While checking some farmland areas last evening for spot and stalk opertunities I saw 7 bears in total (including a sow with cub). I know many will say this is just a small one and comments like that. It's not my biggest bear, but I'm very happy with it. It'll make good eating.

Bravo ! If anyone insults your fine bear - pity the poor fool !

Thats a nice bear did you weigh it. What kind of gun and load did you use.

Congrats on the bear!! My party of 8 will be in New Brunswick and start our hunting/fishing on the 22nd. The emails, phone conversations, and now YOUR post have gotten me really pumped.

Tell us more about the shot...bullet, rifle, etc.

What really impresses me is the quality of the photo. Wow, what did you take it with?

the chef

The shot was about 220-230 yards. an unusually long one for me. I snuck through a tree line between fields to scan a back corner I'd seen bears in before and this one was closer and to my left. I was so intent on the corner that I screwed up and let myself be seen. Just as I noticed the black it stood up striaght too check me out. There wasn't much cover between us with an open stubble field but if I'd not been seen first I would have circled around behind to get closer. Anyway, I knew it wouldn't stay there forever so I braced myself for the shot and aimed center chest. At the shot it sunk straight down (I can still see it drop) took a couple seconds then got to it's feet and made it the few yards to the woods edge and expired in a few yards. Total would not be 30 yards. The bullet was a .338cal. Ballistic Tip 200gr. clocking about an even 2800 fps. The shot hit about 3" to the right, smashing the ribs and turning one lung completely into red oatmeal and exited right of the spine. The rifle is a mauser 98 action a colector friend gave me. It's chambered in .340 Jaden and has a simple claro walnut stock with blind magazine and slim decelorator pad. Bold optima trigger and standard weaver mounts. The scope doesn't match (It's off my stainless .338WMag) but it's a Bushnell 3200 elite 3-9 x 40 that I put on about 2 days before this because The fixed 4x I had on it seemed to show a lot of paralax.

Anyway, it's not a fancey, high dollar custom, but a reliable working rifle that last time when sighting in would put 250gr Partitions into pairs that were touching. Not bad for building it myself 'eh? This was it's first bear.


I put this picture beside my computer at work this morning.

Chef, the camera is a Kodak C310 and my wife took the picture for me.

Nice bear good report, interesting rifle!

NB:

Am happy for you, nice job!

Attractive gun, that silver scope sure caught my eye at first. After looking it over, looks nice whether it matches or not.

Good looking fur, all the way around this is what it's all about. Was your wife along during the hunt too? OR just come up to take the pictures?

She did a great job taking them too.
Wish you both well,

George

Hey NBHunter, Congratulations on a fine kill.

Nice story to go with it too.

NBHunter,
Far from critical about the size of your fine prize, if anything I would be envious! Congratulations on your Trophy. Awesome picture!
Doug

NBHunter wrote:

quote:

It'll make good eating.

You must be joking!

To eat a bear is similar to eat a baboon in South Africa, is it?

Jagter , people really do eat bear here, not bad or unusual at all !!

Sorry, this is not meant to insult anybody, but just look at the Black Bear's (Ursus americanus) diet:

quote:

Black bears are solitary animals that wander all their lives in search of food. The black bear's diet is similar to that of the brown bears, omnivores who will eat almost anything, but it is more markidly herbivorous. Depending on the season and the environment, vegetative matter makes up between 80% and 95% of its diet. During the spring (April-May) black bears feed mainly on grasses. Appearing to wander aimlessly, black bears are always in search of a more plentyful sourse of food, or a mate during breeding season. In June they add insects, grubs and ants to their diet, and in the fall the main source of foods are berries, mushrooms and acorns with supplimental carion when available. Fall is a critical period as far as nutrition is concerned, in that sufficient reserves of fat must be built up for the winter. This is particullarly important for those females which are going to be suckling young during the winter retreat.

