Little Pathfinder's 2024 Bear

[Pathfinder101]

The story of Little Pathfinder’s 2024 black bear starts 4 years ago in the summer of 2020.  He was 13 that year and told me that he wanted to kill a bear more than anything else that walks in the woods, so we made it a goal that year.  Luckily for him (not for the deer or elk), the Blue Mountains are absolutely overrun with them.  A group of us have largely abandoned an archery elk camp because the predators had absolutely devastated the area.  A couple of guys had killed bears and a cougar out of my old tree stand up there, so I decided to hang some trail cameras and see what we got. 
Holy cow.  In 2020 we counted 9 adults bears on one of our cameras.  We discovered that one of our cameras hung in an old, overgrown clearcut that was covered with service berry bushes.  One of the bears that showed up on camera that year was a young black boar with a white V on his chest.  Little Pathfinder named him Victor.  That August we sat and watched that clearcut for 4 days, dawn to dark before a chocolate bear with a white chest showed up.  One shot, and LP had his first bear.

[Pathfinder101]

The next year, Victor made several appearances on camera, clearly a little bit larger.  LP decided that if he got the chance, he would shoot Victor, but we never saw him in the flesh.
The following year Victor was back.  Bigger for sure, and still distinctive with that huge, white V that marked him.  That was a tough year.  5 days of sitting yielded nothing.  Then on the evening of the 6th day, LP was sitting in the treestand with a predator call and a 180 lb chocolate bear came in at a run.  After the shot, the bear turned and started to head for the tree that LP was perched in.  The second shot piled the bear up at the foot of the ladder.  Exciting for sure, but Victor had eluded us for another season.

[Pathfinder101]

Last year, Victor had clearly become what you could call a large boar.  He showed up on camera a couple of times and it was pretty clear that he was carrying a lot more muscle in his front half.  A few days into the season, LP harvested a large, blonde boar. 

[Pathfinder101]

With the state wildlife commission beginning to limit predator hunts, there was a lot of talk this year about ending the August bear season in the Blues.  At a point this winter, it kind of looked like a done deal. LP was pretty bummed out.  We look forward to that August bear season every year.  Sine I am a high school teacher and he’s a student athlete, it is one hunt that we can fully dedicate to, since school and sports haven’t started yet.  I still had the blonde boar hide in my freezer.  Figuring that we had gotten our last year with an August season, I took the hide to the taxidermist and asked him to rug it.  Probably the last big boar he’ll kill until he’s out of college…
Then, somehow, they decided to keep the 1 August opener for bear.  Of course, we were elated.  In June we hung trail cameras, and as usual, got a pile of bears on them over the next two months. As usual, Victor made appearances.  LP couldn’t stop talking about him now.  He was clearly a large bear. 

[Pathfinder101]

We sat for 6 of the first 7 days of the season.  On day 2, things were absolute chaos.  We spotted two bears but couldn’t get a shot in the brush.  A bear came running across the clearcut on 2 occasions (spooked by something I guess) but never stopped to give us a shot.  We still had not seen Victor in the flesh.
Then, on the evening of the 7th day, just before dark, we heard a stump getting ripped apart in the treeline next to the clearcut.  Little Pathfinder got ready and right on cue, Victor stepped out into the open and stopped. 

[Pathfinder101]

The first shot broke his left shoulder, split his heart and lungs and exited his lower right ribcage.  Victor rolled over onto his back and rocked back and forth a couple of times as LP racked another round.  Then suddenly Victor was back up and running (dead on his feet, but we didn’t know it at that point).  LP fired a second shot.  From the angle of the camera it looked like a miss, but we found the bullet had passed through his neck when we skinned him.  We gave him a few minutes and went to look for him, finding him dead in the brush less than 100 feet from where he shot him. 

[Pathfinder101]

I hiked back to the truck while LP stayed and gutted him.  When I got back with the rig, we tried to drag him to the road.  The bear wouldn’t budge.
I’m not “trained” in judging bear weight.  No idea how to estimate it either live, or dead.  I don’t have a scale, so no frame of reference.  All I know is that LP is stronger than he was last year and waaay stronger than he was two years ago.  The bear I killed two years ago was big.  Big enough that I figured I would never kill a bigger one, so I got it rugged.  LP and I had no problem loading that bear in my truck.  LP’s blonde boar last year we had no trouble dragging it and loading it in the truck. 
Victor wouldn’t budge. 
I uncoiled a 100’ rope and tied the bear to the bumper of my truck and pulled him onto the road.  Even on flat ground, we couldn’t get him up on the tailgate.  It took over an hour of trial and error to finally figure out how to wrestle him into the truck. 

[Pathfinder101]

Back at home, we skinned him out.  Even in the dark (it was hot, we had to get him skinned and in the cooler that night), this bear was clearly bigger than anything else we had ever harvested.  With no way to weigh him though, we didn’t realize how much bigger until we boiled his skull out a couple of days later.
On the right is the skull from my bear that I killed two years ago.  Like I said, I never weighed him, but a lot of people have looked at the pictures of him and guessed him at over 300 lbs.  On the left is Victor’s skull.

[Pathfinder101]

Little Pathfinder is a senior in high school this year.  He starts football practice next week, so I think bear season is over (at least for now- PathfinderJR is coming home on leave next month, so we may try to get him on a bear while he’s home).  We’re not sure where LP’s college path is going to take him, but this may be his last “good” bear season for a while.  If it is though, I can’t think of a better note to “end” on.

[MtnMuley]

Great stuff Mark.

[duckmen1]

A few individuals on this site show why we value bear hunting so much. And many individuals including some hunters over look the great value to bear hunting. From management practices to family memories, meat in the freezer, and so much more. Dedicated bear hunters have a true appreciation to the pursuit and seasons we are fortunate to have. And your stories catch it right on point. Many memories were made on this journey for Victor. Hopefully many more memories are made in the future for a new target bear and memories trying on those journeys along the way with family and friends. A great story. Thank you for posting.

[Bowhunter3]

Thank you for this. Congrats to your boy. Congrats on how proud you have to be. Very cool

[BOOMER]

Great story, thank you for teaching your boy to be a man at a young age it will serve him well

[storyteller]

I love reading your accounts of the hunts, very detailed, congratulations.

[Rigby416]

Very Very Cool!!!!!and one hell of a bear. Congrats!