Art, great report and a fantastic trophy! That is way way cool.
Art, great report and a fantastic trophy! That is way way cool.
The Green Hornet strikes again!!!
That's a big WOW from me. Great story and report. A friend of mine almost shot a charging bear in the head and waited till he turned knowing about how hard his skull was and dropped him. Obviously now I know he was correct in his judgement. Thanks for the neat pics and story.
Beaver
Beaver
IMO&E, the bullet choice was the problem, not the bear's skull. A lead bullet needs to be at least "hard-cast" to be reliable. This one is quite soft. I also suspect it was a bit of a fluke hitting just the crest and likely at an angle, creating a sort of crumple zone in the skull.
I have been involved in a number of genuine bear charges and there was never anyway to consider waiting for the bear to turn away... In real charges they do not turn. I have twice had bears die while touching my boot tops. Last spring a huge wounded Kodiak bear charged repeatedly and we shot him many times...
No reasonable round coupled with a reasonable bullet is going to bounce off a bear skull.
Very, very nice story and pics that accompanied it. Good stuff! That bear looks big to me as well; can't imagine one 10 foot plus. I actually got goose bumps when I first saw the bear and your son standing alongside. Wow! What a hunt!
Riley has had quite a time getting a brown bear and in dealing with them. On his first black bear they had a snow squall come in immediately after shooting. When the squall passed they found the black bear just as a brown bear showed up looking for a handout. They backed out for a while and then went back and the brown bear was gone. They quickly butchered the black bear and headed down the mountain. Almost immediately below they found where the brown bear had been pacing while they worked. They got to the road well after dark.
Another time he drew the tag for the next unit north of this years and weather prevented us from even leaving the harbor for over a week.
He has paid his dues and this is the first big game animal he has shot which was "easy." So far he has shot brown bear, moose, Sitka deer, black bear, and caribou and is just 19.
Not me!!! Huh Unnh! I got a rule...I never hunt or fish for anything that has a better than even chance of eating me.......
After getting that to a taxidermist I'm make sure to get any pieces and tie some beautiful flies to go along with it!!!!!!!! Great Pics and a beautiful animal!!!!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!!!