It is 11:50PM and I'm packed and ready to embark on my bear hunt at Tatlayoko Lake, British Columbia with Doug McMann (AKA: Chilcotin Hillbilly, Owner/Outfitter/Guide at Skinnercreekhunts.com). My flight leaves Austin, Texas tomorrow afternoon and arrives Vancouver where I'll spend the night before embarking on the second leg, Vancouver to Williams Lake. I'll be met by Doug McMann at the airport and we will then drive to his lodge at Tatlayoko Lake.

I will be hunting with my new Heym 577NE double rifle that I picked up from my FFL dealer today! As you might imagine, I am chomping at the bit to put a few rounds down range but that won't happen until I'm at Doug's place. I will post pictures and updates daily if possible.

Please keep us posted.

You are in for a treat with Doug. Good luck and we expect pictures.

Good luck your timing for your bear hunt is spot on here in BC and Doug is going to treat you great . Hope to see more than a few hero photos with your Heym 577NE < what a great looking rifle >

FLIGHTS: Austin to Denver on United. Usual check in scenario where agent doesn't have a clue. She was nice enough and was accepting of advice so we got through the process and I went off to stand in a 45 min security line. Flight was packed and thankfully uneventful

Denver to Vancouver is another story. Currently sitting at the gate after an hour delay while decision being made to either replace part of the missing plane or get a new plane. Hmmmm, thankfully the maintenance crew noticed a portion of the external skin missing. So, we are already am hour late departing and will wait to see how this turns out.

It is 12:17am pacific time and I have arrived in Vancouver and transferred to my hotel. This has been a full day of travel.

Vancouver to Williams Lake via Pacific Coastal: easy enough flight on a small local twin engine plane. Weather advisory indicates rain and possible low visibility near Williams lake. So, we are advised by the flight staff that if we are unable to land at Williams Lake they will fly us back to Vancouver.

The Last leg


The painting on the tail turned out to the be a good Omen


At any rate, the flight was able to make it into Williams Lake where I was met by Doug Mcmann of Skinner Creek Hunts.

We loaded my gear and rolled the wheels to the nearest grocery store to stock up on provisions for the week.

The 2.5 hour drive to Tatlyayoko Lake was spent catching up with Doug and discussing the upcoming week.

Weather has the area socked in with low cloud cover and plenty of rain.

THE HUNT

I am going to post a few pictures and then do a proper write up when I get back to Texas. I hope you enjoy:

The main lodge at Skinner Creek


Inside my cabin at Skinner Creek


A nice place to rest after a hard day of chasing bear up and down the mountains


A little stop at the country fuel depot and we'll be ready to go.


A little bear sign


A marking tree to determine who's the biggest bear


Looks like we should try and follow this one


Gearing up for action


The new GPS based dog collars are excellent tools to have when chasing bears with hounds


Dumping the dog box and the race is on


The dogs have treed


Who says dogs can't climb trees!


Arriving at the tree just a little too late! Well, let's pull the dogs off and try again tomorrow.


Doug McMann glassing for bear


We have solid scent. Dumping the dog box.


Jack is out of the box and flying into the chase


The dogs bayed a big boar and Doug and I slipped into the thicket for a look see. The big boar could have cared less about the dogs and was clearly not afraid of them. I dumped the bear at 5 yards with my Heym 577 NE.


A few more pics of the big brawler




The Brawler's paw


A few bears that we treed during the hunt. We humped uphill, downhill, across mountains, creeks and valleys chasing these bears.

What you looking at?


I see YOU!


Silly dogs, you are boring me


Limbs everywhere


We jumped this bear on the last morning of the hunt. Another great bear that was treed by Doug's amazing hounds. I dumped him out of the tree with the 577 NE and when he hit the ground he shot off downhill like a rocket. My follow up shot hit him at roughly 30 yards and literally flipped him. I am SOLD on the 577 NE.

A solid blood trail that even I can follow



Pictures in front of my favorite cabin in the Chilcotin




My Heym 577 NE with my second bear




A huge THANK YOU to Doug McMann of Skinner Creek Hunts for an amazing week of bear hunting. We worked hard, really hard on the mountains and we laughed, shared stories, enjoyed the incredible scenery, and had the greatest time of all with his incredibly smart and brave hounds. The icing on the cake was taking two incredible bears with my new Heym 577 NE.

