Dukeoflawnchair
05-21-2014, 11:37 PM
Interesting turn of events that really proved how much jam a bear on adrenalin has.
Before the long weekend, I randomly decided to buy a black bear tag. I didn't plan on getting any hunting done this spring, but figured I'd buy one just in case an absolute cranker presented itself to me.
The weekend started as a group of 12 of us (aged 24-30) going to the cabin for a shindig. This cabin is available for public use and was regularly used by snowmobilers throughout the winter (one of whom thought it would be funny to shoot out a window from the inside, but that's a different story). Being right up against the rockies, there was plenty of garbage revealing itself everywhere as the snow melted.
Naturally, early the next morning, despite our garbage collection, a black bear decided to come to camp and see if it could still get a snack. It managed to find something that we had missed, and was hunkered down and enjoying what it could. 12 people and 2 dogs in camp, and this bugger couldn't care less about our presence. Nor did it care about our token attempts to scare it off. Knowing that the next users who booked the cabin were summer students and that families would be using it later, I decided I might as well cut my tag.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t275/Dukeoflawnchair/bear_zpscbd93800.jpg
I had brought a .458 Lott to play with as a novelty, but knew it shot straight - so I loaded a Hornady DGX (500gr, advertised ~ 2400fps) and pulled the trigger. It was a clean "anchoring" shot - through one front shoulder and both lungs. It knocked him on his side, but you wouldn't have been able to tell by how quickly he recovered and started running / tripoding. He managed to get about 100 yards into a large swath of blowdown before hunkering down and realizing he was dead. It amazed me - with one shoulder missing and sheer destruction through the chest cavity...
When I first saw him, I figured he might be 3-4 years old. I'm by no means a professional when it comes to this sort of thing, but after skinning and butchering, I'm thinking possibly a few years older. He likely just very recently came out of hibernation, and he had some healthy sized paws and bone structure.
The funny thing is one of the others (a teacher) posted the above picture on facebook. Within the day, there was probably two dozen comments from people telling us how horrible we were for shooting the bear and how everything about us was bad karma.
I'm sure they'll be happy to continue buying their meat at Safeway where it's made in packaged form.
Before the long weekend, I randomly decided to buy a black bear tag. I didn't plan on getting any hunting done this spring, but figured I'd buy one just in case an absolute cranker presented itself to me.
The weekend started as a group of 12 of us (aged 24-30) going to the cabin for a shindig. This cabin is available for public use and was regularly used by snowmobilers throughout the winter (one of whom thought it would be funny to shoot out a window from the inside, but that's a different story). Being right up against the rockies, there was plenty of garbage revealing itself everywhere as the snow melted.
Naturally, early the next morning, despite our garbage collection, a black bear decided to come to camp and see if it could still get a snack. It managed to find something that we had missed, and was hunkered down and enjoying what it could. 12 people and 2 dogs in camp, and this bugger couldn't care less about our presence. Nor did it care about our token attempts to scare it off. Knowing that the next users who booked the cabin were summer students and that families would be using it later, I decided I might as well cut my tag.
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t275/Dukeoflawnchair/bear_zpscbd93800.jpg
I had brought a .458 Lott to play with as a novelty, but knew it shot straight - so I loaded a Hornady DGX (500gr, advertised ~ 2400fps) and pulled the trigger. It was a clean "anchoring" shot - through one front shoulder and both lungs. It knocked him on his side, but you wouldn't have been able to tell by how quickly he recovered and started running / tripoding. He managed to get about 100 yards into a large swath of blowdown before hunkering down and realizing he was dead. It amazed me - with one shoulder missing and sheer destruction through the chest cavity...
When I first saw him, I figured he might be 3-4 years old. I'm by no means a professional when it comes to this sort of thing, but after skinning and butchering, I'm thinking possibly a few years older. He likely just very recently came out of hibernation, and he had some healthy sized paws and bone structure.
The funny thing is one of the others (a teacher) posted the above picture on facebook. Within the day, there was probably two dozen comments from people telling us how horrible we were for shooting the bear and how everything about us was bad karma.
I'm sure they'll be happy to continue buying their meat at Safeway where it's made in packaged form.