First bear

[louielouie]

I've either walked up on black bear or had them walk up on me - one even was watching to see if I would step in his scat - about 50% of the time I'm deer hunting so I bought a bear tag with success.

This was no different - last day of hunting, time to hike back and break camp and came around some rock breaks @ 5300' elevation and there it was 20 yds away. A 250gr Accubond from my new Savage 9.3x62 did the work.

 

[Glenn Powell]

Nice ;D I carry all the tags I legally can for the area I hunt, just in case.

 

[onelastshot]

Congratulations Louie:

The first bear, at least for me. was one of the most exciting hunts I've experienced. A few facts for you; Ontario, which is known for it's black bears and hunting released stats on bear harvest. The average size bear weighs in at 125 pounds, not kilos, pounds. The problem is the inexperienced hunter has no idea as to what or how to judge the size of a black bear.

When you're sitting there for the first time and he appears out of no where and you have nothing to compare it against,, they all look much larger than they actually are.

This fall I went to Northern Ontario for Moose and Black bear. The owner of the camp (this old gent has been running the camp for almost 50 years!) insisted on giving his take on properly sizing up a bear even though my friend and I were familiar with and experienced bear hunters.

His speech was short and to the point. "Forget about trying to figure out how long he is or, how many pounds the critter weighs; look at his ears. If he looks like Mickey Mouse with big ears, don't shoot cause it's a young-in. If you look at the animals head and you don't see any ears sticking out, shoot the bastard cause he's a keeper!

Unfortunately, I wasn't as lucky as you. The four bears I did see all had a marked resemblance of Mickey, or at least one of his cousins.