JcNemo
06-07-2021, 09:38 AM
I am a new hunter, started last fall. I went out several times last fall and look for deers and black bears, but no success. But I did got to know a lot of people from this forum and learned a lot from them.
I heard Spring Black Bear is the easiest to hunt, simply because they don't run from people and they are on the road. I went out several times this spring, and finally got my first bear.
So, I started to drive around about 9:00am, it was a sunny day, and the view are beautiful. I haven't really see anything until later in the evening. When I found this bear, it was just walking on the road, my wife immediately shout "don't shoot, observe first, make sure it has no cubs". So, we observed, and 30 seconds later, after we decided it is a shootable bear, it run back to the forest.
My hunting friend told me in this case, just drive pass the bear, then come back later. So, that is what we did. We drove about 2 km pass the bear, then 10 minutes later, we drove back very slowly. I pinpoint the location on my GPS, I was planning to walk the last 200-300 meters. However, about 400 meters to my pinpoint location, the bear showed up. So I immediately jumped out my vehicle, and setup the gun. The bear saw me, but this time, he simply ignored me and walking toward me. My wife used a range finder, and told me it is about 60 yards or so, so I didn't even adjust my scope (it was zeroed at 100 yards).
Then I took the shot. I was aiming at the shoulder bone, and wanted to drop him instantly. But instead, I was shooting about 1-2 inches lower than the shoulder bone, and didn't hit the bone directly (there are some small pieces of bone, but not a direct hit. After I eviscerate the bear, I realize the entire lung is blow into pieces. There are no damage to the heart nor the liver, only the lung. The belly was full of blood. I only found one entrance bullet hole, no exit hole. I was using 308win Fedearal Trophy Bounded Tip 180 grain). The bear was able to run to the side of the road, then disappeared.
I waited for 20 minutes, then I started to go look for the bear. I first went into the bush at the location where I thought he would be, and try to look for it. However, after I walk into the bush, I realized that is impossible. It was a downhill, with a lot of moss,fern,tree, and a little creek. I can't see anything 2 yards away from me. I was so scared I am going to lose the bear. I came out of the bush, starting to look at foot prints on the road, and I actually found the location where I took the shot. The paw mark is very deep and there are dragging marks into the bush (this location is about 10 yards away from the 1st place I thought where the shooting took place). So, this time, I entered from this drag mark into the bushes, and about 5 yards away from me, I found the dead bear. Basically, I shot the bear at 9:00pm, start to look for the bear at 9:20pm, and found the bear at 9:45pm. It only took me 25min to find the bear, but it was like 25 years. I spent about 15 min out of the 25 min looking for foot marks, and only spent 10min inside the bush. In general, I was pretty lucky.
After I found the bear, I was trying to move it out of the bush onto the road, so there will be less bugs when I quarter the bear. However, it was too heavy to get up (only 10 yards from the side of the road, but lower elevation, about 2-3 meters lower than the road). I don't want to drag the bear with my vehicle, because I still want to keep the hide. I gutted and cut off the two hind legs first, and hope that I can drag the rest of the body up, but I failed. So I cut everything inside the bush and took them out part by part. I got about 8 bug bits, my wife got 19 bug bites. We started at 9:50pm, and finished at 1:20am. Luckly I brought head lights and spare batteries for it.
After I got home, I decided to tan the bear myself. It took me about 15 hours to flesh the bear hide before salting it. The only reason I am doing this is because this is my first bear, and I enjoyed doing this and also more meaningful to do it myself. If you don't enjoy doing something like this, don't do it. It definitely worth the money to hire a taxidermist to do the job. The only draw back is you have to wait for 8 month to have the tanning done by a taxidermist. In compassion, I'll get mine done by this weekend. (took less than 2 weeks).
I made some of the neck meat and tenderlions into Sweet and Hot bear jerky, so far so good. I also give the head to my friend, and he already boiled it into a skull.
Here are some pictures. In general, this is an awesome experience. The bear didn't die far from the road; it wasn't super big; it was a boar and with some age; I didn't hear it moaning and it died pretty much instantly; and the meat was very good after making it into jerky.
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/ac/a7/bd/c1c601bb17874NWdEW6C.jpeg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/5c/4f/3f/fd3caed11223uVKIFYQq.jpg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/5c/4f/3f/fd3caed11209C3Qaucit.jpg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/6a/fb/67/4b56cf611481vHlO4Rb5.jpeg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/6a/fb/67/4b56cf611524NyXzIFVi.jpeg
I heard Spring Black Bear is the easiest to hunt, simply because they don't run from people and they are on the road. I went out several times this spring, and finally got my first bear.
