Unit 215 Bear

[tlbradford]

I haven't been posting for a while since I have been working in Tonasket with dial up speed internet.  Now that the job is wrapping up I am back in Spokane a lot more and finding a little time for the internet.

Here is a bear I shot last Thursday evening.  I spotted it feeding at 171 yards out in some thick stuff.  Dropped everything but my camera and rifle and snuck into a shady spot and watched it from 100 yards for about 15 minutes, trying to decide if it was a shooter, and if it was alone.  Still couldn't get a good look, so I used two big wind gusts to cover my approach across some shale and crispy vegetation to roughly 50 yards away.  Watched for another 5 minutes.  Finally, it moved into some shorter brush and stood on it's hind legs and the head and shoulders looked pretty blocky.  The next time it stood up I shot it between the shoulder blades.  .338 win mag bullet exited out the front of the neck after severing the spine.  No twitching, no death bawl, no breathing, just stillness.  Turned out to be a sow which was a bummer.  A couple trips for the pack out went fairly quick.  Round as a barrel, good skull, but only 4'-9" from nose to tail.  Head, hide and feet weighed 72 lbs (left a lot of fat on since I was trying to beat the darkness), boned out meat 68 lbs, and I'll guess 40 pounds for guts and skeleton, for a total of about a 180# bear.

No room for a decent field photo, but I'll post a better shot of the head when my father in law gets the pictures to me.

I have had a long, dry spell where big game is concerned, so it felt good to knock something down again.

[ellensburgpo]

Great pictures and congrats on a beautiful bear.

[sebek556]

  sweet good job. Not often you get before the kill pics as well 

[ShaneTyTrey]

Congrats

[bearmanric]

Nice lookin g bear. Neat story. Rick

[saylean]

Pretty pictures...nice blaze! Congrats on breaking the dry streak.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Good looking Bear!

[h20hunter]

Very cool to see the priors of the bear prior to the shot. Very pretty.....love the white patch. Congratulations on your hunt. I don't have much experience with bears myself but I can attest to the beauty of the "no tracking shot".

[blacktailcody]

That bear wins this years most beautiful bear contest. Good job.

[Ripper]

That's exactly the kind of bear I'm looking for. Jet black with a nice white V on the chest. Beautiful, congrats.

[MatthewHunter98]

sweet story good job

[skier2480]

Way to go!!! 

[Kowsrule30]

Nothing wrong with taking a sow out that doesn't have cubs....  They need thinned out to....      Congrats.... Great looking bear!!!

[grizzlyadams]

Good job spotting it in that thick stuff 

[tlbradford]

Just a follow-up to show you the head size.  It looks a little weird because I cased out the hide so I would have the option of a half body mount.  I may just go with a soft tan though.  And I threw in a photo I liked on my way into a different area, trying to get the brother in law a bear.