Black bears are normally highly adaptable and for the month or so, when the salmon swim up certain rivers in Alaska and Canada to spawn, the bears of the Pacific coastal region will gather along the rivers to fish in the shallows, often in close proximity to fishing grizzlys. Occasionally they will take small domestic animals, however they are attracted to the odor of rotting flesh, by their sensative noses, and are often unjustly blamed for killing animals.

Thanks, but no thanks!

And pigs and chickens are.......? smoker

Nice bear. Will make a pretty rug.
I have to agree with Jagter. I would have to be starving before I'd eat a bear. Most, if not all, Black bears in this part of Alaska have trichinosis. I don't want little worms running around in my joints! We always wear rubber gloves here for skinning.
NBHunter, do you know if the bears there have trichinosis?
Thanks.

NBHUNTER
Nice bear great looking thick pelt. I just last week got my bear meat back. Had the hams smoked
some jerky and the rest into summer sauge. Great eating my wife will not share the jerky
she wants to keep it for herself. As for those of a delicate nature who don't eat bear I know
people who won't eat oysters one half shell, menudo, fried kudu brains, moose heart, kim shi,
sushi, moutain oysters and a host of other regional foods

Enjoy and thanks for the pictures and story

TJ
All bears have trichinosis same as pigs.
Thats why you don't eat rare pork or bear meat
The only hotter meat for trichinsis would be cats, moutain lion runs about 10 times hotter than a bear or a pig.

quote:

Originally posted by Smoker1:
And pigs and chickens are.......? smoker

Hey Jagter, Sometime when you have a few moments, go out to a Farm and see what the Pigs and Chickens eat.

Haven't you ever eaten either a pig or a chicken? If not, you are missing out on some fine vittles.

Hey Smoker, You read my mind.

Congrats on the nice bear.

What is 340 Jaden?

quote:

Originally posted by Jagter:
Sorry, this is not meant to insult anybody, but just look at the Black Bear's (Ursus americanus) diet:

Here in New England once upon a time, lobsters were tossed back as bycatch, as they are the little vultures of the sea. Soon enough, the locals wised up. So should you some day, maybe. Bear can be excellent eating. The meat from mine didn't last very long.

NB, nice job and pretty bear!

Thanks guys for the comments. It's all cut 'n' wrapped now with about 50lbs off the front going to sausage yumm! I didn't bother with the pelt, just the meat skull and my boys want the claws. I've tossed out some pelts that would make you cry but I just don't have the extra money/room to get them all done and nobody wanted them.

quote:

What is 340 Jaden?

Thought somebody might ask. A couple years ago when I got the action I decided I wanted to build a 338-06. When I tried some dummy round through it they seemed a bit long. Knowing the action was intended for the 8mm mauser, I started playing with dies to make some 338-06 rounds a little shorter but longer than the 8mm to see where they would ballance between keeping case size but having them feed through an unaltered 98 action. Anyway it was just one of those things handloaders do for fun to pass an evening and 2 years later I made a rifle around it and named it after one of my boys. Jaden is the name of my oldest son (now almost seven and pictured under my screen name with his tricked out 10/22) and the rifle was to be for him when he got older but dad has to knock a few critters down with it first to make sure it's good enough. Maybe I'll just let him borrow it

NB:
I'm courious, do you know what is the percentage of Black bear in NB that has Trich.? Your local bioliogist should know.
Thanks.

NBHunter, did my PM go through? smoker1

Got it - sent one. Thanks.

Hot Core:
Fortunately we breed and raise our own pigs and chickens on our farms. The worst the pigs are having is sour milk!

Kamo Gari:
Because we have wised up long ago about certain animals carrying diseases due to their specific diet and being more easily transferable to humans should their meat be consumed, (Black Bear, baboon, predators, wild pigs, etc.), we are very selective with what we eat.

Perhaps you should also become a bit more health conscious as far as your diet goes.
Thanks for your support TJ.

