First black bear
OK, walking into this story with the realization that the anti-hunting crowd will eviscerate me, I’m good with it. I had the weekend of a lifetime and I want to share my experience with people who appreciate things like this.
Mini background: I grew up in Wisconsin and hunted Whitetail deer when I was 14 and then life got in the way. Now I’m in my upper 60s and decided to do something for me, get outdoors, away from work, reconnect with nature, do something that I enjoy. And hunting was that. So I’ve studied it, spent a ton of time online, bought the equipment, I go to the range and practice and practice, joined a Ranch hunting club in North Los Angeles/Kern County.
In June with a guide, I scored my first wild boar harvest. Amazing experience. Took it to the butcher shop and they did a great job and most of it is still sitting in my chest freezer. The pork we have eaten is just fantastic. Those of you who are vegans who hate the whole idea, I respect that and I have zero interest in changing your mind. Those of you who eat meat and purchase pork and chicken from Von‘s, but want to rip on people who harvest it themselves, I’m a little less tolerant, but OK. I get it. UBU.
Anyway, this last weekend, I went back out to the ranch with my guides, spent all afternoon Friday up until the sun went down. We saw nothing. Got up on Saturday at 4 AM, headed out, found bear skat and tracked but again nothing. Around 10:30 in the morning my guide spotted a bear on the other side of a very deep gully, 360 yards away. Damn Stanley, that’s far! How he saw it I will never know but anyway we set up for a shot. We could never get any closer. I was using a Sako 90 Hunter 6.5 Creedmore, off my RRS tripod, sitting position. I’m pretty fastidious about going to the range and practicing and making sure that I’m as accurate as I can be because all of us who do this want to be as ethical as possible. The bear was essentially grazing behind some tree branches and I waited and waited until he stepped out and I took my shot. One shot, clearly it hit him, he took off and died about 200 yards away. I would’ve taken a second shot, but literally I’m not sure how to deal with the fact that you have recoil and the gun has to reset and the bear is not in your scope view anymore. I’m working on that!
Again, I only want to share with people like me who scour the Internet and enjoy watching ethical people who work hard to thin excessive herds and harvest every single thing we shoot. Off to the butcher tomorrow!