Bear hunting

[ErikC]

Here are a few pictures from this years bear season



Dad got a nice boar, about 350. Fat and a very good eater



This one was another boar, about 200 lbs but a mean sucker. I killed it on the ground about 4 or 5 feet away, after about 2 hours of being bayed. One of the dogs needed about 35 staples but was still right in the middle of it, he was hunting again in 3 weeks.



A couple of the boys-Brock and Kidd. Just pups, almost 1 year now. Catching bear at 8 months though



We can get in some pretty steep country. I hear them, they're just down by the creek. :



This was actually last year, Dad got.



A friend killed this one, I skinned it so he could make a rug, we put it on the gate until the warden came and validated it. I usually do the skinning if someone wants to use the hide, a lot of practice has made me pretty good at it ;)

[CX3]

That is awesome.  Lets see some pics of the dogs bayed up or treed.  What size rifle do you pack?  What kind of tracking system do you use?  Tell us a good story.  I love the western hunting

[ErikC]

 I am trying to get some pictures in the gallery, I have a few of treed, but not bayed I don't think. No time to take 'em, I am not great at remembering cameras anyway. I use a marlin guide gun, 45/70 with peep sight mostly. A quik-trak box for tracking, and Marshall collars. We have to use telemetry in CA, no GPS, and no tree switches. But that's ok, it works good as it is once you figure out some of the quirks and how to really use them. And the battery life is a lot better.

[Magicman]

Congratulations on getting those bears.  I had to turn down an Idaho bear hunt this Spring.  Just too expensive to travel.   :-\

[ErikC]

 Here's one in the tree, He's not too happy about it either.We were way down in a canyon somewhere though, so he got off easy  

[Norm]

Do you guide for bear hunts Eric?

[ErikC]

 And this one was a sow, we caught the dogs, stepped back and down she came. Boy, that fires them up. :D At least she waited until we were out of the way, they don't always. I have had them come down right in the middle of us, and take off with me hanging on to half the dogs and the other half hanging on the bear. Pretty exciting moment at that point.

[ErikC]

Do you guide for bear hunts Eric?

No, we just take friends and family. Try to kill about a dozen a year, and let a lot go. My hunting partner used to guide bears, and I have done it as well in the past. I do pack trips only right now, for deer season.

[ErikC]

 Here is another sow in a tree. There were two beautiful fat cubs with her too, but they never showed up  good in the pictures. Even without a sign of cubs we almost always let the ladies go on about their business, of raising more bears to catch They love those big Fir trees, that was at least 60 or 70 feet up.

[ErikC]

 This is from several years ago, but you asked for stories. It's the meanest bear I have killed, and he was pretty big. It was after a couple of hours walking and running the dogs they finally got him stopped in a thick manzanita patch, and he was sitting there in a little opening swatting at dogs and going in circles snarling. The brush was breaking, the dogs were going nuts, and I could not see him until he was 10 or 12 feet away. Lucky It was raining hard or my scent would probably have spooked him. I laid there for 2 or 3 minutes waiting for a clear shot, with all the hounds safely aside. Then one shot to the temple, and a big sigh of relief. We took 3 to the vet, one was dead at the scene. :'(  Dogs have a disadvantage in thick brush, bears can charge and the brush will pin down the dogs for just the extra time it take for him to grab someone.

[Autocar]

Sure is steep country , I wouldn't last to long chasing hounds in that. I hunted in the pan handle of Idaho once between side hilling and the up and down I was a whipped pup  :D

[Ron Scott]

Great bear hunts! California seems to have a lot of bear from what I hear.

Several bears over 500 pounds were shot last fall in Michigan. One, in Menominee County weighed 515 lbs.dressed; it had an estimated live weight close to 600 lbs. A 560-pounder was shot in Lake County with a muzzleloader and one that weighed 486 lbs dressed was taken with a bow in Crawford County.

Woods & Waters News

[SAW MILLER]

Me and my hunting buddy went to West Virginia last Sept and both killed a bear.He got his from his tree stand,I got mine over hounds and passed one up out of my stand.You have killed some dandies Eric.

[ErikC]

 Saw Miller- How did you like the hound hunt? I know people have mixed feelings about it, and was just curious.

[Magicman]

I just had to decline a "free" Idaho bear hunt, which would have been "spot and stalk".   :-\  It still would have cost me $1000 in travel expenses. 

[treefarmer87]

i shot a huge boar back in my teens with the crossbow, i couldnt find him :( i made him angry though , he ran directly under my climber on to a 1200 acre mead westvaco pine tract.

[SAW MILLER]

ErikC,  I am a coon hunter and I like Hound Hunting better than stand hunting.I got one in Maine with a guide service over Hounds too.I hunted over a barrel of doughnuts in Canada and felt kinda foolish..HaHa