Bear Down

[7mmfan]

My Dad and I left the trailhead at o-light 30 on Sunday morning, intending to do a quick hike through an area we wanted to scout for a later trip. I didn't expect to see much in the way of berries or animals where we were going this trip.

At about 6:10, I got my first view of the ridge I wanted to glass from about a mile away. I pulled my binos to my eyes and the first thing I saw was a bear. Glassed for 2.7 seconds and found one. I knew right where he was and that I could get right on him.

55 minutes, 2.5 trail miles and 1000' gained and lost later, I was in the chute above him. I couldn't see or hear him but knew that if he was still there he was close. I belly crawled up onto a rock outcropping to get a better view and immediately saw him below me exactly 100 yards away feeding carelessly on blueberries. It was a tough shot angle. Very steep, over 45 degrees, and no real rest. I managed to find one spot I could rest my rifle on a rock and get somewhat solid behind it. I waited patiently for him to turn broadside, aimed slightly low and behind the shoulder because of the angle, and squeezed it off. The 7mm Mag sent a Barnes 145 LRX at 3050 fps right through the boiler room. He wheeled and ran about 15 feet before tumbling and rolling 100' down the steep hill and coming to rest near the tree line.

I watched for a minute to make sure he was dead, then headed back up the trail to find my Dad who had held back and let me go. I found him about 400 yards up the trail coming in hot. We shared a hug and I replayed or for him as we walked up to the bear. This was the first bear Dad had ever seen up close, so it was a special moment.

It was now about 7:30. We had a good shady spot to work in and made quick work of him, boning everything out and stretching everything out in the shade to cool while we went and refilled water. We ate lunch and then loaded packs and got on the trail. We made it back to the truck roughly 3 hours later. The truck read 94 degrees. I had a cooler full of ice ready just in case and we stopped and got more as soon as we could.

The meat was in excellent condition the next day when I processed it. We packed out just over 80# of boned out meat, plus the head. The hide was pretty thin so I opted to leave it. There was not an ounce of fat on this bear. He was healthy, just lean with lots of scars on his head. I'm not good at aging or judging bears, but he seems like a decently old bear to me.

[MADMAX]

Very nicely done
Good looking bear

[Blacktail Sniper]

   Congrats!!

[brew]

That's awesome

[Mfowl]

Very nice! Congrats! 

[Bearhunter308]

Very cool! Great experience with your dad! Nice 🐻

[JakeLand]

Good job bud !!! Tell dad it’s his turn next

[Kingofthemountain83]

Congrats!!! 

[buglebuster]

Congrats, can’t ask for a better morning than that!

[ganghis]

It'll be interesting to get the tooth report back on that one.  I think you're right - my guess would be 8+

Congrats again

[redi]

Great bear story congratulations

[Stein]

 Nice bear and great story, congrats!

[lewy]

 

[Dan-o]

Is it just me or is that a really, really big bodies  bear for not having any fat?

Congrats.

I bet his age confirms as really old.

[pashok23]

Nice job