My first black bear

[onlybrowning]

This past weekend was the regular season deer opener for my area, so it was the first weekend in the woods with smokeless powder pushing my bullets. I was hunting for deer, not bear, but hey no complaints here. I was sitting in my treestand way before sunrise, and after a long while, at about 8AM I hear and see a "black ball" running down the side of the mountain angling toward my stand. I promptly got into shooting position, and at 20 yards while running (I don't know how to stop a bear) I shot. The bear never broke stride, and before it crossed the logging road I had another on the way. The bear still had not fell, and by now it was off to my right in some thick woods. This is my unnatural way to shoot, so I had to stand and lean out over a tree. I got the bear in the scope at about 20 yds again and let the last one fly. At the crack of the shot, the bear barrel rolled to a stop. To say I was shook up was an understatement. This was the first bear I have seen in the woods, and it was the first time I have ever shot an animal more than 1 time with a high powered rifle. I was using a Browning A Bolt Stainless Stalker with a Leupold VXIII 2.5-8X36mm in .325 WSM with 200 grain Accubonds over 67.0 grains H4350 in Winchester brass with CCI 200 primers. The first shot hit the bear just behind the shoulder and exited the liver. The second shot was evidently a miss, and the third hit the bear in the far side eye and was devastating to the skull. The hide is salvageable and is at my local taxidermist now. I weighed the bear after it was dressed, and it is a 140 lb sow. Pretty cool event in my hunting career.

 

[Hegland]

Congrats!

To say I was shook up was an understatement.

I hear that; a black bear directly under your stand for the first time is an experience. I had to look the other direction for several minutes to get myself calmed down. Great job keeping cool and making the shot.

 

[Charlie-NY]

Nice shot.

Your live bear estimated weight would be 165lbs.

Congrats.

 

[onlybrowning]

I know very little about these creatures, but I have been told that this was an average size bear for the Adirondacks. I think it is cool that range in size so much.

Rob

 

[longwinters]

Real nice bear. Thanks for the pics and sharing the hunt with us.

Long

 

[FOTIS]

I envy you man! I never seen let alone taken a bear! It is on my list though.
Great pictures ! Thank you for sharing the story and the AccuBond performance.

 

[Guy Miner]

Congratulations & Well Done! :grin:

 

[froggy]

That's a really pretty bear...even with a hole in the face. Nice shootin and let us know how it turns out after you get the rug back.

 

[str8meat]

congrats

 

[blazer]

oops someone shot a cub

 

[TScottW99]

oops someone shot a cub

Nice first post :roll: :roll:

Congrats on the bear OB!!!

 

[JD338]

onlybrowning

Congratulations on your bear! They are an exciting animal to hunt and the table fare is excellent!
Thanks for the story and great pictures. :grin:

JD338

 

[JD338]

oops someone shot a cub

blazer,

Welcome.

Care to explain your comment?

JD338

 

[onlybrowning]

A 140 lb dressed black bear is not small by any standards for NY state. Thank you for making an ignorant comment about something you are not knowledgeable about.

It must be nice to have 140 lb cubs in British Columbia. I would love to see you come hunt the Adirondack Mountains. Less than 2% of big game hunters in NY state ever kill a bear. I was very proud to have taken this mature female with my rifle.


Rob

 

[Alaska]

Only in self defense.....we shoot them in the head!

 

[C.Smith]

Great bear, beats the one I got (none). Thanks for sharing the story too.

Corey

 

[blazer]

well if only 2% of hunters there have the oportunity to see or take a bear you just dropped the odds for the boys out there even greater by taking that ............ mature sow. we are blessed out here for lots of bears and big ones foresure but if you want to continue to hunt these awsome animals so that the population increases and there is a chance of bigger and better bears. maybe some hunters education is needed for this species instead of getting trigger happy and looking for bragging rights and pictures. just some food for thought :idea:

 

[TScottW99]

Judging his bear by B.C. standards is not fair or very sportsmen like IMO.

B.C. is where people go to shoot a Boon & Crockett. Here in Virginia a legal bear is a bear that weighs 100 pounds. I have my own standards for a trophy as do you.

It is not my place or any others to judge another hunter with their prey if it was taken in a legal manner. As long as the hunter is happy with his/her trophy and it was taken legal that is all that matters.

To judge another hunter from another state or country is mighty hard to do also. Too many laws that are differnt across state and country borders. I.E.... baiting. Illegal as all get out here in Virginia. However I see people in Canada do it all the time on t.v. :wink: Not my cup of tea but I won't judge another hunter because it is legal.

 

[blazer]

i agree with ones trophy is ones trophy, baiting in b.c. is illegal i dont agree with baiting in any province or state, and i think it is a chicken @#$% way to hunt bears. all i'am saying is if you want to hunt a certain species that has a problem with quantity and quality a hunter has to have self decipline to educate and put conservation for all hunters first before oneself. i'am sure there's lots boys from that state that would love to hunt bears on a regular basis, but if you dont have the self decipline, or education to know which animal is worth killing or letting go. no other hunters or our children will have the oportunities to hunt that species due to poor numbers and poor decisions to take an animal. we all need to take resonsibility to ensure that our kids and our kids kids get to hunt in the future.

 

[JDMAG]

Some animals just dont get as big in some regions of the world as they do in others. A white tail in Florida, is nothing like one in Tennessee, the one in Tennessee is nothing like the one in Ohio, The one in Ohio, is nothing like the one in Canada. It's not population of the species, it's hte food sources, the minerals etc.