a snail's pace to molasses, play the wind and hope that we hear one before he hears us. We poked in and out of the timber and checked on all the vantage points we knew of, more chickens busting out of the grass here and there but not a bear to be seen or a snapping stick to be heard. Despite all the mosquitoes in this spot it's nice being in places with more animals than people, I feel like I can finally hear myself think whenever I'm out there.


    Around 6 Blake was starting to get hungry and I realized I hadn't eaten since breakfast either. I figured he might want to spend the evening with Kat while I hunt until dark (long day as last light was supposed to be around 9:30) so we went back to camp to eat. I didn't have much appetite for a full meal even after all that hiking through blowdown, I still had that color phase from earlier on my mind. I quickly inhaled a chocolate coconut probar and got a hug and kiss for good luck from both my hunting partners before nocking an arrow and heading into the timber.



    At the end of the road where we had camped, the burned out timber meets the reprod Christmas trees. I had explored the timber quite a bit to the north and west but hadn't checked out the eastern edge of the burn where it meets the reprod as it's a lot thicker than the burned out timber stands, a close range run in would not be fun in that stuff...I decided to parallel that and just see where it goes though. About 150 yards from camp the pines opened up a bit and there was a small knob on my right with a couple big burned out trees on them. I crept up there and saw a few old dry piles of bear poop...more of the same, nothing fresh. The view was amazing though, I always feel awkward doing this but I put my phone on self timer to take a "sophisticated selfie" to remember that moment, a true trophy place...the photo sucked and this is exactly why I don't attempt that much but this photo has signicance that will come into play later.



    The hill ended with more pines at the top so I went to head back down and continue up the timber, a set of claw marks about 8ft up the tree caught my eye. On the burned out bark they stood out like fresh birdshit on a black car. I remember wondering if maybe that color phase had chased some subordinate bear up that tree...my son never got to see him but based on my description named that bear "Cinna-scar." I decided to blow a few blind calls and see if maybe he might be lurking within earshot.


    I blew 3 quick calls and immediately saw a bear eagerly hop down a hill at 45 yards or so out of the corner of my eye. He disappeared into the reprod and I realized he would most likely reappear from the pines right behind me. I quickly crashed down the hill and into the burned timber stand where visibility was a bit better, I got 30 yards or so between me and the bottom of the hill and waited with my ears wide open...silence. I blew a few more calls but still silence. At that point I thought I had blown another opportunity for sure by crashing so loudly down the hill, something told me to be aggressive on this one though. I slowly snuck back over to where I had last seen him, while I was walking I could hear my arrow rattling in my dropaway rest, I looked down and saw my cam was resting against my right leg it was shaking like a lap dog shitting razor blades. I shot my first bear at 20 yards last spring with the same bow and was surprisingly calm, that time I had a friend with a .300 mag 20 yards behind me though and despite it sitting in the scabbord I think it gave me an extra sense of confidence. This time was a different story, I was nervous as hell but I took a deep breath and carried on. I crept back and scanned the timber like a type writer...I thought I had lost him at first when all of a sudden my eyes landed on exactly what they had been looking for all spring.
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

  5. #4
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    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    I spotted him at the top of the hill he had hopped down a moment before, I guess he had heard me run down the hill and ran back up to the top himself to assess the situation a bit better before committing. He was sitting on his hind legs like a big dog staring down the hill at me and I heard him let out a single huff. I've heard that noise a million times in videos and knew what it sounded like well enough to huff in that cinnamon earlier but had never heard it before in real life...I could not believe how loud he projected that noise at me, it echoed down the hill and met my eardrums like the crack of a rifle. The wind was in my face so I assumed he thought I was another bear coming to get that fawn...the game is on. I slowly reached in my pocket and traded my distress call for my range finder, raising it to my eye as slowly as I could I ranged him at 75 meters (83 yards, bow is sighted in for meters.) I needed to get him within 50, ideally within 30. I slowly reached in my pocket and pulled the call back out and as I did it lightly tapped against my rangefinder. I saw him react to the noise, he wasn't spooked or anything but I couldn't believe he heard such a small noise at that distance. I slowly brought the call up to my mouth and blew another 3 cries, he instantly jumped down the hill about 20 yards, I clipped my release on the string but as soon as I stopped calling he lost interest and started wandering back up the hill. I brought the call back out and started up again, 3 at a time, bring him in 10-15 yards, lose interest, repeat. Once I saw him disappear in the reprod I took that opportunity to trade the call for the rangefinder one more time and range a burned out stump on the hill where I thought he may pop out at. With the angle compensation it was 27 meters (30 yards) away and I crossed my fingers that's where he would pop out. Pulled the call out for the final stretch and started hammering on it, just as luck would have it he popped out directly behind the same stump I had just ranged...no idea if that was luck or killer instinct. He was peering over at me trying to see where the sound was coming from, I kept calling to see if I could bring him in 10 more yards but he was holding up on the edge of the reprod, quartering toward me. This is it, now or never. I clipped my release on and drew back, praying that he wouldn't run off at the last second like big red earlier in the day. He wasn't running, he was quartering hard though and offering me nothing but his shoulder blade. I've worked my way up to a 70lb bow and I'm confident in the arrows I've built up to do the job on a less than marginal hit for this exact reason but I still didn't like the shot angle. I also had a tree limb blocking his lungs about 10 yards in front of me so I took a small step to the left and cleared it. I floated the pin, put my finger on the release, slowly squeezed my back muscles together...the shot broke and I waited to see my lighted nock sail his way.

