Author Topic: Got me a Bear!! (Read 9691 times)

LongTatLaw · « **on:** November 10, 2007, 02:04:17 AM »

Well, after several days of no hunting me and my buddy headed to the woods. Down near the Skook. Any way, got there late...no time to climb a tree. I start trying to call him a elk..and theres a young bull trying to bugle at me from 1/2 mile and not getting any closer...

I hear something 50-60 yards away...i whisper to my buddy to look for it..so he stands up (we were sitting against a log). He throws up his scope...is tracking some and whispers. Its a bear! I say shoot..shoot...shoot it... he says he cant.

I stood up and see a bear 40 yards away walking slow in the open. I didnt mind taking the shot. 300 win mag started the job...he ran 10 yards and got stopped by a downed tree...when he began to crest it...shot number two put him down.

I dont have a pocket knife...no meat pack...no camera. We drive 1 hr home, get a buddy, and head back an hr drive.

Get there and my good buddy security guard opens the gate so I can drive to within a 1/4 mile of the bear. But he says i have less than an hr to get back out the gate before he gets off work... 65 minutes later with 1/2 a complete bear on my back Im back out the gate.

The rest was a late night stop by Michelle Nelson's Taxidermy shop.

Its a decent sized bear...not record book but beautiful to me. This has turned out to be a decent 1st year hunting in WA.

Thanks for reading.

dave

LongTatLaw · « **Reply #1 on:** November 10, 2007, 02:22:07 AM »

Some pics

LongTatLaw · « **Reply #2 on:** November 10, 2007, 02:23:05 AM »

More pics and Michelle at work on him in my personal album!!

billythekidrock · « **Reply #3 on:** November 10, 2007, 05:15:01 AM »

Congrats......where are you taking the meat for processing?

Slider · « **Reply #4 on:** November 10, 2007, 05:17:14 PM »

Nice Bear!!! Congrats

addicted · « **Reply #5 on:** November 10, 2007, 05:25:42 PM »

sounds like a good time

saylean · « **Reply #6 on:** November 10, 2007, 05:33:14 PM »

Grats buddy...sweet bear! I like it

Glad to hear you enjoyed your first year hunting in WA...Thanks for the post!

Saylean~

huntingnut · « **Reply #7 on:** November 10, 2007, 07:04:52 PM »

Congrats on a nice bear.

cohoho · « **Reply #8 on:** November 10, 2007, 10:48:07 PM »

Excellent! Gotta love getting those critters. How are the rugs here, thin or half way decent? A couple I have seen are very thin but might have been an early bears....

Michelle_Nelson · « **Reply #9 on:** November 10, 2007, 11:07:52 PM »

Longtats bear will make a nice rug. The hair was not all the way prime but it was close. It will deffinetly make a great rug.

I must say for him never skinning out a bear for a rug he did a great job making the proper incissions and skinning the bear.

billythekidrock · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2007, 04:53:28 AM »

I think this bear will make a good rug. Not alot of "wooly" under fur, but nice long guard hairs. The pics don't do it justice. While the pads seemed small (split & salted) the skull is decent sized and it will square just over 6ft.

Definately a great first bear!

boneaddict · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:43:09 AM »

Well he's not your big 400 pounder hat you had cornered, but he is a Dadny. Congrats on your bear and great year in Washington. I'm glad this hunt was a little more trouble free compared to your elk. Congrats to you!

littletoes · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2007, 06:09:23 PM »

Nice bear!
And here I was thinking all the bears had denned up/1

Congrats!

sisu · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2007, 06:52:26 PM »

Good job.

billythekidrock · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:01:33 PM »

Quote from: littletoes on November 11, 2007, 06:09:23 PM

Nice bear!
And here I was thinking all the bears had denned up/1

Congrats!

Not yet, on the westside, if at all.

boneaddict · « **Reply #15 on:** November 11, 2007, 07:04:12 PM »

Most are still out on the east side as well. Slowed a bit, but still rambling and putting on the fat.

LongTatLaw · « **Reply #16 on:** November 11, 2007, 08:41:04 PM »

Thanks for all the comments from all of you!

Im very pleased with him. I love every animal I hunt deeply so it doesnt take much at all to become a trophy to me. If taxidermy was 50% cheaper Id have 50 deer does and spike bucks mounted all over my house!

I was very very excited to take this bear...although, I promise you the bear I was hunting (in the exact same area) craps turds bigger than my bear at Michelle's house! The big bear was an easy twice as big.

Any way, I had given up any hope of finding a bear and was just hoping to get my buddy within a elk/deer sighting for his first ever trip to the woods. Next thing ya know... Black Bear at 40 yards with no clue two hunters are leaned against the nearby stump.

We were elk calling on a sparse timber ridge that butts up against a thick nasty bedding area of young firs...

I have seen a big bull and lots of elk in the area...and my wife killed her first ever deer ( 2x2 BT with 300 WM) just 400 meters away... so I expected to see game but the bear was a pleasant surprise.

I would have either mounted or rugged him even if he was 100 pounds smaller!! I think bears are kind of like caribou. While there is a scoring system they are all sorta trophies in their own right...in a way that doesnt always make sense in a B&C measurement kind of way. I love my bear and he is a monster to me!

He sure as hell felt like it when I packed 1/2 his body, his entire hide, and the head...all still one piece... paws still attached... 400+ meters out of that thicket.

Strangely, me and Michelle working together had trouble moving that same meat pack 10 feet from my truck to her shop.

PS- Thank you Michelle for the skinning praise! You forgot to mention the job I did was in 45 minutes from wheres the knife to dropping the pack in the truck.

I was fortunate to sweet talk my way behind a gate that doesnt ever get opened for anyone and that cut over a mile off of the pack out but that entrance came with a 1 hr total time limit including drive time.

gate to gate was 1:09

I wouldn't wanna try it again but thanks George!!

Any way,

Thanks for the comments... not expecting to get much more big game hunting done this year in WA unless some one on here has a pesky cougar that they need taken care of. Guess Ill have to switch to ducks or something now

Michelle_Nelson · « **Reply #17 on:** November 11, 2007, 09:03:55 PM »

You still have late archery for deer. Also small game season is still open.

Longtatlaw, your bear is currently chillin

under 50 lbs of salt. I was up til 5:30 am splitting, turning, fleshing, and salting that bear down after you dropped it off at my shop. He should be ready for the tannery here pretty soon.

You mush have left the majority of the fat on the meat because I only got about 1/2 a 5 gallon bucket of fat off the skin.

GoldTip · « **Reply #18 on:** November 12, 2007, 07:12:29 AM »

Congrats on a dandy first bear, thats a good'un.

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Author Topic: Got me a Bear!! (Read 9691 times)

sisu

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