Bear down, my first.

[h20hunter]

Okay.....third time is the charm baby!

For some of you this will be old news, for some new so please enjoy.

This was my 2nd year really hunting bears. My first year I stumbled around on my own a bit, the second year I was more serious and had one and a half shot ops, now, I've got me a bear. I owe a lot of thanks to D-Rock who has shown me areas to hunt, how to deal with bears when it comes to knife work, and how to look for sign and feeding areas. Big thanks also to one member who knows who he is. Major thanks to my brother in law for always being there for adventures. He will hunt, fish, scout, explore, check cams, anything and everything without a complaint. If the fish aren't biting, the crab are gone, and the animals are a no show he never complains or whines, he just soldiers on. I of course could have activated the Hunt Wa phone tree and had some of you guys out there but having him with me was a true gift. For the sake of the write up I will refer to my brother in law as "D".

Saturday evening I was up checking out an area that was whispered in my ear. I explored, hiked, and learned a bit about the area. Looked good to me with lots of berries, some good sign, and some scat that could have been small bear or yotes. I talked with one hiker who described some piles of scat filled with berries up higher that has to be bear. We chatted a bit and I suggested he put some orange ribbon on his dogs collar. This dog was huge, blond, and thick. You are thinking the same thing I was....blond dog looks like a blond bear which then becomes a dead dog. He thanked me for the advice and I thanked him for his time and off we each went. Fairly uneventfull eveing filled with sweat and skeeters.

Sunday, o'dark hundred D showed up at five and we hit the road. The FJ was loaded and we were off. We got to the parking spot just after first light. I took care of a little quick paperwork off to the side and we geared up and hit the trail. Nice little walk in towards the first "stretch" we wanted to hunt. Kind of funny, we had two little racoons walking towards us about a hundred yards up. Not gonna lie...at that distance my first thought was cubs....pleased to see coons instead. As we got closer one took off and the other got up a tree in a hurry. Little bugger was sure giving me the stink eye as I walked past. Lucky for him it was early and my itchy trigger finger was held at bay. Tempting. D and I came out into our first area, put some distance between us, and started to slow hunt along. We both came across some scat and sign that was overnight fresh so things were looking up. It was a very pleasant walk. We spent about 35 minutes working along. The berries to me looked fairly picked over. Picked over like critters eating them, not people picking them. In hindsight things were defenitely looking up.

We came to the end of the stretch and only made it about 30 more yards. That is when we heard it. D-Rock once told me that when you see a bear you will have no doubt it is a bear. It won't look like the first hundred stumps you looked at thinking it was a bear. It will look like a bear. He also said when you hear a bear you will know it is a bear. Not a little deer picking its way along but a pushing through the brush making noise and breaking sticks bear. The little bear I passed on last year sounded like that. The big bear I almost had a shot with my bow last year sounded like that. This bear very much sounded like a bear. D looked at me and said that it sounded big. I told him it is big. We both checked our rifles, one in the chamber and safetys on. I was carrying my .270 and he had my .30-30. I was shooting 130g Hornady Interlocks and he had the Hornady LEVERevoltion ammo. Safety on we begin to close the gap.

The stretch we were now on climbs up a bit with the berries now above and below us. We are on the path and Mr. Bear is below us. I can hear him moving along and what sounds to me like just acting bear like. Only a few minutes go by and D thinks it is spooked and working its way down instead of up. Luckily, patience was on my side. I suggested he go another 20 yards or so and just post up. He walks down a bit and then we simply stood there for a few minutes. I can see the brush now start to move. Autopilot kicks in and I get my sticks up in front of me, rest the rifle, lay my cheek to stock, sight on the moving brush and flick off the safety. My heart is beating pretty good but I'm in control....for now. The first thing I see is some black fur...just a bit through the brush. The second thing I see is the nose and muzzle. I can see some color on the muzzle and then I see nothing but bear head an brush. I know instantly that if I can see the shoulder I'm taking the shot. He lowers his head, steps forward as his head comes up and steps directly into the crosshairs. I'm shooting for no tracking shot and let the crosshairs float up a bit on the shoulder and touch off the shot. My Ruger M77 is the all weather stainless version. It is very light and for a .270 really takes off. As the gun came back down I racked the bolt and tried to find the bear. I was looking at the brush through the scope and could see it vibrating. The brush was just shivering. I didn't see anything moving other than that and looked over at D. He was still in a shooting position and covering the area that the bear went down. This is the point where I began to shake. My legs and hands were shaking pretty bad so I simply laid the rifle down and went over and sat my butt on a rock. Only a minute or so went by and D came over to me and asked if I was okay. Yep, I just need a minute before I grab my gun. D says that man he has to be dead. He didn't see anything move and heard the death moan. I say f'ing A all I can hear is my heart.  The wave passes and I'm feeling okay to pick up and safely unload. We get that done, drop our packs, and get ready to head down. We decide that D will take the .30-30 and I'll take the machete. He is more steady than I at this point and can shoot with the irons even though a scope is mounted. We scurry down into the brush and only need to go about 20 yards before I can see Mr. Bear. He was down where he stood, belly up, and very much dead.

