.303
10-04-2010, 12:23 AM
Day One
Well, it started offf slow this year but has been pretty successful so far....
The wife and kids and I went to her dads place on the 27th. We left the kids with grandma and we headed out to the hills around 5:00pm.
The wife took off with her dad on the quad and i started to hike the hills. I had seen some mulie does and fawns (about 8-10 in total) but nothing much else.
Her dad had said that there was quite a few bear sightings in the area, however didn't see any that night. I started the trek down the rocky hill. We had the 2 way radios with us, but of course they were around the next bluff so it wasn't clear.
As i get back to the truck, I see and hear the quad coming over the dusty road. The wife sees me and for whatever reason (I guess she thought I had something)... I hear her ask her dad.. "oh did he get something too?", very excitedly.
In my head, my first thought is no, I got skunked, my immediate second thought is "too"?! she got something?
Sure enough, she has a nice 5 pt whitetail on the front of the quad.
She said that there was a little spiker that she could have taken, but felt sorry for it because it didn't even seem that old. She let that one pass.
They then came around a little ridge and she saw something behind a bush. She glassed it and was quite happy with what she saw. She said it was about 75 yards away and with one shot, blam! She didn't think she got it because it jumped and ran. They couldn't find it for quite some time because it was getting a wee bit dark out. Eventually they found it. She got a lung and due to the angle, some of the gut, but we managed to save everything.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1093.jpg
The last 3 years she has been either on mat leave or couldn't leave the kids because of their age. This was her first hunt in those 3 years!
Day Two
The next morning, the wife and the kids stayed home and her dad and I went out by ourselves on the quad.
As we are driving up the raod, there is a bit of a knoll. I see this black bear running up the side of the hill. He had 3 mulie does running behind him. I get out and get everything ready. I jog up this road to the top of the hill because by this time the bear is gone and vanished, I thought i might see him over the other side. Wrong. the only thing I saw was the lack of oxygen in the air because I was panting so hard (guess i didn't work out enough pre season).
I went down over the other side and worked my way down the top of the ridge. Still nothing. I found a spot and decided to glass the hill I just came off of because it was so thick, maybe he'd pop out somewhere.
About 10 minutes passed and wouldn't you know it, "crack, crack, crack" from behind me. the bugger went underneath me and emerged over the crest of a hill behind me. All I saw was his rear cresting over this hill. Damn it.
I walked down the road and spotted him below me. He was munching on a rabbit or something. The only thing was that he was perched on this little outcropping on this sidebank. A perfect shot straight across, 45 yards.....right. Had i taken the shot on this massive blackie he would have tumbled down, down, down, down, down......not enough rope and did not feel like quartering him out.
Saw a monster white tail that took off in the brambles and a couple more does, but didn't see them after that.
So, later in the day we saw 2 more bears, one of which is a beautiful brown phase. it was across a gulley from where i was. It would have been a good shot but the bugger was on a mission to get somehere. he was constantly moving through the bush about 150 yards away.
That day came and went and was probably the funnest day of hunting I've had for awhile.
Yesterday
So I went to the father in laws by myself in search of game on Friday (1st) night. We got up early and went back out to our spot. I knew that there had been one bear taken out of there the night of the 1st, because my father in law was with the guy when he got it. He said the bear are still there.
As we were driving down the road I am looking for a black spot on the hill. None to be found. We had a truck with a trailer with a quad on the trailer. The father in law drops me off at the same spot that the bear came up from underneath me before. I find a rock and start glassing. He takes the truck down the road to turn the trailer around. I am not there even 2 minutes. I see a bear making a mad dash across the side hill. "Holy crap!" I think to myself, but he wouldn't stop. I see him for about 30 seconds and the father in law drives up. Because I am over the bank he doesn't know exactly where I am, but he sees it. He calls me and asks if I see the bear. I say "yeah" and he starts to get out of the truck.
Now the father in law started hunting when i think he was about 6 months old. He's guided and done almost every single hunt available to us in BC. He's been there done that.
Well the frickin great white hunter (as I call him now) gets out of the truck and starts fumbling around with his shells. Tink, tink tink.....The bear stops, looks directly at him and runs. And I mean, runs.......damn!
He runs down into the brambles. Gone. But I start thinking, maybe he's going to do as the other bear did and come up the draw. Before, i could have shot but didn't because of the location. I told myself this time if he is on the trail on the other side, I will take the shot because we got permission from the landowner to enter on that side.
Well, geez, not even 5 minutes go by and here he comes working his way up, on the trail.....well I start to get a bit of bear fever....luckily he had to go behind a stand of about 4 big pines so i had about 10 seconds to calm myself down.
Sure enough he is still walking on the trail and emerges out of the stand of timber.
He came into view from about 160 yards away (he was downhill) and with one shot, bang! flop!....literally. I actually saw his flop on his belly. Until I stood up, got so excited and yelled "woohoo!" I guess in the excitement I turn around and i heard some cracking. the bugger managed to get up (I think I scared him enough just prior to him dying) and instead of laying on the trail...he stood up on all fours, and proceeded to fall into the bushy, rocky, treed gulley.....
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1125.jpg
Because of the angle I managed to get him through the left side of the spine and part of the right lung.
We went to where the gulley allowed us access and found these guys....
(please don't get into a debate as to whether or not they are legal, I didn't have a tag for them, was NOT hunting them etc...they were there, so I took the photos)
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1107.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1108.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1113.jpg
After a lot of grunting, pushing and pulling, we got the bear onto the quad and took him home.
I didn't measure him up. He wasn't as big as the black bear I saw the other day, but I think for a first bear, he was a pretty decent size.
Recipe:
Savage Model 111 in 300 WM
Leupold VX II 3-9x40
Reloaded ammo with Barnes TTSX
Well, it started offf slow this year but has been pretty successful so far....
