I decided to go for an early morning bear hunt locally with a buddy of mine. Wouldn’t you know it, a decent bear crossed the road and ran into a steep ravine at the beginning
of the hunt. Of course we got out and pursued the bruin on foot. As we got to the edge of the bank the bear was visible and I made an off hand shot approximately 100 yards away. I saw the bullet impact right behind the shoulder with a shimmer the bears coat from the Barnes 168 grain TTSX bullet. The echoing of the .300WM carried throughout the valley as I made a second opportune shot and we thought the bear was down.
We started our descent down the hillside getting scratched and clawed by branches and falling over logs, but could not see the bear where we thought it would be. My partner told me to stop because he heard noises. I looked at the top of the hill and saw a black bear crest the bank. Thinking it was not plausible but possible the bear walked past us as we climbed down the hill, we climbed back up. There were no signs of blood where the bear climbed over the hill. We contemplated that it might be a second bear and slid down the hill to continue looking for the first bear. My hunting partner spotted the bear and called me over, it was still moving so I took another freehand shot, this time at 40 yards. The bear bucked and took off.
I began looking in circles for blood and so did my partner, we could not see any spots of red. Worry started setting in and my partner was questioning whether I hit the bear even once so far. I told him I was 100% confident that I hit the bear each time, but he did not believe me. I then started walking to where I would go if I was a bear and wouldn’t you know it, I crossed some fresh bear tracks in the mud, but again no blood. I paced in the direction of the bears travel and was walking over a log crossing a stream when I saw the bear expiring by a turned over tree stump. The bear started getting up and I shot. The bear started moving again so I fired again. The bear expired as smoke was leaving the carcass in two spots. After skinning the bear we saw that all my bullets connected in the chest cavity and a few of them in the same place leaving a 4" hole in the ribcage. We could not believe how tough this bear was with the direct shots from a .300WM in the boiler room. My partner apologized for doubting my shooting and we got to work skinning and boning out the meat. The bear was a sow and measured a half inch over 6′. I ended the 2009 spring bear season with a great adventure and lesson in persistence. I will make a throw rug out of the hide and enjoy some nice sausage out of the meat.