USA: British Columbia That’s My Truck Going On A Bear Hunt

[gillettehunter]

Was over to Vancover Island in May. It is a beautiful place. Lots of thick timber. Congrats on a great bear. Bruce

 

[enysse]

Congrats, what a beautiful black bear!

 

[Jfet]

Recovery


The bear is down and now you have to go get it. By my range finder the bear was 98 yards from us. It would take Karen and I thirty minutes to cover that distance. The ground if you could find it was a jumble of old logs, branches, and a tangle of secondary growth. To step on a log was to slip and fall. To step on a patch of ferns was to take a chance of dropping your foot off into a hidden crevasse. Mike was adamant about going slow. Did I mention that Mike likes to hunt sheep in the mountains on his holidays? Even he struggled. I hope the following pictures portray the danger of this ground.

This picture is of a screenshot I made from a video. PB had actually broken through and had sunk to her waist. There is a gully under her. Her feet are not touching the ground.

We did make it through to the bear and started the process of recovery but first high fives all around and I even got a kiss. Mike started the skinning and PB helped. I was not about to take the chance of putting a hole in PB’s rug. This bear was beat up. He had large scratches on his nose and bite marks on his shoulders. Bear courting is tough. I am really glad PB does not do that to me.

With the bear quartered Mike instructed us to start back to the truck. He would finish packing the meat and would follow. PB and I started working back down to the creek. We had crossed the creek and just started up the other side when I heard a noise. I looked back and here came Mike with the loaded pack. We were a third of the way up the hill to the truck when he passed us again on the way back to the bear for the final load. I was half way up the hill, when Mike back at the carcass called out and calmly asked, “Would you mind getting up to the truck and getting out your rifle.” I turned and looked at Mike and he was staring hard down the creek. I realized that I needed to really go.


Remember there was sow nearby when PB shot. She had gone right and ran up the hill above the road. She had now circled down below the truck crossed the road and was working her way up the creek towards the kill site. Right now my favorite country song is “I am not as good as I once was but I am good once as I ever was.” I moved up the rest of the hill pretty fast in my opinion (key phrase my opinion) I got to the truck, pulled out the 375 and loaded it. I turned around to clearly see the sow was in the creek directly below Mike by about 10 yards on one side of the creek and by 30 yards below PB on the opposite side. Mike was talking to the bear. He was also loading his pack full of fresh meat. PB was trying to climb. At this moment the sow’s shoulders and hips were pointed up the creek. I decided that as long as she kept this alignment she was golden. She actually paused directly between Mike and PB to gently paw a branch of a young spruce tree. She seemed to enjoy watching it bounce. I think she was contemplating her situation. She chose to ease up the creek. By that time Mike was packed and was heading the opposite direction to find a place to cross the creek and return to the truck. As Mike crossed the creek towards PB and me the sow crossed the creek to the carcass. By the time Mike got to the truck, the sow was at the carcass and beginning the feed. Another new first for Mike in his many years of hunting bears on Vancouver Island.

 

[Royal27]

Now that's exciting!!!!

Wow....

 

[BRICKBURN]

Baiting bears usually takes a few days at least. Damn!
Having to provide cover like that is more like Elephant hunting than bear hunting.

 

[Pheroze]

A great hunt. What a bizarre event with the sow!

 

[kfet87]

Okay guys…my complete version is out there! http://www.africahunting.com/thread...ia-his-truck-and-my-bear-pbs-version.29769/:A Camping:

Now off to camp and see some more of this pretty land!