My first bear!

[bankwalker]

Well it finally happened after 3 very hard years hunting. I've busted by butt up and down some of the steepest country I could find chasing bear. Missed a handful of shots. This year I cracked down and got really comfortable at extended ranges. And today my hard work finally paid off.

I Woke up this morning as the sun came up expecting to go help my dad find a buck. But instead he went to town to fill his truck up with gas. So i was awake and couldn't decide on bear hunting or fishing. Around 8 the rain stopped and the skies quickly cleared to a nice blue sky. I knew today was the day so I grabbed my rifle and headed for the hills. I Got to my hunting spot pretty quick about 8 miles from home. The first 3 clear cuts I have been watching all week showed no new bear damage so I just drove back and forth between watching the 3 spots giving them a hour per sit. They are all on the same mountain top so it's a quick drive. Around 12:30 I had about given up and started watching a clear cut on the opposite mountain about 700-1100 yards away from end to end. All out of my comfort range but I was bored. After a half hour of that nonsense I drove to the next landing that closed the distance by another 200-300 yards. I wasn't there longer than 10 minutes when movement caught my eye across the valley. Sure enough it was a bear and he looked gigantic through my 8x binos. I quickly ranged him at 710 yards and he was working his was down the clear cut my direction. He eventually stopped at 629 yards and started tearing apart a log giving my plenty of time to get setup for a shot figuring he was going to continue down the mountain. But instead he turned to walk back where he came from. I dialed my scope in and squeezed the trigger. The sound of the gun sent deer running from all directions in the clear cut. The bear spun around and fell then took off running. But he slowed quickly after just a few feet so I continued to send rounds his direction till finally he dropped out of sight! I sat there in amazement at how quickly everything happened. 
I called my dad for help and after a long 30 minutes we were headed up the deceivingly steep clear cut to find my bear. He was about 600 yards up the clear cut and it took almost a hour to finally find him and to my amazement he was still there. I just knew in my mind and my luck he wasn't dead and took off after I left my shooting location. 




Then the fun begins. Having never gotten a bear before I was clueless. The clear cut was way to steep and he was way to big to drag. I opted to leave him whole and roll him down the clear cut and gut him at the road. That took almost 2 hours by myself to get him down as I sent my dad to move the truck to another location for an easier drag to the road.

I got the bear to the road finally,  almost. But there was 2 small creek beds with very steep banks that I knew I couldn't manage on my own. So I just sat on the road waiting for my dad. A young guy drove by seeing all the blood on my pants and arms and ask me if I needed help. So him and I muscled the bear the last 100 yards to the road.
Zach if you are a member here. Thanks again!!

I weighed him on a friends bathroom scale 237lbs gutted. And he measured 6'3" nose to tail.

I can't wait to do it all over again. Next time I'm shooting one on the road.

[Katmai Guy]

That is a damn nice bear!  Congrats

[Forrestrover.02]

Nice! Congratulations!!!

[RadSav]

That is one heck of a nice bear. Might take you another three years or more to better that one!  Congratulations

I can't imagine shooting at a bear at that distance.  I'd be such a nervous wreck I doubt I would even come close   Way to keep your cool and make a great shot!

[MountainWalk]

Awesome job! They are a helluva critter, aint they?

[Timberstalker]

Wow. What an awesome bear. His hide looks amazing. Helluva a shot as well!

[jasnt]

Nice bear and good shooting

[n_mathews13]

Very nice

[justyhntr]

That is a great looking bear , nice work. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

awesome ...looks like a nice one too 

[bankwalker]

Thanks guys. I would love to have had a closer shot. But in all honesty I'm very happy to put my bear rifle to use on a shot distance I bought it for.

I shot it with a tikka t3 superlight 7mag topped with a vortex viper hs-lr. Shooting hornady 154gr sst's.

I retrieved my first shot bullet aswell.  The hair was tangled up in it on the exit side. Busted 1 rib going in and 3 ribs going out. The exit hole was about 3 inches. I'm very impressed with the bullet performance at that distance. The 4 other shots were misses

[pashok23]

HUGE 

[sled]

More pics needed.

[bear hunter]

  Great looking bear. He will make a nice rug or wall mount.

[Eli346]

Great bear! Congrats.

[bankwalker]

I'm just doing the skull euro mount and claws. I would have loved to have a rug done or a mount. But I'm just thrilled to finally get my first bear and any sort of Mount is acceptable to me.

[JohnVH]

nice shooting man! 7mag does the trick!

[bankwalker]

[Halo]

Dandy bear.

[CAMPMEAT]

Good for you. Just get his hide tanned and keep it for the wall.

[saylean]

Good lookin bear

[iwagner]

Great looking Bruin and a great shot!