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Post by contender on Jan 7, 2023 22:13:18 GMT -5
Well, our local bear season is over as of Monday the 2nd. I go on a few hunts with the locals when they run bear,,if I can. Earlier this year,, I almost got a chance at a bear,, but it turned & went back up & out a mountain. I did get in one getting one hauled out of the woods one day. Not a big one,, at around 175-200 lbs.
Several of my buddies are on a "hunt club" where they have access to private property & all to hunt. You have to either be a member, or an invited guest to go with them there. My helper is a member,, and I know several of the guys. BUT<, I keep telling them; "Go ahead & let someone else be a guest,, as I doubt I'd ever join the club."
Well, this past monday,, the very last day,, they struck a trail about 7:00 am. That chase lasted all day,, and covered more than 20 miles. (Some of the dog tracking collars have a way to keep up with the miles a dog covers.) At one point,, the bear was spotted by a member,, and he wasn't running hard. But so many dogs in so close,, he didn't get a shot. He commented on how the bear kinda ambled along,, swatting dogs that got in too close.
The day finally ended with the bear getting cornered,, but not up a tree. One of the members killed it. But, not before it killed one dog,, severely wounded another to where it was put down by a vet. And 5 other dogs that spent time with a vet. Tough bear for sure. But at 580 lbs,, I guess he should be tough.
From all I heard,, it was one heck of a day bear hunting for ALL of them. And a good way to end the season. With a really good bear.
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Post by Robster on Jan 8, 2023 8:24:45 GMT -5
I run bear with hounds with a buddy that has bear hounds. Definetely can be dangerous for the hounds, but they love what they do. Nothing like the sound of the hounds!!
Thanks for sharing the story, and I am sorry for the loss of the hounds. Glad they were able to harvest a worthy adversary.
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Post by contender on Jan 8, 2023 10:44:24 GMT -5
Yeah,, it can be a fun "challenge" that most fail to understand or even appreciate how HARD it can be. I hated I missed this one,, but at the same time,, I'm glad I didn't pack in a good 20 miles of chasing all over the mountains.
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Post by bradshaw on Jan 8, 2023 11:30:38 GMT -5
Well, our local bear season is over as of Monday the 2nd. I go on a few hunts with the locals when they run bear,,if I can. Earlier this year,, I almost got a chance at a bear,, but it turned & went back up & out a mountain. I did get in one getting one hauled out of the woods one day. Not a big one,, at around 175-200 lbs. Several of my buddies are on a "hunt club" where they have access to private property & all to hunt. You have to either be a member, or an invited guest to go with them there. My helper is a member,, and I know several of the guys. BUT<, I keep telling them; "Go ahead & let someone else be a guest,, as I doubt I'd ever join the club." Well, this past monday,, the very last day,, they struck a trail about 7:00 am. That chase lasted all day,, and covered more than 20 miles. (Some of the dog tracking collars have a way to keep up with the miles a dog covers.) At one point,, the bear was spotted by a member,, and he wasn't running hard. But so many dogs in so close,, he didn't get a shot. He commented on how the bear kinda ambled along,, swatting dogs that got in too close. The day finally ended with the bear getting cornered,, but not up a tree. One of the members killed it. But, not before it killed one dog,, severely wounded another to where it was put down by a vet. And 5 other dogs that spent time with a vet. Tough bear for sure. But at 580 lbs,, I guess he should be tough. From all I heard,, it was one heck of a day bear hunting for ALL of them. And a good way to end the season. With a really good bear. ***** Tyrone.... hell of a run. And where were the hind leg boys behind the dogs? Or, were they doing the telemetry thing, by road? A 580 pound black bear isn’t going to tree. When he parks his ass, or turns to make a stand, a lunging dog is in trouble. Years ago, a houndsman I knew, three of his dogs brought a big male black bear to bay in a cornfield. The lead dog lunged at the bear, who clapped his paws together, perfectly collapsing the hound’s chest midair. The bear then sat on the done dog and put the crimp on the next. This was before radio collars and the houndsman saw it all. Two prize dogs dead as a doornail in the snap of a finger. The hunter got his meat, but lost his investment. Those old timers knew the cardio-vascular game; you had to be on the heal of your dogs when they struck a big bear or your dogs would lose. Talk of deer and black bear cartridges gets provocative, always with annecdotes of “dead right there,” and whitetails and black bear are “easy to kill.” BULLROAR. There are athletes of both species out there, and to not respect this is to dishonor the game. That 20 mile bear proved he ain’t no 580 pound couch potato. David Bradshaw |
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Post by bigbore5 on Jan 8, 2023 12:55:18 GMT -5
I've seen them kill a dog before when they only outweigh the dog by 50 pounds or so. It's hard to tree a bear over 350 pounds, especially a male. They tend to bay and fight a few times before treeing. Over 450, they rarely tree.
