OT due to employing a rifle rather than my bow.
But hopefully entertaining enough I can be forgiven for posting here...
Although the tale actually begins two falls ago, we will start off with this fall's chapter and get back to the beginning shortly...
A few evenings ago, a landowner Buddy I know quite well called.
Where the hell are you were his very first excited words.
Well, since you called me at home... was my laughing reply.
No way you can get here before dark then?
No Chancy. Why?
There is a giant of a black bear hanging out very very close to our yard. It has me damn nervous!
How big?
If I didn't know that Monster you shot last year was gone, I'd swear I was looking at him right now!
Hmmmm...
Any deer around of late?
Yes. Too damn many. Even a decent buck or two...
Having said exactly the right words to get me interested, we agreed to meet and chat the next afternoon.
Been a little while since I was at his place, but it is very familiar to me and I found it once again with little effort.
It was more than interesting to note the deer sign as we made our way out into the back areas of his place.
Didn't take long to determine just where the bear was coming through the fence, and it appeared he had been doing so rather frequently of late.
From his bootprints, it also appeared we indeed had another Big Boy on our hands...
So I set up that afternoon and evening in a hastily constructed natural blind, extremely close to the spot I had done the same last year.
No bear that night, but a lot of blacktail does, fawns, and a handful of small bucks all wandered by.
Looking good around here!
The next afternoon I boogied the hour and a half down there in a rightfully good mood.
The Pursuit it seems almost always has that effect on me, and with the prospect of a good bear, and maybe a decent Blacktail, I was in my Happy Place alright!
Again that eve it appeared the bear would be a no-show.
But the constant stream of deer going by was more than entertaining.
Just at dark, the couple deer I could still barely make out suddenly panicked and fled the scene.
Within moments the Big Bruin shoved his way through the fence and headed my way.
But, although I could make him out fairly well with the binocs (50mm objectives) the Leupold simply could not gather enough light for me to be absolutely certain of shot placement. Sensing something amiss, the Bear picked his pace up a tad, and boogied out of sight in the timber.
Heart pounding, I knew what I had seen, and knew I had made the right decision not to fire under those conditions.
The next day I went down a little earlier, and revisited developments with the landowner.
Close, wonder if he'll come back now? he asked.
I think so, he's obviously sleeping in the one timber block, then passing through your place on the way to some attraction or another beyond here...
Set up for the evening again, and was once again well entertained by a good handful of Blacktails.
One massive older Gal is so grey she matches my hair except that she carries that color all over her face & body.
She packs a HUGE Buck Bambi - better than 30% larger than the rest of the wee ones, and destined to be a Great Buck down the road should he make it. I'll be keeping an eye out for him as he develops alright.The Grey Lady was also packing three extra bambis that eve - a good indication that their mothers were off being engaged in matters of The Prom.
Suddenly The Grey Lady whirled in mid-stride, and froze.
A few brisk steps put her between whatever she was concentrating on and the herd of four little guys.
Then a LOUD SNORT, and the entire crew was off and running HARD!
WTH?
Figured perhaps a good Buck was coming along, and was straining hard to see in that direction.
Through the timber I caught a flash of BLACK!
My heart rate jumped and adrenaline began to flow a little too freely as I realized it was The Bear that had spooked the deer.
Settle Down Dummy I told myself. Time for calm now, you must not mess this one up...
The bear squeezed through the fence, and began crossing the small opening I was set up adjacent to.
At 50 yards, he turned to stare HARD in my direction.
Holding the crosshairs on him, the wait for his turn seemed like hours.
Then he appeared to dismiss the thought of danger from my direction, turned some and began to follow his chosen path from the previous evening.
The 270 Bucked of it's own accord, and he was off like a shot!
I have no issues shooting running game, having grown up on antelope & whitetails.
Tracking him in the scope, at 85 yards the rifle bucked again seemingly on it's own.
This time the Big Bear reacted most dramatically, taking three full and furious somersaults before settling to earth.
No wiggle.
Unearthly silence...
I do not trust bears. Any bear that is.
I gave him 15 minutes to wiggle.
He didn't.
I approached with the safety off, and studied him carefully from a close margin.
Eyes staring unseeingly.
No breath. He is indeed DOWN!
At close range I was taken by his sheer mass.
Probably 400 pounds plus I recall thinking.
But the most impressive thing with this beast was the sheer size of his head!
Monstrous!
You can see what I mean from the pix!
The landowner could not thank me enough, and between us we managed to round up a wrecking crew in short order to deal with the matter.
Took a handful of us to extract him & get him wrestled into the trailer I had borrowed from a Rancher Buddy for the occasion.
Then it was off to another Buddy's barn to hoist & skin him.
Going to be some great Bear Grease around here soon methinks!
And a hell of a pile of smokies & pepps!!
Couple pictures of the head & hide on my endgate. Impressive Brute this one!
The pictures really don't do him a lot of justice.
That head is well over a foot wide, and he has one of the longer snouts I have seen on a bear.
My guess is that he will surpass the 22 inch skull of the bear I took last season in fact!!
Recovered both bullets. The one smashed heavy bone several times, and lost it's lead.
The other was a behind the shoulders hit that tore the heart right out of him.
Both were found just under the hide:
Now, speaking of the other (last year's) bear, I will saw this off here for a moment before getting into The Coincidence Factor...
and pack my rifle for a little extra insurance. 