Beer Belly-The Final Chapter

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Well, after pulling the plug on our weekend grizz hunt, I decided to concentrate on local blackies as I had two extra days booked off.
I hadn't seen Beer Belly for almost two weeks and had almost given up hope on finding him.
I went and found another bear in a different area that caught my eye. He was a honey blonde with darker legs maybe pushing 6 1/2'. Calvin L came over to help me find him but glassing conditions were horrible in high winds.
After a call from GoatGuy, I decided to meet him back in Beer Belly's former hang out. Moments into glassing I saw a large black bear slip into the timber from a long ways off. He was further off than when Boxhitch and I put a stalk on him that was later deemed "way to friggin far"!!
We were able to spot 4 other bears of various colors. All of a sudden BB made his appearance and started walking into a much more favorable position. He just kept coming and coming until GG told me to get moving as daylight was burning quickly.
After running into two other bears on the stalk, I finally had BB in my crosshairs8) . One shot and my new load out of my .270(140gn TSX) put the "Fat Ba$tard" down for the count!!
Got back to the truck at 1:30am and headed back for the meat today.
Not many people I know would choose to hunt black bears in a hell hole like that, but I believe that a trophy is judged by the effort you put into it.
I have to thank all those that have been willing to help me over the past few weeks- Boxhitch, Calvin L, Lorenzo, Jann and finally GoatGuy. All standup individuals8) !!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Beer_Belly_005.jpg (http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/showphoto.php?photo=7844&ppuser=1509)
SSS

[todbartell]

great determination, congrats

show us more pics!

[BlacktailStalker]

Thats a nice bear! Nice shot, nice caliber and nice choice on the tsx!

[HighCountry]

Nice blackie congrats on the bear.

[Gateholio]

Nice bear, well done...

Great pic, too. 8-)

[Elkhound]

magnificent bear......please tell me you will post more pics

[Fisher-Dude]

Good job SSS. Ya stuck with it and it paid off! Now we just have to get GG to put some hair on the ground...put some WD40 on that Rusty Trigger!

[Dirty]

Good Job! We need more pictures of the big bugger.

[quadrakid]

nice bear and nice pic, know please show us some more pics.

[one-shot-wonder]

Good effort Steve, determination paid off! Nice to see you finish what you started.:)

I presume you have already taken it into Harley's shop? What are your plans for it?

Post the skull measurement when you get it. Looks like a big melon!8-)

I just wish I could have been there to be in on it! Damn this work thing!:cry:

[Freshtracks]

Nice SSS ... looks like BB has quaffed his last pint. :p

[bsa30-06]

magnificent bear......please tell me you will post more pics

What he said.........PLEASE!!!!!!!:lol:

[dana]

The title of this thread is vaguely familiar. :lol: Congrats SSS. Looks like a HAWG! Can't wait to see more pics.

[one-shot-wonder]

I went and found another bear in a different area that caught my eye. He was a honey blonde with darker legs maybe pushing 6 1/2'.
SSS

Let me know if you need help finding "Blonde Belly"?
I love chasing blondes!:lol:

[MattB]

Nice bear and sounds like a memorable hunt!:)

[Jetboater]

sweet old bear, looks like we might be going fishing!!if you enter it in the other contest!

[30-06]

nice lookin bear.congrates

[Rookie]

Right on SSS. That`s one good lookin bear! Congrats.And more photos please.

[Pete]

Way to go Steve!!!! I was out with Boxhitch today and said you had got him last night. Well done!!!! Please post some more pictures if you have them and the green score as well.
Cheers
Pete

[boxhitch]

Good one SSS. The work to get him around to your way of thinking finally paid off. Looks like he is all there still ? No spring diet for him.
Need some more stats, once the buzz wears off. :)

[tufferthandug]

What a fuggin dandy bear!

[mark]

Nicely done man, looks like a fat head to me! How long did he measure? Any tape on the skull yet?
(Hell hole??? looks like a nice grassy okanagan slope to me! :wink: )

[GoatGuy]

Congrats again!

Nice to see that brute force and ignorance errrrr..... I mean persistance paid off!

[LeverActionJunkie]

Nice bear SSS definately a quality Blackie right there. Congratulations. :)

[steepNdeep]

AWESOME BEAR & HUNT!! When I saw your email from the wee hours last night, I knew it was gonna be good... He looks he had some serious smorg' action at the salad bar since that vid' of him last year...

With the effort that you put in on that bad boy your a hands down winner of the steepNdeep prize pack'... (the blisters and aches to remind you for weeks of a great hunt...) Actually Goatguy could give you a run for that prize after stompin' some serious grizz miles on the weekend and then packin' 100's of lbs of someone else's pepperoni... Hopefully he chased some tail of his own in between... 8-)

[calvin L]

SSS great job after talking to you right before you went after BB I thought we would be up there to night . Good thing we are not as the wind would screw it up . Great job on the hunt . You know I am always ready for a hunt or to be a pack mule . (IF KIM WILL SAY OK ) one shot this 2 will be you .I wish I knew GG was up there late I would have brought up some pops and some A535 for you LOL:wink: Any meat left from the other bears or was it a short light pack today ?

