My Dad's 2016 Black Bear

Late October this fall, my dad and I had just gotten to our glassing point at first light, when he glassed up a lone bear feeding about 450 yards, near the top of the clear cut we had walked into. We had the wind right, being at the bottom of the cut but to get closer would mean trying to traverse through a deceptively nasty cut and in the open. We elected to back out to where we had parked the truck and drive around to the top, park and sneak our way from a top landing down to where we would have a closer shot. Unlike every other stalk, we had put on this fall, this plan worked to perfection. Checking the wind constantly and glassing in the last known location of the bear, Dad quietly snuck down a steep finger while I lingered back about 50 yards as to not add extra movement and noise. All of a sudden, I see dad freeze, glass one last time and kneel down with his 30-06. I look and look in the direction but cannot pick out the giant black blob. Boom!!! Instantly, I pick out the bear rolling down the hill and come to stop, thankfully, about 70 yards down on small bench in the slope. About an 80 yard shot, Dad took out the bear's heart and lungs. His reaction was priceless. He had been packing a bear tag as an afterthought with his deer and elk tags all these years and this was his first bear! I think he maybe hooked now though, Mature sow, gray in the muzzle but an absolute perfect black coat. We skinned her for a full rug and bagged every shred of edible meat we could. It was not a long hike to the truck but it was steep, but the weight of a successful hunt on our shoulders felt incredible. Spring bear cannot get here soon enough.


[video]https://www.facebook.com/dane.hammond.10/videos/pcb.10207200540445960/10207200532405759/?type=3&theater[/video]

[video]https://www.facebook.com/dane.hammond.10/videos/pcb.10207200540445960/10207200534805819/?type=3&theater[/video]
In hind sight, I don't think our packs weighed quite that much but it always feels heavier when in your in the thick of things, haha.

Nice pics and write up. Where where ya at?

Way to go!

Awesome looking coat on that one. Nice work!

406Life, we were in SW WA.

Awesome bear! Congratulations

Great looking place to hunt bears. I think I've seen that first pic on another forum from your dad. It looks like 2016 was a very memorable year!

Great bear!

Yes, my dad frequents the Hunt-WA forum where you probably saw that picture. He had a great week of hunting. A couple days later, he tagged a wide 2x2 blacktail.