hparrott
05-18-2015, 05:14 PM
I was lucky enough to start this season off early with getting my first game ever (a black bear on May 6th). I just came back from the interior today and I am even more excited to be bringing home a second bear...especially because I did this one all on my own. It was a great feeling picking out all the different sausages and meats that you want when you get to the butchers. I decided to even try ribs even though the butcher said most people don't cook up the ribs.
I started out on Friday, by doing a bit of road hunting with my folks and my dog (Mr. Fred) near 70 mile house. I hate road hunting in a vehicle, but I can't complain about being offered help. We came across 2 bears while we were out there, all cramped up in the truck, and we came across several BIG scat piles, so I was pretty excited about what we were seeing.
As Friday afternoon came to an end, we came across the first of two bears, which was a bit of a beast. I saw him on the move at about 150 yards from the truck, but I was jammed in the back and couldn't get out. By the time I kneeled down on the road and had him scoped in, he had peeled out at a high rate of speed and flew up an embankment on a tall ridge. It was both impressive and a gentle reminder when I saw how fast he could really move. At the top of the ridge, he sat there looking at me for a good 20 seconds or so, as if he knew he was safe, but even though he just sat there I decided not to pull the trigger as I wasn't sure that I could make it over the ridge to get him if he ran after being shot. I was bummed about this one as he was a beast of a bear. I decided to walk for a few kilometers out of the truck after this and as the sun was getting closer to setting I jumped back in. There were wolf tracks all over so I was happy to get back into the truck now, given I was walking on my own, and my shorkie was just as happy to see me and appeared to be equally hating being stuffed into the back of the truck. Just when I got back in though, we came across a second bear. The 2nd was not as large as the first but had a bright white diamond on his chest. I struggled to get out of the back of the truck a second time and then once I sighted in on the bear I again decided not to shoot but this time because it was nearing last light and he was an easy 250 yards into fallen trees from an old clearing. The bear just sat there and looked at me before walking off. I figured that would be the last bear I saw over the rest of the trip and loathed in self-pity as we drove back to the cabin.
On Saturday morning, I decided to get up for first light and headed back to the same area. I didn't notice any new scat and walked and walked and walked just glassing over different hillsides and recently logged areas. I saw several deer and even some fresh moose tracks but no bear. After about 3 hours I decided to hop back into my vehicle and head back to where I saw the 2 bears the night prior. Passed the first spot....nothing. Reached the second spot...and there he was, in the same spot as the night prior. The bear was completely oblivious to me being there and I saw him at least 300+ yards ahead of me as I approached on the distant road, and he was in the grass eating. I jumped out of my vehicle and over the course of about 30 minutes, slowly made my way closer and closer to the bear. After each step, I thought, surely he is going to see or hear me....but nothing. I got to nearly 100 yards of the bear and finally squatted down and rested my 270 up against a tree and waited. I wanted to make sure I had a clean shot because I knew it was a couple hundred yards to the road and I knew I would be lifting this guy up and over trees and didn't want to make this any more difficult than it had to be. It seemed like an hour before I took my shot and I was getting anxious about him noticing me, but it was probably only a few minutes... and then down he went.
After the shot, I went back to my vehicle and gathered all my tools and visited my shorkie who seemed to understand what had just happened. I gave the bear a good 15 minutes before approaching him and even then I was very nervous. It seems a bit silly now, but at the time I anticipated for some reason that he was going to jump up and attack me, and maybe that was just my nerves from knowing no one was around, but I slowly approached with one in the chamber just in case. He was dead though thank goodness, and the one clean shot had gone straight through the heart.
It took me an hour and a half to field dress the boar between trips back and forth to my car and I felt a bit rushed as the sun started to heat up but I got it done. I didn't remove the hide until I got it back to the cabin, remembering how much difficulty I had getting the hair and dirt off with the first bear but I am not sure this made it easier. The hide weighs a lot...or at least it did for me. I am happy that with now having 2 bear under my belt I feel I can do a good job of field dressing. I only hope that I get to apply this in the fall to a deer, moose or elk. I am not sure what I am going to do between now and september........
