Author Topic: LITTLE PATHFINDER’S 2023 BEAR HUNT (Read 5808 times)

Pathfinder101 · « **on:** August 18, 2023, 06:09:56 PM »

Earlier this year I asked Little Pathfinder what his favorite thing to hunt is. He said that it was bear; hands down. Since WDFW moved the bear season to open 1 August a few years ago, that allowed us (him as a high school student and me as a high school teacher) the ability to hunt for almost a full month without fear of missing school or sports or other scheduling conflicts. Early sunrise and late dusk means hunting days that start around 5:30 and don’t end until after 8pm.
The bad that goes along with all this good, is that the area we hunt is absolutely overrun with bears. We used to deer and elk hunt out of the same stands, but the past few years it has been a waste of time to do so. We hang trail cameras in June and check them all summer long. By 1 August we had a pretty good idea of which bears were on our hit list. Our area has berries in it that come ripe in August, so the tactic we use is watching clearings with trails and food from dawn until dusk, occasionally employing predator calls. Last year Little Pathfinder called in a chocolate bear to his tree stand that provided an exciting end to his season when it came running in and then tried to climb the tree with him after he shot it.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:11:28 PM »

Our cameras had captured a large chocolate boar named Hershey that was our #1 bear, a large blonde/chocolate sow with a large white square on her chest we call Ghost and another blonde boar with a white V and what looked in some pictures like a crooked nose that we have been calling Hook. We had seen a few other bears, including a small chocolate boar, a cinnamon and a black bear that we couldn’t see the sex. Like I said, the area is overrun with bears. Our winter trail camera had also turned up photos of cats and two different visits from a black wolf. Needless to say, a year of trail camera photos only turned up one deer and one elk in the area.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:16:35 PM »

1 August saw Little Pathfinder at a church youth camp, so we missed the first couple of days, but he got back on the third, so we were in the woods hiking in by 4 am on the 4th. He sat in his tree stand with his predator call, and I chose to glass the clearing with the berries. About 9 am, I saw the blonde sow working her way through a shady draw a couple of hundred yards away. I shot a large boar last year, so I wasn’t interested, but I knew LP had some history with this bear (he missed her last year due to an elevation turret with a broken zero-stop), so I messaged him and he hightailed it down to my location. By the time he got to me though, she was gone. He returned to his stand and that afternoon had a visit from the small chocolate boar. After passing his stand the small bear picked his way across my clearing.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:18:03 PM »

The next day we both saw the small chocolate boar again, but no other bears. The next day turned up the small chocolate again. He seemed to have a limited area and ran about the same circuit every morning. After seeing him and passing him 3 times, Little Pathfinder decided that this bear (he started calling him “Kisses” – as in Hershey’s Kisses), while not an acceptable trophy with a rifle, might be worth killing with archery equipment. The next day he hauled out his bow, and practiced taking shots out to 40 yards. The bear had come within 40 yards of his treestand all 3 times he had seen him. If he did it again, LP decided he would try to harvest him. LP had to work the next morning, but we set out that afternoon with bow in one hand and rifle in the other.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:21:27 PM »

We sat in our regular locations, with LP in his tree and me a few hundred yards to the south watching the berries in an open clearing on the same ridge. Even though we had only seen the small bear the past two days, on the hike in I saw a huge bear turd. I knew there had to still be a bigger bear lurking about.
About an hour before dark, I could hear something ripping stumps apart in the dark timber to my right. The clearing burned in 2006, but the brush is well over head-high now, in many places so thick that there are tunnels in it that can only be negotiated on hands and knees. Often, you don’t see the bear until it has been in the clearing for some time. Soon, I noticed movement below me. About 150 yards away, I could see a blonde back of a bear. I messaged LP to come down and take a look.
The bear stopped at some service berries long enough for LP to arrive. We couldn’t see the bear’s chest from it’s angle, but I assumed that it was Ghost. I didn’t think it looked big enough to be the blonde boar. LP decided that it was a good enough bear for his tag either way, got behind my 7mm and touched off the shot. Immediately, the bear spun around, bit at it’s shoulder and streaked into the thick brush to our right. We heard crashing for a couple of seconds, then what sounded to me like a dying bear thrashing around in the brush hidden from our view.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:25:08 PM »

