landphil
06-02-2014, 05:18 PM
I haven't posted any sort of hunting success stories on here in many moons, either because I'm a crappy hunter, or have crappy luck with hunting as of late. Or should I say HAD crappy luck. Victoria Day saw me out and about with a bear tag to cut, and cut that tag I did. Not much of a story really, he was quickly spotted while glassing a cutblock with a grassy old road across the bottom, about 600 yards out. A careful stalk saw a few tense moments as the wind was shifting in multiple directions; he reared up to sniff and look in our direction, then dropped down and repeated the process facing dead straight away from us. We breathed a sigh of relief as he returned to feeding, and we narrowed to the gap to 150 yds and got ready.
What seemed like ten minutes (probably less than one minute) passed before he grazed his way out from behind a willow bush. He changed directions about 6 times before making up his mind where the greener grass really was, and eventually he presented a clean broadside shot. The trusty Savage 110 in 7RM barked, the 160gr Accubond flew true for a perfect heart/lung shot, and after his best efforts to escape, he expired about 50 feet away at the edge of the timber. After a waiting period, we advanced and quickly found this:
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1034_zps24197756.jpg
It's amazing to me how small even a decent bear looks at first, but once pulled out of the hollow and into the open, his true size was discovered.
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1052_zps19e324bf.jpg
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1053_zps032211bd.jpg
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1041_zps78d97f5e.jpg
What seemed like ten minutes (probably less than one minute) passed before he grazed his way out from behind a willow bush. He changed directions about 6 times before making up his mind where the greener grass really was, and eventually he presented a clean broadside shot. The trusty Savage 110 in 7RM barked, the 160gr Accubond flew true for a perfect heart/lung shot, and after his best efforts to escape, he expired about 50 feet away at the edge of the timber. After a waiting period, we advanced and quickly found this:
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1034_zps24197756.jpg
It's amazing to me how small even a decent bear looks at first, but once pulled out of the hollow and into the open, his true size was discovered.
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1052_zps19e324bf.jpg
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1053_zps032211bd.jpg
http://i946.photobucket.com/albums/ad301/landphilsite/100_1041_zps78d97f5e.jpg