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Post by flyingzebra on Jan 8, 2023 21:32:53 GMT -5
... and whitetails and black bear are “easy to kill.” BULLROAR... This |
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Post by contender on Jan 8, 2023 22:50:57 GMT -5
David,, I wasn't in on that chase,, so I don't know all the details & how far behind or who all was chasing them. I do know they had a few good "younger" guys trying hard to get to him. I do know the general area he run in. Steep, mountainous, rough country. Hard to follow a 580 lb tank in the laurels & thickets we have. And as I was told,, one guy saw it all, yet, because of the dogs, couldn't get a clear shot. It was later on that they caught up with the bear too. And the guy who killed the bear,, is a pretty good sized young man. I heard it was rough enough to where they thought they'd have to haul him out as well.
You are right about the bigger bears not treeing,, but more often standing their ground, and fighting. Them big boys can wreak havoc to a pack of dogs. And if a hunter gets his attention,, it can get "interesting" REAL fast.
I've heard of a bigger bear that was killed by a whole different bunch of hunters not too far away from us here back in October. In the 700 lb range. No details on that hunt.
Our mountains grow some big ones and make for some seriously good hunting.
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Post by bradshaw on Jan 9, 2023 7:31:04 GMT -5
Tyrone.... those are huge male black bears. And, yes, an olympic athlete can’t compete with a bear in pucker brush, let alone your steep hollers.
David Bradshaw
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markwell
.30 Stingray
Firearms resale value should be your children's problem
Posts: 354
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Post by markwell on Jan 9, 2023 10:40:11 GMT -5
Our bear season ended on 12/31 and you all are correct about following the dogs when chasing the bears; it is not for the faint of heart. Here in the Alleghenies we have mountains with laurel hells and lots of incredibly rough country. Our son is young and fit and loves following the dogs and it gets right exciting when they bay a bear on the ground. The link below is a photo of the muzzle of our son's DW bruin 10mm pistol. He stopped by to clean it after wading into the fray, dispatching a bear fighting dogs up the Fork. How close is too close I asked. Hope the link works.
//www.1911forum.com/attachments/img_0437-jpg.663174/
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Odin
.375 Atomic
Posts: 1,103
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Post by Odin on Jan 9, 2023 11:17:54 GMT -5
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markwell
.30 Stingray
Firearms resale value should be your children's problem
Posts: 354
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Post by markwell on Jan 9, 2023 15:59:25 GMT -5
Thanks for putting the picture up. Being computer challenged is a real pain and I don't seem to be getting better at working with the damn thgs.
An addendum to the story. Brock said if he'd thought about taking a photo of the gun's muzzle, he wouldn't have wiped the gunk and hair off. Oh well.
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Post by contender on Jan 9, 2023 23:55:06 GMT -5
Any ground fighting bear is never going to be an "easy" one for sure. And markwell, we also have laurels, steep rocky mountains,, (which they LOVE to run into,) and thickets that can make a nun cuss!
I got a little tickled this evening. Watching the local news,, where they had a story about a bear sleeping under a person's home porch. The news crew videoed the bear. Just by the part of it they showed,, a decent sized one,, that raised it's head wondering why someone was disturbing it's nap. A solid 300+ lb bear. Ahh the joys of living in an area that has a group of tree huggers who have created a passion about bears. They are called; "Save Asheville Bears."
I'd like to see that bunch try & treat one of these bruins like Yogi!
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Post by pacecars on Jan 10, 2023 0:01:18 GMT -5
Scared me for a minute. I thought I read “local beer season closed”!
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markwell
.30 Stingray
Firearms resale value should be your children's problem
Posts: 354
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Post by markwell on Jan 10, 2023 10:13:28 GMT -5
Fortunately, we have dodged the resident "tree hugger influx" for now. The pickups around here still sport gunracks and dog boxes, we get at least half our news at the post office and our county's one stop light works most of the time. Beer, BTW, is always in season.
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Post by bigbore5 on Jan 10, 2023 14:13:23 GMT -5
A closed beer season? Well I know one redneck that would be poaching! 🍺
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