Phoneguy
10-02-2011, 11:06 PM
After years of buying a tag, "just in case" I finally tagged a bear. We were up in the McBride area trying (unsuccessfully) to fill an LEH Moose tag. My partner and I stopped to take care of nature I looked down and noticed a huge amount of blueberries. We had discussed whether we would take a bear if the opportunity presented itself, not feeling strongly either way. We were really looking for moose and deer but after several days of only seeing one legal buck on the side of the highway I was starting to wonder if it would be a long trip with nothing to take home.
At this point my buddy offered to drive for a while so I would have more chances to check out the country. I commented that a bear in the blueberries would probably have pretty sweet meat. We were making our way back to camp, figuring it would be nice to get in early, sit by the fire and chill.
Less than 5 minutes later he yells bear, and my eyes swiveled to where he was indicating. Decision made, I got out, took my time loading my 30-06, flipped the scope covers up and got down on my knee. The bear was working it way slowly away from me, in the small trees. It had definitely seen me, stopped to take another look at me and gave me a nice side shot. 85 yards, we saw it flinch and spin, run over a mound away from us and out of site. We waiting a few minutes, and then made our way over to where I had hit the bear, could not see any blood at all, looked in a large area. We stood there trying to figure where he had gone, kept on looking for sign and not seeing anything. After a while longer I said, probably went into that crap over there, walked 3 steps further, and there he was, lying on his side, not moving, but his chest was slowly rising, bullet to the neck finished the job.
At first I did not think he was that big, but when I tried to pull him, I realized we had a bit of a problem, then my buddy and I tried to get him out of the crap together to a spot where we could gut him. After cleaning him, I went and grabbed the long rope that I keep in the truck, and a couple of others, tied them together and got close. We used the truck to pull the bear up to the FSR. The two of us tried to lift him into the back, got the front legs and head up, and that was all we could manage. Ended up backing the truck into a ditch so that the tailgate was only a couple of inches above ground, and pulled him up and rolled him in. Back at camp we enlisted the help of another buddy, got him up on a hanging pole and skinned. So much for a relax around the fire!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Black_Bear_2011-09-27_004_-_Copy_600x800_.jpg
At this point my buddy offered to drive for a while so I would have more chances to check out the country. I commented that a bear in the blueberries would probably have pretty sweet meat. We were making our way back to camp, figuring it would be nice to get in early, sit by the fire and chill.
Less than 5 minutes later he yells bear, and my eyes swiveled to where he was indicating. Decision made, I got out, took my time loading my 30-06, flipped the scope covers up and got down on my knee. The bear was working it way slowly away from me, in the small trees. It had definitely seen me, stopped to take another look at me and gave me a nice side shot. 85 yards, we saw it flinch and spin, run over a mound away from us and out of site. We waiting a few minutes, and then made our way over to where I had hit the bear, could not see any blood at all, looked in a large area. We stood there trying to figure where he had gone, kept on looking for sign and not seeing anything. After a while longer I said, probably went into that crap over there, walked 3 steps further, and there he was, lying on his side, not moving, but his chest was slowly rising, bullet to the neck finished the job.
At first I did not think he was that big, but when I tried to pull him, I realized we had a bit of a problem, then my buddy and I tried to get him out of the crap together to a spot where we could gut him. After cleaning him, I went and grabbed the long rope that I keep in the truck, and a couple of others, tied them together and got close. We used the truck to pull the bear up to the FSR. The two of us tried to lift him into the back, got the front legs and head up, and that was all we could manage. Ended up backing the truck into a ditch so that the tailgate was only a couple of inches above ground, and pulled him up and rolled him in. Back at camp we enlisted the help of another buddy, got him up on a hanging pole and skinned. So much for a relax around the fire!
http://www.huntingbc.ca/photos/data/500/Black_Bear_2011-09-27_004_-_Copy_600x800_.jpg