Buckwheat
05-23-2012, 08:02 PM
Well it goes to show patience is a huge key factor into hunting black bears.
Friday May 18th
Well my may long weekend started off with leaving school at lunch and heading up to some of our favourite spots up in region 8. On the drive up we saw a scrawny black bear on the side of the highway, lots of deer and of course speed traps. After ariving at our camp site and setting up the hunting rig, my dad (Steeleco), my sis (BlondeTornado) and I headed out for an evening hunt/scouting session as we had no clue how much snow was still present up in the hills. Still a fair bit of snow higher up but we stayed down lower becasue of all of the green! We must have seen somewhere around a sixty deer in like 3 1/2 hours, but unfortunately no bears.
Saturday May 19th
My dad and I were planning to start the day of with an early morning breakfast and then out of camp by like 6-6:30 the latest, but plans changed due to the fact that I couldn't crawl over my lil sister, who was spread out like a starfish on the tent trailer bed! As soon as she awoke, we were dressed and ready to go! So we headed out and decided to explore this nicely greened up area where I took my bear back in September. Sitting on the side hills just gazing around dad and I spoted some more deer up in the tree line. After spending a couple hours in this area we decide that we were getting tired and really hungry, so we slowly made our way back. Halfway through lunch Elkhound and his crew came up and started to camp with us. Then Elkhound's buddy Simon ( Dont know his HBC username) made his way to our camp. Later that night we went out as a group and headed to another fantastic area where Dutchie and I hiked up to the top of this clear cut and spooked a huge sow and two cubs last year (we were planning on trying to find her as we assumed that this area was her territory and we believe that her cubs last year were on the verge of being punted.) So blonde, dad and I are sitting on this cut block for an hour, it was starting to getting windy and kind of chilly, so we went back to the truck. On the way back to the truck we saw this bear across the valley, which was at most 600 yards.
We assume that this is the same bear because it is nothing for her to travel to the other side of the valley.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=heather20121151.jpg
Quickly we went to the next cut block to get Elkhound and Simon to go chase this bear, as we knew the exact road it was located on. Couldn't connect on this bear, but it was sure one hell of an adrenaline rush!!!
Sunday May 20th
Up by 6:30 out by 7:30, and up to this road that we've never been up before. After a few kilometres of winding road with little openings, we hit these old burns and clear cuts that had been reforested recently. Walked around these clear cuts finding sign of some deer, bear, elk ect, but no animals. After dinner we went back to the same area, but went up some of the spur roads. After glassing the hillside for like and hour, we heard this single loud shot that came from down the valley. We assumed it was Elkhound and Simon as they were down the valley up another clear cut. Slowly we made our way back to where we last stopped and talked to them. We were just getting onto the road we believed Elkhound was on when my dad yelled "BEAR!!!" Literally before he could stop I had already jumped out of the truck and ran back down the road, frantically looking for a rest. This lil porker was sitting in a marshy feeding area and decided to run into 5 to 7 ft tall poplar trees, but quickly crested the knoll. Dads screaming on the rabbit call and the bear stops, and in my head I'm like " Okay I have a max of ten seconds to get a shot off." 1.... 2..... 3..... BOOOOOOOM! I knew I hit him really hard because I saw that bullet penetrate his body, making the fat ripple from his head to his ass. But when I saw him to a 180 and run into the bush I had this gut wrenching feeling that I had not properly placed my shot. Cautiously my dad, sis and I went behind the knoll he was on and started looking for him. We spilt off to cover more ground, we were only like 50 yards apart when my sister scream " OH MY GOD!" I knew she found him and I knew from how she said it was no small bear.
Opened him up and realized that I double lunged him, and he was running on his last breaths. Skinning him out we realized that this guy was super ripped. Basically his biceps had biceps and his ribs were super thick with meat, he was also loaded with tons of fresh fat. To add to the excitement, for the first time ever I shot a bear with no neck. I wish I took a photo, but basically when we were skinning around his head we found that it was all head and shoulders, no neck....
Definitely better then last may long weekend!
Measured 5'7" around 275+ pounds live weight!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=May12192.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=May12155.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=May12198.jpg
A HUGE special thanks to Elkhound, Simon(HBC Member), Steeleco(Dad) and my lil sis (BlonedTornado)
Video coming sooon!
