First Blood, Manitoba Black Bear

[supersubes]

Finally got the Sharps into the field. Im still up here, and will be for the next few days. More details and a hunt report to follow.

[rdnck]

That will forever more work! Great bear, congratulations. I'm looking forward to details--caliber, load, distance, what have you. That looks like a super trip, and you have an outstanding bear and a beautiful rifle.

[bobw]

+1 I'm with Rdnk on that, Congrats of the 1st degree. Fine looking black, hope you kept some meat to try. bobw

[supersubes]

Thanks rdnck.

I have some time near wifi today so ill add some details.

The rifle is a 45-70 with a standard shiloh chamber. Bullet came out of a mold I had Brooks make me. Its 513 grains with 1:20 and .458" diameter with a non-bore riding nose (few thousandths under), and a .3" meplat. Starline case, 66gr of KIK 2f compressed .325", with a .060" walters wad and a BR2 primer. No other wads. Bullets were pan lubed with spg. The rifle has a 26" barrel and the load goes 1120 fps approximately. I worked in paper patching in preparation for this hunt, but I hadn't been able to finish that work in time.

The shot was made at 35-40 yards broadside. It entered just behind the right shoulder, got both lungs, and punched through the left shoulder just below the socket. The hole in the off side shoulder (left) was perfectly round and about .6" in diameter. I should have looked closer at the off side hide, but it didn't appear to have exited, and the guide said it didn't (he also skinned it). We found some bullet shards outside the left shoulder, but only 20 grains worth, tops. I have some photos to show, but not handy at the moment. The bear was stunned for about a half second when hit, then ran with a perfect gait into some dense timber. We found him about a half hour later, and he'd run about 30 yards and dropped dead.

Ill have more to post. The outfitter has been fabulous, much more on that later. I will be coming back here!




The bear weighed 382 pounds and the skull measured 20 4/16"

[rdnck]

That is absolutely a once in a lifetime black bear. Beautiful animal, and with a Shiloh, to boot. Thanks for sharing. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[WHO CARES]

Super job and a great looking bear. Congratulations! And I like your rifle too... Thanks for posting.

ward

[Marathonman]

Fabulous bear! Was it your first? If so, you'll probably hunt a long time to find a better one!

[supersubes]

Yes, first bear. If there ever was a place to go bigger, this is it. Youre right though, it could take quite a bit of hunting. Ill post more about the outfitter later on.

[Nuclearcricket]

Congrats on a great hunt and a super bear. I think it would be hard pressed to beat that experience.
Sam

[Free_Stater]

I won't believe a word of it till I see more pictures.

Nice looking bear. As someone else noted, I can't see any way your hunt could have made a better story to tell the grandkids one day. A rifle using 140-year-old technology, nearly perfect shot placement, and a really nice looking animal would combine to make that one a day to remember.

[Free_Stater]

I won't believe a word of it till I see more pictures.

Nice looking bear. As someone else noted, I can't see any way your hunt could have made a better story to tell the grandkids one day. A rifle using 140-year-old technology, nearly perfect shot placement, and a really nice looking animal would combine to make that one a day to remember.

[supersubes]

Here's a little update on the hunt for those that are interested.

The hunt was booked through Skyline adventures, Kelly and Wendy Ross. I'm not a very experienced hunter of big game, and the only thing I've taken are wild pigs. Those hunts were fully guided but were not all inclusive. This was my first "big" hunt, and the first time hunting outside the US. I was accompanied on this trip by my Uncle, who has hunted four continents, and Africa more than a dozen times. I was pretty much following his lead the entire time. As the week progressed, I didn't need him to tell me just how good Kelly and Wendy were as hosts.

On the first hunt day we sat down with Kelly and Wendy to view recent game camera activity. This was a time to teach me about identifying the sex of black bears, as well as judging size(very difficult). They have a bunch of game cameras which they rotate regularly. They had already figured which blind each of us would be taken to, and took the time to show me a very large sow with cubs that had been frequenting my blind site. This was a very large bear which most hunters would shoot in a heart beat if they weren't patient enough to check for cubs. Except to mention that large boars do frequent the site I was going to, no other details were given. As Kelly drove me to my elevated box blind, we found that the large sow and cubs I'd been warned about were already on the bait. They moved off immediately. That was good sign to me. Bears were on the bait, and I wouldn't likely be confronted by that sow and cubs again that evening. I was in the blind by about 3:00 PM, and I expected to be picked up a little after dark. The bait barrel was 82 yards distant, and from from what I gathered, it was the longest shot of all their sites. After about two hours in the blind, a bear walked out of a tree line to my right, and came right up to the blind. He then crossed a field to an opposite tree line and disappeared. A few moments later he emerged from the same tree line, but further down, and behind the bait barrel. For the next few hours I watched this bear pig out on the bait. He was a minimum shooter, and for a while I considered taking him. It was just too early in the five day hunt to have low standards. I would've estimated him at about 225 lbs. At about 7:45, this bear took a dump in the field about 10 yards from the bait, walked a few circles, and casually began to walk to the treeline at my 2 o'clock where he had come from earlier. Suddenly this bear lit outta there like its ass was on fire. Kelly and Wendy had said if that happens, there is likely a larger bear in the area. I knew it wasn't me, because nothing but my eyeballs had been tracking him, and I'd gone to some trouble to control scent. Almost as soon as he lit off, I saw a bruiser coming over the center of a far hill (see pic). They had told me about big bears having "presence", and walking with a certain swagger. This dude was about 130 yards distant in some fairly tall grass, but I knew he was big. He had a beautiful and symmetrical white colored "V' in the center of his chest. He walked straight down the hill to a small marshy area, and then moved to my right to skirt it. Every time he put his head down I would move the rifle from my lap, a little closer towards a firing position. By the time he crossed the marsh, I was ready to go. For another ten minutes or so, he looked between the bait barrel and my blind, occasionally taking a step towards the bait. He spent a lot of time with his nose up high, smelling for trouble. He had moved out near the middle of the clearing, but just wasn't comfy enough to cross the field. He started to turn in place back towards the near tree line. I knew if he started moving I wasnt going to see him again. As soon as he showed me a broadside shot, I dropped the hammer. It was dark enough that the smoke from the muzzle was full of sparks. The bullet made a loud "whack". I squinted to look through the smoke, and when I picked him up, he was just starting to move. He got about about 3-4 good pumps in and he disappeared into the trees. I had totally forgotten to reload like I practiced, and I immediately grabbed for my phone to let Kelly and Wendy know. I was certain I did my part, but I was doubting myself because his gait looked perfect. It took a while to get through to Kelly and Wendy, but the cavalry showed up with a trailer carrying a 4wd quad with an attached sled. We looked for blood for a few minutes, but couldn't find any. Kelly started cautiously into the tree line and located the bear a very short distance inside the trees. I was ecstatic!