I'm not trying to pick sides or stir trouble, but. A trout eats just as bad if not worse than a bear but they are considered health food. If I didn't eat what I kill I'd be wastefull and I love hunting bear too much to stop.

What doesn't kill me only makes me stronger. I've eaten a bear every year for the last six years and for the record I've had one doctors perscription in the last five.

If the thought of bear meat doesn't apeal to some that's fine by me, but you won't talk me out of enjoying a plate full of bar b q'ed backstraps. To each his own 'eh?

Congratulations on the bear! I am heading to the north west part of Alberta this coming friday for one of the best weeks of the year. Good for you for eating what you kill.For our African friend I can only say that you are 1000 times more likely to die of some horrible disease caught in an African restaurant than from eating a bear. For me it requires a good Chianti to pre-disinfect my gastrointestinal tract followed by more of the same after. We just cant be too careful.

quote:

Because we have wised up long ago about certain animals carrying diseases due to their specific diet and being more easily transferable to humans should their meat be consumed, (Black Bear, baboon, predators, wild pigs, etc.),
Perhaps you should also become a bit more health conscious as far as your diet goes.

Bear can and do harbor trichinosis, but as long as the meat is well cooked, it's a non-issue.

Instead of attacking my tongue-in-cheek response, perhaps you might simply admit you had no idea of what you spoke, and learned something.

I think this thread is getting off track. NBHunter, do you know what your bear weighed, or about what it weighed?

Am I the only one not seeing the picture?

Frans

See if anyone can guess the weight first. They did this on the hog hunting forum and it made for some fun.

Well, it's a bit early for most of NB, it looks like a very healthy animal. I'm guessing 225. AND DON'T BE INSULTED IF I'M WAY OFF! It is very difficult to judge a picture.

Hmm. I'd say he'd go 190, and square 5' 10".

HE LOOKS SHORT AND FAT 5'6 170#
COULD BE A BAD CAMERA ANGLE AND HE IS MUCH BIGGER. STILL NICE BEAR

If it looks big that's called good camera angle 'eh? This picture was taken in my back yard the morning after so live weight I don't know. As it sits in the picture its only 150lbs. It is a short framed bear The last two bears before this one had two totally different body forms but weighed exactly 202lbs, both of them. To look at pictures though you'd never guess it.

Funny thing about the size is some people looked at the picture and said nice size bear what would it be 300lbs. Then when I said 150 they said oh just a little one . Well 30 seconds ago you thought it was big. this bear was like a middle weight hog with really big teeth. They're still a trophy to the shooter. Even though I didn't save the hide, I was just really taken buy how beutiful it looked. I like to remember how the animal looked right when I shot it, and this was the first time I've shot one while it was standing. Funny when you remember the moment even the smell of the air comes back to you.... Ahhhh.

quote:

Most, if not all, Black bears in this part of Alaska have trichinosis

COOK IT! Living in Cairo I have come to just assume that ALL meat has a parasite of some sort that I want dead before I eat it. This is a wise policy with game meat as well but certainly no reason to avoid eating something vs. something else. As has been mentioned above, we regularly eat scavengers of all sorts both from the sea and land....so why exclude bears or mountain lions. YUMMMMMMMMMMM!!

NICE BEAR BY THE WAY!

Best,

John

I've been told that 3 weeks of freezing at -4F or so also kills them off. Source was a food inspector over in Europe. I brought some meat home from mine, just to try it out. I'll probably end up sorry that I didn't go the extra mile to recover it all.

Frans

Here's the point folks. Most of the other "regional foods", are not known to have a parasite, which will cause trouble in people if you get it. Bears and Cats do. If you want to eat it, go for it.
By the way, do you eat coyotes, wolves and foxes you shoot?
Enjoy!

Nice bear!!! Seven bears seems like a heck of a day of hunting.

I didn't know maritimers wore cowboy hats

quote:

I didn't know maritimers wore cowboy hats

Only when they get back from Texas!