BiG Boar
05-24-2010, 06:10 PM
The Barbarian SaGa part V
Continued from part IV
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2682.jpg
Perched atop a hill, looking down a power line, with a small fire of coals, my friend Open-sights and I were roasting fresh wild BC turkey! With my first tastes of the bird, we were now basting and slowly turning the bird. This was going to be good! As OS went to get a branch of pine to use as a basting brush I signaled to him with my bird like tweeting whistle that I had just spotted something.
As I got Open-sights attention immediately our binos went up to check out what we were looking at. Having passed on numerous bear this trip and the weeklong hunt prior on the coast, I didn’t even hesitate to say we were looking at a shooter. This bear was big. He had nearly all the signs of a big bear. Pigeon toed walk, slow deliberate movements, massive neck, big muscular shoulders, sway back, and a belly that would drag in 8 inches of grass. As I put the swarovski 80mm high definition spotting scope on the bear I saw 2 things about his head. One, massive ears, really unusually large ears, and two, a forehead with a crease running down the center like J-Lo’s butt. I paused for a moment pondering the ear size. They were wide apart, however big ears usually mean it’s a small bear. Still, all the other signs showed a true behemoth and they say when you see a big bear you will just know it’s a big bear. Being an avid bear hunter, I have seen lots of bears in my 3 years of hunting, only one compared to this one, and that one gave me the slip earlier in the year on a coastal grizzly hunt.
It was go time. When a bear comes out to feed, big bears always stay near to the bush for an easy escape. Also, they don’t come out to feed for long, 15 minutes, sometimes less, and so you do have to work quickly. The next thing to consider is the wind. If they smell you they wont stop running once they’ve spotted you. Small bears will stop and give you the shot. Also, if they know they’re being hunted, they wont be back to that spot for maybe a week or two. With the spot being ranged earlier in the day, we knew it was close to 700 yards. The shot was possible, however unethical, and besides, I wanted this bear and did not want to go into the woods after him. I was in a direct line of sight, but at 700 yards I could use some bush as cover and make a play to get within 150 yards.
Away I ran, with OS staying behind to spot and signal me through it, should the bear move. With a lot of long-range practice in the military and at competition shooting, he would back me up from the distance. Though I was determined to bust the bear’s shoulder and put him down really quick. The load I had developed for my coastal grizzly hunt earlier in the year. It was a 3-inch group at 300 yards, 200 gr Barnes TSX clocking in at 2930fps.
As I came to the bottom of the valley I had to work my way over 1 bench to get to where the bear was. So far I was confident I hadn’t been seen, as I had used some tree line along the edge for cover. Now to find the bear and lose the cover I had used up until this point. When I would come over the bench it would be me versus the bear at somewhere between 40 and 70 yards. Moving extra slowly and in a straight line towards where I had last seen the bear I froze as I caught movement 80 yards ahead of me. In the bush right on the edge I saw the beast coming straight at me. I dropped prone, pulled the bipod legs out and flicked off the safety all in one movement. Zooming my scope to 10 power I saw up close all the signs of the same big bear. He hadn’t noticed me and was coming straight at me. Waiting for a broadside shot to brake down the front shoulder wasn’t in the cards. It was now or never as he stopped to look me directly in the eyes. I knew he would either come at me or run for cover. I pulled the trigger sending the bullet 3 inches under his chin and lodging it somewhere in his rump. He collapsed instantly as I reloaded prepared for him to get up. Waiting for 10 seconds I stood up and let out a Rick flair “Whoooo!” “Bear down!” I yelled to OS who watched the whole thing unfold from above me. “Good work buddy!” Came the reply.
As I approached the bear I saw he was still slightly clinging to life like the old warrior he was and I backed off to give him his last few seconds alone. Another shot was not necessary and soon OS drove down the hill with his truck to take a look. On his way down I tried to drag the bear out of his pool of blood. I mean pool. I couldn’t believe the blood this guy had drained! I am a fairly large individual and I could hardly budge this guy. He had to be over 400 pounds alive, maybe even near 500lbs. I am 250lbs and this guy dwarfed me. His neck, if you would call it that was just a continuation of his massive head. I knew instantly that this bear was Boone and Crocket. His teeth were worn right down and his canines were old and broken. The coat was thick and beautiful! I had shot one of the animals I have always dreamed of.
