Well the day started out as a scouting/hunting trip for Tank and my grizzly tags with his Dad (Al) along for back-up/video/ black bears etc. So after getting turned around by snow on the roads to a couple places we wanted to check we headed to a new area to look around. All in all the morning was rather uneventful seeing some deer and moose and 1 blackie out on the highway. Running low on fuel we decide to head back towards town. On the way back I happened to look up on a hillside slash and spot what I think is a black bear....we hop out and glass him up and sure enough its a blackie lounging on the spine of a finger ridge, basking in the sun. He looks to be a pretty good bear but at 350 yards we decide to move in for a closer look. at 220 yards out we stop to glass him again and i see a fairly prominent ear...not a good sign, except sticking out below him is an enormous paw. We confer shortly trying to decide "shooter/no shooter", which is proving difficult as he is laying on his side on the hill. Its decided to move in even closer to be sure and if he busts us then so be it. At around 110 yards Al slides off to my right to get into position for a shot and shift over to the left to get a good last look to confirm if he is indeed a big bear or not.....as I sit down in front of a slash pile and get the glasses on him he busts Al (who has no shot due to a branch). when he spots Al he stands up and looks from Al to me....when he faces me head on I know for sure that he is a definate shooter and motion Al over to my position for a shot. As Al settles in for the shot the bear continues to watch us from his ridge, i'm sure thinking we are bears as we have black shirts on. Satisfied that we pose no threat to him he lets out a mighty yawn and is about to settle back down when Al's sends a 150 grn barnes on its way from his 7MM. The bear crumples inward and begins a rubber legged cartwheel down the hillside.....its quite obvious the bear is done for and doesn't even twitch where he finally come to rest.
Load was a 7MM mag - 150 grain Barnes triple shock over 61 grns of IMR 4831. the bullet was centered in the brisket and exited through the spine about midway down the back taking one lung and the top of the heart in the process. The exit hole was no bigger around than my thumb, indicating that the barnes held together extremely well. Best part of all was Tank got great video of the whole hunt from start to finish....a good start to our spring bear dvd!!
OK....OK!! HERES THE PICS!!!
Bear was 6 foot from nose to tail and squared out at 7'6" there is little doubt in my mind after some preliminary measurements that the skull will go 19"+. Allthough not overly long this bear was built like a bulldog and had some serious body mass. A great mature boar to start the season off right!
Chris
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Re: interior bear down!!
So other than it was in a logging block I'm not much help with the locale!
