Well, we never caught up to what made that track. We do have a lot of griz in the area we are hunting as well as monster black bears. Our primary target is moose so the bears are usually opportunistic kills...but this year the weather was stupid warm and bears were out thick. Not really wanting to waste time or money with small black bears, we only shoot them when they are big. This black bear is the biggest we have ever killed and now my son has one more black bear kill than his old man.
Quick story:
First day of moose hunt 2022 and managed to swamp an Argo.....this lead to a swim in a very cold beaver pond, recovery and repair of an Argo (it was great fun and great experience). On our way back to camp that evening we decided to not let the entire day go to waste. We stop at a cut with about 30 minutes left of light and do some moose calling...at this point we had 3 Argos full of eyes and a couple hunters. I told the guide I was gonna walk up the road / cut line about 500 yards and look over the larger cut. I no longer hit that larger cut when I laid eyes on this bear. I knew instantly he was a shooter signaled the other Argos to move up. As my son arrived in the Argo, I set up the Bog Pod Deathgrip and secured the 338 Lapua. My best friend ranged the bear at 320 yards and my son saddled up to the rifle. We dialed the scope and waited for the shot. At this point the bear was facing us straight on. My son was patient and just waited, keeping the crosshairs on him. The bear turned his head and presented a shoulder, but I told my son to wait. With light fading fast, I told my son....if he turns his head again, take him. A few seconds later the bear turned ever so slightly to his left and gave a hard frontal quartering shot. I told my son to take him.....my son shoots a lot and I knew he could 10 ring him at that distance. BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM.....the lapua barked and the bear pancaked and never moved. Bullet entered the neck just in front of the shoulder hitting spine and exited just in front of the second to the last rib on the off side. My son is 13 and now has 7 bears under his belt. This one will be a hard one to beat. The bear had 3 inches of fat everywhere......it was unreal. Hanging weight of the carcass was 200 lbs at the butcher. This was after cutting a ton of fat off it, gutting, skinning, etc....just meat / bones and a little fat. We think he easily went 400...which as a general rule we figure carcass is about 50 percent of live weight for most animals.
On a side note, the Hammer Hunter bullet worked flawlessly. Third animal with Hammers and all have performed perfectly.
