I just wanted to post a picture of my now favorite rifle. I went on a guided bear hunt in Maine the first week in Sept. A friend of mine owns Wilderness Escape Outfitters in Danforth, Maine. My father and I went up for a week and I scored the first day! There is a massive mast crop this year and the bears aren't really hitting the baits hard. Mine walked in and sniffed the bait and started walking back out. So, I hammered him. My ground blind was 70 yards from the bait and uphill. I shot him 60 yards out. 1 400gr TBBC down between the shoulders. The bullet clipped the edge of the spine, went through the boiler room, deflected off the ribs and went through the guts and out the rear leg. He went 6 inches after the shot.


175 to 180lbs estimated live weight. 145lbs. dressed. I knew it wasn't really big, but I figured what the hell, bird in the hand and all that. It was a good first bear. He'll make a nice rug.

Big Bore Power

Congratulations George

Nice Bear, nice gun, could it be better!

I hope you will have a nice trip to Namibia, what are you going to hunt?

By the way, do you have some informations about the outfitter, pricelist, webpage etc? I am thinking of going to Maine for Black Bear some day.

Not far from me on that one. Did you notice that the bears were also coming into the bait at almost dark or after. They are here and it's driving me nuts.

George, great story and awesome .416, it's a Ruger isn't it ?? What scope have you got mounted on it ??

cchunter,
Check out http://www.wilderness-escape.com/ for Randy's camp. His wife cooks all the meals and we had 18 hunters in camp the week I was there! Fantastic food and a clean camp.
Namibia is going to be a plainsgame hunt-kudu, gemsbok, eland, and the like, I booked through Wendell Reich(BuffaloBwana), Hunter's Quest International http://www.huntersquest.com/

PC,
Yes it's a Ruger. It's a new light contour M77 MKII. The scope is a B&L Elite 4200 1.5-6X36. It works great.

NBHunter,
Yes, dark or later. This one was after the sun went down but before it was too dark to shoot.

George, nice bear . Looking forward to our duck hunt in NY the end of next month.

Nice job George.

Nice Job George- Nice looking Bear! When you shoot your Game in Namibia, you will see that the .416 Rigby has the same effect on game there as on your bear. By the way, the load I like in my .416 Ruger is 100 grs opf Rl-22 behind a 410 gr. woodleigh soft or solid. This delivers 2450 fps at the muzzel and 2400fps at 50 yrds. One shot-One kill-Rob

Nice rug as you say and it looks like you had fun.

For those of you farther from the East than the West Idaho has lots of black bears and you probably don't need a guide. However it does look like fun.

When I lived in Idaho a bear the size of the one in the photo is typical, and they do make nice rugs, the older ones (larger) are often battle scared and not as nice in the fur department.

However I never used anything but my measly 45/70. I'm really surprised that the bear withstood a .416 without turning inside out!

Again a nice bear and keep posting your successes.

Good Show!

Heck ofa nice day, I'll bet.

Best,

Hey, great looking bear! It is always a great day when a bear is tagged!

Regards,
JAG
Hood River, OR

Robgunbuilder,
I do plan to take the .416 and a .300Win with me. I plan on using the .416 as much as possible and the .300 as little as possible. The only problem is Wendell says the area aroung Gras Hunting ranch is fairly open.

Next year for bear I plan to use something a bit bigger. Did you get my envelope yet? I need to look for a used CZ550.

[ 10-29-2002, 07:50: Message edited by: GeorgeInNePa ]

That is a damn nice bear, but someone needs to put that thing behind it out of its misery.

GeorgeInNePa,
One beautiful bear rug coming right up!

You have the right idea with the 416 Rigby and a 300 Winchester Magnum. Perfect combo, THE WORLD HUNTER COMBO. The eland will be a perfect target for your 416 Rigby.

My next dream hunt is to do what you have planned, somewhere in the Kalahari of Namibia.

Try the Jack O'Connor load of 105 grains of H4831 with any suitable bullet of 380 to 410 grains, and you will not be disappointed.