Been bear hunting for a few days and it (almost) all came together this morning on an enormous bear I'd been trying to figure out. Passed on a smaller bear yesterday waiting for this guy, just putting in my time.
I'd been narrowing the search and moved camp yesterday to get closer to his core area. Bear sign yesterday both south of camp out a dry ridge and north down the moist canyon told me I was close to center. I left camp just after daylight, walking just 300 yards from camp I found his most currently used bed on the edge of a thicket in a nasty tangled creek bottom. Visibility was a few yards most directions, measured in feet in the creek bottom with thick brush, alders, fir, pine and hemlock.. The area behind me was burned trees and more open with lots of low hanging dead branches and burned brush stubs. I leaned up against a log and got comfortable facing the creek bottom and his bed.
In front of me at 8 yards was his trail going left and right and it was 15 yards to his bed, which was buried in the brush just beyond sight. My hope was that he would come from the creek bottom or from either left or right on the trail in front of me, giving me an 8 yard broadside shot. He had a well used trail coming into an old rotten log he had hollowed out a big bed in. Moist poop everywhere full of canyon live oak acorns told me this was the best bed yet. Figuring I had an hour or two before he'd be in bed I settled in to wait. There was lots of activity with squirrels and jays storing away acorns as fast as they could, the woods were noisy at times then fell silent. I kept swiveling around behind me when I'd hear something but after an hour I convinced myself there was no way, too much dead debris, for any bear to sneak up on me from behind so I relaxed and just focused on the 15 yards in front of me. I figured I was carrying the perfect rifle for this job, the 99 16" carbine in 358, loaded with 180 Barnes ttsx bullets. Unfortunately my eyes don't focus too well on such a short barrel with iron sights but I am trying to make it work for fast close quarters work. It would seem like the perfect rifle for this job. I can shoot it ok at 50 yards as-is so I felt comfortable with it.
At 9am several squirrels behind me went ballistic all at the same time so I stood up and looked back to see what was coming, honestly not really expecting the bear from that direction. I thought maybe a deer or possibly a cougar might be going by. I caught the bear moving at 45 yards. In an instant I could tell this was no average bear. He was very long, really heavy and I can still see that huge flat nose and white muzzle. He was circling downwind to check his bed before he walked in.
When I saw how big this bear was and how fast he was getting downwind of me I panicked! My time was very short to think all this through and he was going to hit my scent in 3, 2, 1...
I've seen a few hundred bears hunting but only two like this in my lifetime. The first one turned out to be a 27 year old boar, and this one looked like his twin. It wasn't as much bear- fever- type excited, I will admit I was SCARED this bear was too much to deal with. I'm not really sure why I got that impression, I was the one with the gun right?!
He was behind me not in front of me like I'd so carefully set up for. Things were wildly out of my control and moving faster than I wanted! This bear was coming fast left to right and was almost downwind of me and into the brush. If he made it to the brush and got my scent he could close on me and be completely out of my sight until he was 8 yards from me. I had one small opening coming up that was partially obscured with dead branches and debris from the fire. I got the rifle settled into that hole and a second or two later he stepped into it at a fast walk and I touched it off. He locked them up, pulled his head back in slow motion as if to say, "Whoa, danger ahead!" I jacked another shell in, WHICH HE HEARD AND PINPOINTED ME, then knew where I was, so he whirled and ran straight away from me and slightly uphill. No chance for a follow up shot. Normally they run downhill if hit.
I realize now I probably jerked the shot high and when I racked the lever he pinpointed me. If I had stood still after the shot he might have given me another opportunity although at some point I had to work that lever again so maybe not. Of course I just automatically did it after the first shot in case I needed a follow up. I've never been in the position of thinking maybe I should have waited.
Obviously my nerves were shot and the poor sight picture and the whippy little 16" barrel just isn't a good combination for me. I've tried the carbine scoped, with a Burris Fast Fire and irons. Nothing seems just perfect so I went back to irons for super close range work just like this, thinking I'd be good to go. As it turns out, for my eyes, this combination limits me to just a few yards. I don't think I gave enough consideration to how disagreeable a short barrel is for stability. I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board with this rifle.
Maybe if I'd had the 26" 38-55 back in camp or even the scoped 284 I normally hunt with I'd be packing bear meat and spending big bucks on a lifesize mount of a record bear?
Takeaway is while my shooting sucked today, I was able to get myself in on him once, maybe I can do it again. I'm thinking next time I'll try a calf elk in distress call.
