Need to track this dude down!

[Slinky Pickle]

This guy has shown up on a couple of different cameras and appears to be falling into a bit of a schedule. Time to go get him.

https://youtu.be/60FOsMGCX0E

Here's a few more that have been out and about too.

https://youtu.be/Onff2U0nf7E

[Rhyno]

Nice looking coat, certainly has a waddle when he walks!

[Slinky Pickle]

Nice looking coat, certainly has a waddle when he walks!

I think that's cuz his balls are too big. :)

[snipersights]

Awesome looking bear go get em man or I could do it for you if you want haha

[markomoose]

There some nice looking pepperoni waddling around Slinky.

[Grumpa Joe]

Post the coordinates and someone will take care of him.:-D

[russm86]

Definitely looks to have that swagger... lol

[MRP]

Definitely looks to have that swagger... lol
A John Wane won't-a-be I'm thinking.

["No Choke"Lord Walsingham]

Very nice Black Bear vids! Great to see, cheers folks right up.

Thanks

:grin:

[Slinky Pickle]

Well, it all came together last night. My buddy and I headed up the hill at about 3:30 with a plan to do a bit of walking and then be in a spot for sundown. We wandered about for a couple of hours but we were both thinking that we wanted to spend as much time as we could in the area where we had seen the bear on camera.
So, at about 6:00 we found ourselves settling in to sit for the evening... or so we thought.

We sat for about an hour but realized fairly early in the sit that we didn't have a great view of one area that we wanted to see. Slowly we got up and took a bit of a walk. We headed to the camera that I had got the pictures on because I wanted to check if there was any more activity. When we looked at the camera card, it was obvious that there were still lots of bears in the area but we didn't see the big guy.

Wanting to get back to a better view point, we walked back up to the base of a recent side hill cut block. There we would hunker in for the remaining daylight hours.

http://i67.tinypic.com/f0nam1.jpg

At about 8:00 we heard a heavy twig snap somewhere to our right, down at the base of the hill. There is a little depression there and we couldn't see into that little hole. We sat for a minute pondering what would have made a snap that loud. It was either a moose or a bear... but which? After a few seconds I decided to slowly stand up and see if I could see into the spot. Just as I got stood up there was another snap, this time directly ahead of us at the base of the hill. I still couldn't see anything with the binos though. All of a sudden there was a flash of black slightly to the left of center. It was a bear alright but I couldn't tell what size it was yet. It was right in front of us at about 30 yards heading towards an opening. All of a sudden it stepped into an opening and it was obviously not the bear we were looking for. It caught our wind and booked it for the slope. We watched as it scurried up and away from us. Just to see what it would do, I blew on my predator call a couple of times. That had no effect and the little bear kept going, now at a walking pace. Just as I started talking with my buddy (a little louder than I should have) we heard another SNAP... right in front of us.

Well, we quickly realized that there was still something in front of us at the base of the hill and it was a good size. After a couple more snaps, the big boar stepped up onto the base of the hillside. I knew instantly that this was the bear we had seen on camera. He was quartering slightly away and exposing his left side to us. I settled the .300 WSM just behind his left shoulder and pulled the trigger. He dropped where he was and rolled down the bank directly into a small water hole that was about a foot deep.

He ended up in a bit of an ugly spot so I drove down the road a bit and got my backhoe. It took a little maneuvering to get it into place but I managed to get it there without laying it on it's side. Once there, we hooked a few chains together and reached over the swamp. I lifted him up and out and drove out to a landing with him hanging off the hoe. It's kind of cheating but it sure made for an easy extraction.

http://i63.tinypic.com/i3w3h2.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/2vj8mr8.jpg

He weighed 285 lbs gutted with head and hide on. I will weigh the carcass later and post that as well.

I would just like to thank my buddy who came out and helped me with a pretty big task and then stuck with me until about 1:00 am when we finally walked away from it for the night. All in all, a great night!

Still reading??? Ok, here's another real cool bit. As we were dealing with the bear, one of my cellular trail cams sent me a text message. This camera is located about 60 yards directly behind where we were sitting in the top picture. I shot the big bear at 8:09 pm. The camera took a picture at 7:29... of a bear that was neither of the ones we saw. There's bears everywhere in this spot!

http://i66.tinypic.com/34oagbn.jpg


================= UPDATE ================


We took 16 lbs of fat off the bear to be rendered into grease. After that, the carcass as presented to the butcher weighed 180 lbs on the nose. I would estimate the gut pile to weigh about 50 lbs so that would give an estimated live weight of 335 lbs. I've also typically found that the carcass weight is about 1/2 the live weight and that would be 360ish lbs. Those numbers are close enough for me. He was easily a 325+ lbs bear.


For those of you that shy away from bear hunting, take a look at those numbers. In lbs of meat per bullet, you're really missing out on some very cost effective and delicious meat.

[chris]

Awsome spot you have there. What I would give to have had a backhoe for some of my extractions...

[Grumpa Joe]

Congratulations! That is awesome. It's sure nice when the plan comes together, especially when there is a backhoe handy to save a lot of wear and tear on the body. Well done.

[scotty30-06]

Hahah awesome story and ingenuity

[Slinky Pickle]

I have updated the hunt story to include the finished carcass weight.

[The Hermit]

Okay now I'm motivated. Going to get out this weekend for a day. Nice bear and good story! Thanks

[boxhitch]

Attago, nice bear. Kidney fat for rendering?
No surprise bears are concentrated down low with this late snow melt