The wife and kids and I went to her dads place on the 27th. We left the kids with grandma and we headed out to the hills around 5:00pm.
The wife took off with her dad on the quad and i started to hike the hills. I had seen some mulie does and fawns (about 8-10 in total) but nothing much else.
Her dad had said that there was quite a few bear sightings in the area, however didn't see any that night. I started the trek down the rocky hill. We had the 2 way radios with us, but of course they were around the next bluff so it wasn't clear.
As i get back to the truck, I see and hear the quad coming over the dusty road. The wife sees me and for whatever reason (I guess she thought I had something)... I hear her ask her dad.. "oh did he get something too?", very excitedly.
In my head, my first thought is no, I got skunked, my immediate second thought is "too"?! she got something?
Sure enough, she has a nice 5 pt whitetail on the front of the quad.
She said that there was a little spiker that she could have taken, but felt sorry for it because it didn't even seem that old. She let that one pass.
They then came around a little ridge and she saw something behind a bush. She glassed it and was quite happy with what she saw. She said it was about 75 yards away and with one shot, blam! She didn't think she got it because it jumped and ran. They couldn't find it for quite some time because it was getting a wee bit dark out. Eventually they found it. She got a lung and due to the angle, some of the gut, but we managed to save everything.
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1093.jpg
The last 3 years she has been either on mat leave or couldn't leave the kids because of their age. This was her first hunt in those 3 years!
Day Two
The next morning, the wife and the kids stayed home and her dad and I went out by ourselves on the quad.
As we are driving up the raod, there is a bit of a knoll. I see this black bear running up the side of the hill. He had 3 mulie does running behind him. I get out and get everything ready. I jog up this road to the top of the hill because by this time the bear is gone and vanished, I thought i might see him over the other side. Wrong. the only thing I saw was the lack of oxygen in the air because I was panting so hard (guess i didn't work out enough pre season).
I went down over the other side and worked my way down the top of the ridge. Still nothing. I found a spot and decided to glass the hill I just came off of because it was so thick, maybe he'd pop out somewhere.
About 10 minutes passed and wouldn't you know it, "crack, crack, crack" from behind me. the bugger went underneath me and emerged over the crest of a hill behind me. All I saw was his rear cresting over this hill. Damn it.
I walked down the road and spotted him below me. He was munching on a rabbit or something. The only thing was that he was perched on this little outcropping on this sidebank. A perfect shot straight across, 45 yards.....right. Had i taken the shot on this massive blackie he would have tumbled down, down, down, down, down......not enough rope and did not feel like quartering him out.
Saw a monster white tail that took off in the brambles and a couple more does, but didn't see them after that.
So, later in the day we saw 2 more bears, one of which is a beautiful brown phase. it was across a gulley from where i was. It would have been a good shot but the bugger was on a mission to get somehere. he was constantly moving through the bush about 150 yards away.
That day came and went and was probably the funnest day of hunting I've had for awhile.
Yesterday
So I went to the father in laws by myself in search of game on Friday (1st) night. We got up early and went back out to our spot. I knew that there had been one bear taken out of there the night of the 1st, because my father in law was with the guy when he got it. He said the bear are still there.
As we were driving down the road I am looking for a black spot on the hill. None to be found. We had a truck with a trailer with a quad on the trailer. The father in law drops me off at the same spot that the bear came up from underneath me before. I find a rock and start glassing. He takes the truck down the road to turn the trailer around. I am not there even 2 minutes. I see a bear making a mad dash across the side hill. "Holy crap!" I think to myself, but he wouldn't stop. I see him for about 30 seconds and the father in law drives up. Because I am over the bank he doesn't know exactly where I am, but he sees it. He calls me and asks if I see the bear. I say "yeah" and he starts to get out of the truck.
Now the father in law started hunting when i think he was about 6 months old. He's guided and done almost every single hunt available to us in BC. He's been there done that.
Well the frickin great white hunter (as I call him now) gets out of the truck and starts fumbling around with his shells. Tink, tink tink.....The bear stops, looks directly at him and runs. And I mean, runs.......damn!
He runs down into the brambles. Gone. But I start thinking, maybe he's going to do as the other bear did and come up the draw. Before, i could have shot but didn't because of the location. I told myself this time if he is on the trail on the other side, I will take the shot because we got permission from the landowner to enter on that side.
Well, geez, not even 5 minutes go by and here he comes working his way up, on the trail.....well I start to get a bit of bear fever....luckily he had to go behind a stand of about 4 big pines so i had about 10 seconds to calm myself down.
Sure enough he is still walking on the trail and emerges out of the stand of timber.
He came into view from about 160 yards away (he was downhill) and with one shot, bang! flop!....literally. I actually saw his flop on his belly. Until I stood up, got so excited and yelled "woohoo!" I guess in the excitement I turn around and i heard some cracking. the bugger managed to get up (I think I scared him enough just prior to him dying) and instead of laying on the trail...he stood up on all fours, and proceeded to fall into the bushy, rocky, treed gulley.....
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1125.jpg
Because of the angle I managed to get him through the left side of the spine and part of the right lung.
We went to where the gulley allowed us access and found these guys....
(please don't get into a debate as to whether or not they are legal, I didn't have a tag for them, was NOT hunting them etc...they were there, so I took the photos)
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1107.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1108.jpg
http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/hh127/HideOutside/Hunting%20Season%202010/DSC_1113.jpg
After a lot of grunting, pushing and pulling, we got the bear onto the quad and took him home.
I didn't measure him up. He wasn't as big as the black bear I saw the other day, but I think for a first bear, he was a pretty decent size.
Recipe:
Savage Model 111 in 300 WM
Leupold VX II 3-9x40
Reloaded ammo with Barnes TTSX