My first bear

[lablover]

Well, it finally happened, I harvested my first bear. My good friend and I went out scouting for deer this morning and look what I came back with. I just recently purchased a new rifle, but unfortunately I haven't got everything to get it set up yet. So my friend brings his old reliable Ruger 7mmMag. He told me today that the only reason he brings it is so that I can take a bear if we did happen to come across one.

At the last area we were scouting we came across a small 2 point buck. We watched it for a while and then it left. My friend told me he was going to walk down the bowl a ways to take a look at a different angle. As he was walking off, something made a sound across the way several hundered yards towards the bottom of the bowl. When I looked towards the sound I saw a group of birds fly away from the area. I then saw a small bush begin to move. As I pulled up my bino's, there it was, a blonde snout followed by a big black head with ears. I was in disbelief, but refocussed and confirmed what my eyes were seeing.

I quickly got out of sight of the bear and whistled for my friend to come back. He looked at me like "another deer?" I acted like I was shooting a rifle and then sprinted up the hill to where the rifle was sitting. As I returned to my spotting location, I pointed out the general area where I saw the bear. We quickly picked the bear back out and waited for a clear shot. After about 5 minutes, the bear presented a shot. Without ever laying hands on the rifle before I slowly squeezed the trigger as the cross hairs floated over the the kill zone. Bang...my friend said he could hear the bullet impact, the bear spun bitting at itself, and then nothing; no sign of it anywhere. We didn't see it run off, we didn't hear it run off, but we couldn't see it laying where it was standing.

After about 20 minutes, we made the 210 yard hike down to where it "should be." At first we were a little worried because there was no sign of it. After finding the correct downed log it was standing by, we located some blood. Unfortunately there wasn't a lot of blood. We followed the blood for about 20 yards and then nothing. I found a stump nearby, stood on it, and low and behold, there he was a total of 30 yards in the brush from the place he was shot. A double lung shot. The reason for not much blood was because part of the lung was actually sticking out of the exit hole.

It was a great hunt with a good friend and I got to harvest my first bear. The bear measured just shy of 6' and had a skull of 18".

[uplandhunter870]

nice work man and thats a very nice bear regardless of first one or hundredth one, congrats!

[BLKBEARKLR]

that is a nice bear, congrats on your first it is addicting

[woodman]

Great looking bear, a life long memory right there!

[rasbo]

thats a really cool looking bear and a great 1st bear...

[ICEMAN]

Very nice. Great write up and photos!

[Billy]

Well Done!   

[MuleDeerCrazy]

Beautiful bear!

[trophyhunt]

very nice, it's fun walking up to your first bear isn't it? I love hunting bears, great story and nice pic's. Congrat's, now go buy your second tag and get back at it.

[seth30]

congrats!

[bearhunter99]

That's a nice looking bear, especially for your first one.  I like the coloring, my biggest bear had similar coloring.  Congratulations!

[GoldTip]

Congrats on a great bear, very pretty hide on him.

[whacker1]

congrats on a great bear and thanks for sharing the story

[Navyhunter]

That's a sweet bear!!!  Congratulations!

[lewy]

Nice brownie! Good work....