Mike Horstman got his bear.
A 25-year-old boar with well-worn teeth and battle scars.
Mike knows what he is talking about when it comes to aging Kodiak bears, and the hunting of them.
Mike did not use his rifle scope as a handle anymore in the finale episode, Episode 13.
He only did it for a few seconds of a scene near the end of Episode 12 of Mountain Men.
The only other thing I can critique on his rifle scope respect is he should get some flip-up lens covers on that abused scope,
as much as it rains on Kodiak.
Scope looked like a Leupold Vari-X II, 2-7x33mm, gloss black in nickel-plated Leupold rings and the old JR-style 2-piece bases,
with windage screw on rear base and rotating dove tail for front.
Both bases overhang the loading/ejection port slightly.
All-in-all, maybe not the best for luggage-handler use.
Kudos for Mike reloading his own ammo.
He used Barnes TSX for his demo .375 H&H loads.
One bullet and the bear dropped, DRT.
Looks to me like it was a spine hit a bit far to the rear, paralyzed hind legs, butt went down,
forelegs thrashed once as the bear turned about 90 degrees to his left and died on his right side.
Hind legs did not move as it crumpled.
Bear was shot almost from the rear, quartering away and was hit just forward of its butt, high on the right side of bear.
Bullet exit wound on left side of bear is visible in one brief shot of dead bear, high on left side of bear,
about where I would say the chest meets the abdomen.
DRT.
Mike has a muzzle brake on his .375 H&H rifle.
He also wears a Medic Alert bracelet that says "Blood Thinner."
I guess he wishes to reduce bruising of his shoulder.
It is amazing what you can see if you DVR the episode and advance it frame-by-frame at the important seconds of time.
