MBD - Medium Bear Down!

[flyguide]

Well, Bearhunter left a tough act to follow but I'll give it a shot.  I took this bear on Wednesday night on the Sherman tag.  My dad and I both drew so we took off and set up camp and planned to hunt near Barstow and get up fairly high.  We covered a ton of ground but got very frustrated because it was tough to find any open ground to glass grass.  We finally settled on a piece that was high, steep, and pretty tough to hunt because despite being open and grass you can only see about 100 yards at any one time but we were tired of pounding the roads and decided to stick with it.  So we hiked way up on this piece and spit up on different sides of the Canyon.  Of course what happened was that after I climbed up about 1000 feet in elevation I glassed back across to the other side of this drainage across the highway about 1 mile away and saw the only bear of the trip feeding on a landslide below a spur road.  We decided that although it would take a couple hours to get over there we had better try it.  About 2 hours later we made it over there and hiked out a spur to the slide and of course by then the bear was gone.  We predator called to no avail but the view back onto our orginial hillside was specacular.  We could finally get a feel for what we had been hiking on.  We left the slide for the afternoon and came back that evening.  About 6:30 pm my dad spots a bear on the oposite hill, of course it was over a mile away and about 1000 feet above the opposite road.  We hurried back to the jeep and did the "Mickey Thompson" thing over to the other ridge.  My dad doesn't hike real fast so I volunteered to race up the hill with limited daylight and put a move on.  I power hiked up the hill and after almost turning back with only minutes of daylight left I finally snuck up on the bear, it was feeding on grass and nosing a rotten log.  I watched it for a few minutes and when it gave me a slight quartering away shot at 30 yards I let 'em have it with my 300 short mag., it fell down but got up and started running so I ran towards it and gave it another Barnes X on the run at about 25 yards and dropped it with no time to spare as it almost made it down the wrong side of the ridge.

I left the bear up there that night and came back the next morning while dragging my dad up the hill, he complained a lot but did pretty well considering the hike.  It was a fairly easy pack out and having the ol' man there was pretty awesome.  The bear was an old sow, not real big but it my first true 'black' bear and the first animal in a long time that dad and I skinned out together.  We are going to head back up in a week or two and try to fill my dad's tag.  We also called a Turkey in that woke us up Gobbling above camp.  We set up about 150 yards from our camp and called him right in, it was awesome and my dad's first turkey. 

Enjoy the pics, there is no angy bear video or anything to follow but enjoy the still photos.  Can't wait to see Bearhunter's video, I have tried predator calling a hundred times and never had it work.  It's good to know somebody out there is doing it right.

[SuperDave]

Great story and a nice jet black bear!

[Bearhunter]

Awesome story and nice looking bear, I love that second picture with the landscape in it.  Im uploading the video to Youtube right now, Ill have it up in a few if all goes well.  Congrats

[Michelle_Nelson]

Thats a nice looking Bear and Turkey.  Looks like the bear has a nice coat.  Congrats.....

[billythekidrock]

Congrats on a nice bear and for sharing a great story.
BTW..calling does work.

[Michelle_Nelson]

How much fat was your bear packing?

[Timber]

Very nice bear! Great pictures too.

[Head-shot]

Nice double! Congrats

[saylean]

There dropping like flies now it sounds like...good work, way to hustle after her! I think she looks great and what a memory for you and pops.

thanks for the write up...love to see the bear hunts!

[LongTatLaw]

nice double...and with dad... thats perfect!

congrats bro... looks like a shooter to me

[bucklucky]

Congrats on the bear!!

[Ray]

Nice report. I like the bear and turkey. I hope your father fills the tag. To me it sounds like perserverence and patience was helpful for you. 

[Ridgerunner]

Great looking bear, will make a good rug for sure.

[Opportunist]

Awesome!
I always appreciate and enjoy hunts with my dad. Sounds like tough country to spot and stalk spring bear. Good job!!

[Backstraps]

Joe, Congrats to you and your Dad. Looks like you guys had a great time! Awesome story and photos! Dan