After a few phone calls and texts it was decided that the best thing to do was send D back to the FJ for the game cart and I would do the knife work. I'll say that I much rather prefer field dressing a bear than a deer. Simply not having to deal with a medicine ball sized stomach seemed much easier. The knife work went well and I was able to clean up a bit with wet wipes before D got back. He manhandled the game cart down and we strapped Mr. Bear on pretty tight. D suggested we pound some Gatorade, water, and a power bar in anticipation of getting him the 45ish yards out. We hydrated, gave it ten minutes and then got to work. The game cart was a Godsend. We were able to move it a few feet at a time without to much trouble. The wheels would help with the uneven brush and the ends provided good lifting points. However, the last section that was steep was the worst. We got it done and we only fell once but managed the fall and didn't end up with more than a few bruises and scratches. This is where D really stepped up. There is simply now way I could have done that without taking Mr. Bear out in quarters.

The bullet went in high in the shoulder and took out the spine and spinal column. The slug came to rest on the far shoulder just under the hide. A petal or section of jacket apparently came off and took a bit of right hand turn and exited between the last 2nd and 3rd rib leaving a small but nasty exit wound. The recovered projectile weighed 89.3 grains with a starting weight of 130.

I estimated the bear to come in at about 250 on the paw. The hanging weight at the butcher yesterday was 123.9 lbs bone in. They gave me an estimate based on body size, neck girth, body fat, and experience to be around the 250 to 275 walking around weight. I'll take that.

Here are a few pics.....I'll start with the way we found him. He looked  like he had been struck by lighting. Simply knocked over. Never took a step.

[ICEMAN]

Thanks for reposting. Although...some of the excitement is gone this time...

[h20hunter]

Yep....here is me with my bear....

[h20hunter]

Back at the FJ.....I felt like I had been seriously worked over.

[h20hunter]

At home after the work has been done...

[h20hunter]

My daugher, 3, wanted nothing to do with it. My boy, he was all about it.

[h20hunter]

And the slug.....

[h20hunter]

Wow.....Double D just called. My bear is already done. They are cutting and wrapping the pep sticks. I didn't mention but yesterday when I dropped it off the offered to keep my cooler and clean it out for me. Very nice offer and I took 'em up on it in a heartbeat. I'll be picking it up tomorrow and having steaks this weekend.

[Skillet]

Double D in Mountlake Terrace?  That's some great service!  Counter help there isn't hard to look at, either...

Great write up, man.  Congrats!

[kckrawler]

You take it in yesterday??? Seems awfully fast, especially when they're making pep sticks. 

Either way, sound like they're the new place to go! Congrats again 

[Buckmark]

Bear bbq at h20's house..... ......
Good lookin bear, the guy in the pic not so much.....

[h20hunter]

Yep. The cutter started on it as I left and they did the pep sticks yesterday evening and finished them off overnight to be packaged this morning. They told me it would be fast. They only started doing big game in the last few years and will only take it bone in when they have time to process your animal, then the next one, and the next one. They don't take in multiple and work on them. That way you are guaranteed to get your meat only with no exceptions. They don't mess around a bit.

[h20hunter]

Buckmark....I was going to take a picture of it in the back of the FJ but when folks saw it wasn't pink nobody would belive me that it was my bear!

[kckrawler]

Yep. The cutter started on it as I left and they did the pep sticks yesterday evening and finished them off overnight to be packaged this morning. They told me it would be fast. They only started doing big game in the last few years and will only take it bone in when they have time to process your animal, then the next one, and the next one. They don't take in multiple and work on them. That way you are guaranteed to get your meat only with no exceptions. They don't mess around a bit.

Wow!!! That's great  Good to know that there are still shops out there that focus on taking care of the customer...putting their number in my phone now.

[h20hunter]

I have been going to D&D for years......they don't mess around with anything. They do a lot of retail business and if you don't speak up you are gonna be waiting a while to get your steaks. The girls at the counter are all cute as hell and all know what they are talking about. When I do go in I just tell them what steaks I want and let them pick them out. I will swear by their house cut tri tip and their house White Zin Marinade. I'll be dropping some coin on marinades and seasoning to try out with the bear.