Posted By: BBwheelgunner
2012 MN Black Bear - 09/12/2012 3:21 PM
First off thanks for all the kind words from the bragging board! This has been a long journey this season with a lot of hope and despair. Being in Colorado all summer I wasn't able to do proper scouting ahead of time, so I was counting on an aquaintance of mine to help me get things started for when I returned. After trying to reach him a few times as the season grew closer, I gave up and knew I would be one my own over a week behind the baiting season in a zone that I had never been in before... I knew I had my work ahead of me.
To add to that, when shooting my FA 83 with my hunting loads (my primary hunting gun) before the season, the reticle in my scope broke! So I then shot my SBHH in 45 colt a few times with the open sights and was satisfied.
Despite all of this, I quickly scouted an area in the new zone I would be hunting in and found an area that looked promising, and started baiting. Baiting for nearly a week without any solid hits, I spoke to a local Conservation officer who said hunters in the area were getting baits hit regularly and hard because the natural foods in the woods were not prevelant because of the dry year. Great I thought. I knew I was doing the right thing though and kept on.
Once I started getting hit, it opened up the flood gates, and by final tally I believe I had about 8 different bears coming in (confirmed via trail-cam). When I sat in the stand last night I only knew of a sow and cubs that were coming in because they ripped my camera off my tree. I sat there on the stand waiting for any action when i caught a glimpse of a bear about 50 yards through the timber circling me. I adjusted my seating when he was behind the brush but then it looked like he took off running. I was thinking "there is no way he saw me... or did he? Maybe he caught my wind? but the wind is perfect! what the heck!"
Then I heard crunching in the leaves next to my stand and anticipation filled my mind, but when that skunk showed himself, it quickly left again. While the skunk was milling around the bait, I heard a few more crunches in the leaves behind me where the bears had blazed a trail. I sat deadly still when I caught a black figure out of the corner of my eye. Without moving a muscle i waited for the black figure to approach the bait. After a quick survey of the area, the bear made his way into the bait sight "like he owned it". My blackhawk at the ready, I surveyed the bear as it helped itself and rolled in the bait, no cubs and I thought "that sure looks like a good bear to me". The bear stopped rolling for a minute and presented a perfect broadside shot standing at the bait so I raised my gun and lined the sights up on his vital area and the mighty 45 Colt barked in the stilleness that only hunters know at dusk in the timber. The bear hunched at the shot and took off running with my revolver barrel following him as he ran waiting for a follow up shot, but there was no need, he crashed down not 20 yards from the bait, gave his final death bellow and was mine forever. Long live the beast! Elated, I called my girlfriend and told her i finally got one. She drove out to the woods to help me take pictures and drag him out (I know, that's one hell of a women!) I thanked God for that bear and completed the work that needed to be done.
After all the despair leading up to the season, it ended quickly with a 200lb boar (estimated weight). The 260 gr Nosler Partition handload hit home right through both lungs, and left a "healthy" entrance and exit hole.
To add to that, when shooting my FA 83 with my hunting loads (my primary hunting gun) before the season, the reticle in my scope broke! So I then shot my SBHH in 45 colt a few times with the open sights and was satisfied.
Despite all of this, I quickly scouted an area in the new zone I would be hunting in and found an area that looked promising, and started baiting. Baiting for nearly a week without any solid hits, I spoke to a local Conservation officer who said hunters in the area were getting baits hit regularly and hard because the natural foods in the woods were not prevelant because of the dry year. Great I thought. I knew I was doing the right thing though and kept on.
Once I started getting hit, it opened up the flood gates, and by final tally I believe I had about 8 different bears coming in (confirmed via trail-cam). When I sat in the stand last night I only knew of a sow and cubs that were coming in because they ripped my camera off my tree. I sat there on the stand waiting for any action when i caught a glimpse of a bear about 50 yards through the timber circling me. I adjusted my seating when he was behind the brush but then it looked like he took off running. I was thinking "there is no way he saw me... or did he? Maybe he caught my wind? but the wind is perfect! what the heck!"
Then I heard crunching in the leaves next to my stand and anticipation filled my mind, but when that skunk showed himself, it quickly left again. While the skunk was milling around the bait, I heard a few more crunches in the leaves behind me where the bears had blazed a trail. I sat deadly still when I caught a black figure out of the corner of my eye. Without moving a muscle i waited for the black figure to approach the bait. After a quick survey of the area, the bear made his way into the bait sight "like he owned it". My blackhawk at the ready, I surveyed the bear as it helped itself and rolled in the bait, no cubs and I thought "that sure looks like a good bear to me". The bear stopped rolling for a minute and presented a perfect broadside shot standing at the bait so I raised my gun and lined the sights up on his vital area and the mighty 45 Colt barked in the stilleness that only hunters know at dusk in the timber. The bear hunched at the shot and took off running with my revolver barrel following him as he ran waiting for a follow up shot, but there was no need, he crashed down not 20 yards from the bait, gave his final death bellow and was mine forever. Long live the beast! Elated, I called my girlfriend and told her i finally got one. She drove out to the woods to help me take pictures and drag him out (I know, that's one hell of a women!) I thanked God for that bear and completed the work that needed to be done.
After all the despair leading up to the season, it ended quickly with a 200lb boar (estimated weight). The 260 gr Nosler Partition handload hit home right through both lungs, and left a "healthy" entrance and exit hole.