On our way back to the house, I learned that my uncle took a beautiful white Timber Wolf. The season had been closed for 13 years, and had just opened this fall. He was the first as far as Kelly and Wendy knew. If there was a trophy my uncle had been coveting amongst all others for a long time, that was it! He couldn't believe it. Our bear license included a wolf and a coyote if anyone was wondering. One of the other hunters took a respectable bear that same evening. There were four of us total, which is max capacity for Kelly and Wendy. That left two hunters still looking for bears. On the third hunt day, another bear was taken. He was skinned and squared out at 6' 10", and weighed approximately 275 lbs. My uncle is a pretty discriminating hunter, and already has several black bears. He held out and ended up not taking a bear. One of his hunt days was spoiled when a farmer began swathing a very nearby canola field. No bears came in that day. He saw shooters throughout the week, just nothing he wanted. He was looking for a traditional black bear, as opposed to a blonde, cinnamon or chocolate color phase. He saw examples of those. Through the week the entire group saw approximately 20-25 individual bears, and a whole bunch of repeats customers. That's a lot of bears when you consider there were only 11 hunt days between all of us. One of the beauties of hunting over bait is the tremendous opportunity to view wildlife, and be selective about the game. We all saw various other species besides bears. A week before we got there, a hunter took a 510 lb bear with a skull that went over 21" if I recall.


I have never experienced this level of hospitality in my life. "Above and Beyond" just doesn't cover it. All meals were taken at Kelly and Wendy's home. Three times a day we had multi-course meals which included deserts, wine, and coffee where applicable. Timing was always perfect, coffee always ready before we stepped through the door. Kelly and Wendy were juggling with meals, trophy prep, running baits, clearing beaver traps (they get a lot of those), feeding their cattle and sheep, and running hunters to blinds. There wasn't a single hiccup the entire week. They even dropped their 16' outboard boat in the water for us to fish for walleye. We whacked those pretty good too! There was ample time in the evening to talk about the day. Kelly and Wendy are extremely experienced, and it was a pleasure to listen to their stories. Through the week I kept thinking that there was going to be a balance due, simply because they were doing so much for us. Even the $300 bear license was included in the price. In the end, the only extra was the round trip ride from/to the airport, which was $200 a head. Its a about three and a half hours drive one way.

I read through their website again today and found myself just nodding in agreement. Our hunt experience went exactly like they said it would. You will not find more honest and humble people anywhere!

http://www.canadianblackbearhunt.com.

This is the view from the box blind. The quad on the left is at the bait barrel. If you look close, you can see a small rise between the blind and a tan stip of willows. The bear was taken just over the small rise, this side of the willows, and a little left of the two track road on the right.


Here is how we found him


My uncle and his wolf


The view from our log cabin.


Kelly, Wendy, and my Uncle.



My size 12




There is a lot of talk about bullet performance when hunting with these types of cartridges. Below is some postmortem photos if anyone is interested.

This is a view from the inside of the left shoulder(the quarter has been removed). Its upside down here, and the ridge of bone on top is the socket of the shoulder joint. The bullet has traversed the entire body cavity and is still round and traveling point first. This hole would just accomodate my little finger at its smallest point.


This is the outside of that same shoulder. Below my thumb is the cratered exit. To the left of my thimb is a large knob shaped piece of bone which sticks out of the scapula. Its hard to tell from this photo, but the bullet exited the bone(crater) and then struck the knob of bone to the left. Note the large split/crack extenting downward. Afterlooking at a skelaton of a bear, the bullet should have gone forward/outward aftewards. Couldnt find the bullet though.

[powderburner]

Excellent post,excellent job, thank you for posting it.Nice hunt and a nice bear.

[Denali]

Well done!!!!!! Congratulations and thanks for sharing! Beautiful critter!

Mike

[Sarge]

Well done, indeed!
Sarge