Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire A Bear story, or "The proper way to pack out a big (DEAD)black bear!" PIC HEAVY,

Don't sugarcoat it, TAK, tell us how you REALLY feel...

225gr3100FPS and ....."In my scope I watched in total excitment as the bear just folded up, dropped to the ground, and rolled down the steep hill....."

Was the 350 yd shot made with a recoiless rifle?

I think the OP lit that one up,

True, but to tell the truth, I never gave the legality of it a second thought after reading the OP. In any case, I'm not discussing it any more.

No, of course not. But at that distance, the field of view is quite large in a good scope. I have watched animals fold iin my scope before.

RE the "azz shot" The shot looked and felt really good when the rifle went Ka Boom. By the reaction of the bear and the look and feel of the shot, I rreally believed that I, and later we, were merely looking for a very dead bear. As it turns out I made an error in failing to calculate the bears forward speed and progress during the time of the rifle going off and the bullet striking 350 yards away. I have made simlilar shots and longer ones many times, including a black bear at a lazered 408 which also dropped on the spot and was dead as soon as his belly touched the dirt. I thought this was the same scenario, and only after recovery of the bear did I figure out where my error was. In the excitment of a hunt, and seeing what was for me the black bear of a lifetime, it was a simple, easy and relatively minor shooting error. the miss was by inches, and the hit was not in the "azz" liks some have mis quoted. It was a forward raking shot that landed a bit too far back but was an anchoring shot that looked like and felt like a DRT kill shot.

And yes, this bear and others have caused me to appreciate my bigger rifles and learn to shoot them well. Some, whose hunting territories and methods are different can and do get along with different armament. Heck, lots of my old houndsmen friends killed truckloads of bears with 30/30's and 44 leverguns and revolvers. Fit the rifle, cartridge and bullet to YOUR hunting type, style and game. In my case and my region, the big boomers ahve a real place and give a bit of a margin that I appreciate. Anyone can make a shooting error while hunting and I freely admit that I made one on that day. I am still very proud of my bear, and have very fond memories of that weekend, however. The name calling naysayers cannot change that. And, excepting Boxer who really does have a valid opoinion and room to talk based on real world experience, I do not recall seeing or hearing very many hunting stories from most of the naysayers of late, come to think of it.

Much easier to be a Monday Morning armchair QB full of "I woulda's". Always has been that way so this thread and its sometimes negative content is no big surprise. Like I said a couple of pages ago, these few name callers are consistent and predictable and thus, of little effect to me now. I still enjoyed posting my story and my bear and I am proud of both, as well as my rifle whose cartridge is my own creation.

Find a guy who has never made a mistake, and I will show you a man who has also attempted to DO very little of anything.

No worries, Doc. You couldn't have known otherwise and I didn't allude to anything in my (admittedly very harsh) reply. Wounding animals due to poor shot selection is one of my hot buttons and Mark didn't even make the slightest apology for wounding that bear. He just glossed over all of the bad stuff that happened and focused on the "hero" pics and high fives. He also seems to think that a big-bore rifle slinging boolits at uber-speed gives one freedom to take any shot that presents itself because such combinations are magic rays of death, except this one time when it didn't quite work out. No big deal, though. Unless you're the bear...

That's something you should have put in your story instead of waiting to be called out on it. If it would have happened to me that way, I'd have included it in the story but it's your story and you tell it how you see fit.

That bears a pig and i'm glad you were able to recover it. Congrats!

What scope was used and at what power if a variable? What is the weight of the rifle? Muzzle brake?

Scope is a 2-10x44 Burris EuroDiamond Posi Lock. No brake, rifle goes about 11 lbs loaded and ready to hunt.

Doc
I think all of us have wounded an animal and sometimes they get left over night. Whatever it sucks but it happens no issue there.

The megalomania like attitude is what turns folks off.

Thank you for the congrat's, I tried to put that stuff in the story, but not well enough I guess. From my post:

"as I had not taken into account the bears forward motion when I held on his back ribs for a kill shot. During the time I touched off the round and it arrived on site, the bear had moved forward some and I had hit, and busted up, his hips and furthest rearward verterbrae."

I had a good rest with my shooting sticks, was calm and rested, seated on a hillside, had my sling up and around my upper arm, and for all the world had every reason to believe that I had just made a DRT kill shot, just like other bears and Elk etc. I have taken at long range.

No one wants to allow an animal to suffer, and especially not me. We have a house FULL of rescue pets here, and Sherri and I have been trying to live catch a squirrel with a broken leg near here. Plan is to pay to have his leg fixed on our dime if we can catch him. If anyone suggests that I revel in the pain of an animal they simply do not know me and are dead wrong.

Being human, though, I can occasionally miss by a bit. Take enough shots at big game, and you will, too.

Here's a gem from one of your other rah-rah threads about this hunt...



You like to believe that people come after you unjustly, but the truth is usually far from it. You post crap like this, let the dog pile build up, play the role of the victim and proceed to rearrange the story line in an attempt to reflect better upon yourself. The script is old and very predictable, but you keep reading from it. There was a time when I felt sorry for some of the abuse you took, but that day is long gone. I believe you revel in the drama that's created in these threads, which is quite sad. I hope better for you, Mark. I have for quite some time. Perhaps you'll turn things around some day.

So, you say you busted it's hips, and it's rear most vertebrae. A bears tail is right behind its rearmost vertebrae(in fact it could be considered it's rearmost vertebrae). Where is a bears tail? On it's [bleep] ass! Then a few posts later you claim you didn't hit it in the ass. Gimme a break. Maybe if you would have had a caliber you could actually shoot, instead of filching from the recoil of your macho uber rifle, you would have made a good shot, not wounded a bear, and then left it lay there to suffer for hours. Much less post pictures of your smug self and brag all over the internet about how great you are. Geeeeezus, it just keeps getting better. A simple picture of the bear, and an "I got one" would have been much better than what you posted. But hey, maybe I'm wrong, maybe I care too much about the animals I pursue and the sport I love.

He also said the shot "well-anchored" the bear, yet two guys looking for it didn't find it, despite a blood trail. Didn't sound very "well-anchored" to me but it's possible I'm missing something.

And yes, I'm familiar with tracking and recovering animals after dark in thick stuff. If you're not prepared to do that, don't take a shot at dusk.

The man followed up the next day, recovered the animal and apparently saved the meat. A lot of you mofos need to just move on and get a life.

I want to see a better pic.of the pick up with 2 full miles of 5/8" cable! That is almost 8000 lbs. of cable alone,plus the weight of the winch.Must have uber duty springs!

Saved the meat because the animal was still alive.

Good thing about telling your own story is, you can make it what you want. A bad shot that allows the animal to wander off and suffer all night becomes a shot that "well-anchored" the animal.

What power was your scope adjusted to for the shot?

Dude, you should have been there. It was UBER..... EVERYTHING.
Not one bit was un-UBER.
Including awesome.... UBERED.
Kinda like UBER squared, only with more UBER.

If you have no problem with people taking poor shots, animals being wounded, and left to suffer for hours, and then bragging about it, maybe you're the mofo that needs a new hobby? I hear knitting is nice.