North PG Bear Success

[emerson]

:-DSix mornings of the last 7 I've been out looking for a bear that stays around long enough to come home with me. The first one this morning I saw farther up the road than usual, maybe I'm learning...It looked big, but after 20 min fighting the wind, I got a better look and left that one for another year. 40 minutes later I saw another one 150 yds or so on the shoulder of the road on top of the next rise. I stopped and had to stay in truck for a few minutes to look harmless while I was examined. Once he went in the ditch I jumped out without closing the door and hit the ditch on the opposite shoulder. The wind was coming from my left/front. I was able to keep the road/hill between us until I got within about 70 yds and he climbed up on the opposite bank. He looked me over twice when I was dead still, but didn't start for the trees until the wind started worrying him. First shot was a little low and back, he moved with difficulty about 20 yds, second shot bang flop. Carried/dragged back to the road, gutted, and home before 07:00. About the same size as last year, maybe 5'10", I'll post more and pics later.

[fester]

jerk.....I mean right on!!!!!!!
see you tonight!!!!!

[thetackdriver]

we need Pics???!!

[emerson]

we need Pics???!!
Those are waiting on my "office manager" to move them from camera to forum. I'm skinning and cutting meat so at least she won't think I spent all day on "wasting time".

[slovakien_12]

where did you go out? Salmon FSR

[hunter1947]

Good to hear you got this bear with the second shot to put it down looking forward to seeing your pictures ,congrats on getting the bear..

[emerson]

Yes, the Salmon FSR. Hunter 1947, the second shot seemed to have gone through both upper front legs/shoulders and when I moved the carcass I could hear air whooshing in and out of the chest through a 2" hole. (Winchester SuperX 150grn.) Just a little bit of tape measure shrinkage... Maybe 5' 2" square at best. The pic is still held up by other commitments of my "office manager". I'll be out looking for another freezer filler next week.

For those who are learning by doing: The rounded Gerber $20 skinning knife that sticks out between your fingers worked great for me. The Princess Auto 11mil rubber gloves are real tough and last forever. Yes, a grinder attachment on a 300 watt Kitchen Aid mixer works for grinding meat. The throat is small so you have to cut the meat in strips and it still works pretty hard. If you can share the cost, a dedicated stand alone electric grinder (bolted down) would work better, especially for moose/elk size animals etc.
Spend the money and get a BIG cutting board that can be anchored in place. Sharp knives (a reliable way to sharpen them) make life much better. Hunting, packing, and butchering bears is great practice for bigger animals that where meat loss/spoilage would bother most folks a lot and impact much more potential food. The shot damaged meat and other "looks tough/scrappy" stuff got boiled on the BBQ and ground for premium, organic, free range dog food. I probably didn't get more than 50 lbs of meat off this bear; maybe 40% of "on the paw" weight, so don't get scared of huge meat volumes to be dealt with. Stainless pans from Princess Auto work well for meat handling. An extra set of hands helps a lot, but you can do most of it by yourself. Hanging the full animal works great, but doing by yourself demands some rope and pulley ingenuity. I'll be working on the hide later, mostly for the experience for when I've got a bigger one to do.

[emerson]

I went out last night to try my luck on the Salmon again. There one other truck out, talked to them for a minute; a white Ford f350, anyone on here? At 21km there was a blackie running for the trees, hit the brakes hard, pull over, shut down, don't move for at least 2 minutes.....Get out quiet, hit the ditch, and stalk real quietly up to the corner and peek around. YES, he's there and back to eating, but a clump of willows blocks my shot. I took a few steps out to get around the willows and he looked sort of my way so I froze. He went back to the grass and bang-flop at 30 yds!!!! I was able to get the truck off the road and right up to him; a quick gutting and home. The head looked more like a pumpkin that the first one, a full 8" between the ears but still only 5'2" from nose to tail. Nice dark shiny coat and some fat on already ( skinned last night). There are pics that will go up at the same time as the first one.


Note: Fester, this one was a perfect setup for you, if you could have made it. Good luck with the last few days of the spring season.

[steepNdeep]

Nice work!... but how much pepperoni can 1 butt take? ;)

[yukon john]

how much pepperoni can 1 butt take? ;)

lol.......

[emerson]

These ones were pretty small, so no meat over load.

[Marc]

Way to fill the freezer!

Comment on your previous post about a grinder for doing it yourself. I got one of the 1 hp cabelas industrial grinders with the 2 1/2 inch feed tube. I'll tell you that thing grinds like 6-9 lbs a minute. Expensive initial cost but if you process a lot of game yourself it will pay for itself in a few seasons. Works great for making sausages as well. Going to be making up some more sausages and pepperoni in the near future.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/bear_burger.jpg

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/venison_sausage_cut.jpg

[slovakien_12]

saw your gut pile this morning emerson. congrats on a nice bear. you worked hard for him all spring :) I went out this morning and saw 5 bears bright and early

[emerson]

Way to fill the freezer!

Comment on your previous post about a grinder for doing it yourself. I got one of the 1 hp cabelas industrial grinders with the 2 1/2 inch feed tube. I'll tell you that thing grinds like 6-9 lbs a minute. Expensive initial cost but if you process a lot of game yourself it will pay for itself in a few seasons. Works great for making sausages as well. Going to be making up some more sausages and pepperoni in the near future.

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/bear_burger.jpg

http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/medium/venison_sausage_cut.jpg

That looks like something that could be really useful, but I have bring home enough meat to show the wife I "need" one first. Or burn out her Kitchen Aid grinder.:(


saw your gut pile this morning emerson. congrats on a nice bear. you worked hard for him all spring :) I went out this morning and saw 5 bears bright and early

Thanks slovakien. I put in a lot of time, but with what I've learned about technique for "road bear hunting" and proper equipment it could go a lot quicker next time. It is nice to drink coffee and see animals before most people get up though.

[emerson]

I have one more lesson learned for all you hunters that haven't yet put a premium bullet through both shoulders and the spine; yes it anchors the animal RIGHT NOW but man, does it make a mess of a lot of meat. 150 gn tsx 308@35 yds shoulder/spine wouldn't be the way I would go with a moose/elk/deer.

[slovakien_12]

I would name it Safari Bear hunting instead. As for the mess of the meat I definatelly agree. I shot my bear in through the boiler room and it came out the front shoulder and boy did my dog eat alot of that meat. The scapula was absolutely torn apart and the bullet must have broken apart. Might as well spend a little more and get a TSX