Chapter Closes on Ol' Slew Foot

[bearcat_outfitters]

There has been a legendary bear roaming Bearcat Outfitters territory that we referred to as ‘Ol’ Slew Foot.’ Story goes that a huge bear was winged in the front leg by a hunter years ago in this one hidden meadow. Every year there seems to be a huge bear in this meadow but for one reason or another, we haven’t been able to harvest the bear. We ran him with the hounds spring of 2011 and the bear wouldn’t tree and had to end the hunt when darkness fell. Hound guide Dan Coleman and friend Scott started a blazing fire but the hounds never showed up that night. They could hear the final two dogs baying well after dark. They had to retreive his hounds the next day.
 
There was evidence of a huge bear in the same meadow again this last spring. Dan figures he treed the bear when training his hounds in early May before the hunters showed up for the year, but wasn’t 100% sure it was Slew Foot. I have tried numerous times to try and sneak into the meadow and shoot the bear as it was feeding, but the wind always seems to be wrong when using the only practical access route into the meadow. I would suggest this is the main reason the bear has lived to an old age. Getting frustrated, I set up a trail camera in mid-May. We got pictures of a huge boar the first day then a few days with nothing then he showed up again with a sow. Our next group of hunters arrived and a plan was set for Dan to walk one of his best hounds into the meadow on a leash and see what transpired. Sure enough ‘Cricket’ went ballistic upon entering the meadow and Dan released her and a couple of his other best hounds. They quickly sorted out the huge bear’s trail and the race was on. It ended up treeing after ‘only’ a couple of hours chase. It was the first morning of the Battaglia’s family hunt and we got them all to the site once the bear was treed. Marg is awaiting knee replacement surgery, but was still able to make the steep descent into the canyon where the bear had treed. We got some good photos of the bear up the tree, then Tony Battaglia made a fine shot with his bow to fell the monster.
 
We aren’t really sure if this was, in fact, the bear that had been wounded years ago due to the time lapse since that incident. Having said that, when Tony and I skinned out the old boar we found some old bruising and damage to his left, front leg…..
 
A memorable hunt for us all and an extremely nice trophy for Tony'’s collection. The bear squared over 6.5 feet and has a huge skull. His hair was beautiful and soft and at least 3 inches deep. We will await formal scoring to see where he ends up in the record book.

[boneaddict]

Outstanding post!

[Jerome]

What a great story.  Thanks for good read.

[Ripper]

Welcome to the site, that's a great story and pic.

[jackelope]

Good story, great bear. Congrats to you guys and the hunters.

[mfswallace]

Great story!  Reminds me of the old bear in The Great Outdoors 

[saylean]

Good lookin bear!

[stew pidasso]

Great job

[Sideswipe]

Great story & bear.  Nice Job.  "My" Slewfoot was an ancient Msg that was filling in for a Plt Ldr back in '63 w/7th ID.

[baker5150]

Awsome story.   

[D-Rock425]

Good looking bear.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Nice ..let 2013 begin 

[Quarteredaway]

great story nice bear im jacked..........