DBD - Dad's Bear Down!!!

[flyguide]

Well the old man shot his spring bear last week, he went up to the Northeast all by himself and left me behind.  I could only make it for a night and he was ready to get after it and stay for a few days.  It is a really nice bear and provides an exciting story.

I was planning on going as my dad is not a real big adventure hunter and usually doesn't like going places by himself overnight but this one was different.  He told me to stay home and he would call if he needed help.  He has never shot a nice bear before and was looking for his first 'wall hanger'.  He calls me up all excited telling me he saw one and pushed it out of the road before he could get a shot.  As the story goes, he saw another bear just before dark but now shot again.

He is really getting into the bears now which was a big change of pace from our first week up there when we only saw 2 in four days.  Next morning he is hiking along and sees a nice brown one down below him about 125 yards.  Well he starts getting the shakes and tries to get a nice rest but is unsteady.  He sneaks in a little closer and steadies up with his Ruger #1 .270  He shoots the bear and it drops in place with a little kicking for a few seconds.  He is pumped, his first big bear!  He heads down the hill and the bear is blowing air and moving a little, its back legs are of no use and its head never came up. He stood next to it for a couple minutes and decided to go get the truck.

He hiked back to the truck and was driving down to the bear (it was near a cat road) and he decided to stop and take some scenery pictures so that he could show me where it was standing and where he shot from.  As he is taking pictures from about 200 yards away the bear gets up and starts WALKING AWAY into some brush!!!

Before my dad can get a bullet in it it gets away into some thick stuff.  Now he is freakin' because he is by himself and the bear was walking ok without dragging its back legs.  He is afraid he is gonna lose the bear because there is almost no blood and he has to blind trail it into the bushes.  He gets in there (probably holding a second and third shell in his lips to reload that Ruger #1).  He jumps the bear at 20-25 feet in the brush and shoots at it 2 more times and finally dumps it.

The funny part is that he calls me up as soon as he found cell coverage talking really fast and excited, full of adrenaline he rolled the 200 lb plus bear down the hill 100 yards, gutted it and loaded into his F-250 all by himself.  I have moved some bears and they are tough to transport.  The old man was was juicin' on adrenaline because after we got back that bear was hard for 2 of us to move around the garage.  His pulse must have been crankin' around 250 beats per minute to have moved that bear himself.  It taped 6' 1" nose to tail and had a nice big head.  Beautiful bear and a hunt to remember.  The kids thought it was cool when Grandpa showed up with a bear in his truck and three generations got to skin out the bear together.  Pretty fun.

Moral of the story... never leave a breather!

[bucklucky]

Awesome and a beautiful bear! What is he doing with it Taxidermy wise?

[flyguide]

Todd Peyser, open mouth rug.  He did one for me in 2005 that looks good.

[bucklucky]

Good! It will make a beautiful rug.

[saylean]

Great coat and im glad he recovered the bear without incident. Made me pucker up a bit going in after a wounded bear in the brush on my own...im sure he felt the same. Grats and thanks for the pics!

[billythekidrock]

Congrats to him and thanks to you for sharing with us.

[Snowman]

      

Congrats on the successful hunt.

[Rufous]

Too Cool! I am really happy for your dad. That was certainly one to remember- "never leave a breather"- good lesson. Gorgeous bear. Rufous.

[Curly]

That looks like a big sumbitch.

[catwithboost]

Very nice bear. Tell your dad good job!

[popeshawnpaul]

Great story and adventure. 

By the way, seeing a hanging skinned bear always looks like a human to me.  Kind of freaks me out at first.  Maybe it's just me?   

[zackmioli]

Awesome story! Awesome looking bear! Thanks for posting!

[Ridgerunner]

Awesome looking bear, man I can't wait to go bear hunting this year.  Only a few more months to go.

[LongTatLaw]

Man that is a pretty color!  Congrats! Well played.

[jackelope]

great looking bear and congrats to your dad.
all these nice bears this year is really starting to peak my interest.