We both agreed that it had been a good shot, and we expected to find a dead bear not far from where he shot. We walked to the service berries and found tracks in the soft dirt, but no blood. We saw a clear trail through the brush leading in the direction the bear had run, but again no blood. We also had not heard a “death moan”. I followed the trail for about 100 yards but couldn’t find a drop of blood anywhere. Eventually, the trail had a large log laying across it with no bark. There was no blood on the log. I figured there was no way a bear shot through with a 7 mag could have made it over that log without leaving blood somewhere, so I turned around. We went back to the spot where the bear had been standing and started investigating trails in every direction. No blood. It was starting to get dark. The clearing is about 50 acres, with a million possible places that a bear could be laying in the brush, and about half of them require you getting on your hands and knees to negotiate. Not something we were excited about doing in the dark. We decided to come back and look again after first light. At this point, LP was starting to wonder if he even hit the bear. There had been no tell-tale “whop” when the bullet hit, no death moan when the thrashing in the brush stopped, and we had looked for an hour and not found a drop of blood. I was sure the bear was dead though, I had seen him spin around a bite his shoulder, and I was sure that the thrashing I had heard had come from the spot where he had died.
The next morning we came back and split up. I got back on the original trail that I had been on when we first looked the night before. I followed it again to the same log. I was inspecting it again for blood (there still was nothing), when I caught a strong smell. Definitely a bear. I got on top of the log (about as big around as a refrigerator) and could smell it stronger. I hopped off the log onto the other side of it, and saw blonde fur under a bush.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #6 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:26:48 PM »

The bear had took a through and through shot from a 162 grain 7mm bullet, run over 100 yards, bailed over that log, piled up under a bush and never spilled a single drop of blood. The long, blonde hair had sopped up the blood like a sponge. I called LP over and we stood looking at it for a minute.
For some reason, the bear didn’t look that big. I assumed he had shot a medium sized sow. “Maybe 200 lbs” I said. Then we tried to pull him out from under the bush. The bear wouldn’t budge. We finally got behind it and inched him out. Once we rolled him over, we realized that not only was the bear a boar, but it was Hook, as it had a V on his chest that we hadn’t seen when we shot him. He was also a LOT bigger that we had thought. I don’t really know how to estimate the weight of a bear, but I know he was way over 200 lbs.

MADMAX · « **Reply #7 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:27:24 PM »

Great write up
Good bear
Congrats

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:28:24 PM »

For those who haven’t done it… I DO NOT recommend shooting a large boar and not gutting him out until almost 12 hours after he dies. I think LP’s comment (he did most of the gutting, I mostly held paws and ribcage open) was “Dad, this is like gutting a porta-potty”…

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:30:09 PM »

Needless to say; this entire bear went into the jerky brine. I honestly didn’t know if any of it would even be edible, even as jerky. Turns out though (after 6 batches) the jerky turned out pretty good.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #10 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:36:25 PM »

This confirms my long-standing theory that you can make jerky out of absolutely any animal that walks with planet, and it still just tastes like jerky…
LP and I both already have a bear rug. We skinned him out rug-style, but I think we are just going to tan the hide.
It was a great end to our 2023 bear season.

Dan-o · « **Reply #11 on:** August 18, 2023, 06:38:49 PM »

Nice bear!

Way to go, LP!

Appreciate the write up.

hunter399 · « **Reply #12 on:** August 18, 2023, 07:03:43 PM »

Nice write up.
Awesome adventure
Congrats again.👍

JDArms1240 · « **Reply #13 on:** August 18, 2023, 07:19:02 PM »

Great lookin bear, love the color… good job!

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 18, 2023, 11:09:56 PM »

Couple more pics

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #15 on:** August 18, 2023, 11:12:11 PM »

Boiled out the skull. Turns out it is the same size as the boar I killed last year.

Pathfinder101 · « **Reply #16 on:** August 22, 2023, 12:15:58 PM »

Found something interesting when I put these two skulls together (both mature boars, roughly the same size skull-but my 2022 bear was much larger and heavier in body size);
The bone around the tooth line on Little Pathfinder's bear has receded significantly (see photos). I assume this means his was a super old bear. All 4 canines were broken off at the tips as well.
First photo is my 2022 bear
Second photo is Little Pathfinders 2023 bear