What a wild ride. But, was successful! Got to camp Friday afternoon. Did some chores and such. Saturday morning I was ready. The bears apparently decided to sleep-in. Saturday evening I was chomping at the bit......no bear sightings. I was like you have to be kidding me!! We had been seeing 80% bears for 2 solid weeks.
I called the Bear Hotline Saturday night to see if any quotas had been filled. Wow..3 out of 5 bear management units in the state had tagged out on Day 1. My area in the North and the Everglades South were still open. I went out Sunday morning wondering if I was going to get skunked. Saw a couple does. Not the Make or Model I was after. My buddy had a tag and couldn't fill it as he had to leave for work.
Sunday afternoon rolls around and I new it was now or never. Went to the stand early and just sat. I had my 5" 629 , loaded with 240 gr XTP's over a stiff load of H-110. This was for use if a Bear presented itself at 50 yds or under. Had my CVA Optima muzzleloader stoked with 110 gr BH-209 topped off with a Barnes T-EZ 250 gr .45 sabot for anything over 50 yds or if a nice deer showed up since it is muzzleloader season here. At 5:20 PM I look at my watch and said to myself, "you have 40 minutes of shooting light to make a Bear materialize out of thin air." It wasn't looking too promising. Exactly 5 minutes later I look to my right and SEE THE BEAR!!! It was 85 yards. This was going to be one of those shots where I had to become a Contortionist. Left leg way up and over to my right. Sling wrapped around my forearm. Now if the crosshairs would quit trembling! It didn't do that at the range..LOL. The Bear started out facing me and slowly began to swap ends. I picked my spot and got a slight quartering away shot and squeezed the trigger. As the shot broke, and the smoke cleared away, I saw it running to the thick stuff 10 yards away traveling in the opposite direction.
My heart started racing, and I started trembling. It took me about 5 minutes to simply get the rope tied to lower my rifle down. Finally with that monumental task achieved I slowly eased out and down the stand. As light was fading I eased over to where the Bear was standing when I shot, S&W 629 in hand, glanced around. I saw the paw marks where it bolted away. Being very colorblind I decided to go to camp and get tracking help and let the Bear settle down and expire. 2 buddies and their 4 wheelers came back to help me look. It was 8 PM and pitch black. They spotted blood right away and we began the slow, stumbling, tracking job into the briars. After about 50 yards the blood trail disappeared. We saw the line of travel and my buddy continued on that same line. After about 30 minutes he had gone about 70 yards and.......there it was! Down for the count. We negotiated it out with some difficulty to where we could get a 4-wheeler in, loaded it and headed to camp.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv34/bigmgus3/Black%20Bear%2013_zpsmxylzbod.jpg?t=1445903944To say I was happy would be an understatement.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv34/bigmgus3/Black%20Bear%205_zpsjx1rv3cy.jpg?t=1445903949It was a female that had a gross weight of 225 lbs.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv34/bigmgus3/Black%20Bear%201_zpsziplc502.jpgUrsus Americanus Floridanus.
http://i667.photobucket.com/albums/vv34/bigmgus3/Black%20Bear%201_zpsaxb6tsxi.jpg?t=1445903949 The local Processor and Taxidermist field dressed it and placed it in the cooler over night. I went and got it Monday morning and took it to the check station. I brought it back to him and he is going to make me a Bear rug to put on the wall. Will get the meat when I go back in a week or so.
I am still on cloud 9. I thank all of you for encouraging me to go for it.
