Just got back from my bear hunt in Ericksdale,MB
The odds were stacked aganist me but I got my biggest black bear ever. Squared a little over 7' solid black, green scored slightly under 22" and weighed 557 lbs. the bear had NO fat on him at all just lean and muscular. It's a long story but I didn't get single a picture. I shot it Monday night at 10:30 pm while walking from the stand to the truck. I'm one tired old dog.
I just wanted to make a comment on the .358 winchester. I've shot 15 bears with this rifle and handloaded .250 grn speer bullets. The first shot broke both shoulders and took out about 5 " of spine. the second hit some bones ,and some how took out the heart and lungs. The first shot killed him but I always shoot them twice. The bear literally dropped in it's tracks and never moved. (70 yd shot) I am always amazed at the effectiveness of this round ! Sometimes I think I need more gun but the .358 has never let me down on bear. when I looked at the size of the bear and size of the round, it just doesen't seem possible that such a small round can be so effective on big game . Iv'e shot bear with more powerful rounds but none have been better. I guess I will just clean up my little blr and put it away untill next year.

Good for you 358. I was just through there last week, didn't stop tho'. I also use a BLR in 358, and it is a very under rated combination. - Dan

Congrats 358. Man, it has been over 25 years since I have been near Ericsdale. Moved to the wet coast bout then as it happens! derf

Congratulations on one heck of a bear!

Nice Bear
I just got done with my hunters last week and all in all it was a little slowwer than usual. The biggest bear we got this year was 505 lbs also squaring at 7 ft. We could not find it till the next morning and other bear chewwed about a 1 ft. sized hole in the stomach. All the hides were beautiful this year.(few ticks) The hunting seemed to go in spurts with the lousy weather. One hunter also seen the largest number of bear for one night at 16 different bear. A record for us. We were escorted out of the stand by an angry bear the same night from this stand.On the last week we had floods and could not get to a lot of the stands. Dave

I'm pretty sure you got your time wrong. Most likely your watch was set to EDT.

Legal shooting hours last week closed at about 10:10 p.m.

kk

You are absoutley right about the time, I really don't know the exact minutes, it could have been even earlier as it was very overcast and getting dark quick,you know one of those twilight things.