Share your spring 2020 bear hunting photos

[gerry]

I'll get it started.

I went out last night with the intention of getting some meat and the first medium sized or bigger bear was in trouble. This younger boar is just under 6' squared and fit the bill so I was finally able to shoot and animal myself with the 358 Win I bought a couple of years back from DrMike. Bullet used was the 200 gr Sierra RN and the shot was around 90-100 yards away. He didn't go far and was pretty much done by the time I got there but I decided to finish him off with a shot to the neck. Both bullets exited and I was pretty pleased with how the 200 gr Sierra performed.

Was a bit difficult to pull him out of the hole in behind where he is now and being solo it was tough to get good pictures so this was the best I could do.

Exit wound from the Sierra 200 gr RN bullet, it was about 1 1/2 " in diameter and left a good blood trail had the bear made it any distance. He only went about 20 feet.

Heading out still with a young engaged couple and hope to get a couple more bears down, one for each of them. Saw 5-6 other bears (possibly the same one twice) 3 small ones, the medium boar I shot and a real nice bigger boar that I hope we can find one day again. Will probably check out some of our other spots first which are loaded with bears as well.

 

[Guy Miner]

Congrats! I'd say you did great with the bear and with your photos!

My spring bear hunting? Umm, that requires a special permit here and I didn't even apply... so much for spring bear hunting!

Guy

 

[mjcmichigan]

Two weeks in the bush... no bear, but plenty of fish.

The perch ran 9-16”
Whitefish were 18-22”
Blue walleye was 21”


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[DrMike]

Excellent, Gerry! Glad to see that the rifle is working out for you. That is a beautiful bear, BTW.

 

[noslerpartition]

Congrats! My spring bear is a few thousand miles away with lots of water in between....

Gesendet von meinem HUAWEI VNS-L31 mit Tapatalk

 

[stew]

Nice shinny coat on him, maybe the light but gives him a blue /grey look.

 

[6mm Remington]

Nice bear and a nice coat on him. He should be good eating!!

 

[ShadeTree]

Nice Gerry! Good job on accomplishing your set goal. You make it sound easy but I'm sure it's not. Bear populations and opportunities are different in different parts of the country, but it's not like you set out to go out in the hen house and pick out a chicken for supper. Congratulations and once again good job.

Nice caliber for the task at hand also.

 

[gerry]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

Two weeks in the bush... no bear, but plenty of fish.
The perch ran 9-16”
Whitefish were 18-22”
Blue walleye was 21”

Nice, I remember how well perch and walleye tasted when I have gone fishing with family in Manitoba. As good as anything out there.

Congrats! I'd say you did great with the bear and with your photos!
My spring bear hunting? Umm, that requires a special permit here and I didn't even apply... so much for spring bear hunting!

Guy

Thanks Guy I guess you'll have to hunt in the fall

Excellent, Gerry! Glad to see that the rifle is working out for you. That is a beautiful bear, BTW.

Thanks, glad to have finally shot an animal myself with it after owning it for more than 2 years now. Another hunter used it a few years ago on a nice bear. Hope you are making it out this spring.

Nice shinny coat on him, maybe the light but gives him a blue /grey look.

The light was a bit flat but yes he was a healthy boar.

Nice bear and a nice coat on him. He should be good eating!!

The meat is cooling and I'll start tomorrow to butcher it up. Needed to get something for the freezer and can be more selective with the second tag.

Nice Gerry! Good job on accomplishing your set goal. You make it sound easy but I'm sure it's not. Bear populations and opportunities are different in different parts of the country, but it's not like you set out to go out in the hen house and pick out a chicken for supper. Congratulations and once again good job.

Nice caliber for the task at hand also.

Looking back at the post you are right, I didn't quite mean it that way. Lot's could have gone wrong so to speak like last year when I only saw one bear I would have shot, passed up lots of little ones though.

 

[NYDAN]

Gerry, congratulations on a fine bear. Also congratulations on finding a good load for your 358 Win. and successfully using your rifle and load to tag a nice animal. I bet you were smiling as you were taking those wonderful photos.

