On 22 May I was lucky enough to harvest a respectable interior black bear. He taped out a little over 5'6 (they measure from the tip of the nose to the tail) and weighed some where around 300+ lbs. I wanted to shoot him with the bow but he sneaked in without me seeing him and when I looked up there he was. I was shaking like a leaf and if I tried to reach for the bow he would of ran off so I grabbed my 44 mag and with a well placed shot he didn't make it 20 yards.
I've always heard that you'll see them before you hear them but I can't put into words the rush I felt when I looked up and had a starring competition with a black bear.
The rule up here is if you shoot a bear before 1 June you have to harvest all the meat because they are usually eating on blue berries and the meat tastes really good. As long as you harvest the bear before it starts eating fish the meat will taste just fine...if hes eating fish then the meat is oily and doesn't taste as good. Enjoy the pictures
Early April with a full load to go build the stand...Its about 4 miles from the truck to the stand
here is a picture of the stand
you can see how thick the spruce forest is up here. Also check out the moss...thats why you never hear them sneak up on you...
After I shot the bear I made my way back to the truck and called my 1SG to keep a watch out for other bears coming in. When I was field dressing this bear another one came in and was walking around us...
full load...
those could do some damage...
he is gonna make a nice rug
