JJ,



The story on this bear was featured in the 1994 Spring issue of Trophy Hunter magazine out of Utah. Rusty thought this would be a great story for his magazine which was still in its infancy back then. What made this story remarkable was this was the first bear I ever called in using a varmint call.



The year before I killed this bear, the houndsmen killed a black bear near this area that went over 700lbs, they bayed that bastard for over 16hrs as the bear would wind any hunter approaching and leave pronto with hounds hanging all over his azz! Finally a houndsman managed to slip in and empty a full cylinder out of his 357 mag revolver at close range. Sadly, these boys never entered the skull and the bear spoiled as they drove all over in the hot weather showing it off. I saw the pictures of the bear and it indeed looked every bit of 700lbs as it filled the top of the dog platform on the back of a full size ford PU.



There were at least two more monster bears in this area and one of the houndsman approached me asking if I would try to call in one of these monster bears. Seems these bears would never tree and would just bay up in the thick brush for hours in rough country. I scouted the area and found bear tracks nearly the size of my 9.5 Danners!



When bear season came around I scouted the area again one wet afternoon and found fresh tracks in the mud as it had rained hard all morning. I figured the bear was close by, probably bedded in one of the draws below an old firebreak. I decided my best chance of calling that bear would be the next morning when he would be out and about, especially after all the recent rains.



So I arrived the next AM in the dark and settled under a great big oak tree overlooking a saddle near the draw where I found the tracks the day before. There was a slight breeze in my face and angling away, a perfect set-up! I blew the Circe Jackrabbit loud and aggressively for close to 30min and was beginning to think it was going to be another dud stand when out from the brush below me walked the meanest looking black bear I ever saw about 100yds away. I quickly raised my 7RM and lined up the crosshairs, in the meantime the bear had stopped and stared as he caught the movement of my rifle. I put the first 160grNP thru his right shoulder a little low where it clipped his heart and exited out his left rear ham after penetrating the full length of his body. He grunted and took a few steps just as the second 160grNP caught him in the hip as he rolled over just past the firebreak. I knew he was done when he let a loud death moan or growl, one of the loudest death moans I've ever heard from a bear.



I was alone so I took pics using the self timer on my Canon mounted on a tripod and quickly field dressed the bear. The work then began, I locked my trusty Toyota 4X4 in 4 low and eased on down the firebreak. There was a depression near the dead bear so I backed the rear wheels in, which lowered the tailgate about 2ft off the ground. I then took some nearby lodgepoles that had been cut and made a ramp off my truck's bed. I then rolled and wrestled the bear into the back of my truck and drove back to town to have the my tag validated by the Fish & Game dept. The biologist estimated the bear's weight at 600lbs using a tape measure. I then took the bear to a local meat locker where they weighed him on a certified scale, with no guts he weighed 507lbs. According to a formula which calculated field dressed bears that was listed in Bear Hunter magazine, this bear had a live weight of 597lbs. So the local biologist was close in his weight estimate. I think that is close enough to call this bear an honest 600lb'er considering what he might have eaten that morning.



Several houndsman recognized this bear from past encounters and said this bear was a mean bear, one of several monsters that frequented the area. He was known to have chewed up more than his share of dogs. This 8.5yr old bear had all kinds of scars on his head from past fights with other bears, whats interesting is the houndsmen said he was the smallest of the 3 big monster class bears that fequented the area!



The next bear season an archer who found out where I killed this bear managed to stick another monster bear only to lose it in the thick brush. No houndmen would offer to track the wounded bear with their hounds so that bear was lost. What a shame!



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MtnHtr