Guy Miner
Master Loader
- Apr 6, 2006
- 17,746
- 5,817
Our hunt was cut short, by success!
Again this year we hunted the hills above the upper Columbia, only a few miles from the Canadian border, in northeast Washington.
This time of year, the bears are hot after the berry bushes, which were loaded with ripe berries! It's steep country, with scattered patches of thick berry bushes, some dark timber, a few abandoned homesteads with old apple and pear trees, and a surprising amount of open ground. Bears stand out pretty good when they're moving from one berry patch to another. Did I say it was steep? I'm not sure there is any level ground in our hunting area...
My son and I set up a simple, comfortable camp above a wonderful trout steam, but we didn't fish it this year.
Our guide, Shane, met us Thursday night and told us he'd seen four bears on Thursday afternoon. My son and I were pretty enthused when we hit the rack that night. The alarm went off at 0410, and by 0445 we were on the way up the mountain in Shane's big 4x4 pickup. Hiked in, glassed, glassed and glassed. No bears. About 1100 we gave up and headed back to camp for lunch and a nap. Slept great! A couple of hours later we headed back up the mountain to a different location, where Shane had seen the bears late Thursday afternoon. Typically it's not a good spot in the morning.
We hiked in, set up for about 20 minutes and Chris, Shane's young friend/assistant said that one word that got our attention "bear." There he was coming down the ridge toward a steep ravine full of berry bushes! This is "spot and stalk" hunting - the bear was too far to shoot, so we stalked closer. By stalking, I mean we ran & walked as fast as I could - being the old man of the group by over 20 years. We got to a rocky overlook and glassed some more. Eventually the bear showed up in a break between the bushes at about 150 yards. I wanted my son to shoot first, but he hesitated, and the bear figured out we were there. He turned to leave, so I busted him in the shoulder. My son shot, planting a 165 gr Nosler in his lungs, and Chris hammered him with a 140 gr Barnes TSX from his 7mm mag. Amazingly, taking three shots, the bear scrambled into the brush, heading downhill. He reappeared, and Chris & I fired, dropping him. The bear had taken five shots, one from a .30-06, two from a 7mm mag and two from a .375 H&H. Tough critter. He was down though! A beautiful chocolate boar, at about 1600 in the afternoon. John was very pleased to have taken the bear with my old 1917 .30-06, which his grandfather had put together as a hunting & target rifle after WWII. I thought that was pretty cool myself.
We skinned the bear and packed him out, UP that doggone steep hill. That night I treated everyone to a meal at a local diner. Even with bad food in a noisy place, we were grinning with the success!
This morning I got up at 0410 again, and again headed up the hill with Shane and Chris. Young John decided it was a good morning to sleep in. We hiked in, started glassing and within a half an hour we'd spotted another chocolate boar feeding at the edge of a berry patch. We put together another stalk, and closed the range to 306 yards according to the laser. I dialed up the old Redfield to 6x, put the crosshairs on the bear and waited for a clear shot opportunity. He stood to get some berries and I torched off the 260 grain Nosler AccuBond. I lost the bear in recoil. The "twack" of the bullet striking home was clearly audible. Chris yelled "You hammered him." I reloaded, cautiously optimistic, since we were 300 yards from the bear, and couldn't see him.
Just as we started to head down to check on the bear, we saw another one, all black, off to our left at about 500 yards. Chris and I ranged him at 485 yards, Chris dialed the elevation on his Burris and touched off the 7mm Rem mag, breaking the bear's spine and sending it tumbling into the ravine below. Amazingly, he hit it again while it was rolling down! The bear made it to the bottom of the ravine, into the brush, hurt but very much alive.
Interesting. Now the three of us had two bears down. In two different places hundreds of yards apart. Shane and I went to check on my bear. Chris stayed up high to watch for his down in the ravine and eventually went down in after the bear. He had one heck of a hunt down there, trailing it and coming up on it when it turned on him wounded and very angry. He fired three times in quick succession, dropping the all-black sow at 10 feet!
Shane and I found my bear, very dead, about 6' from where he'd been standing when I punched him between the shoulders with the AccuBond. It messed up his spine as well as his lungs, and likely the heart - exiting at the bottom/front of his chest. He too was a chocolate colored boar, almost a twin to my son's bear, but a little older and a little heavier. These are average size bears for the area. Estimated at about 275 for John's and about 325 - 350 for mine. Hard to say for sure.
Heck of a hunt, over all to quickly, but for good reasons! I'm very proud of the way my son handled himself on the hunt, he did well. Am also impressed with the 260 AccuBond/.375 H&H combo although the bullet encountered no great bones, only the shoulder on John's bear.