[Murder]

Beauty bear. Nice and fat. Good on ya. Where did you hit him, and on what angle, also did you recover any bullet? What you gonna do with him? Full Mount? How far was he?....details SSS, details. :):):):)

[Brambles]

Congrats SSS, terrific bear, we will be needing some more pictures of course.

Did you get it on film?

Brambles

[goathead]

Great bear SSS.Hard work pays off

[Will]

Rockin Bear ! http://usera.imagecave.com/BCWILL/Smilies/rockOn.gif
Congrats !!! 8)

[gameslayer]

Congratulations Stonesheep .I love to hear success stories that were created through hard work and perserverance. It makes the memory of the hunt that much more special. A die hard you are.

[BCrams]

Hats off to your persistence SSS - thats one nice looking bear! Hell of a way to put an end to an exciting hunt for BB !! Look forward to more pictures !!

[Sieg-MM]

Set it up and knock it down. Good on you SSS, looks like a dandy!

Did GG even pack a weapon or just his pack board :lol: Not sure why he didn't sqeeze off on the honey blonde. Your next GG... I have a feeling this May Long your going to crumble and pull the trigger. Keep it steady my friend.

[Krico]

Congrats on a great bear, looks like he has quite the melon on him!

[brno375]

Well done SSS. The bear looks a lot bigger than when glassed through the spotter. Maybe just get the hide tanned until your grizz draw either expires or is filled?

[pmj]

Congratulations. Great bear. Thanks for showing how its done. Hidden camera video from last season8) , a portrait of the two of you this season8) 8) .
Here is the video for those who have not seen it. I have it on my favorites on how to recognize a shooter! It doesn't get any better. http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h281/StoneSheep/Critter%20Clips/?action=view&current=Cap0011.flv

[tracker]

Looks like another "OKANAGAN MONSTER BLACKIE " :wink:
great to see some bears hitting the dirt,awsome choice of gun and bullet
congradulations SSS.

[Mr. Dean]

ANOTHER NICE BEAR!!!!????

Man I'm counting down the sleeps - 4 more before I go...

Need some #'s. Lets hear it!

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Thanks all!!
It was an adventure, that's for sure. It's gonna have to be quite the bear to get me to do that again:roll: .
Sorry, only took 5 quick pics and most look like the one posted. I was over there alone, only had a 4" tripod, couldn't move him(except to roll him down the hill) so my photo options were very limited.
He only squared a little over 6 1/2'. Not a long bear by any means, but when we layed him out, his belly side flaps reached out to within a foot of his paws. He was morbidly obese!
I just threw him in the feezer for now so I don't have any skull measurements. I did a pretty brutal job fleshing him out over there as it wasn't easy wrestling with him on that slope with all that fat in the dark.

It was a high lung shot the clipped the far shoulder and he only went 30yds or so. The bullet completely passed through so I don't have a cool pic of a TSX to post. I'm still convinced they work pretty good. Good thing I stopped using partitions or GG would have never helped out:p .

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him. I'll just get him tanned for now as my taxidermist is using a new tannery that uses a new process where it's one tan for rugs, life and half size mounts. You don't have to decide until the last moment. I'm only going to mount one blackie so I'll keep collecting tanned hides for the pegboard until I get a bear that really stands out. I've got two mounts getting done right now and still have a grizzly hunt coming up quick. I definitely don't need any more taxidermy bills this year:roll: .
Thanks again to all those guys the helped out! Pretty cool to have friends like that8) .

SSS

[The Hermit]

Congrats!!

[Gateholio]

Make sure you enter it into the bear contest..You can add the measurments later8-)

[Will]

...he only went 30yds or so.
...... Good thing I stopped using partitions or GG would have never helped out:p
Well with a Partition he'd have likely only made it 29 yards......not 30 :lol:

Well done again......A Great Bear ! 8)

[Pete]

Hi SSS Again congratulations on your Bear. If you are going to get him tanned stay away from the tannery in Vernon they are terrible. Contact Boxhitch and he will tell you how to get hold of me and I will fill you in on on the details.
Pete

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Hi SSS Again congratulations on your Bear. If you are going to get him tanned stay away from the tannery in Vernon they are terrible. Contact Boxhitch and he will tell you how to get hold of me and I will fill you in on on the details.
Pete
Pete
Harley sends all of his stuff down to a tannery in Detroit. They are by far the best tannery he has ever used. In fact, he is now the Western Canadian shipper for them.

SSS

[horshur]

Good job Brent!!!!!!

[Kechika]

Black Bear spts for boat rides??Awsome bear almost look "Cartoon" like

[StoneChaser]

Awesome bear...you earned him!

[JMac]

Brent that's a konger of a bear. Good hunt and a great trophy!