My favorite bear

[Paul Hoskins]

I like all the bears I've killed but this particular bear is   most likely my favorite. It's not near the biggest one but without a doubt the oldest and smartest one I've killed. It was killed in the Maine township of Madrid on the south side of Saddleback Mountain. The north side of  Saddleback is the famed ski slopes in Rangeley, Maine. I can't remember the year I hunted there for the first time or what year I killed this old bear but likely in the early '90's. I killed my biggest bear in this township in 1995. I hunted this particular bear for around 4 years before finally connecting. It was obviously a very old bear past it's prime with many battle scars on it's head and body. Like old men, it  had passed it's prime and started shrinking in size being old & unable to feed like other bears. .......The evening I killed it started like all the other evenings. I was carrying the Ruger #3 SS that I rebarreled for the 22 Newton cartridge. I had made up some 73 grain double jacketed bullets that shot reasonably well and used them. The best accuracy was a load of H450 powder at around 3500 fps. I was on my stand around 3;30 PM and half asleep when I was hit with the worst smell I ever smelled in my life. It came from up wind & was gagging me. My stomach was churning but I had no way of getting out of it. I just sat still and suffered thru it in silence. Around ten minutes later I heard teeth popping about 50 feet behind me. I wasn't about to look around & give myself away. Twenty minutes or so later I spotted the culprit creeping thru ferns and raspberry vines coming up a shallow hollow to my right and downhill from me. The timber had been cut & there was a lot of brush too. It seemed forever before the bear got near the bait bucket and stopped to sniff and scope everything for danger. It was eventually satisfied and went to the bucket. It tipped the bucket over & stuck it;s head in. While it was doing that I was looking at it thru the Simmons Atec. When it backed out of the bucket I had the crosshairs on the base of it's neck and lit the fuse. When the gun fired the bear started spinning around screaming with blood squirting from it's neck. I never want to hear that sound again. A gully was washed out about 40 feet below the bait bucket and a fir tree had been uprooted and fell up hill toward the bucket. The bear went under the fallen tree and everything was deathly quiet. I waited a few minutes and got out of the stand and reloaded the gun. I set it against a tree in the trail going down to the bait. It was getting  pretty dark  under the timber as I took my light down to look at the bear. I looked under the downed tree but no bear. I crawled under it and out the other side. Still no bear, I looked everywhere I thought it might be and found nothing. It was getting dark and I decided to get out to a phone & call my guide. He arrived shortly with two husky young men to look for the bear. One of them happened to look over the bank into the gully by the tree roots & the bear was right there under our noses. It had run something like 30 or 40 feet & fell in the ditch dead as last weeks bologna sandwich. I got some flak for crawling under the toppled tree with no gun but that's ok. I finally had my old nemisis. It hangs on the wall in the living room and all the others are stored in containers. He may be smaller and beat up with scars all over him along with other wear and tear from a long life but I like and respect him. Been down his road myself.  ........Paul H

[sakorick]

Your best Bear story ever! Thanks for sharing!

[j0e_bl0ggs (deceased)]

I'll second Rick, thanks for sharing Paul!

[sakorick]

Your wife has done a beautiful job of picking the painting, lamp and shade which complements the Bear skin!

[Paul Hoskins]

Thanks, Rick. Muffin is really good at color coordinating things. She is always on me for wearing mis matched clothes. Things like that don't matter to me. Even men want her to decorate  the interior of their house for them. Our big problem is we're both "pack rats." We're both bad about keeping "stuff." It comes in handy when we need it. :smiley:.......Paul H

[gitano]

Great story and great bear, Paul. "Tales of THL."

Paul