Monday was the opener of Pennsylvania's 3-day bear season.
The first drive of the morning was in 3 parts, working our way up a valley. Mostly looked more like pheasant country except for a really thick hillside and a couple spruce patches. The first leg of the drive was a super steep hillside that had been pines but was clearcut about 8-10 years ago. It's only about 75 yards from top to bottom with a beanfield on top and mostly pasture below. Three of us took the hillside around with my brother flanking the top in the beanfield. Total length of the thick hillside is maybe 300 yards. We came through and about 60 yards from the end of the grown-up clearcut I walked across a huge bed that was well established. Did not look to me like it had been freshly used, though. I yelled up to the other two guys what I'd seen and just kept pushing forward. I had gone about 30 yards from there when I look out in front about 40 yards and see a black thing rolling from side to side. Immediately I thought "bear!!" and threw the rifle to shoulder, stopped and double-checked myself. Yep. Bear......BIG bear.........walking straight away from me. I looked through the scope and a tree was in the way so I sidestepped one step and could get the hairs clearly on the middle of what I could see of the back of the bear. When I fired, he disappeared. I turned to run down the hill and got caught in grapevines and multiflora. So I twisted/rolled about 10 yards down and got out on to a grass road that followed the bottom of the hill. I ran toward where I thought he should be but saw nothing. When I stopped, I could hear brush cracking in front. I threw the rifle up again but still saw nothing. Then I saw some goldenrod moving at the base of the hill and over a small hump. So I circled wide right and down the hill a bit. From there I could see him laying all piled up. The bullet hit his butt about 4 inches right of the tail and a couple inches lower. It drove through 7 inches of fat, 18 inches of hind quarter (smashing the top of the femur), and travelled on up into the cavity somewhere. I did not find the bullet. But it went through a minimum of 5 feet of black bear. Now, I'm not suggesting that anyone actually needs a .375 Wby. for black bear. But I would bet the farm that my .300 Win Mags. would not have been up to the task at hand in that particular instance. I imagine I'd have had less than a 50/50 chance to get a follow-up shot due to the terrain. The .375" 250 grainer planted 677 lbs of bear on the spot.........not counting the 15 yard downhill roll.

My brother and the other two drivers came down and the celebration followed. Then the other guys finished out the 2nd and 3rd legs of the drive (which netted a 285 lb. bear) while I went to get my Jeep and hitch-hauler. It took 9 men to lift the field dressed bear 12 inches from the ground up on to the hitch hauler!! Of the 2185 bears checked in the first two days in PA, mine was 2nd heaviest. The skull green scores 21 3/4".

very nice bear and congrats----chris

Strut,

Waidmannsheil!

Nice Bear!

Strut10 Very Impressive.. That is why I don,t hunt black bear with a pistol. I,m too used to getting a kill shot from any angle. Useing a large bore rifle spoils a guy. What are the load specs. which bullet. You should post your story on Alaskan hunter forum. Let the 06 boys see what a real rifle will do in [ 1 ] shot.. And thanks for your testimonial concerning your 300 mags in comparison.. Is your rifle a factory Wetherby?.. Thanks, gumboot out.

Very Nice Bear

That is the thing about having "too much gun".
It always works.

Strut

Congrats again on the bear of a lifetime! That bad boy is bigger than most grizzlies. Your big bore was perfectly balanced for the task.

IB

Pretty nice bear Strut.. end to a great hunt!


cheers
seafire

Great bear!

A .375 is about right for a black.

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
Strut10 Very Impressive.. That is why I don,t hunt black bear with a pistol. I,m too used to getting a kill shot from any angle. Useing a large bore rifle spoils a guy. What are the load specs. which bullet. You should post your story on Alaskan hunter forum. Let the 06 boys see what a real rifle will do in [ 1 ] shot.. And thanks for your testimonial concerning your 300 mags in comparison.. Is your rifle a factory Wetherby?.. Thanks, gumboot out.

Thank you, sir, for the nice words.

Load spec as follows:
Sierra 250 gr. GameKing
92.0 gr. H-414
Fed 210M primer
Weatherby brass
3050 fps/5165 ft.lbs at the muzzle

The rifle is an (sorry fellers) A-Bolt Stainless Stalker.

My go-to .300 Win Mag load is a 180 gr. Grand Slam at a bit over 3000 fps. It is a very capeable load. But it is my gut feeling it just would not have cut the mustard this time.

quote:

Originally posted by Iron Buck:
Strut

Congrats again on the bear of a lifetime! That bad boy is bigger than most grizzlies. Your big bore was perfectly balanced for the task.

IB

Thanks Iron Buck!!

Actually.........when I took him to the taxidermist there were 2 grizz that he had finished and ready to deliver. Neither one was as big as my blackie.

Nicely done! Thanks for sharing!

Big bear! It must have been quite a struggle to get that thing out of the woods!

George

Excellent.
Thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by Strut10:

The .375" 250 grainer planted 677 lbs of bear on the spot...

It took 9 men to lift the field dressed bear 12 inches from the ground up on to the hitch hauler!! Of the 2185 bears checked in the first two days in PA, mine was 2nd heaviest. The skull green scores 21 3/4".

Congratulations on an excellent hunt, and thanks for sharing.

The .375 Weatherby could not be beat for such a hunt.

Also, this is one of the most dramatic examples of the "Reverse Boddington" photo technique for minimization of trophy size appearance. You have shrunken a 677 pounder to the appearance of a 350 pounder.

What did that bear square? 7' 4" is my guess.

"Reverse Boddington"........... I like it!!! I didn't feel the need to sit way behind the bear & stretch my arms out. I'll let the animal stand (or lay) on its own merit. Compare my size 11 boot to his head. I'm a tad over 220 lbs. myself. Besides........I couldn't lift his freakin' head up off the ground!!

Never "squared" a bear. Dunno what the dimension would be. His unfleshed hide was 80 inches nose to the base of the tail. The taxidermist said it will be a good deal longer once all the fat's removed.

Nice bear. Good testimonial to the 250 Sierra. I've used it on elk a good bit and had very good results. About 80 percent weight retention and good expansion/penetration. MV about 2750 or so.

Congrats on the fine bear and thanks for sharing. Oh, don't apoligize for the A-Bolt, I have one and don't have any issues with them.

I have no bear hunting experience. But that is a great bear and sounds like lots of fun. Glad you got to utilize the 375 Weatherby. I have considered that cartridge for myself. Good hunting and God bless. Packy

CONGRATULATIONS.

Great story and picture. I hope to get a chance at a bear someday.