backcountry98
04-20-2020, 03:13 PM
With all the virus shit going on and economic political bullshit over whelming the media I have realized that this forum is in desperate need of some good hunting content. Now I have never written a story on here but have read several on stone sheep hunts, mountain goat hunts, bear hunts, alpine mulie hunts etc, and I always find it extremely intriguing. I always appreciate the time people take into sharing there stories with the rest of us fellow hunters. So I decided to write mine own. This is my May 2019 Spring Black Bear Hunt.
So I’m 21 years old and have been hunting for 11 years taking my fair share of Deer (3 Mulies, 5 whitetails) but have only dabbled a bit on spring bear hunting but have always seen lots around. Typically I spend my time of in the spring fishing the local lakes of the Thompson/Okanagan. But this year was a little different, I was almost out of deer meat from the previous fall, I had just graduated college and was yet to pick up a job so I had a little extra time on my hands. Middle of May rolled around and I met of with some good friends to spend a few days hunting up in Region 3. We spent some time behind the class picking out a few bruins from across a mild but wide drainage. We did end up putting a stock on one decent bear, but with the time to drive down and hike back up an hour had passed and the bear decided it had more important places to be and disappeared.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG-0457.jpg
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-0458.jpg
That weekend ended up empty handed but when I got back home in Region 8 I went out for a day. I was hoping to spend a few days just for the enjoyment of getting out but it wasn't required. I drove up a ways until my output shaft seal blew out on my truck. I turned around and parked pointing downhill so I wouldn’t drain the transmission dry. I didn’t want this to put a damper on my day, as there was hunting to be done and I will deal with the truck later. So I grabbed my pack and started hiking. On my way up into the burn I found some tracks and scat which brought up my mood. I got to the edge of a bench and sat down to glass. It couldn’t have been 10 minutes when I heard a rock tumbling down from across the gulley. I glassed to the general direction to where the sound came from. Two minutes later a black bear comes pondering around the edge of a small ridge.
“No friggen way, this just couldn’t have been more well timed”, I thought to myself.
Now I wasn’t going to be picky, size didn’t really matter. It just couldn’t have cubs.. …obviously. I just needed some meat to get me through the summer. This one didn’t look overly small and was alone so I preceded to get ready.
I set up prone with my rifle; I ranged it at 355 as it crossed a small opening. My rest was good and I felt ready but that bear had other plans and wasn’t stopping. Repositioning myself five times to set up a shot and it crossed the gulley and started straight my way. I ranged again at 150 yards. Much more manageable but it was straight on with me and I didn’t want to take that shot just to have the bullet pass through the vitals and tear through the gut. So the wait continued. I ranged it at 75 yards I quickly stood up behind an old burnt tree and turned down my scope to 4x. It crested the bench I was on and it was right up close now. It stopped and looked back over its right shoulder. This opened up the left side for a clean but tight forward quartering shot. I gently squeezed the trigger and the rifle cracked. I watched it immediately drop and roll off the bench out of sight. I quickly chambered another cartridge and waited and listened. But it was just the sound of the breeze passing through to burnt trees. Now that I had some time I pulled out my rangefinder and pointed to where the bear stood just moments before. 35 yards, yeah that was close enough but it worked out great.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-0455.jpghttp://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-0452.jpg
Well that happened fast. I was excited and wanted to check it out but I held back. I knew my shot was good but I was solo and wanted to be extra sure, furthermore; it was my first bear. I gave it 20 minutes before I grabbed my pack and rifle and walked over. It had piled up against a fallen log not 10 feet from where it stood when I shot. Perfect, now the hard work starts. I pulled it up to a log for a couple photos. The coat on it was perfect and wasn’t rubbed at all so I decided I was going to get that tanned. I field dressed it then packed it down to the first road. I had a friend come up with a quad to help get it down to the truck. When I got home I skinned it out and through ice on it for the night. I found the bullet down at the rump it passed directly through the front shoulder, through both lungs and exited through the second last rib but it didn’t have enough energy to get through the hide. It had slid down the inside of the hide and stopped down at the rump.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG-0464.jpg
Normally I butcher everything myself but it was just too warm out, so I took it to a local meat cutter the next morning. The hide squared out to 5ft on the dot and was later taken to a local tannery. With the meat I ended up getting 48 lbs divided into smokies, ground and two smoked hams. I also boiled the skull for something extra to do.
