Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Tagged my 10th bear today

I called in this male bear this morning in SE WA just east of Walla Walla where I live. He came in to about 10 yards away but I was not sure he was the big boy I was after (based on all the big piles of bear poop in the area). He got nervous and ran off but I was able to stop him by calling again at about 75 yards. After looking at him some more through my binocular I decided he was big enough and shot him with my 45 Colt revolver using the Beartooth Bullets 345 grain hard cast lead bullet. I hit him behind the right shoulder and the bullet exited. He only ran about 25 yards. I found him dead. He measures 65" long and has a 45" girth. His front pad measures 5" wide and his neck has a girth of 27". His teeth are pretty badly chipped. His 4 legs weigh 81# (my pack weighed 98# including my other gear). His live weight is approximately 275#. It was a mighty hard climb up a steep slope and through a bunch of brush and nasty, thorny rose bushes but I made it. Rufous

Awesome! congrats.

Congradulations, using the call and a revolver is a cool way to go.

Very cool!

Nice job and well done all the way around!

I'd be interested in knowing how old that he was.

That's a very impressive way to go about it.
Sincere congrats!

Rufus, absolutely way darn well done!!!!

Excellent job and good accurate bruin reporting.

It doesn't get much better than calling bruins does it...grin

Dober

Great job Rufous! I have one of those .45 Colt Bisley revolvers just like yours and I love it. I shoot the 280 grain 45-270-SAA with 13.5 grains of HS-6 at about 1100 FPS. Congrats.

Ron

Yes calling in bears is quite a hoot. I have called in quite a few. Some just screwing around, some ended up being too small or were sows with cubs, some gave me the slip. This is the second one that I have shot after calling it in. The Ruger Bisley is a great revolver. I have taken two bears start to finish with it and have finished off two others that were rifle shot first. Rufous.

Nice work!

Great pictures and story. You are the real deal, for sure!

MARK

rufous for president!

Love it!

I have the same revolver, and hope to get a crack at bear #2 this year (with the revolver would be quite fine with me).

Old bear; I'd be curious to know the age, if Wash. DNR ages them.

I too will be interested to find out how old he is. It will take a year to get the results though. I have taken two boars that were 10, one that was 12 and my biggest was 13 years old. This most recent one is certainly mature.

So far of the big game animals I have hunted and killed (deer, elk, moose, mountain lion and bears) I like hunting bears the best. All of my hunting has been DIY, though I did hire an outfitter for a drop camp elk hunt. There is certainly nothing wrong with guided hunts but I sure get a lot of pleasure and satisfaction when I succeed on my own wits. I have never hunted over bait or with hounds, though I would like to try those methods one of these days. I have taken one bear in SE AK, one in Idaho and one in Oregon. The rest have come out of the Blue Mountains of SE WA state. Rufous.

Awesome!
What type of call and what time of day?
whelennut

Congrats to you! You have honed your skills for success! I have been trying to do the same in AR. for years! They have them everywhere, I just have not been able to see one! Going to try again this year!

45 colt Nice!

rufus,

Thanks for the pics and the story. looks like an old one judging by those teeth?

CLB

Whelennut, I used a Woods Wise Bear Blaster call. You can get them from allpredatorcalls.com. I might try the new Carlton bear call that the same company sells. I have had success though with other calls as well as just using my own voice/mouth. It was about 10am.

nice bear looks like the old 45 colt put the smack down on that bear