THE ACCURATERELOADING.COM AMERICAN BIG GAME HUNTING FORUMS


Moderators: Canuck
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
Reply
  
Idaho Black Bear Hunt
 Login/Join
 
one of us
posted
My son and I left for our hunt on tues. Sept. 5. Right from the beginning, this vacation turned out to be an adventure. We get to the airport at 4 am for a 6:30 flight. My son thought I was being rather anal, but I was rather apprehensive, having not flown any firearms since 9/11. As you might suspect, everything went without a hitch, and we wound up in Boise[after 2 plane changes], with everything in tact. My hats off to Delta.

The hunting conditions couldn't have been worse. 90+ degees everyday, a full moon, and smoke from the wildfires. We drove over an hr. to get back to the camp[25 miles]. Let me tell you that the switchback gravel roads[washboarded] gave this Indiana flatlander some real "pucker factor", by the time we got there. There were 4 boys in from Atlanta for the same hunt. After lunch, we all took off with our respective guides to begin the hunt. Our guide was real "western". If any of you saw City Slickers, do you remember Curly? Well, this ole boy was Curly to the 9th power Big Grin My son rode in a camp chair in the back of an old Toyota 4wd, and I rode shotgun up front with Ike. We were down in canyons, and up on narrow switchbacks, looking for the illusive fruit and wild plums that the bears were supposedly feeding on. The first evening ended uneventfully, other than crossing paths with a 6 ft. rattlesnake-which ended in a Mexican standoff with all parties going there own way. The next two days were more of the same, except we saw scads of wildlife elk, mule deer, whitetails, grouse, even 2 golden eagles, but NO BEARS! One of the Atlanta boys took a bear the first evening[6' 300+ lbs.], but the other 5 of us basically had seen no bears. By Sat. morning the group was getting pretty discouraged, and my son and I both thought we were basically screwed because of the weather. He and I made a decision to contact Delta and not leave until Tues. am, so that we could hunt til the last second on Sun. eve. Its noon Sat. and we had that night, and Sun. to try to pull off something miraculous. Now, I'll cut to the chase...

The guide basically dropped us off at the head of a draw, on a logging road. My son and I were going to sneak hunt down into the bottom of this canyon, and set up for the evening where we had found berries, and bear scat, the night before. We took off at 2pm. The guide said it was about 2 miles to the bottom. At 4 pm. we ain't even close to where we needed to be[it was more like 4 miles]. Dan and I pick up the pace. We start around a bend and my son grabs me. He points, and there about 40 ft. ahead is a black bear, with its butt to us eating berries, on the road. Now you gotta understand this is my 7th black bear hunt, and the first one I had seen. As my son was looking, I went on auto pilot-up came the guide gun, and when the cross hairs found the spine, the .45-70 spoke. At the shot, it turned, and all I could see was snapping teeth and fur. I fired 2 more times in about 3 seconds. The bear jumped over a little rise, and I reloaded. My son eased forward, and there she lay, about 8 ft. away. Everything happened so fast, it was like a dream. She wasn't the monster I had hoped for, but it was a nice well furred sow about 5 ft. long.

I stayed with the bear, and gutted it, while my son went on down the canyon. It was about 4:30pm when he left me. About 7pm, I heard 1 lone shot from his .30-06 H&R ultra, then everything was quiet. We had given Ike strict orders not to come after us until dead dark, cause he picked us up too early the night before. At dark, Ike picked me up, and we went looking for Dan. We met him on the road,and he had indeed shot a bear, up on the side of the mountain. It was too dark and too treacherous to go poking around on that mountain side for a bear, so Dan had to spend a looonng night waiting for day light. Next morning, at the butt crack of dawn, we were off with Ike, and one of the younger guides to look for said bear. Dan described the shot. 200 yds. off the shooting sticks, shooting up hill and he held high on the shoulder. You have to understand this was his longest shot ever, being used to shotgun hunting deer in Indiana. After much looking, the young guide literally stumbled into the bear deader than a hammer, on a ledge in some tall grass. The Federal premium nosler part. did its job. Th guide gave the bear a shove, and it rolled 150 yds. down the mountain.

