Melissa and I got our first bear this morning. We started up the Sky Line trail about an hour before daylight and quickly gained about 2,000 feet in elevation. That will really take one's breath away!! Our plan was to get to the top of the string of peaks and glass for bears on the other side. From this vantage point above the tree line we would be able to see bears feeding on the many berries found above the trees. After spotting a bear, I would plan a stalk to within rifle range (less than 300 yards) using Melissa as a director to get me close (she would stay on top and watch the bear). We were within 100 yards of the top where we would begin our search when Melissa said "Wow, look at that view!!" I did and when I looked back I noticed something black moving across the hillside. It was a bear!! I motioned to Melissa to hide and I began to judge the size of the bear. It is illegal to harvest a bear with cubs or a cub less than a year old. This bear was traveling alone and his ears were small in relation to its head. He had seen us but did not know what we were as we were being as quiet as we could. I could feel my adrenaline pump as I steadied the cross-hairs on him, it had been two years since I had killed anything with my Remington 30-06, but it all came back to me as I pressed the trigger. A loud bang was followed by a satisfying thump indicating a solid hit. The 165 grain Balistic Tip slammed into the bruin's neck and he was dead instantly. Melissa saw another bear in the bushes about 400 yards on the other side of my bear, but with one on the ground already, we decided to let him walk. Melissa took the rifle and covered me while I circled around and found the bear. A few shots with my slingshot confirmed the bears fate and that's when the work really started.
It took all we had to drag the bear onto flat ground and begin the skinning/caping work.
A few trophy shots were in order, I really enjoy my hunting pictures.
My trusty backup is the most amazing wife anyone could ever want! How many women do you know that will hunt bears with a pistol?
4 comments:
Very cool! Congrats! I hope you make a really cool rug out of him! Do you eat the meat???
wow!! incredible photos!! and what a job! Is there a limit on bear? what do you do with it now? I am soooo thankful it went so well--- and you were successful on the first day out! Love Mom "P"
As far as what we do with it now,...well, Alaskans are not very keen on shooting animals and not taking every bit of meat off. Fortunately, they don't require that you take bear meat in the fall as their diet can make them taste "fishy" and not tasty. We did take the backstraps (gave one to some hikers), and Pat is tanning the hide. We checked on the price to have it professionally done and it was very expensive, so we're just having the skull done in a "European Mount," which is just the bone. We'll keep taking pictures of it all!
I think this is a really cool picture, Melissa!
Linda
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