the bear is down!

davidlt89 · August 30, 2010, 06:43:06 PM

Today marks the opener of yet another Maine bear season. I got out of work early and was in my blind at about 3:15. For some reason it is unusually hot here, must of been close to 90 today. I did have a nice breeze blowing through my blind though;). for the first 3 1/2 hours I managed to see a mouse who came into my blind and left quickly when I raised my foot to step on him. A rabbit that came into the bait and cleaned up some crumbs. And a pesky, noisy, unwanted squirrel who I was really debating using my 7mm mag on;). I was kicked back in the blind and had just looked at my watch which said 6:58 and all of a sudden there was a bear in front of the bait, just like a ghost!! first thing I looked at was the nose and could of sworn this was a male, nose is so black. So shouldered the gun which was on steady stix and laced it. it looked like it was going down but managed to trot off. I waited for the "death" moan and heard nothing. Got a little worried then! I got out of the blind and looked over to the left where she had run and there was anther bear leaning against a tree. seemed really tall and I honestly thought it was my bear. I shouldered the gun but it ran off, then there was another one about 20ft in a tree. then it dawned on my they were with here but they were not the little fellas I have in all the pictures. they were over a year old and probably 50-70lbs, which brought a sigh of relief to me as I don't want to deprive those little fellas of their mother. All in all, this is a nice looking bear and has a great coat. It dressed at 148lbs and my oldest boy can't wait to cut it up tommorrow, partly because he thinks I am going to give him a knife;). Pretty sure mom will be keeping an eye out for that.

God Bless.

recoil junky · August 30, 2010, 07:47:33 PM

Well done David!!!!!

I had an Alaskan White Ale to help you celebrate.

RJ

Vermonster · August 31, 2010, 11:45:34 AM

Excellent David! Congrats!!!

JaDub · August 31, 2010, 12:41:16 PM

Wow, very nice David. Here`s tipping a tumbler of Makers Mark to ya! JaDub

davidlt89 · August 31, 2010, 04:20:46 PM

Glad I could give you guys a "reason" to crack a cold one:bandana:. I got some better pictures thought I would post them also. get a better look at the bear.

heres one at the tagging station!

right before we hung it up.

good closeup of the head.

God bless.

LvrLover · August 31, 2010, 07:31:58 PM

Good job eat a nice steak for me. I'd try to hunt bear here , but it takes 5 years to pull a tag. I just don't have that much patience.

gitano · September 01, 2010, 08:38:46 AM

WooHoo! Way to go! Beautiful bear!

150 dressed is a nice bear and about average around here. I'm interested in the skull dimensions, how far it ran, where you shot it, what bullet you used, what the wound channel was like, and what the disposition of the bullet is. I assume it was a complete pass-through.

Anyway, congratulations again. When I thought about how good the eating was going to be, my mouth started watering. I'm not joking!

Paul

davidlt89 · September 01, 2010, 01:17:50 PM

Quote150 dressed is a nice bear and about average around here. I'm interested in the skull dimensions, how far it ran, where you shot it, what bullet you used, what the wound channel was like, and what the disposition of the bullet is. I assume it was a complete pass-through

Well now, I will see what I can answer here. I believe this to be an average bear here in these parts also, at least in 9 years of hunting them I have seen more this size than any other bear. Now, for the life of me, I cannot remember if this bear actually got turned around and facing the other direction before I got my gun up. It all want down pretty fast!!!! I do know this, I took her behind the shoulder, shredded the lung, and it came out behind the other shoulder. She looked like she was going to go down and I definitely knew she was hit, but she trotted off in the same direction she came from. She ran about 20 yards before keeling over and dying on the spot. Wound channel was a little smaller than a quarter on both the entrance and exit wound, which seemed really funny to me. Also, blood was minimal because some "organs" had came out one of the holes! The bullet I used was a hornady 162gr BTSP. I have used the 139gr and the 162gr. I just use the 162gr on everything since it has a little better BC than the 139gr. I have shot two bear with this bullet and it has done a good job. Last bear I shot with them it was still legal shooting time but it was pitch black in the woods and I hit about 8" back and 6" high from where I thought I was shooting and it still killed her fast. I thought about using a different bullet when I had a buddy load up about 100 handloads but just would not make sense to use something else when these were killing! As far as skull dimensions, not sure what I am going to do with the head yet. If I get it mounted I will get the skull and measure it and if I don't mount it, I will do the skull anyway, so stay tuned! I hope I answered that without rambling to much. God Bless.

gitano · September 01, 2010, 02:02:38 PM

QuoteI hope I answered that without rambling to much.

Probably less than I would have. :D

Sounds good.

WRT the 162 bullet: Tough to change what ain't broke.

Good stuff. Thanks,
Paul

Hunterbug · September 02, 2010, 12:18:12 AM

Very nice! Bears are on my wifes "cute and fuzzy" list and are off limits unless they are chewing on me and even then I have my doubts. That's a really dark bear compared to what I've seen around here but it'll make a great rug.