Friday May 18th
Well my may long weekend started off with leaving school at lunch and heading up to some of our favourite spots up in region 8. On the drive up we saw a scrawny black bear on the side of the highway, lots of deer and of course speed traps. After ariving at our camp site and setting up the hunting rig, my dad (Steeleco), my sis (BlondeTornado) and I headed out for an evening hunt/scouting session as we had no clue how much snow was still present up in the hills. Still a fair bit of snow higher up but we stayed down lower becasue of all of the green! We must have seen somewhere around a sixty deer in like 3 1/2 hours, but unfortunately no bears.
Saturday May 19th
My dad and I were planning to start the day of with an early morning breakfast and then out of camp by like 6-6:30 the latest, but plans changed due to the fact that I couldn't crawl over my lil sister, who was spread out like a starfish on the tent trailer bed! As soon as she awoke, we were dressed and ready to go! So we headed out and decided to explore this nicely greened up area where I took my bear back in September. Sitting on the side hills just gazing around dad and I spoted some more deer up in the tree line. After spending a couple hours in this area we decide that we were getting tired and really hungry, so we slowly made our way back. Halfway through lunch Elkhound and his crew came up and started to camp with us. Then Elkhound's buddy Simon ( Dont know his HBC username) made his way to our camp. Later that night we went out as a group and headed to another fantastic area where Dutchie and I hiked up to the top of this clear cut and spooked a huge sow and two cubs last year (we were planning on trying to find her as we assumed that this area was her territory and we believe that her cubs last year were on the verge of being punted.) So blonde, dad and I are sitting on this cut block for an hour, it was starting to getting windy and kind of chilly, so we went back to the truck. On the way back to the truck we saw this bear across the valley, which was at most 600 yards.
We assume that this is the same bear because it is nothing for her to travel to the other side of the valley.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=heather20121151.jpg
Quickly we went to the next cut block to get Elkhound and Simon to go chase this bear, as we knew the exact road it was located on. Couldn't connect on this bear, but it was sure one hell of an adrenaline rush!!!
Sunday May 20th
Up by 6:30 out by 7:30, and up to this road that we've never been up before. After a few kilometres of winding road with little openings, we hit these old burns and clear cuts that had been reforested recently. Walked around these clear cuts finding sign of some deer, bear, elk ect, but no animals. After dinner we went back to the same area, but went up some of the spur roads. After glassing the hillside for like and hour, we heard this single loud shot that came from down the valley. We assumed it was Elkhound and Simon as they were down the valley up another clear cut. Slowly we made our way back to where we last stopped and talked to them. We were just getting onto the road we believed Elkhound was on when my dad yelled "BEAR!!!" Literally before he could stop I had already jumped out of the truck and ran back down the road, frantically looking for a rest. This lil porker was sitting in a marshy feeding area and decided to run into 5 to 7 ft tall poplar trees, but quickly crested the knoll. Dads screaming on the rabbit call and the bear stops, and in my head I'm like " Okay I have a max of ten seconds to get a shot off." 1.... 2..... 3..... BOOOOOOOM! I knew I hit him really hard because I saw that bullet penetrate his body, making the fat ripple from his head to his ass. But when I saw him to a 180 and run into the bush I had this gut wrenching feeling that I had not properly placed my shot. Cautiously my dad, sis and I went behind the knoll he was on and started looking for him. We spilt off to cover more ground, we were only like 50 yards apart when my sister scream " OH MY GOD!" I knew she found him and I knew from how she said it was no small bear.
Opened him up and realized that I double lunged him, and he was running on his last breaths. Skinning him out we realized that this guy was super ripped. Basically his biceps had biceps and his ribs were super thick with meat, he was also loaded with tons of fresh fat. To add to the excitement, for the first time ever I shot a bear with no neck. I wish I took a photo, but basically when we were skinning around his head we found that it was all head and shoulders, no neck....
Definitely better then last may long weekend!
Measured 5'7" around 275+ pounds live weight!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=May12192.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=May12155.jpg
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v305/steeleco/My%20pictures/?action=view¤t=May12198.jpg
A HUGE special thanks to Elkhound, Simon(HBC Member), Steeleco(Dad) and my lil sis (BlonedTornado)
Video coming sooon!