First Black Bear

[simmonzz]

Well I saw this bear about a month ago from 550 yards away and he never gave me an opportunity because he was moving at a good pace like he was on his way somewhere important lol. Fast forward to yesterday (10/4) and I'm by myself hunting for deer in this basin I saw a giant blacktail in like 2 weeks prior. No deer at all in there and it was weird for me because I always see deer in there whether it's a doe or some bucks. Then I hear some branches break and snap below me and sure enough jet black pops out and was doing the same thing he did a month ago walking like he had somewhere to go not feeding but he was walking slower this time. I ranged him at 296 and smoked him. Double lung, full pass thru and and he ran 10ft max and laid down with his exit wound facing directly up and I watched either hot air or his last breathe just shoot out the exit wound. It was pretty crazy. Had super bad reception but manage to call my cousin and uncle and they were able to leave work and come help me thankfully because I don't think I could've done it on my own. I've never seen another black bear besides at the zoo and this guy to me seems really big atleast for Oregon. I'm guessing 350+lbs but no way to find out. We had to quarter him up and hike 440ft up a mountain in about 200 yards. It wasn't fun and there was no other way out. I'm a believer of those hammer bullets now! 296 yards with a 199gr hammer hunter at 3225fps put in work. Internals were basically mushy liquid. I really wish I had been able to find the bullet but it did a complete passthru. Left a golf ball exit if not bigger

 

[PPR]

Congrats on a very nice bear! Still looking for my first one.

Paul

 

[Varmint Hunter]

Nice bear! Congrats

 

[Ol' Red]

Good job. Congratulations

 

[LVJ76]

That is one nice bear, Congrats!

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Well I saw this bear about a month ago from 550 yards away and he never gave me an opportunity because he was moving at a good pace like he was on his way somewhere important lol. Fast forward to yesterday (10/4) and I'm by myself hunting for deer in this basin I saw a giant blacktail in like 2 weeks prior. No deer at all in there and it was weird for me because I always see deer in there whether it's a doe or some bucks. Then I hear some branches break and snap below me and sure enough jet black pops out and was doing the same thing he did a month ago walking like he had somewhere to go not feeding but he was walking slower this time. I ranged him at 296 and smoked him. Double lung, full pass thru and and he ran 10ft max and laid down with his exit wound facing directly up and I watched either hot air or his last breathe just shoot out the exit wound. It was pretty crazy. Had super bad reception but manage to call my cousin and uncle and they were able to leave work and come help me thankfully because I don't think I could've done it on my own. I've never seen another black bear besides at the zoo and this guy to me seems really big atleast for Oregon. I'm guessing 350+lbs but no way to find out. We had to quarter him up and hike 440ft up a mountain in about 200 yards. It wasn't fun and there was no other way out. I'm a believer of those hammer bullets now! 296 yards with a 199gr hammer hunter at 3225fps put in work. Internals were basically mushy liquid. I really wish I had been able to find the bullet but it did a complete passthru. Left a golf ball exit if not bigger

Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[calling4life]

That does look like a great bear, congratulations.

 

[Bullmark]

Nice bear...congrats man. My heavens that ravine is a beast....I can't imagine climbing out of that hell hole with everything u had going on.
It was worth it....he looks every bit of 350.
I just switched to Hammers so I loved reading the story and seeing the damage.

 

[simmonzz]

Thank you everyone! I took the bear to ODFW to have it tagged so I could take it to my taxidermist. Everyone at that office called him a "monster". The taxidermist told me he's gonna rank really good for Oregon and might hold it's own in the Boone and Crockett won't know until we score him in 60 days tho. Super excited to get this mount and the score back. First animal I've ever mounted

 

[Ol' Red]

What type of mount are you going to do?

 

[simmonzz]

What type of mount are you going to do?

I wanted to do an open mouth because I thought they looked pretty cool but he told me it's gonna make the bear look smaller and they tend to look less realistic. He convinced me to go closed mouth and I'll be happy either way. He's gonna do as much as he can with what I gave him he said my cut wasn't very good but I didn't know what I was exactly doing o where I needed to cut lol I'm gonna do something really similar to that closed mouth but without the tree

 

[mpayne]

Congrats on a nice bear neighbor to the South.

 

[wilkup]

Congrats on a very nice bear! When you mentioned hunting Blacktail, I figured you tipped over a bruiser. Seems like western WA and OR hold a lot of big ones. I have the same love for the Hammers. They just work so well

 

[RYEWSKY25284]

Well I saw this bear about a month ago from 550 yards away and he never gave me an opportunity because he was moving at a good pace like he was on his way somewhere important lol. Fast forward to yesterday (10/4) and I'm by myself hunting for deer in this basin I saw a giant blacktail in like 2 weeks prior. No deer at all in there and it was weird for me because I always see deer in there whether it's a doe or some bucks. Then I hear some branches break and snap below me and sure enough jet black pops out and was doing the same thing he did a month ago walking like he had somewhere to go not feeding but he was walking slower this time. I ranged him at 296 and smoked him. Double lung, full pass thru and and he ran 10ft max and laid down with his exit wound facing directly up and I watched either hot air or his last breathe just shoot out the exit wound. It was pretty crazy. Had super bad reception but manage to call my cousin and uncle and they were able to leave work and come help me thankfully because I don't think I could've done it on my own. I've never seen another black bear besides at the zoo and this guy to me seems really big atleast for Oregon. I'm guessing 350+lbs but no way to find out. We had to quarter him up and hike 440ft up a mountain in about 200 yards. It wasn't fun and there was no other way out. I'm a believer of those hammer bullets now! 296 yards with a 199gr hammer hunter at 3225fps put in work. Internals were basically mushy liquid. I really wish I had been able to find the bullet but it did a complete passthru. Left a golf ball exit if not bigger

It's all fun and games till you pull the trigger..LOL then the real work starts...
Nice bear and great shot.
I too am a believer in Hammer bullets.
Congrats.