Don't worry about rambling, it's only about 1/4 what Paul would have done. :D

bowhunter 51 · September 02, 2010, 05:23:14 AM

Excellent!!!!...........That would make a beautiful rug.....Congratulations....BH51..

Alboy · September 02, 2010, 03:06:35 PM

OUCH

Paul did that leave a mark?

davidlt89 · September 02, 2010, 05:22:42 PM

QuoteThat's a really dark bear

the funny thing is that the closest canadian border to me is 15 min away. drive another half hour and hunt bear and you can see bears of all kinds of color, especially brown!

QuoteThat would make a beautiful rug.....

unfortunately, that would run around 1,000.00. pretty sure the wife might have a word or two to say about that one. But, she did give me the green light to check on a shoulder mount or having the hide tanned without the claws or head. It seems shoulder mounts have gone up since the last bear I had done and are around 400.00. My guy did quote me 70.00 on a tanning. I have been married long enough to know where I am going to go here. I don't have a pelt of any bear I have shot so I was leaning this way anyway! I will recover the skull when I get the pelt and I will bleach it. God Bless.

22hornet · September 03, 2010, 10:57:32 PM

Cool bear David!

Fieldmor77 · September 04, 2010, 10:58:16 PM

Nice Bear David, i don't think i could bring myself to shooting one though, too many childhood stories involving Bears maybe?, however, you blokes have been brought up hunting them and you reckon they taste great, so why not!.

You should get a few decent feeds off that one, that's for sure.

gitano · September 05, 2010, 11:36:48 AM

Quote from: Alboy;107760OUCH

Paul did that leave a mark?

Nah... I know where he lives.:D Metaphorically and physically!

David - SERIOUSLY - get it tanned, and get it tanned with the claws and head on. BELIEVE ME - circumstances change. A tanned hide - with claws and "mask" - can always later be turned into a rug or a shoulder mount.

More importantly, to kids, a tanned hide is WAY better than a rug because they can play with it (image themselves hunting it). If you annna pull your boy away from the lure of 'black rifles', tan that hide and give it to him to play with associating it with blue steel and walnut. Brainwashing works. You just want to make sure you're the one doing the brainwashing.

Get it tanned.

Give it to your kids.

The end value is thousands of times greater and the front-end cost is WAY less.

Paul

davidlt89 · September 05, 2010, 12:37:19 PM

Paul,
I am going to get it tanned, BUT, when I skun it I did not have a working bone saw or anything to cut the paws off so I cut the fur away from the paw and left the bone intact. I don't need a bone saw to quarter up since I just cut the tendons that hold the bones in the sockets! it does still have the head but they want more for that because in actuality they don't want you doing something more, like you mentioned, later on down the road. I may see how much to do it with the head on, but if it is much more I will just opt for the regular tanning. My wife has turned the two younger boys bedroom into an "outdoor" room! now, what we both consider "outdoors" seems to differ a little, but I think this tanned hide has already found a room!;) and it is not in my room. I may be losing a bear head also for a little while! there has also been talk of deer horns making there way upstairs, but no one has consulted with me yet:huh2: God Bless.

Paul Hoskins · September 08, 2010, 06:31:49 PM

Congrat's. David. Nice job & a darn nice bear. Sure wish I had been there to help you skin it out. I don't know about bone saws when skinning any varmint. I just use the pocket knife for everything. Keep killing them & skinning & you'll soon learn where to cut. ....Sounds like you had plenty of bears to choose from. ....Again congrat's. on a job well done. Hope my PM shed some light on the subject you were looking for information on. ... ....Paul H

davidlt89 · September 09, 2010, 04:43:17 AM

QuoteKeep killing them & skinning & you'll soon learn where to cut

Will do! remember, I am still young, still alot to learn. was not long ago I had to actually quarter it up with a bone saw! Not anymore! Your PM was very helpful. It is good to hear from someone who has "experience" on the matter and not just an opinion. God Bless.[/B]

Nelsdou · September 10, 2010, 08:03:17 PM

Wow. Very nice bear with a very nice coat.

I've done one bear skull. It's not that hard, just very tedious to deflesh with a pocketknife. Boiling in water helped soften things up to deflesh but there is no need to cook it either. Some skulls I have put under a wire basket in a pile of leaves outside and let nature's bugs deflesh it, but I can't remember if I did the one bear this way. Anywho, once it was 100% clean it went into a cut down oval trash can (like small offices have) and soaked in hydrogen peroxide, then periodically removed and placed under a UV Grow lamp. With a little time (days) it really bleaches to a bright white.

Later during an open house at my son's school the biology teacher was showing off his skull collection mounted on the class room wall but alas, no black bears!. Had my son give him mine, figured it was a better place for more to enjoy.

Nels