So, I started to drive around about 9:00am, it was a sunny day, and the view are beautiful. I haven't really see anything until later in the evening. When I found this bear, it was just walking on the road, my wife immediately shout "don't shoot, observe first, make sure it has no cubs". So, we observed, and 30 seconds later, after we decided it is a shootable bear, it run back to the forest.
My hunting friend told me in this case, just drive pass the bear, then come back later. So, that is what we did. We drove about 2 km pass the bear, then 10 minutes later, we drove back very slowly. I pinpoint the location on my GPS, I was planning to walk the last 200-300 meters. However, about 400 meters to my pinpoint location, the bear showed up. So I immediately jumped out my vehicle, and setup the gun. The bear saw me, but this time, he simply ignored me and walking toward me. My wife used a range finder, and told me it is about 60 yards or so, so I didn't even adjust my scope (it was zeroed at 100 yards).
Then I took the shot. I was aiming at the shoulder bone, and wanted to drop him instantly. But instead, I was shooting about 1-2 inches lower than the shoulder bone, and didn't hit the bone directly (there are some small pieces of bone, but not a direct hit. After I eviscerate the bear, I realize the entire lung is blow into pieces. There are no damage to the heart nor the liver, only the lung. The belly was full of blood. I only found one entrance bullet hole, no exit hole. I was using 308win Fedearal Trophy Bounded Tip 180 grain). The bear was able to run to the side of the road, then disappeared.
I waited for 20 minutes, then I started to go look for the bear. I first went into the bush at the location where I thought he would be, and try to look for it. However, after I walk into the bush, I realized that is impossible. It was a downhill, with a lot of moss,fern,tree, and a little creek. I can't see anything 2 yards away from me. I was so scared I am going to lose the bear. I came out of the bush, starting to look at foot prints on the road, and I actually found the location where I took the shot. The paw mark is very deep and there are dragging marks into the bush (this location is about 10 yards away from the 1st place I thought where the shooting took place). So, this time, I entered from this drag mark into the bushes, and about 5 yards away from me, I found the dead bear. Basically, I shot the bear at 9:00pm, start to look for the bear at 9:20pm, and found the bear at 9:45pm. It only took me 25min to find the bear, but it was like 25 years. I spent about 15 min out of the 25 min looking for foot marks, and only spent 10min inside the bush. In general, I was pretty lucky.
After I found the bear, I was trying to move it out of the bush onto the road, so there will be less bugs when I quarter the bear. However, it was too heavy to get up (only 10 yards from the side of the road, but lower elevation, about 2-3 meters lower than the road). I don't want to drag the bear with my vehicle, because I still want to keep the hide. I gutted and cut off the two hind legs first, and hope that I can drag the rest of the body up, but I failed. So I cut everything inside the bush and took them out part by part. I got about 8 bug bits, my wife got 19 bug bites. We started at 9:50pm, and finished at 1:20am. Luckly I brought head lights and spare batteries for it.
After I got home, I decided to tan the bear myself. It took me about 15 hours to flesh the bear hide before salting it. The only reason I am doing this is because this is my first bear, and I enjoyed doing this and also more meaningful to do it myself. If you don't enjoy doing something like this, don't do it. It definitely worth the money to hire a taxidermist to do the job. The only draw back is you have to wait for 8 month to have the tanning done by a taxidermist. In compassion, I'll get mine done by this weekend. (took less than 2 weeks).
I made some of the neck meat and tenderlions into Sweet and Hot bear jerky, so far so good. I also give the head to my friend, and he already boiled it into a skull.
Here are some pictures. In general, this is an awesome experience. The bear didn't die far from the road; it wasn't super big; it was a boar and with some age; I didn't hear it moaning and it died pretty much instantly; and the meat was very good after making it into jerky.
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/ac/a7/bd/c1c601bb17874NWdEW6C.jpeg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/5c/4f/3f/fd3caed11223uVKIFYQq.jpg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/5c/4f/3f/fd3caed11209C3Qaucit.jpg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/6a/fb/67/4b56cf611481vHlO4Rb5.jpeg
https://bbs.wenxuecity.com/upload/album/6a/fb/67/4b56cf611524NyXzIFVi.jpeg