    Except I didn't see any lighted nock. I didn't hear a thwack. I didn't see him react in any way. What happened? Did my adrenaline get to me? Did I use the wrong pin? Did I miss? As all these thoughts flooded through my brain I finally heard a WHACK and saw him flinch hard, he immediately took off running to my right, directly into the reprod. I guess time must have slowed down tremendously, my shots impact almost immediately at 30 but it seemed like an eternity between the shot breaking and impact and legitimately felt like I could have counted 10 Mississippi's.

    Immediately I could tell that wasn't really the hit I wanted. The noise it made told me I definitely hit bone, I assumed I hit the shoulder blade and really hoped I got enough penetration to get the job done. I shoot huge mechanicals for bears to give me the best blood trail possible, it also helps if you accidentally hit a bit far back, the real potential downfall however is hitting bone. I've increased my total arrow weight to counteract that the best I could but at that moment I really wished I had hit him with a small diameter fixed 2 blade for maximum penetration. I immediately checked the time...7:09pm. I marked my GPS position and stood a large branch up against the log in front of me to mark where I had shot from. I gave him a few minutes then snuck up to where he had been standing to see if I could find my arrow or any blood/fur. No arrow in sight, I started looking for blood but couldn't find any of that either. Am I in the wrong spot? I looked down the hill to where I had shot from, I could see the branch but the limbs that had blocked the vitals were in the way so I took a step to my right...this is exactly where he would have been when I shot him. I ranged the branch and it was exactly 30 meters away, I had used my 2nd pin and shot him for the perfect distance. I looked over in the direction that he ran and was faced with a solid wall of pines. My heart began to drop...even if I did hit him good will I even find him? My last bear died 11 yards downhill from where I shot him and didn't leave one drop of blood on the ground so this was my first time with an issue like this on my hands, the anxiety started to creep up like an awful smell.

    I slowly walked the 200 yards to camp, the whole time trying to wrap my head around the fact that after all the hiking and bushwhacking over the past two days both bears were spotted right by where we were camped. I got back, told Kat and Blake "there's a bear over there," and pointed to the reprod. I saw Blake's eyes light up and his eyes followed my finger. "Cross your fingers that he's dying right now" I finished. They said they had both heard me calling, Kat said she even saw me run down the hill to reposition from where she had been sitting, she also heard the shot but had no idea what was going on over there. We kept our ears wide open listening for a death moan but heard nothing. I ate another probar and went back in for a better look for blood and my arrow.