Good luck and look forward to the report. I'm planning hard to get out there next year.

looking forward to hearing how it goes, thanks

Sure you brought enough gun? :-)

Spent 577 NE must mean there is a story on the way!

The suspense is killing us.

Bring it on.........let's hear it!!!!!

Sorry for the sporadic postings. We have been hunting hard and putting in a lot of hours. I'll try and have a brief hunt report along with pictures on Thursday as Photo Bucket is for maintenance as I type.

A little teaser

Awesome James. The best looking Heym I've seen.

Rockin that Los Chanares hat too!

Congratulations on two beautiful bruins!

Excellent. Thanks for sharing the hunt and the rifle.

Wonderfull adventure.
Great !!


The B.

Congrats James!!! Thanks for sharing the report and some awesome pics!!!

what a blast this week, lots of bears and some good shooting by James with that beautiful shooting iron.
I am looking forward to a repeat hunt next season.

Sweet! Beautiful bears, country, and rifle. Thanks for the report - well done and congrats!

Well done James.

Great story and great pictures.

Awesome hunt, congrats!

Well done. I recognize the hat.

The pic of the bear with the mountains in the background is one of the best trophy photos I have ever seen. Wow!

Perfect!

great adventure, great trophies and great company.

577 NE sets up the new caliber mini regulation over there.

Wow

Great hunt

Is it possible to spot and stalk?

Another hunt to add to the bucket list.

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Wow

Great hunt

Is it possible to spot and stalk?

Another hunt to add to the bucket list.

Mike

Mike,
James took dog hunting like bees to honey. Typically we kill about 50% of our bears spot and stalking. The dogs really had James fired up, it really doesn't get more exciting then walking into to 5 yards of a mad bear before taking care of business.
spot and stalk is alway an option here at Skinner Creek.

Beautiful James congratulations

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Wow

Great hunt

Is it possible to spot and stalk?

Another hunt to add to the bucket list.

Mike

Mike:

Spot and stalk is a GREAT option at Skinner Creek. In fact, I am booking again next spring with my daughter and I will spot and stalk with my double rifle along with hunting behind the magnificent hounds. Many opportunities exist for spot and stalk and it is really the hunters preference as to how they want to pursue the bear. For this hunt I wanted a no holds barred up close and personal experience behind Doug's hounds. Like the mountain lion and lynx hunt I did with Doug this past winter, the bear hunt exceeded my expectations.

Thanks for the info

Doug I will get in touch with you - this looks like a great hunt

Mike

Video of second bear taken with Heym 577NE double rifle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFr6li-fK7E

What a great hunt !!! Congrats on your bear, and thanks for sharing.

quote:

Originally posted by Safari James:
Video of second bear taken with Heym 577NE double rifle:

fK7E[/url]

FANTASTIC HUNT.

Great Rifle the Heym DR especialy that style and finish would be my style too for a classic double like that!

Fantastic in every aspect, nice pictures too!

Excellent hunt report, I enjoyed reading this, Good pictures too.

Your airline gun case looks really good with all the stickers, probably sends a firm message, "do not mess with this Hunter".
I enjoy traveling with my gun case, despite the hassles; the looks of some that seem shocked are priceless.

The rifle is total porn, glad it's being used in the wild & not sitting in a safe useless.

Wolves, bears, lynx, wolverines & especially coyotes in Canada all have an appointment with me in the near future.

Thanks for sharing.

CamoManJ:

Wishing you the best of luck when you make your trip!

I finally got around to working up a load (a buddy actually did the reloading) for the Heym 577 that used on the bear hunt. Results of the load development can be found at: http://forums.accuratereloadin...0101804/m/9671077102

Nothing like enough gun for the game to be shot.

I just used a measly 416 Taylor on my last bear.

p dog shooter

We need to get you upgraded man!

But I like the extra rounds a bolt gun gives you.

I always wanted a large bore double but life keeps getting in the way.

Nice bears I find running them with dogs to be the most exciting way to hunt them.

My son and I both have Wis. bear tags this year and I just talk to by hound buddy. This morning he's looking forward to us killing a couple of bears.

Haven't decided what I am going to use yet I have NO.3 in 45-70 that I load with a 460gr hard cast that would be fun.

Many choices so few bears.