That’s my 2019 spring bear hunt. Good luck out there this season and stay safe.
Cheers.
So I’m 21 years old and have been hunting for 11 years taking my fair share of Deer (3 Mulies, 5 whitetails) but have only dabbled a bit on spring bear hunting but have always seen lots around. Typically I spend my time of in the spring fishing the local lakes of the Thompson/Okanagan. But this year was a little different, I was almost out of deer meat from the previous fall, I had just graduated college and was yet to pick up a job so I had a little extra time on my hands. Middle of May rolled around and I met of with some good friends to spend a few days hunting up in Region 3. We spent some time behind the class picking out a few bruins from across a mild but wide drainage. We did end up putting a stock on one decent bear, but with the time to drive down and hike back up an hour had passed and the bear decided it had more important places to be and disappeared.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG-0457.jpg
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-0458.jpg
That weekend ended up empty handed but when I got back home in Region 8 I went out for a day. I was hoping to spend a few days just for the enjoyment of getting out but it wasn't required. I drove up a ways until my output shaft seal blew out on my truck. I turned around and parked pointing downhill so I wouldn’t drain the transmission dry. I didn’t want this to put a damper on my day, as there was hunting to be done and I will deal with the truck later. So I grabbed my pack and started hiking. On my way up into the burn I found some tracks and scat which brought up my mood. I got to the edge of a bench and sat down to glass. It couldn’t have been 10 minutes when I heard a rock tumbling down from across the gulley. I glassed to the general direction to where the sound came from. Two minutes later a black bear comes pondering around the edge of a small ridge.
“No friggen way, this just couldn’t have been more well timed”, I thought to myself.
Now I wasn’t going to be picky, size didn’t really matter. It just couldn’t have cubs.. …obviously. I just needed some meat to get me through the summer. This one didn’t look overly small and was alone so I preceded to get ready.
I set up prone with my rifle; I ranged it at 355 as it crossed a small opening. My rest was good and I felt ready but that bear had other plans and wasn’t stopping. Repositioning myself five times to set up a shot and it crossed the gulley and started straight my way. I ranged again at 150 yards. Much more manageable but it was straight on with me and I didn’t want to take that shot just to have the bullet pass through the vitals and tear through the gut. So the wait continued. I ranged it at 75 yards I quickly stood up behind an old burnt tree and turned down my scope to 4x. It crested the bench I was on and it was right up close now. It stopped and looked back over its right shoulder. This opened up the left side for a clean but tight forward quartering shot. I gently squeezed the trigger and the rifle cracked. I watched it immediately drop and roll off the bench out of sight. I quickly chambered another cartridge and waited and listened. But it was just the sound of the breeze passing through to burnt trees. Now that I had some time I pulled out my rangefinder and pointed to where the bear stood just moments before. 35 yards, yeah that was close enough but it worked out great.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-0455.jpghttp://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/IMG-0452.jpg
Well that happened fast. I was excited and wanted to check it out but I held back. I knew my shot was good but I was solo and wanted to be extra sure, furthermore; it was my first bear. I gave it 20 minutes before I grabbed my pack and rifle and walked over. It had piled up against a fallen log not 10 feet from where it stood when I shot. Perfect, now the hard work starts. I pulled it up to a log for a couple photos. The coat on it was perfect and wasn’t rubbed at all so I decided I was going to get that tanned. I field dressed it then packed it down to the first road. I had a friend come up with a quad to help get it down to the truck. When I got home I skinned it out and through ice on it for the night. I found the bullet down at the rump it passed directly through the front shoulder, through both lungs and exited through the second last rib but it didn’t have enough energy to get through the hide. It had slid down the inside of the hide and stopped down at the rump.
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/IMG-0464.jpg
Normally I butcher everything myself but it was just too warm out, so I took it to a local meat cutter the next morning. The hide squared out to 5ft on the dot and was later taken to a local tannery. With the meat I ended up getting 48 lbs divided into smokies, ground and two smoked hams. I also boiled the skull for something extra to do.
That’s my 2019 spring bear hunt. Good luck out there this season and stay safe.
Cheers.