    For the life of me I couldn't find one drop of blood. If I could find one I was sure I could find more but I was coming up empty handed. I slowly walked over to the wall of reprod, half expecting him to burst out at the last second like a pesky grouse but it never happened. I combed the pine needles for blood from right to left but couldn't find any. I couldn't see any disturbance in the firm ground either, how the hell am I going to grid search this entire burn? How far could he have ran? I'm not even 100% sure how my hit was but I'm not very confident in it at this point. Is it possible it just hit his shoulder blade and stopped cold? Could it just be a flesh wound that he'll shrug off tomorrow? No because where would my arrow be, I still haven't found it anywhere. I searched and searched as my heart sank lower and lower. Part of me considered hiking out and driving a few towns over to see if my son's grandpa (on his mom's side) knows anyone with a dog and a quad that would help us out. I started to realize how dehydrated I was and that I left my water bottle at camp so I trudged back over there feeling like I was going to throw up. Kat and Blake could tell I was upset and offered to come help me look. I showed them exactly where I hit him and the direction he ran in, they began to look for blood as well. Kat kept asking if I was sure he went downhill and I told her yes, when I shot that's the direction he ran. She told me she thought she had blood by the Christmas trees at the top of the hill, I admittedly hadn't looked very well over there since I watched him run to the right. Walking to where she was I noticed a tree that would have been blocking my view of him from where I shot, could he have spun and made a 90° turn as soon as he left my vision? I looked down at the leaf she was pointing at and saw a single dark pindrop. I always pack a small spray bottle of peroxide in my kill kit for this exact reason, one quick spritz was enough to tell me this is what we've been searching for as it bubbled up instantly. After the shot he had indeed ran to the right but as soon as he made it behind that tree he had cut to his left and gone up through the pines.


    The trail was slow at first, one drop at a time, then 2, then small splashes on the leaves, most of it was dry at this point and the peroxide came in handy distinguishing dried blood from black dots on the leaves. Every few trees I would tie a piece of flagging tape to the top in case we lost the trail and had to go back. About 30 yards in I moved a branch out of the way and was staring at my glowing nock sticking out of a hole in a bush...is that him? Binos up, I see the arrow but all I can see behind it is black. I told Blake to stand up on a stump on the top of the hill behind me and watch for any movement as I slowly moved towards my arrow.
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

  6. #5
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    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    No bear on the other end of the arrow, it's sticking in the dirt tip down. I pulled it out and examined it, all 3 blades looked to have deployed, I only had 16-18" worth of penetration but I know that's more than necessary to kill him and it looked like blood had pumped out with enough pressure to reach all the fletchings. I put it back in my quiver and we carried on following the yellow brick road.


    After the arrow popped out he really started to bleed. I thought maybe he had lay down to rest shortly after that looking at the size of one of the pools...he can't be far now. Just after I had that thought I realized the trail began to go uphill. I've heard that mortally wounded animals will never go uphill and I began to worry again. Another 50-60 yards of steady pools like the one I had just seen though and I realized this was all coming out at a dead sprint as there was no difference in dryness/coagulation. At that point I felt comfortable with Blake taking the reins, I had made sure he keep his distance with Kat until then but once he was on the trail he was better than a bloodhound. "He went here, ran past here, ran over here, and HE'S RIGHT THERE!!!" I looked where he was pointing and sure enough the bear was piled up in a small depression in the hill. I got most of the blood tracking on my GoPro but the battery died before we found him, I would have loved to get his reaction on video. We were ecstatic, it looked bleak there for a while but we did it. Now the real work starts!





    First I wanted to see where I hit him, I had aimed right for his shoulder to try and punch through that and get into the lungs but had apparently impacted about 3" to the right and hit him directly in the neck, the ground had been painted from him garden hosing out of his jugular/carotid and the whack I heard was my chisel tip broadhead hitting his spine...I'm amazed that he ate that and ran off like Bo Jackson, those animals are so tough it's unreal. At 30 meters on a foam bear my son will tell you I'm money every time but I guess adrenaline is one helluva humbler, hopefully next time I hold it together a bit better but I'm glad this one all worked out in the end.

    I checked the time as the light was beginning to fade, it had taken us over 2 hours to find him and it was about to get dark. The adrenaline had all left my body at that point and the last thing I wanted to do was spend the night elbow deep in a bear in the middle of a burn that's crawling with other bears by myself with no rifle. I did my best to drag him down the hill to where I could possibly get him out to the road but there was too much blowdown in the burn, I got him about 30 yards before I couldn't get him any farther. Tough decision to make but I decided to leave him overnight and come deal with him first thing in the morning, it had been pretty cold in the mountains the night before so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.

