Prep Day

Here I am, practicing my shooting with the 30.06! I'm also trying out my new waterproof, insulated pants for our fall trip! It was a lovely day, and shooting at the balloons that were 100 yards away proved to be quite fun! Interestingly, balloons that are popped in freezing temperatures become like deflated grocery sacks! It made it difficult to tell when I hit the balloon. Good to know! Pat also worked on his .300 Win. Mag. I did not wish to shoot that one. Ouch. Any-hoo, we had a lovely day!

Pat's first black bear

Carrying a bear is hard work!!

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?

Well, we didn't do any fishing this weekend. We've heard that the reds are pretty slow this run, or maybe they are late, so we did a little relaxing instead. We did have the opportunity to go to the shooting range and do a little shooting with some friends. We both shot our hand guns ( .44 and .357) and also our friends' .22 handgun & 9mm Glock 41. It was fun! I was feeling quite on top of my game as I consistantly hit the metal targets with both my .357 and Pat's .44! We also shot some rapid-fire, close range shots to simulate a "real" situation. I shot the .357 loads instead of the lighter .38 loads and Pat shot his heavier loads, and we both shot really well! It was a lovely day so it was good to get outside a little!