Posted: 4/17/2008 10:32:38 PM EDT
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Headed out for a return trip with John Bryson, aka Tater, this past week for spring bear on the Quinault reservation. Yes, baiting is legal there, and we hunted over bait. What a blast! In 4 nights we have seen 4 bears between Hunter and I. The first night we saw nothing in the blind but crows and bluejays. On the drive out, we ran into Boo-Boo's little brother running down the road. The second evening we had a nice bear come in, and when it went broadside there was a large 4" branch in the way so Hunter didn't take the shot. Tonight we switched up blinds, as it was my turn to hunt. Sat down about 3:30pm, and hung out for a bit. Had a nice raven come in and hang out near us. Heard the crows "meow" for a while, and at 4:27PM the cell phone I thought I had turned off starts to ring. OOPS! Turned off the phone, hanging up on my assistant, and settle back in. 8 minutes later, in walks a bear. My partner for the night, my father in law, turns on the camera and the bear just hangs out in the shadows checking for noise, scent, etc. If you didn't know, bears have bionic hearing. After a few minutes of hanging back, the bear decides to poke it's nose out and have a look. It slowly got out of the bush, edging closer to us, and then presented a perfect broadside shot. BOOM! It dropped at the shot, and we got it on tape. Not a huge bear, but big enough that two of us had issues getting it loaded into the truck. Estimated weight about 200+ pounds, and the coat is absolutely beautiful.  Lots of fun! If you are interested in additional details, let me know. John was great to work with throughout the whole set of hunts, and he works hard for his clients. |
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.458 Socom. Got the bullet back. Went in at 300 grains. Recovered weight was 207 grains. Put the bear down with a .40 S&W 180g Gold Dot, and was disappointed at the lack of expansion, as I also recovered that. Very disappointed. Penetration on both rounds was very good, about 14 inches for both, with the .458 breaking the tope of the shoulder and nicking the spine, and the Gold Dot severing the spine. |
I just was coming to post something like that.