We both had our bears! Out of 13 hunters, in 2 camps, only 6 got bears. and we got 2 of those, on our own.

If I can get them sent to him, Mike Dettore has graciously offered to post them for me, and I will give a few observations about the hunt, the outfitter, and my leverevolution ammo, tommorrow.

Mad Dog
 
Posts: 1184 | Location: Indiana | Registered: 17 June 2002Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of Charles_Helm
posted Hide Post
Congratulations to you and your son.
 
Posts: 8773 | Location: Republic of Texas | Registered: 24 April 2004Reply With Quote
One of Us
posted Hide Post
WOW..nice story on a great hunt.
 
Posts: 4115 | Location: Pa. | Registered: 21 April 2006Reply With Quote
One of Us
Picture of Mike_Dettorre
posted Hide Post
Mad Dog & Son's pics





Mike

Legistine actu quod scripsi?

Never under estimate the internet community's ability to reply to your post with their personal rant about their tangentially related, single occurrence issue.




What I have learned on AR, since 2001:
1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken.
2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps.
3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges.
4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down.
5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine.
6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle.
7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions.
8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA.
9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not.
10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact.
11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores.
12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence.
13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances.
 
Posts: 10181 | Location: Loving retirement in Boise, ID | Registered: 16 December 2003Reply With Quote
one of us
posted Hide Post
Sounds like a good hunt.
 
Posts: 19835 | Location: wis | Registered: 21 April 2001Reply With Quote
one of us
posted Hide Post
Mike, i can't thank you enough for posting the pics.

Some obsevations.
1. The leverevolution ammo was great. Although no bullets were recovered, all three shots exited, and the 2 in the boiler room made fist sized exit wound channels.

2. While no one can do anything about the weather, I wasn't real happy that the guides had done no advance scouting for bear sign/berry patches in the area. The guides arrived in camp only 1/2 day before the hunters. We spent half of the hunt looking for good places to hunt. I blame this on the outfitter, not the guides, they work for him. That being said, when the Atlanta boys left camp a day early, they were contacted by the outfitter, and offered another hunt[free] this fall for bear, or a deer hunt in Oct. I should mention they left early because they had seen no bears except for the 1 that one fellow got the first night.

3. The outfitter was Boulder Creek Outfitters in Peck Idaho.

4. Yes, I would hunt with them again, but would clarify a few ground rules about which guide and which camp I wanted to hunt.

5. Lastly, getting to hunt with my son, on this adventure, is something I will never forget. He wasn't just my son, but my hunting buddy. We are already talking about other trips, and I need to do them before I get any older. Do yourself a favor and take your son/daughter hunting.

Mad Dog
 
Posts: 1184 | Location: Indiana | Registered: 17 June 2002Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of BigB
posted Hide Post
Mad Dog,

Curious as to what camp you hunted out of with Boulder Creek. I did a spring hunt with them this year and everything was fine. But that was at the camp by the old school house.

BigB
 
Posts: 1401 | Location: Northwest Wyoming | Registered: 13 March 2001Reply With Quote
one of us
posted Hide Post
We were at the same place. Joseph school camp. I know the heat, moon, smoke was the problem. But I still think the guides should have been there 2-3 days ahead of time to do some scouting. The guide we had, hadn't been on this ranch for 2-3 yrs. It was the Heckmann ranch, west of the school house camp. He didn't know where 1/2 the roads went. We spent 2 1/2 days just looking for sign, and figuring out how to hunt the bottom of the canyon. I just think my son and I were lucky to get two bears.

Mad Dog
 
Posts: 1184 | Location: Indiana | Registered: 17 June 2002Reply With Quote
one of us
Picture of BigB
posted Hide Post
Mad Dog,

I agree with you that they should have been ready. When I hunted in the spring it was pre-baited with bears on several baits. I shot my bear 90 minutes after getting to the stand on day one.

Being a flat-lander I thought the ride up to the Joseph school house was a fun trip.

BigB
 
Posts: 1401 | Location: Northwest Wyoming | Registered: 13 March 2001Reply With Quote
  Powered by Social Strata  
 


Copyright December 1997-2023 Accuratereloading.com


Visit our on-line store for AR Memorabilia