2021 Bears

[HillHound]

Finally filled my second bear tag. There have been lots of bumps in the road with the closure of state land, working more than I would like, and rolling my four wheeler with my gun on my back coming down a hill climb all set me back this year.
Made it back up where I had got into lots of fresh sign last week. Saw one moving away up and over a hill. Circled around to the other side to see if I could call it down the other side. No luck with that one but I  had this dry sow come in from below me. Watched her moving up hill making sure nothing was in tow and looking for a perfect shot. Shot when I had an opening at 40 yards with my sons 243, double lung catching the offside shoulder  and dropped in its tracks. First time I’ve shot a bear with a small caliber so I was impressed. I was using it cause I still havnt shot my 300wsm  after taking it for a trip down the hill with my four wheeler.
Good luck to all of those with tags still. Hopefully this cool weather helps. Sure was nice not being 100 degrees when trying to deal with a bear on the ground

[dmoua]

My brother and nephew stuck it out in the off and on rain all day yesterday and it paid off. Two bears in one day. My nephews first big game ever. What a hunt it was.

[Ghost Hunter]

Now that is awesome!!  Congratulations.  Trying to get back to my woods for #2.

[HillHound]

Awesome. That’s a good day. Glad to see you got your nephew hooked now too

[lewy]

Nice job guys! Lots of calling success, very cool

[Turner89]

Nice job guys 

[dmoua]

Awesome. That’s a good day. Glad to see you got your nephew hooked now too

Thank you. Congrats on that big sow up there. 

[johnbmyersii]

Got my first bear over the weekend. A 6'-3" Boar with a 19.5" skull. Guessing he was a little over 250 pounds. Couldn't be happier.

[Timberstalker]

Smoker black bear!
Nice work, John!

[7t9cobra]

I filled my first tag in the spring season. August was a slow start for me. I went out every chance I could get (5-6 days a week) I stayed home just enough to avoid a divorce  I wasn't seeing anything. I found some sign but nothing significant. I ended up messing my left foot up pretty bad on thursday, so I decided I need to take it easy saturday. I have a road I hunt that always seems to produce animals. So I decided to lay in the road and watch all morning. There is almost no visibility on the sides so it makes it real easy to stay put. I waited from 6am-10:30am when I got bored and cocky. I tried to walk in another area but my foot told me no. So I drove back to my spot and walked in there and laid back down in the road. ten minutes in and I could hear some branches breaking. I expected to see an elk just because I haven't had much action this year. After a couple minutes I see the top of a 15ft tall cascara tree topple over about 75 yards away. I knew it was a bear at that point. I knew he wasn't going to cross the road for a while if at all. So I double checked the wind and walked up the road slowly and as quiet as possible. pretty soon I could see the tree moving but not the bear. I walked a little further and I got a good look at 20-25 yards. needless to say, he dropped where he stood. I shot at 1:25pm. I had him skinned, quartered and loaded up in the fridge by 4:30. Help showed up just in time to help me get it in bags and to the pickup. He's no giant, but my taxidermist believes he's 15-18 years old. I can't complain one bit. I would've been happy with a small young bear.

[7t9cobra]

.

[Rob]

That is an old fighter of a bear!

[jrebel]

Son's bear from yesterday.  He / We hunted hard for 5 days with just a few sightings and near misses.  We hiked and covered some serious ground.  We sat for very long hours of boredom.....   He was a trooper and just kept keeping on.  Last night was our last night before having to head home today because school starts tomorrow.  It was about an hour before quitting time and it was clear he was dejected.  We were sitting on an old logging road we have seen bear on before.  He was distracted and dejected.....then a bear ran down the road 10 feet from us.  He wasn't ready and that bear just kept running  !!  It was super cool but he couldn't believe he just missed an opportunity because he was down and out.  I told him to sit still and be ready, figured the small bear had ran buy because there was another in the area.  Low and behold, 6 minutes later his bear stepped out on the road 30 yards away from us.  It stood broadside and offered a perfect shot.  He hammered it with his sisters rifle (Savage Ultralite 6.5 creed).  We were using her rifle so we could test the new bullets (hammer Hunter 124 gr) and they performed perfect.  Bear was dead on its feet and only covered 15 yards before piling up.   153 lbs live weight. 

I was proud of how he stuck out the 15 hour days and stayed positive.  This was a lesson learned that hard work pays off....and a little bit of luck.   Also helps that this road leads to the promise land of wild plum trees. 

Proud dad moment. 

[Dan-o]

Nice!!!!!!

Can't imagine eating that many plums.....

[HillHound]

Way to stick it out. That’s going to be a tasty one.