Dan

 

[gerry]

Gerry, congratulations on a fine bear. Also congratulations on finding a good load for your 358 Win. and successfully using your rifle and load to tag a nice animal. I bet you were smiling as you were taking those wonderful photos.

Dan

Thanks. Yes sir I was quite thankful to have everything come together so well and finally use that little powerhouse myself!

Went out today with the aforementioned young couple and we saw a bunch of bears and a cow moose. Today was one of those days where the bears were in the bush beside the green patches of grass so we ended up spooking them out. Just the nature of hunting and we still had a great time. The young lady found it quite interesting when the bush came alive about 30 feet away and the bear that was hiding lost nerve and took off :lol:

 

[noslerpartition]

'Young lady found it interesting'...
Well, as someone without bears around I am not sure if I would have been the one to loose nerves - not the bear...

Gesendet von meinem HUAWEI VNS-L31 mit Tapatalk

 

[gerry]

'Young lady found it interesting'...
Well, as someone without bears around I am not sure if I would have been the one to loose nerves - not the bear...

Gesendet von meinem HUAWEI VNS-L31 mit Tapatalk

They do have a way of scaring you especially if you don't have much experience with them. We put a practice stalk on a small bear so she would have an idea how that works. She didn't think the two phrases "there's a bear" and "lets get closer" should go together :lol:

 

[noslerpartition]

I can imagine!
I once stalked wild boar at night on a meadow along corn. At the end of the field, they disappeared back into the corn. I walked on because I saw more shapes through the thermal, a few hundred yards away.
At the end of the corn I found out that they came back out just around the corner, feeding on acorns, less than 10 yards away. They are no bear, but they can get nasty! They were facing me without seeing me. So I raised the rifle, picked one out and shot.
Later I wondered what would have happened if they hadn't gone back into the corn, but straight on?!
So much for 'how close is too close?'

Gesendet von meinem HUAWEI VNS-L31 mit Tapatalk

 

[Rol_P]

Gerry, Congratulations on a very nice bear, and thanks for sharing the story. Were you able to call for assistance to transport the bruin to camp? How much residual body fat would your bear have compared to one taken in the fall? Good luck filling your second tag after mentoring the young couple. Best Regards, Rol

 

[gerry]

Gerry, Congratulations on a very nice bear, and thanks for sharing the story. Were you able to call for assistance to transport the bruin to camp? How much residual body fat would your bear have compared to one taken in the fall? Good luck filling your second tag after mentoring the young couple. Best Regards, Rol

Thanks Rol for the kind words. The bear was taken on a logging road so no pack involved, with the numerous logging roads we drive and spot and stalk or walk in carefully depending on where exactly. A bear in the fall would have more fat than now but this guy had a fair bit on him, probably about 3/4" on his hind end in quite a short time. Of course they eat as much as possible after they get out of the den.

We are looking at heading out this coming weekend again so we'll see how it goes. I hope we can find them some shooter bears.

 

[JD338]

Gerry,
Congratulations on your bear. Those backstraps are going to be good.

JD338

 

[gerry]

Went out again last night with my younger friends and one of them was able to get his first big game animal. He did well and made a great shot on this boar at about 70-80 yards using my 7mm Rem Mag and a 150 gr Partition. He only went about 30 yards tops. B.C. has a program where a someone who has never hunted before can buy a special license and use the tag of another hunter who acts as his supervisor. After this year he will need to do his training if he wishes to hunt again. He enjoyed his time out and plans to go ahead with getting the training he needs to continue. I'm proud of all of them and how well they did. There were 4 of us, one of the other hunters (not pictured) decided they didn't like bear hunting and offered their tag for the young man and act as the supervisor. They definitely want to continue hunting for other game though.

 

[stew]

Good job Gerry I have used or offered my tags up a fair bit in the past for juniors

 

[NYDAN]

Congratulations to your friend, to you, and all other parties connected to this hunt. Your 7mm Rem Mag did the trick for this young man.

Dan