Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

Yet another Idaho bear down.

IdahoBugler

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Well to say this bear baiting is fun would be an under statement. Moosie kept talking to me about getting up to hunt with him and I kept kind off low key about the whole deal. But after gunner and I went up a month after the season. I thought it was time to give it a try. A little late but better late then never.

Gunner and I started another bait because we thought 4 guys on one bait might be a little much. A week after we started it we were getting hits. I couldn't keep enough food on that bait. I was having to re-load it every two or three days. We have some pretty sweet trail cam pics that I will post later.

Here is my 3 year old helping me bait. Notice the strap on the tree that used to have a trail camera attached. The bear ripped it off and then shat on it.
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The trail cam pics showed bears hitting the bait through out the day, so I thought I would sit in the stand by 3:00 on Sunday. Let me tell you what, 7 hours on stand is not fun. During that time I rigged up my tripod to my treestand so I could try and tape the shot. So of course I sit all day and the first bear to come in was at 9:00. He was a young almost blond bear. I watched him for 20 minutes when he finally took off like a rocket. 15 minutes later here came a bear I passed up on Thursday. With only a few days left in the season I figured she was good enough. I positioned the camera in a spot I thought I might get the shot and started recording. The bear came out and walked to the upper edge of my camera view. I rushed the shot a little in hopes of getting it caught on tape and I hit about 3 inches to far back and 3 inches high. It was almost dark so I thought I had better look for her the next day.

Here is a still from my video camera just after the arrow hit here. If you look at the light spot on her back you can see where the arrow entered.
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I gave Moosie a call and he pulled some strings to come up and help me with the monsterous pack out I was going to have. (Thanks dude, I don't know what I would of done without you there. Actually I know I would of been packing it out in my flip-flops. But that's another story and we don't need to tell anybody about that.) Anyway, we made it back up and tracked her for 70 yards before she rolled the next 70 yards to the bottom. Which was right next to my truck a grand total of about 70 yards away from it. It was a dry sow that had some pretty wore down teeth. She was 62 inches long from nose to tail.

Notice my nice white shoes that are 2 sizes to big.
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Way to go, that is some nice pics...

Those teeth looks like shes been eating rocks.. :)

Congratulations... :)
 
Awesome job I.B., nice looking bear. I hope you told Moosie your secret to a short pack out. I'm guessing the flip flop story would go great with a beer some night.
 
Ditto on the congrats IB-- that ol' she bear been around a bit judging by those teeth. Does F&G extract a tooth and age the bear for you in ID?

Just wondered as its manditory in CA to get a tooth pulled for rings.
 
Thanks guys for the kudos. It was definetly a lot of fun.

Wylee - There's still a nice looking blackie up there for you and Moosie to fight over. Don't get caught up in the color of the little blond one. I saw him at 17 yards and he is only about a 3 footer. I hope you guys can get up there before it closes. I'll talk to you soon.

MarvB - Yes it is mandatory in Idaho to check the bears in to F&G. I did it today and they told me they were having a hard time getting the tooth because it was so wore down. It will be interesting to see how old she was in 6-8 months. Like I will ever remember to call in and see.
 
IB

Great job on the bear. Love the pics minus the one with Oscar...something disturbing about that photo.
 
IB- here they send you a letter in the mail telling you the age and sex (which I find funnier than chit) of your bear...takes about 4-6 months as well.

Well damn...that bear without any plumbing was a girl? Imagine that :rolleyes:
 
We killed a bear 4 years ago that was 18 years old 5'2' and 220 # old sow and was dry and dropping dogs off the cliff so had to put here down .
 
Idaho Smiley - What did the teeth look like on that old sow? Like I said she was 5'2" but I don't think she weighted that much. I'm guessing around 150-175.

OSOK - You are correct. If any hot chicks ask tell them I where a size 13.
 
I gave Moosie a call and he pulled some strings to come up and help me with the monsterous pack out I was going to have. (Thanks dude, I don't know what I would of done without you there.

What he meant by giving me a Call was 11:30 the phone rang. (YAH PM) and said something like "Bad Shot", Not sure if" or some crap like that. I figured between his tracking shoes and My nose we could sniff out any bear in any place. He was just second guessing himself. Although I did like the Bear schamatic pintouts and location were the bear was standing picture with a Bear sketched in and the Live footage printed out and all the topo maps and Diagrams. When he pulled up and Showed me the Paperwork I thought we were looking for Jimmy Hoffa's Tomb or something .... ?!?!

Actually I know I would of been packing it out in my flip-flops. But that's another story and we don't need to tell anybody about that.)