Good company. Good countryside. Good bears and a good hunt.
Regards, Guy
Again this year we hunted the hills above the upper Columbia, only a few miles from the Canadian border, in northeast Washington.
This time of year, the bears are hot after the berry bushes, which were loaded with ripe berries! It's steep country, with scattered patches of thick berry bushes, some dark timber, a few abandoned homesteads with old apple and pear trees, and a surprising amount of open ground. Bears stand out pretty good when they're moving from one berry patch to another. Did I say it was steep? I'm not sure there is any level ground in our hunting area...
My son and I set up a simple, comfortable camp above a wonderful trout steam, but we didn't fish it this year.
Our guide, Shane, met us Thursday night and told us he'd seen four bears on Thursday afternoon. My son and I were pretty enthused when we hit the rack that night. The alarm went off at 0410, and by 0445 we were on the way up the mountain in Shane's big 4x4 pickup. Hiked in, glassed, glassed and glassed. No bears. About 1100 we gave up and headed back to camp for lunch and a nap. Slept great! A couple of hours later we headed back up the mountain to a different location, where Shane had seen the bears late Thursday afternoon. Typically it's not a good spot in the morning.
We hiked in, set up for about 20 minutes and Chris, Shane's young friend/assistant said that one word that got our attention "bear." There he was coming down the ridge toward a steep ravine full of berry bushes! This is "spot and stalk" hunting - the bear was too far to shoot, so we stalked closer. By stalking, I mean we ran & walked as fast as I could - being the old man of the group by over 20 years. We got to a rocky overlook and glassed some more. Eventually the bear showed up in a break between the bushes at about 150 yards. I wanted my son to shoot first, but he hesitated, and the bear figured out we were there. He turned to leave, so I busted him in the shoulder. My son shot, planting a 165 gr Nosler in his lungs, and Chris hammered him with a 140 gr Barnes TSX from his 7mm mag. Amazingly, taking three shots, the bear scrambled into the brush, heading downhill. He reappeared, and Chris & I fired, dropping him. The bear had taken five shots, one from a .30-06, two from a 7mm mag and two from a .375 H&H. Tough critter. He was down though! A beautiful chocolate boar, at about 1600 in the afternoon. John was very pleased to have taken the bear with my old 1917 .30-06, which his grandfather had put together as a hunting & target rifle after WWII. I thought that was pretty cool myself.
We skinned the bear and packed him out, UP that doggone steep hill. That night I treated everyone to a meal at a local diner. Even with bad food in a noisy place, we were grinning with the success!
This morning I got up at 0410 again, and again headed up the hill with Shane and Chris. Young John decided it was a good morning to sleep in. We hiked in, started glassing and within a half an hour we'd spotted another chocolate boar feeding at the edge of a berry patch. We put together another stalk, and closed the range to 306 yards according to the laser. I dialed up the old Redfield to 6x, put the crosshairs on the bear and waited for a clear shot opportunity. He stood to get some berries and I torched off the 260 grain Nosler AccuBond. I lost the bear in recoil. The "twack" of the bullet striking home was clearly audible. Chris yelled "You hammered him." I reloaded, cautiously optimistic, since we were 300 yards from the bear, and couldn't see him.
Just as we started to head down to check on the bear, we saw another one, all black, off to our left at about 500 yards. Chris and I ranged him at 485 yards, Chris dialed the elevation on his Burris and touched off the 7mm Rem mag, breaking the bear's spine and sending it tumbling into the ravine below. Amazingly, he hit it again while it was rolling down! The bear made it to the bottom of the ravine, into the brush, hurt but very much alive.
Interesting. Now the three of us had two bears down. In two different places hundreds of yards apart. Shane and I went to check on my bear. Chris stayed up high to watch for his down in the ravine and eventually went down in after the bear. He had one heck of a hunt down there, trailing it and coming up on it when it turned on him wounded and very angry. He fired three times in quick succession, dropping the all-black sow at 10 feet!
Shane and I found my bear, very dead, about 6' from where he'd been standing when I punched him between the shoulders with the AccuBond. It messed up his spine as well as his lungs, and likely the heart - exiting at the bottom/front of his chest. He too was a chocolate colored boar, almost a twin to my son's bear, but a little older and a little heavier. These are average size bears for the area. Estimated at about 275 for John's and about 325 - 350 for mine. Hard to say for sure.
Heck of a hunt, over all to quickly, but for good reasons! I'm very proud of the way my son handled himself on the hunt, he did well. Am also impressed with the 260 AccuBond/.375 H&H combo although the bullet encountered no great bones, only the shoulder on John's bear.
Good company. Good countryside. Good bears and a good hunt.
Regards, Guy