    We went back to camp and I rehydrated us some honey lime chicken and rice. I didn't have much of an appetite even after a 17+ hour day and my phone telling me I burned 3300 extra calories just walking (without factoring in the backpack I've had on and bow I'm carrying) so I let Blake power most of it back. I guess Kat could tell I was stressed out about the meat spoiling, I thought she was just going to take a pee but a minute later I see her come running back up the road. She said she had gone to check on the bear and got huffed at. I told her not to go back over there and proceeded to yell at the top of my lungs that him and his pals better stay the hell away from my bear tonight. If I was stressed before though now I was sweating bullets, as soon as the sun came out I would be over there to check on him.

    At first light I jumped out of the tent and grabbed my pack. I had slept in my clothes so I could get at it right away, before I could leave Blake was crawling out too though and asking if he could come. I told him to let me check on him first and I would come right back and get him if there's nothing on him. The walk to the end of the road seemed to take forever, I entered the burn and began walking up the hill while yelling at hypothetical bears, listening for any crunching and watching where I remembered leaving him. I created a small slope and there he was, didn't look like anything had touched him. I went over and touched him, he wasn't ice cold or anything but there was no warmth left anywhere. I had dragged him to the worst place in the world for photos, we snapped a self timer photo or two to the best of our abilities but it looks like we were trying to play "big fish" with the bear even though the photos I captured really don't do the size of his head any justice. The body on this one was roughly the same size as the one I shot last year but the head and paws were both quite a bit bigger. The teeth on this bear looked to be in much better shape than last year's but the face and head shape makes me think he might have been a few years older. Either way I'm happy with him and excited to run him through my new smoker in all kinds of different ways. First I have to get him out of here though!



    I gutted him while Blake helped by keeping his ears open and hold a paw here and there. Didn't take as long as last time so I'm getting it I guess but still a long process for sure. The guts didn't feel warm, Blake said he saw "smoke" (steam) once, I didn't see it and they really didn't feel warm enough for that but it was a chilly morning so maybe he was right. I started skinning him for a rug and quartering him as I went, no hacksaw this time so I had to slice around the ball joints of the wrist and pop the paws off, that definitely took a bit longer than I would have liked and proved to be the hardest part but I finally got them all done. I laid down a strip of tyvek that had served as our ground sheet the last few nights and placed the quarters on there to start to dry and started to try and get the rib racks off with my fixed blade knife. It's easy to pop the ribs in the middle with a knife but I couldn't find any sweet spot where they connect to the spine so I asked Blake to go back to camp and get my Stihl pack saw. That thing is amazing for wood, not so much for bone but it worked in a pinch...now I just have a lot of cleaning to do and a packable bone saw to invest in. Found the tenderloins, cut those out and did the same with the backstraps, not the prettiest job ever but it will definitely work. Blake had been asking how we're going to do the heart on this guy and suggested we try playing with a different recipe so I scooped that out of the gut pile and added it to the tyvek. The sun had poked out from the mountains about an hour prior and Blake had ran back to camp to grab our tarp to create some shade. I loaded the meat into game bags and put two quarters in the meat shelf of my pack, time to start ferrying. Took a couple trips but I got all the quarters, ribs and roasts down to camp and came back up for the head and hide. That head was heavy as hell, I knew it was looking like a whole other trip back up from the vehicle to get the hide, I was confident we could get all the meat down in one shot but I didn't have any ice with me. I told myself I already have a rug and I had only planned to get this one soft tanned anyway, it was also "just" a typical black bear with no real character features and a touch of rub on the hind legs. I made the decision to leave the hide and get everything home and in the fridge as soon as possible...not before taking the head and all the neck meat though, I also want to try doing braised bear cheeks this time around. Made my way to camp with the last load and we divvied up meat and camp. Kat took a quarter and one rack of ribs, Blake took the other rack, the tenderloins and backstraps and they went on ahead while I finished packing up. I took camp and the rest of the meat plus that big pumpkin head. When I went to stand up I felt like the weight of the world was pulling me back down, it took 3 attempts just to stand up. Up until a year and a half ago I was strong like bull, then a vehicle accident knocked me out of my prime and I've been slowly trying to regain some of my old strength ever since...this was my biggest challenge since, here goes nothing.
    Last edited by 45freezer; 07-03-2019 at 08:23 PM.
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

  7. #6
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    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    One step at a time, I was pouring sweat within 20 yards. I made it about 1km down before I realized I had made a mistake by putting two game bags in my meat shelf instead of transferring it all to one bag. I guess just enough of one had worked its way out the side that a quarter was now swinging around behind me at the bottom of my pack. I had been moving like a slug on salt anyway so I took my bag off and dropped the bag with two quarters in it, put my pack back on and began moving again. It was like the moment your knees break the waterline when running to the shore of a lake, finally I could move again. I went into a trance and one foot fell in front of the other until I could see the vehicle. Put the meat in the shade, emptied my bag to lighten the load a bit more and marched right back up to where the other 2 quarters were. Blake had come up with me and snapped a great pack out photo on the way down.



