Got this guy last Friday. Spotted him on a hillside eating blackberries. There was an old, overgrown logging "road" on the top of the hillside he was on and I thought I could get up there and take a close shot on him from the top so I got back on my bike and went up to it. Ditched the bike and started making my way through the brush and stickers to where it comes out of the timber on top of the hill. All the sudden the ground in front of me erupted as I bust 2 grouse. Shit! I keep sneaking along. I crawl down a 5ft deep ditch, start up the other side and think I'm probably getting close, I better put in the ear plugs I actually thought ahead enough to bring with me this time. I look up real quick and there he is. 30 yards straight ahead staring right at me. He heard the grouse and came to investigate I guess. I didn't really want to find out what was going to happen next so I steadied my Tikka T3 as best I could dead center on his chest and let one rip. He takes off, I hear 2 cries and silence. He made it about 40 yards down the "road" and expired. I took the shot at 7:10pm and didn't get back to the truck, 3 miles away, until 12:30am. I'm not a pro obviously but I'm thankful that I had a real good buddy who showed up at about 9:30 with nothing but coordinates of my location and the road my truck was parked on.

nice bear congrats

Nice bear. What did it weigh?

I'm really not sure. I quartered it out in the field and left the spine, ribs, and insides. I took 44.5lbs of sausage meat to the butcher, probably another 25lbs of steaks/stew meat, the hide + skull weighs probably 50lbs? I dunno, I'm just guessing.

Nice!

My next hunting trip out of IN will be for bear.

im guessing 140s