1st up: Big thanx to DoubleCut Taxidermy for digging my skull out of the bugs to get measurements for me on zero notice! And extra Thanx to Dale & Bearpaw Outfitters for holding my hand on this, my 1st successful Black Bear Hunt.
Score width = 6 4/8, length 11 2/8, score = 17 6/8
After fighting some issues with my go-to 300WM, we got my backup 270 Weatherby driving tacks, so that was the weapon of choice!
Well before daylight, Dale and I headed for one of his favorite properties and checked a couple orchards and then went for a hike. We weren't out of sight of the truck and I spotted a fresh bear track in the soft dirt, then we saw where bear had been working the berry brush. Soon we had worked our way up a deer trail, looking down into a brush filled canyon and we sat down to watch. and listen.
We were only about 30 minutes into the hunt and we both had heard a squirrel running around in the bushes below and then suddenly a loud snap, shortly followed by another louder snap! Awesome! We were on high alert. It had to be a bear to make that much noise. Dale & I glassed repeatedly. I decided to move a few feet farther up the trail to get a better angle and before I could sit down Dale suddenly spotted a nice black boar bear headed up the far side of the canyon. I'm watching the trail (and my feet) being careful not to make any noise when something behind me catches my attention. Its Dale frantically waving at me, eyes as big as golf balls, pointing a shaking arm across the canyon and I immediately spotted the bear. I considered setting up my shooting stick for just a split second but the bear was moving up the hillside at a steady pace. Afraid I would lose him, I dropped straight down on my butt, propping my elbows on my knees. Like a gift from above, Mr. Bear stopped in the middle of a nice, light colored patch of dead grass to scratch himself at what I figured to be maybe 125-150yds and presented a perfect quartering away shot. I held the crosshairs as steady as I could with the adrenalin flowing and squeezed. Whammo, bear rolling head over heals downhill. What a great sight!
The bear came to rest out of sight in some thick brush and we sat and watched for a while in which we heard two moans. We both figured that was it. Dale went for the truck to drive into the bottom of the canyon and I sat and watched from where I took the shot. Dale made his way up the bottom of the canyon and pretty soon he was in the right spot. I gave a couple directions (which probably didn't help LOL) and Dale found the black beast. Dale had told me it was a nice boar, but it actually was a little bigger than he had initially thought. I worked my way down the canyonside and we sat and savored the moment for a few minutes as we notched my tag.
The bear skinned out to an easy 6'1". The 6 to 8 year old boar was quite skinny tho, should have weighed 260ish but was probably lighter than that as the previous winter was so horrible for foods having been so terribly dry that previous year.