I had trouble getting the pics up....
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5376&stc=1http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5377&stc=1
I started out on Friday, by doing a bit of road hunting with my folks and my dog (Mr. Fred) near 70 mile house. I hate road hunting in a vehicle, but I can't complain about being offered help. We came across 2 bears while we were out there, all cramped up in the truck, and we came across several BIG scat piles, so I was pretty excited about what we were seeing.
As Friday afternoon came to an end, we came across the first of two bears, which was a bit of a beast. I saw him on the move at about 150 yards from the truck, but I was jammed in the back and couldn't get out. By the time I kneeled down on the road and had him scoped in, he had peeled out at a high rate of speed and flew up an embankment on a tall ridge. It was both impressive and a gentle reminder when I saw how fast he could really move. At the top of the ridge, he sat there looking at me for a good 20 seconds or so, as if he knew he was safe, but even though he just sat there I decided not to pull the trigger as I wasn't sure that I could make it over the ridge to get him if he ran after being shot. I was bummed about this one as he was a beast of a bear. I decided to walk for a few kilometers out of the truck after this and as the sun was getting closer to setting I jumped back in. There were wolf tracks all over so I was happy to get back into the truck now, given I was walking on my own, and my shorkie was just as happy to see me and appeared to be equally hating being stuffed into the back of the truck. Just when I got back in though, we came across a second bear. The 2nd was not as large as the first but had a bright white diamond on his chest. I struggled to get out of the back of the truck a second time and then once I sighted in on the bear I again decided not to shoot but this time because it was nearing last light and he was an easy 250 yards into fallen trees from an old clearing. The bear just sat there and looked at me before walking off. I figured that would be the last bear I saw over the rest of the trip and loathed in self-pity as we drove back to the cabin.
On Saturday morning, I decided to get up for first light and headed back to the same area. I didn't notice any new scat and walked and walked and walked just glassing over different hillsides and recently logged areas. I saw several deer and even some fresh moose tracks but no bear. After about 3 hours I decided to hop back into my vehicle and head back to where I saw the 2 bears the night prior. Passed the first spot....nothing. Reached the second spot...and there he was, in the same spot as the night prior. The bear was completely oblivious to me being there and I saw him at least 300+ yards ahead of me as I approached on the distant road, and he was in the grass eating. I jumped out of my vehicle and over the course of about 30 minutes, slowly made my way closer and closer to the bear. After each step, I thought, surely he is going to see or hear me....but nothing. I got to nearly 100 yards of the bear and finally squatted down and rested my 270 up against a tree and waited. I wanted to make sure I had a clean shot because I knew it was a couple hundred yards to the road and I knew I would be lifting this guy up and over trees and didn't want to make this any more difficult than it had to be. It seemed like an hour before I took my shot and I was getting anxious about him noticing me, but it was probably only a few minutes... and then down he went.
After the shot, I went back to my vehicle and gathered all my tools and visited my shorkie who seemed to understand what had just happened. I gave the bear a good 15 minutes before approaching him and even then I was very nervous. It seems a bit silly now, but at the time I anticipated for some reason that he was going to jump up and attack me, and maybe that was just my nerves from knowing no one was around, but I slowly approached with one in the chamber just in case. He was dead though thank goodness, and the one clean shot had gone straight through the heart.
It took me an hour and a half to field dress the boar between trips back and forth to my car and I felt a bit rushed as the sun started to heat up but I got it done. I didn't remove the hide until I got it back to the cabin, remembering how much difficulty I had getting the hair and dirt off with the first bear but I am not sure this made it easier. The hide weighs a lot...or at least it did for me. I am happy that with now having 2 bear under my belt I feel I can do a good job of field dressing. I only hope that I get to apply this in the fall to a deer, moose or elk. I am not sure what I am going to do between now and september........
I had trouble getting the pics up....
http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5376&stc=1http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=5377&stc=1