    We didn't get home until about 6pm but I immediately got as much meat into the fridge as I could fit, the rest went in my big cooler. Monday I could tell that the temperatures weren't being kept even enough in the cooler so I cleaned it up the best I could and got it all in the deep freezer. The backstraps, tenderloins and ribs all looked and smelled great, the quarters looked ok but definitely had a bit of a smell to 3 of them, hopefully it's just one of those trim a bit away deals but I'll let Ullie sort that out. Friday night I brined some backstrap, yesterday I made up a coffee rub and gave it a good massage and it's sitting in the smoker as I type this. Will give an update once I give it the taste test!





    Definitely some valuable lessons learned. Glad that I built my arrows for the worst case scenario and not just for an ideal hit, I'm sure he still would have died if I had been shooting a small diameter fixed blade but I highly doubt I would have seen anything like the blood trail the 2" mechanicals left, without that I may not have recovered him in time to salvage anything. I was right about getting quite a bit less penetration when these hit bone but they performed great and got more than enough penetration to get the job done. Will try for #3 in the fall and apply all the lessons learned, I definitely feel much more confident in blood trailing now and know I can get meat out of some nasty places on my own steam if need be.

    The story to the "sophisticated selfie?" In that photo my boots are within 2 yards of where he was standing when I arrowed him...taken just minutes prior to the shot breaking.

    It's incredibly tough putting all this stuff together as a first generation hunter without a real mentor, I'm sure some of you know all about that. The feeling is also incredibly rewarding when it all comes together though, I feel beyond blessed to have been able to harvest 2 bears with a bow in my first 2 years hunting, hopefully there's more to it than just luck. Thanks to everyone that's helped out with tips and info along the way, a huge thank you to Caddisguy for always answering my dumb obsessive bear questions, give me a couple more harvests and we can compare on-site butchering methods...I did get half a time lapse of me skinning and quartering him. I also put together a video of our weekend to the best of my abilities, consider it a trailer for our short film titled "The South Slope" about the nuance of bear hunting in BC. If you have a YouTube account be sure to subscribe and follow us on our journey honing this killer instinct to a razors edge.

    Update: the bear turned out great, went a touch heavy on the salt in the rub this time but the meat was nice and tender, definitely picked a good bear...realistically though he picked me. Regardless it went tremendously with some Buffalo Trace, lemonade and smoked ice cubes. Happy Canada Day fellas!

    Last edited by 45freezer; 07-01-2019 at 11:30 AM.
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2011
    Location
    langley
    Posts
    997

    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    Nicely done, good write up on your bear.

    Pics and video put us there with you, good job.
    Finland is a neutral country - but the guns point to the east.

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2009
    Location
    Port Alberni
    Posts
    14,203

    Thumbs up Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    Indeed Nicely Done alright!
    Great tale, very well presented, and the pix / video just enhance it even more.
    Congrats on your second of what I am certain will be many!
    Awesome to have your Young Gun in on it and enjoying as much as he obviously was!

    Cheers!
    Nog
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVNNhzkJ-UU&feature=related

    Egotistical, Self Centered, Son of a Bitch Killer that Doesn't Play Well With Others.

    Guess he got to Know me

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    The Ville, B.C.
    Posts
    5,627

    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    Nicely done, enjoyed the ride along.

    Good call on the Buffalo trace, even though you mixed it with lemonade.

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Dec 2016
    Location
    Burnaby
    Posts
    325

    Re: The Burn part II: One last shot

    Quote Originally Posted by RiverOtter View Post
    Nicely done, enjoyed the ride along.

    Good call on the Buffalo trace, even though you mixed it with lemonade.
    Don't knock it until you try it, no idea if it's a thing but I like it, especially with the smokey ice cubes.

    Thanks boys, I figured the visuals would be an asset, nice to have captured some of those emotions permanently.
    "You can learn more about hunting with a bow in a week than you could in a lifetime of gun hunting" - Fred Bear

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