Now the work began. It was about 7pm and we took lots of photos and got him real cleaned up to get some great shots. It took the two of us to drag him 10 feet down hill and out of the woods where we could get some great shots. Then the long process of skinning him out started. The fat on his back was just incredible. His stomach, just to make my initial incision and worry about going into the gut was of no concern because he had 2 inches of fat on his stomach alone! He had done well over the winter and was clearly the bear in charge of this territory. 2 weeks previous a fellow we know had shot a bear in this same area and his bear was all cut to rat shit, probably by this monster. There was one open wound on his face about an inch long, but that was about it. We did recover the bullet about 6 inches from his tail along the back. The TSX bullet had held together perfectly and done an incredible job penetrating this huge animal. Also inside this bear we found lead fragments from other bullets, he had been hunted before and had taken lead from other hunters and lived well to tell about it. I can’t say enough about good bullet construction! Now it was time to get him packed up and out of here! We had to stop and buy 2 more Rubbermaid containers to get the meat out. OS and other family were over here all day Saturday turning this guy into good Chorizo and Hot Italian Sausage. Still have one more batch of pepperoni to make once the store opens up to buy more spice mix.
This was an awesome hunt, I can’t say thanks enough to Open-Sights for taking me with him and letting me into his honey hole! Thanks man, I was totally thrilled by this hunt and you are a great guy to hunt with! I haven’t really decided what to do with the bear yet. I already have a nice rug of my very first bear and big game animal so I don’t know if I need another one. One option would be half mount, or a full mount, or just a head mount. Either way I will get it wet tanned and then make the decision. I just purchased some dermatid beetles online so I will try to do all 5 skulls with them (bear, bear, wolf, coyote, raven). They seem to do an awesome job so I figured it would be worth it. One thing I didn’t have was a tape measure to measure the live bear or his caped out hide. By the time I did measure it, the cape had been salted for 3 days and had definitely shrunken. It measured 6’2” squared. I wont make estimation as to what it would have been before but you can use your imaginations. The skull green scored 18 ¾ by Mr. Dean who nearly made me cry. I couldn’t figure it out. My first bear scored that and wasn’t even close to this guys size. I wondered and pondered and then after 30 minutes of pure bafflement, just had to remeasure it. Sure enough, he had purposely left out an inch, just to give me a hard time. I owe you one Dean! Thanks for reading, I hope I haven’t bored you, and if anyone has any suggestions as to making my stories better, please feel free to PM me.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2666.jpg
These two pictures below are of a decent sow seen earlier in the trip
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2657-1.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2656.jpg
Below are the bullets recovered. Left to right: 200gr TSX from this bear, final weight 198grs, middle bullet is new, right bullet is the one recovered from the wolf earlier in the year, 174 grs.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2695.jpg
Continued from part IV
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2682.jpg
Perched atop a hill, looking down a power line, with a small fire of coals, my friend Open-sights and I were roasting fresh wild BC turkey! With my first tastes of the bird, we were now basting and slowly turning the bird. This was going to be good! As OS went to get a branch of pine to use as a basting brush I signaled to him with my bird like tweeting whistle that I had just spotted something.
As I got Open-sights attention immediately our binos went up to check out what we were looking at. Having passed on numerous bear this trip and the weeklong hunt prior on the coast, I didn’t even hesitate to say we were looking at a shooter. This bear was big. He had nearly all the signs of a big bear. Pigeon toed walk, slow deliberate movements, massive neck, big muscular shoulders, sway back, and a belly that would drag in 8 inches of grass. As I put the swarovski 80mm high definition spotting scope on the bear I saw 2 things about his head. One, massive ears, really unusually large ears, and two, a forehead with a crease running down the center like J-Lo’s butt. I paused for a moment pondering the ear size. They were wide apart, however big ears usually mean it’s a small bear. Still, all the other signs showed a true behemoth and they say when you see a big bear you will just know it’s a big bear. Being an avid bear hunter, I have seen lots of bears in my 3 years of hunting, only one compared to this one, and that one gave me the slip earlier in the year on a coastal grizzly hunt.
It was go time. When a bear comes out to feed, big bears always stay near to the bush for an easy escape. Also, they don’t come out to feed for long, 15 minutes, sometimes less, and so you do have to work quickly. The next thing to consider is the wind. If they smell you they wont stop running once they’ve spotted you. Small bears will stop and give you the shot. Also, if they know they’re being hunted, they wont be back to that spot for maybe a week or two. With the spot being ranged earlier in the day, we knew it was close to 700 yards. The shot was possible, however unethical, and besides, I wanted this bear and did not want to go into the woods after him. I was in a direct line of sight, but at 700 yards I could use some bush as cover and make a play to get within 150 yards.
Away I ran, with OS staying behind to spot and signal me through it, should the bear move. With a lot of long-range practice in the military and at competition shooting, he would back me up from the distance. Though I was determined to bust the bear’s shoulder and put him down really quick. The load I had developed for my coastal grizzly hunt earlier in the year. It was a 3-inch group at 300 yards, 200 gr Barnes TSX clocking in at 2930fps.
