The baiting has begun

A .470 Capstick is basically a .458 Lott necked up to .475 caliber. The difference is it has somewhat of a false shoulder. The case straight tapers to the neck and then goes straight at the neck. Supposedly that is why it is so accurate, because it can headspace off of the neck body junction rather than the belt. The penetration with the thing is crazy though. He has a hardened steel plate that a .338 Edge/Lapua won't hardly scratch, even with 285gr Barnes bullets. With his 10" twist Capstick and 325gr pistol bullets it blows a hole right through it. The 16" twist version he made wouldn't penetrate the plate. So most of the people using them in Africa for the big stuff shoot 10" twists. Every one he's made are exceptionally accurate with about any bullet you shoot. The load he used for the bear was 85gr of IMR 4198 and a 275gr Barnes TSX pistol bullet. They have a huge open hollow point but the one he shot into phone books was fully intact, expanded to 1 3/8" diameter, and still made it to the back of 4 phone books.

He gets 20" unturned pistol blanks from McGowen for about 50.00 so he's made tons of guns from those. He's built quite a few big boomers into pistols but he uses those barrels for rifles as well. This one is actually a 26" barrel though. I know he's built at least 3 different Capsticks. This rifle has shot several sub 1/2" groups.

My .458 Lott is on a 26" #8 contour Lilja barrel. I loaded 87.5grs of R-7 with 250gr Barnes TSX's for a 45-70 at 3150fps.
 
I like how you can see the vapor trail of the bullet just before the bear jumps.
 
IdahoCTD":3g2a98e0 said:
I like how you can see the vapor trail of the bullet just before the bear jumps.
Click to expand...

I saw that. Very cool. 8) Congratulations to the young lady on her bear.

JD338
 
Well we went up tonight and another friend of ours took his kid along to try and get his first big game animal. He got a small chocolate boar. The trail cams showed a big black bear came in at 1:30 this afternoon but the bait was all but gone so it didn't stay long. We filled up the barrel and put out the strawberry jello, anise, butterscotch/marshmallow/popcorn balls after everyone but me ate some of it. Sunday I'll go up and see if I can't smack the big blackie with my Lott. BTW the young man shot his with my buddy's Capstick too. So that is 3 bears in a week all off of the same bait and all shot with the Capstick.
 
Sounds as if that bait is magic! The Capstick must be a major factor in such a harvest as well.
 
Well the chicken hanging in a semi water tight bag is getting pretty ripe. So much so that if the wind is just ripe you'll gag just a bit. I don't think all the sweets are hurting though. I'd be willing to bet that all the marshmallow treats are the first things gone when we go back. The strawberry and anise popcorn balls are pretty strong but in a good way.
 
Cool videos!

Sure would be nice if we could still bait bears here in Washington, and if spring tags were easier to draw. Still, the regular "fall" season is only a couple of months away, starts August 1st. Then my son and I will be at our spot and stalk bear hunting again.
 
Wow! He crumpled that bear! Great shooting! Awesome, just awesome.. This is not helping me from missing Idaho!
 
Guy Miner":wlzhzq8y said:
Cool videos!

Sure would be nice if we could still bait bears here in Washington, and if spring tags were easier to draw. Still, the regular "fall" season is only a couple of months away, starts August 1st. Then my son and I will be at our spot and stalk bear hunting again.
Click to expand...


We have a lot of bears here. Way more than people think because you don't see them very often unless you bait them or spot and stalk the early green up in spring. I've actually seen a lot during bow season for elk in the past too. I think the amount of scent we put out has helped us get 4 bears on bait in a week. I also don't think the amount of sweets we have put out has hurt. I haven't use this kind of variety or shear amount of scent before but it obviously works. The wind blows a lot at the bait and it blows in the right direction which also doesn't hurt. If there was a clearing higher on the hill it would have been even better because the wind blows a constant 10+mph up higher it seems.

I feel for you Guy. I don't think I could live in a Liberal state because it always works it's way in to the Fish and Game rules.

I personally have no problem shooting a lot of bears especially in the area we are baiting. The wolves have hammered the game so bad in this area that it's pretty common to not even see a buck or any elk in a day. You use to see 6-8+ bucks and elk nearly every day as recent as 3-4 years ago. Our fish and game did a study in Salmon Idaho in the 70's about the effects of bears on the elk herds. They removed as many bears in one area as they could. Within a few years the elk population tripled. As the bears started to move back in the elk numbers declined steadily over several years until they were back to the normal numbers before the study. Because we are somewhat limited on when and how we harvest wolves, which I think fish and game is being careful not to get to crazy with so they don't have another lawsuit, I feel anytime I can help reduce the numbers of predators it's going to help the game herds. That is also why Idaho has reduced priced and extra bear tags in the units with massive wolf predation on the game herds. I really don't think they are doing enough though because of the rapid decline in game numbers in many of the units I hunt. I doubt they can ever get the wolf numbers down to the minimum they have to maintain of 150 statewide without the use of poison. There is way too much remote country in this state that so few people ever see each year. So I don't understand why they don't open it statewide to any means of take. I would be willing to bet the 400 or so we harvested this year didn't even stop the growth of the wolves much less reduce the numbers.
 
There is no question but that bears take a lot of calves. When the bear population grows, elk and deer herds dwindle. When the bear population shrinks, ungulates prosper. Wolves are bad for ungulate herds, but bears don't get the press they deserve as a major contributor to thinning the herds.
 
Nathan, get Idaho tuned up for me buddy.. I need all the help I can get with the elk!

Nathan is right on though! Some parts of the Frank Church probably don't even see a person some years unless they are really willing to hike or horse it in there.. There are much easier places to hunt too, so I imagine it is just about untouched as far as the wolves..

I am glad they were able to take 400 though. That is much better than the year before!
 
It was 2 years before Scotty. 2009 was the first season when I shot my wolf. Last year, 2011, was the second season. Even the first season didn't really put a dent in the population, which IMO they under estimate greatly. There is at least 1 wolf pack in every mountain range I hunt. If that were the case statewide there would easily be 2000 wolves in this state if not double that. It's hard to not cut wolf tracks around here if you spend much time at all in the woods.

Mike,

If you knew how small the area we are baiting you'd understand the concentration of bears (I know you guys have a lot up there too because I see them along the road when I drive to Alaska). We are literally 1 1/4 mile from the biggest town in the area to the trail head. Then we wind about 3/4 of a mile up the hill. You can hear people drive by on the road down below us if the wind isn't blowing too hard. There is actually another road on the same guys property where you can see the main road about 1/4 below you. My buddy has caught numerous bears on the trail cams on that road. I know bears move around a lot looking for food but there are a lot of bears around too. We are going to try and bait the other road this fall if anyone has a tag left. The landowner says "shoot them all" because he likes the deer and elk in his backyard.
 
That is what I meant, as they didn't take any in 2010...

Sorry, hard to make text work for me sometimes..

My buddy is in hunting bears with his outfit right now. He usually doesn't have much trouble with his hunters at least pulling one bear and often doubles..
 
Nathan, I have areas that are miniscule, bounded by three rivers, in which I can count twenty plus black bears each day. Those are the ones I see! I do understand the dynamics of population density you are addressing. The only way that bear population is thinned (if not hunted) is when a grizzly moves into the immediate area; then, the black bear population moves to the next valley. Wolf packs can move the bears around somewhat as well. They are not hunted near heavily enough; I know that.
 
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