Bear honey hole

[Rufous]

Boy did I ever find out where some bears are hanging out yesterday. I found a spot with tons of various food sources. I wish I knew what all they were but there were apple trees, plum trees, blackberries, a couple kinds of trees with some blackish berry, choke cherries etc. I saw a sow with two cubs and more bear poop than I have ever seen along with lots and lots of bear trails. Bear trails are unique and readily identifiable due to the fact that bears will generally step in the same spot each time so there are depressions made, not just a smooth trail that other animals make. Anyway I tried doing some calling at a few spots but no luck. I am stoked at finding where some bears are hanging out but am not sure how to hunt it effectively as it is such thick cover. I will keep after it as there were some mighty big piles of poop, thus a mighty big bear in there. Rufous.

[littletoes]

Tree Stand!

Know of a spot like that, big piles of bear crap every 20 feet and lots of brush. Not easy to get into.

[littlebuf]

im heading east this friday to my "honey hole" sure sounds a lot like yours 

[Rufous]

Well, I think I got him. Not certain that he is the biggest bear using the area but there was lots of big piles of poop in the area I took this guy.

I called in this male bear this morning in SE WA just east of Walla Walla where I live. He came in to about 10 yards away but I was not sure he was the big boy I was after (based on all the big piles of bear poop in the area). He got nervous and ran off but I was able to stop him by calling again at about 75 yards. After looking at him some more through my binocular I decided he was big enough and shot him with my 45 Colt revolver using the Beartooth Bullets 345 grain hard cast lead bullet. I hit him behind the right shoulder and the bullet exited. He only ran about 25 yards. I found him dead. He measures 65" long and has a 45" girth. His front pad measures 5" wide and his neck has a girth of 27". His teeth are pretty badly chipped. His 4 legs weigh 81# (my pack weighed 98# including my other gear). His live weight is approximately 275#. It was a mighty hard climb up a steep slope and through a bunch of brush and nasty, thorny rose bushes but I made it. Rufous

[luvtohnt]

Nice bear, congrats on a beautiful trophy. How does the badlands pack work for hauling animals?

Brandon

[DOUBLELUNG]

That is an old stud bear.  Awesome!

[jason4429]

Congrats on the bear.How far can you shoot with that pistol.

[Rufous]

Luvtohunt, thanks. The Badlands pack works very well. I have used it to pack out several animals. There is what I think is a design flaw though. The metal bars that they put it the pack will sometimes work there way out of the webbing pocket and end up gouging through the top of the pack. This happened again today. I have sent it back to them in the past for repair of this problem. I am hoping they will address this issue and replace as opposed to repair the pack. Also one of the top straps tore loose today. I admit that loading the pack up with 100# is fairly extreme and is apparently beyond the capabilities of this pack, though I have done it a number of times in order to reduce the number of trips. I hunt alone much of the time and it is nice to make one pack out trip instead of two. Consequently I often pack pretty heavy loads. Anyway overall I love the pack but it needs to go back into them again. Also the main zipper is giving me fits- it will not always mesh up with itself. Good pack and great warranty but not perfect. Though what is? Rufous.

[Rufous]

Jason, I do not shoot much past 80 yards. I can generally hit a one gallon jug at that range.

[ThePascoKid]

Good lookin' bear!!

[DUGANDEER]

Congradulations on a great bear!!!

[luvtohnt]

First off  I also use the Badlands and love it. You can't beat the warranty, or the customer service. I have polycarbonate inserts in mine. They actually broke 5 days before the opener and when I called they said "we will just ship you some new ones so your pack will be ready to hunt", I got them in 2 days. Maybe the poly ones would be easier on the pack then the metal ones. I bet if you call them and ask for some poly ones to replace the meal they will send them to you. Again nice bear.

Brandon

[GUHunter]

Nice shooting. Cool to see guys take them with a pistol.

[Huntboy]

Nice bear.

[runamuk]

Nice bear congrats....