As I came to the bottom of the valley I had to work my way over 1 bench to get to where the bear was. So far I was confident I hadn’t been seen, as I had used some tree line along the edge for cover. Now to find the bear and lose the cover I had used up until this point. When I would come over the bench it would be me versus the bear at somewhere between 40 and 70 yards. Moving extra slowly and in a straight line towards where I had last seen the bear I froze as I caught movement 80 yards ahead of me. In the bush right on the edge I saw the beast coming straight at me. I dropped prone, pulled the bipod legs out and flicked off the safety all in one movement. Zooming my scope to 10 power I saw up close all the signs of the same big bear. He hadn’t noticed me and was coming straight at me. Waiting for a broadside shot to brake down the front shoulder wasn’t in the cards. It was now or never as he stopped to look me directly in the eyes. I knew he would either come at me or run for cover. I pulled the trigger sending the bullet 3 inches under his chin and lodging it somewhere in his rump. He collapsed instantly as I reloaded prepared for him to get up. Waiting for 10 seconds I stood up and let out a Rick flair “Whoooo!” “Bear down!” I yelled to OS who watched the whole thing unfold from above me. “Good work buddy!” Came the reply.
As I approached the bear I saw he was still slightly clinging to life like the old warrior he was and I backed off to give him his last few seconds alone. Another shot was not necessary and soon OS drove down the hill with his truck to take a look. On his way down I tried to drag the bear out of his pool of blood. I mean pool. I couldn’t believe the blood this guy had drained! I am a fairly large individual and I could hardly budge this guy. He had to be over 400 pounds alive, maybe even near 500lbs. I am 250lbs and this guy dwarfed me. His neck, if you would call it that was just a continuation of his massive head. I knew instantly that this bear was Boone and Crocket. His teeth were worn right down and his canines were old and broken. The coat was thick and beautiful! I had shot one of the animals I have always dreamed of.
Now the work began. It was about 7pm and we took lots of photos and got him real cleaned up to get some great shots. It took the two of us to drag him 10 feet down hill and out of the woods where we could get some great shots. Then the long process of skinning him out started. The fat on his back was just incredible. His stomach, just to make my initial incision and worry about going into the gut was of no concern because he had 2 inches of fat on his stomach alone! He had done well over the winter and was clearly the bear in charge of this territory. 2 weeks previous a fellow we know had shot a bear in this same area and his bear was all cut to rat shit, probably by this monster. There was one open wound on his face about an inch long, but that was about it. We did recover the bullet about 6 inches from his tail along the back. The TSX bullet had held together perfectly and done an incredible job penetrating this huge animal. Also inside this bear we found lead fragments from other bullets, he had been hunted before and had taken lead from other hunters and lived well to tell about it. I can’t say enough about good bullet construction! Now it was time to get him packed up and out of here! We had to stop and buy 2 more Rubbermaid containers to get the meat out. OS and other family were over here all day Saturday turning this guy into good Chorizo and Hot Italian Sausage. Still have one more batch of pepperoni to make once the store opens up to buy more spice mix.
This was an awesome hunt, I can’t say thanks enough to Open-Sights for taking me with him and letting me into his honey hole! Thanks man, I was totally thrilled by this hunt and you are a great guy to hunt with! I haven’t really decided what to do with the bear yet. I already have a nice rug of my very first bear and big game animal so I don’t know if I need another one. One option would be half mount, or a full mount, or just a head mount. Either way I will get it wet tanned and then make the decision. I just purchased some dermatid beetles online so I will try to do all 5 skulls with them (bear, bear, wolf, coyote, raven). They seem to do an awesome job so I figured it would be worth it. One thing I didn’t have was a tape measure to measure the live bear or his caped out hide. By the time I did measure it, the cape had been salted for 3 days and had definitely shrunken. It measured 6’2” squared. I wont make estimation as to what it would have been before but you can use your imaginations. The skull green scored 18 ¾ by Mr. Dean who nearly made me cry. I couldn’t figure it out. My first bear scored that and wasn’t even close to this guys size. I wondered and pondered and then after 30 minutes of pure bafflement, just had to remeasure it. Sure enough, he had purposely left out an inch, just to give me a hard time. I owe you one Dean! Thanks for reading, I hope I haven’t bored you, and if anyone has any suggestions as to making my stories better, please feel free to PM me.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2666.jpg
These two pictures below are of a decent sow seen earlier in the trip
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2657-1.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2656.jpg
Below are the bullets recovered. Left to right: 200gr TSX from this bear, final weight 198grs, middle bullet is new, right bullet is the one recovered from the wolf earlier in the year, 174 grs.
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2695.jpg