Don't need to tell anyone ?!?!? HHA !!! So we get up to the Hunting site and Gues who doesn't have any bots. Flip Flops yes, Boots no. I lone him my White shoes reminding him I buy new shoes every couple months anyways so he at least has something to wear. You'd think someone that could bench press a Mini van would have bigger feet. But I.B. has like a size 10 foot...... Although it's not like I've ever forgotten anything while hunting.. Huh guys ;)

It was a dry sow

HAHA, Well it was, untill we lifted her up and Tried to huck her accross the Creek. the theory was in place. but my arms and Ballance wasn't up to the Job. SPLASH !!! Hehe

In all seriousness, thanx for the Call. Looking foward t ocalling you this fall for the Elk pack out ;)
 
Idaho
Nice story and great pictures to go along with it. Congrats on a fine looking critter! To bad about having Moosie in that one picture but the rest of them are very cool. Good job Oscar for lending at hand.
 
What he meant by giving me a Call was 11:30 the phone rang. (YAH PM) and said something like "Bad Shot", Not sure if" or some crap like that.
Sorry about the late 10:30 call. I find out later he was getting ready to do the deed, I guess that's why he put me on hold for 2 minutes. And I told you that my shot was a little off 3" high and 3" right.

Although I did like the Bear schamatic pintouts and location were the bear was standing picture with a Bear sketched in and the Live footage printed out and all the topo maps and Diagrams. When he pulled up and Showed me the Paperwork I thought we were looking for Jimmy Hoffa's Tomb or something .... ?!?!
I had some time to burn waiting for you to get off.

You'd think someone that could bench press a Mini van would have bigger feet. But I.B. has like a size 10 foot......
I make up for it in different places. hump

Although it's not like I've ever forgotten anything while hunting..
Let's see..... No I better not mention that one.

HAHA, Well it was, untill we lifted her up and Tried to huck her accross the Creek. the theory was in place. but my arms and Ballance wasn't up to the Job. SPLASH !!! Hehe
Ya, you think with feet that big you could throw a little dry sow better than that. That would of made great video seeing us butt heads after the toss. Again thanks for heading up with me that day. It always makes for good stories.

DK - Thanks for the kudos. I tried to keep Oscar out of the pics but he threw a fit and said he wouldn't help me pack it out if I didn't. He's really a big baby when it comes to pictures and he's not in them. As you all probably know.
 
IB,
Congrats on the "bad shot". Looks like it was "close enough". Did you get liver or were you farther forward? That site might end up being ok. I think the fact it was a second year site, and had 4+ bears in there leads me to think we may be ok another year or two... And with proper "game management" of you shooting the old sows, and maybe Moosie culling the inferior small ones, we can end up with something akin to one of them Texas High Fenced shooting operations. :) It is fun when the bears are getting frequent, and you start seeing the ones in the pictures and on the mountains.... Only 10 months until we can set the bait out again.... :D

That creek/river certainly makes for a challenging crossing, but it also keeps the riff-raff from getting in close to the bait. The more water, the better!! :D


I wanna know where the "money shot" picture of Moosie is, all flexed up and posing with the bear. hump

Ovis,
I see what you mean about the "disturbing" part of the one picture. That is funny. :eek:

Marv,
I think F-G keeps all the teeth from a year, and then sends them all in at the same time. So for 2005, they will collect thru Oct/Novemeber and then send them in. Then it is 4-6 months, and then we all forget to call and check back. They had to make it mandatory up here in order to say they were collecting data and "managing" the populations when we had some court challenges to bear hunting in Idaho in the early '90s.

IB,
If you think Moosie can't throw a dry sow very well, you ought to see him take a sheep for a hike in the mountains.... ;)
 
Great hunt IB. Dandy bear with great pics and story. Seventy yards from the road...nice. :D
 
Yeah Gunner probably similar to here is regards to previous court challenges. CA season sells unlimited tags but the season can close early as soon as the quota number of bears are checked in. Seems like last year they sold 16-17,000 tags and the quota cap was like around 1,800 bears. Was only the second or third time in many years that the season went full term if I remember right.
 
Gunner,

The way the bear was angled it looked as if it went through the liver and hit atleast one lung. I'm pretty sure I hit the main artery that runs along the spine also. Anyway, tons of blood and a very easy tracking job.

That creek/river certainly makes for a challenging crossing, but it also keeps the riff-raff from getting in close to the bait. The more water, the better!!
Yes, water helps. You should see where Moosie wants to go next year.
 
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