Next day I skipped the day hunting, did some chores, had a couple beers, a bacon cheeseburger, had a nap, woke up at 430 and headed out. The clients had killed one now, so I had it in my head I was coming back with a bear. I saw a few 4 footers and then spotted a decent one at 250 yards. I was calling it 5ft 8 ish, I parked the truck, wind was good, I started sneaking up the ditch towards the bear. I was about halfway there when I heard a truck coming, the bear ran back in the bush as the truck passed they slowed to ask if I was alright. I got a bino harness, electronic ear muffs and a loaded tikka t3 super light 300 win mag with a muzzxle brake, the bipod extended, Im stylin lol. They carried on, I turned around walked back to the truck waited 15 minutes with no bear sightings. Part of the road/ditch was obsured by the dip in the road so I decided to drive by and set up on the other side of where the bear was as it had beter visibility. The wind wan't as good but I figured if I set up at 200 yards it would be fine. I waited 15 more minutes and sure enough the bear came right back out again. Im not the kind of guy with nerves of steel, I was excited to shoot a bear after a few years and my cross hairs were dancing all over the place. It was pissing me off. I had a perfect shot as the bear seemed tired and bored and actually sat down in the middle of the road. Back legs out, it looked funny actually. Just then I heard another vehicle. Tree planters, they didn't slow down, just cruised by. The bear went back in the bush.

Not 2 minutes later it was out again. At 207 yards my wind wasn't good. The bear kept looking in my direction. Not sure if he caught wiffs of me or if he just sensed something wasnt right, either way he seemed more curious than scared. After all this time I was calm. My only worry was trailing a bear into the thick stuff in the dark by myself. Without much debate in my head I decided on a kneck shot after witnessing the results the night before. In the last year Ive been reloading and shooting a lot. I was confident that if my cross hairs were steady, the bullet would land where I aimed. The bear stopped quartering towards me and I lined up center just under the chin. I squeezed the light trigger and the gun jumped, even with the brake I still lose sight in the recoil, I find the bear again and he hasn't moved an inch. I watched ready to send another round as he expires.

I drove up and was shocked by the amount of blood! Center of the road lol





I guess I hit jugular and it pumped all its blood out. It looked like a murder scene! Whatever happened I was happy there was not gonna be any searching or cutting and packing in the dark. It was a decent size bear, pics don't do it justice as there is no close reference for size. Not a super old bear, no forehead crease no broken teeth, no scars, but a big healthy bear that would keep our family in ground meat for a while. It was all I could do to drag him 4 feet to the side of the road. I found some ratchet straps in the back of my buddys truck and winched his back paws up over the tailgate, tightening one, re setting the other and vice versa till he was half up. I then grabbed him by under the arm pits and it took everything I had to swing him up onto the tailgate. I ended up pulling a bicep muscle. He was heavy.

He ended up being 6ft on the body and squared 7'3" as he had super long legs. I was slightly higher than him when I shot and found the 200 grain Accubond in his back strap. I'm now a big fan of the kneck shot and named this bear blood bath bear for apparent reasons. Love to be there when the next guy drives down the road lol