Post by: flyguide on June 03, 2008, 03:05:41 PM
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!
Post by: bucklucky on June 03, 2008, 03:16:00 PM
Post by: flyguide on June 03, 2008, 03:38:24 PM
Post by: bucklucky on June 03, 2008, 03:41:52 PM
Post by: saylean on June 03, 2008, 03:49:45 PM
Post by: billythekidrock on June 03, 2008, 04:37:39 PM
Post by: Snowman on June 03, 2008, 04:39:22 PM
Congrats on the successful hunt.
Post by: Rufous on June 03, 2008, 05:37:42 PM
Post by: Curly on June 03, 2008, 06:17:30 PM
Post by: catwithboost on June 03, 2008, 06:20:38 PM
Post by: popeshawnpaul on June 03, 2008, 06:24:57 PM
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? :dunno:
Post by: zackmioli on June 03, 2008, 06:27:57 PM
Post by: Ridgerunner on June 03, 2008, 06:35:51 PM
Post by: LongTatLaw on June 03, 2008, 07:28:17 PM
Post by: jackelope on June 03, 2008, 07:41:59 PM
all these nice bears this year is really starting to peak my interest.
Post by: Red Dawg on June 03, 2008, 07:53:13 PM
Post by: Ghost Hunter on June 03, 2008, 07:55:57 PM
Post by: Gutpile on June 03, 2008, 08:00:33 PM
Post by: ICEMAN on June 03, 2008, 09:55:09 PM
Post by: Jackjr on June 03, 2008, 10:05:44 PM
Post by: Timber on June 04, 2008, 05:42:12 AM
Post by: boneaddict on June 04, 2008, 06:26:56 AM
Post by: GoldTip on June 04, 2008, 06:47:32 AM
Great looking bear, will make a beauty of a rug.
Post by: Muleyslyr on June 04, 2008, 12:20:07 PM
Post by: Abolt338 on June 04, 2008, 03:23:05 PM
Glad it ended well for your pops.
RW
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on June 04, 2008, 04:05:40 PM
Post by: Slider on June 05, 2008, 09:16:59 AM
Post by: T-ROY on June 05, 2008, 10:43:40 AM
Post by: SuperDave on June 05, 2008, 07:22:23 PM
Post by: WAcoueshunter on June 05, 2008, 07:52:20 PM
Post by: robb92 on June 06, 2008, 05:56:00 PM
Post by: Head-shot on June 06, 2008, 09:39:59 PM