Mrs.Elkhound
05-09-2007, 10:59 PM
The begining of a new adventure.....
I thought that it was not going to happen this spring because I was
expecting my fourth baby.
Dave told me that we could go out and get me one, so the last 2 weeks we were out there looking for the perfect one almost every night. I had lots of opportunities but I felt they were too little and I wanted something
bigger.
I thought to myself that I was running out of time with me now 7 1/2 months pregnant and I knew that I couldn't go on too much longer without shooting my bear. So I decided that I wouldn't be as picky and I'll shoot a nice average bear not the big one that I wanted. I was spoiled though cause Dave and the guys took so many big ones last year.
The night started off ok, we went up to one of our favorite spots and
noticed a bear but he noticed us then took off. I was getting excited
thinking that was the one.
An hour went by of not seeing anything, not even a deer. We looked in
another area and came back and all of a sudden my 9 yr olddaughter yells
out "BEAR, BEAR,BEAR" "Over there!" We looked and yes we noticed a bears back! And only it's back. Dave and I couldn't believe she saw it. We quickly parked and set up within 50yrds of the truck cause all 3 kids were in it......quality family time you know.
Dave was hoping the bear would feed down towards us. Dave decided to go further up and cut across to scare him down to me. Dave comes back and tells me he is at the top feeding away....and it's bigger than most we have been seeing. That made me happy. I agreed that we would walk up the hill to get a better shot, I fell during the stalk but landed on my ass...it hurt but Dave was like..."come on, lets go" "You okay?" "lets go then" It was only minutes and we were in front of this beautiful animal.
All the ones I had an opportunity with just didn't seem right but this one was the one. Dave has been testing me with pictures from magazines on shot placement and where I need to hit to make a great shot so I
stood there, waited for that shot while Dave set up and worked the video
camera and his gun, then the moment, it was good. I told Dave I'm ready and then I shot him....the bear, not Dave. Hahahaha
The video tells the rest and it shows the bear launching itself off a
cliff. It was dead but did not know it yet.We waited knowing it was hit well but we were losing light fast. Dave looked over the cliff that goes straight down more than 400ft. And so thick you can only see 15ft most times. Dave called a buddy on the cell....."Hey, we need ya.......bring your .444" But Dave went in as we were still losing light. But it was dark because of the tree canopy. No blood trail to follow, especially in the dark but Dave heard him breaking twigs and tracked him straight down by sound and put a finisher in him. Dave said the bear would push off with his rear legs and roll like an armadillo further down the cliff. Dave went down and took care of the bear and made sure it was really dead. By the time Dave made it back up his friend had arrived and had just started looking for him. It was way down at the bottom right near a river so
it was nice and cool....so instead of working in the dark we took care of it
the following day after Dave and friends got off of work. here are some
pictures. We used over 350ft of rope in the recovery. Special thanks to Dave, some hunting buddies including HBC member Symon and my brother for the use of his quad.
Oh, and Dave said details so I used a 30-06 with a 180gr Hornady
Interbond home load......so Dave tells me. The bear measured 5ft 10 nose to tail....not a monster but a great start.
Dave will post it when he figures out how to do all that...Camera is new
and Dave is still trying to learn it all.
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/dwelkhound/004.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/dwelkhound/003.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/dwelkhound/001.jpg
Okay......see if the video link works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpO-EXC82XA
I thought that it was not going to happen this spring because I was
expecting my fourth baby.
Dave told me that we could go out and get me one, so the last 2 weeks we were out there looking for the perfect one almost every night. I had lots of opportunities but I felt they were too little and I wanted something
bigger.
I thought to myself that I was running out of time with me now 7 1/2 months pregnant and I knew that I couldn't go on too much longer without shooting my bear. So I decided that I wouldn't be as picky and I'll shoot a nice average bear not the big one that I wanted. I was spoiled though cause Dave and the guys took so many big ones last year.
The night started off ok, we went up to one of our favorite spots and
noticed a bear but he noticed us then took off. I was getting excited
thinking that was the one.
An hour went by of not seeing anything, not even a deer. We looked in
another area and came back and all of a sudden my 9 yr olddaughter yells
out "BEAR, BEAR,BEAR" "Over there!" We looked and yes we noticed a bears back! And only it's back. Dave and I couldn't believe she saw it. We quickly parked and set up within 50yrds of the truck cause all 3 kids were in it......quality family time you know.
Dave was hoping the bear would feed down towards us. Dave decided to go further up and cut across to scare him down to me. Dave comes back and tells me he is at the top feeding away....and it's bigger than most we have been seeing. That made me happy. I agreed that we would walk up the hill to get a better shot, I fell during the stalk but landed on my ass...it hurt but Dave was like..."come on, lets go" "You okay?" "lets go then" It was only minutes and we were in front of this beautiful animal.
All the ones I had an opportunity with just didn't seem right but this one was the one. Dave has been testing me with pictures from magazines on shot placement and where I need to hit to make a great shot so I
stood there, waited for that shot while Dave set up and worked the video
camera and his gun, then the moment, it was good. I told Dave I'm ready and then I shot him....the bear, not Dave. Hahahaha
The video tells the rest and it shows the bear launching itself off a
cliff. It was dead but did not know it yet.We waited knowing it was hit well but we were losing light fast. Dave looked over the cliff that goes straight down more than 400ft. And so thick you can only see 15ft most times. Dave called a buddy on the cell....."Hey, we need ya.......bring your .444" But Dave went in as we were still losing light. But it was dark because of the tree canopy. No blood trail to follow, especially in the dark but Dave heard him breaking twigs and tracked him straight down by sound and put a finisher in him. Dave said the bear would push off with his rear legs and roll like an armadillo further down the cliff. Dave went down and took care of the bear and made sure it was really dead. By the time Dave made it back up his friend had arrived and had just started looking for him. It was way down at the bottom right near a river so
it was nice and cool....so instead of working in the dark we took care of it
the following day after Dave and friends got off of work. here are some
pictures. We used over 350ft of rope in the recovery. Special thanks to Dave, some hunting buddies including HBC member Symon and my brother for the use of his quad.
Oh, and Dave said details so I used a 30-06 with a 180gr Hornady
Interbond home load......so Dave tells me. The bear measured 5ft 10 nose to tail....not a monster but a great start.
Dave will post it when he figures out how to do all that...Camera is new
and Dave is still trying to learn it all.
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/dwelkhound/004.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/dwelkhound/003.jpg
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m137/dwelkhound/001.jpg
Okay......see if the video link works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpO-EXC82XA