I just got back from the Idaho bear hunt last Friday afternoon. The first day (Saturday May 3rd) my brother and I set up camp and then got in an afternoon hunt. We were camped near a river at 2400' which flowed into a bigger river so either we hunted along the river bottoms or we climbed up the ridges. The first afternoon hunt took us up the nearby slope. We saw deer and elk but no bears. On the second day we headed up a long ridge to 4800' and then down another ridge that lead into the bigger river. We got snowed on a bit up on top. The ridge we came down had a creek on both sides. About halfway down we looked to the east and I saw a black bear up on the slope on the other side of the creek. I told my brother of the sighting and then he said he saw two others. There was also a brown sow with a blonde cub on the same slope but a bit lower and left of the black. The sow and cub were working their way down to the creek but the black was feeding and seemed content to stay put so we decided to drop down to the creek bottom and try to work our way back up the other side to where the black was feeding and see if we could get a shot. The cross canyon shot would have been 575 yards so we obviously needed to get closer. It took an hour but we got over there and found that he was still in the same area. My brother was packing his 54 caliber muzzleloader and I had thought I might try to call the bear closer but the breeze was from us toward the bear so I decided I had better take the shot before he winded us. He was 190 yards away and facing me with his head down. I had my Snipepod attached and was steady so I placed the 200 grain Nosler Partition (from my 300 Win Mag) into his spine at the base of his skull. He went cartweeling down the slope and lodged against a log. Shot was taken at 5:30 pm and it was 8:30 and just dark when we started back to camp with two legs. Got back to camp at midnight. Went back the next day (Monday) for the other two legs and the hide and skull.

Tuesday was mostly spent cleaning up the hide and meat. We got in an evening hunt but saw no bears. We did however see a big black wolf. That was a thrill. Wednesday we hunted up the river we were camped on. No bears but lots of deer and elk. We found a meadow with a spring that apparently was a mineral lick area. Probably 30 elk and as many deer in the meadow. We walked up through it and saw scads of bones scattered about. I guess the wolves knew that the deer and elk frequented the mineral lick. Thursday we hunted down the big river to a creek that fed into it. We hiked up a ridge and glassed up the drainage. We saw 3 bears but all too far away then worked our way back to camp. Despite custom boots this hunter has sore and blistered feet. But this hunter also tagged a beautifully coated black black bear. I have been wanting a black one and had never seen one where I hunt in SE WA state. His skull is approx. 18" and he was 5' 9" nose to tail with hide still on carcass. His girth was 41" which according to a chart would put him at about 235#. His front pad was 4.75" wide.
Happy hunting to you all, Rufous.

rufous

Just curious what unit you were in? I used to hunt bear quite a bit when I lived in North Idaho and am always glad to hear of folks hunting there.

Also if you don't mind, what was the bigger river you were camped near? If you don't want to disclose it no problem.

[ 05-16-2003, 20:14: Message edited by: Idared ]

I would prefer not to disclose the location since I was invited by another hunter to his spot. Rufous.

Are you having it mounted? If so who is doing it? For some reason your picturesdidn't work. Ron

rufous,

Congrats on a great hunt......now where was that spot?!?

Good Hunting,

Bob

I am probably going to just have this one tanned with the hair on. I have a very nice 6.5' brown phase bear rug. The hide on this latest black phase is nicer than the brown phase but the brown phase is much bigger and is really in quite good shape. The brown phase bear weighed about 375# while the black weighed about 235#. The black had about an 18" skull while the brown a 20" skull. So anyway I do not really need two rugs and since I already have a really nice big rug from the brown phase bear I plan to just have the black one tanned. At least that way I will keep the beautiful black coat. I plan to use Brian Snyder. He did mr bear rug and cougar rug and he does very good work. His phone # is 503-357-6880 and he is west of Portland Oregon. JJ Hack recommended him to me.

To view the photos of this bear you could right click on where the photo should be and then click on properties and then highlight the address (URL) and copy that URL. Then paste that URL in the address box at the top of the screen and hit go and you should be able to see the bear. Sorry for the hassle. I sure think I followed the instructions. I do not know why they are not viewable without trying this other way. Rufous.

[ 05-19-2003, 08:35: Message edited by: rufous ]

Here ya go Rufus..



(BTW, Brian Snyder is a very good friend of mine and does excellent work...my walls are full of his talents).

Rufous - Good story and nice bruin! Thanks.

Thanks for the help Spike. Could you explain to me why I was unable to post the photo? Yes Brian Snyder is an artist. How was your Blue Mountain Oregon bear hunt? Rufous.