My "Do It Yourself" Bear Hunt.....

[jackshoe]

Great story and pictures-You definately earned that one. Way to get it done.

[tjhunt2]

Just got done reading your story with a cup of coffee and totally enjoyed every bit of it. It brought back memories of when I was a little crazy and hungry to hunt on my own. Thanks for that! For those who haven't helped on a bear hunt I can assure you Jim pushed himself to the limits. You have to be in really good condition to pull off what he just did on his bear hunt. My hat is off to you and thanks for taking us along on your hunt. It was a great story, as always, and a very nice bear as well. Congratulations Jim!

 

TJ

[anthonyrmatthews]

Great job! That's a beautiful bear and a great story. Thank you...

[CouesWhitetail]

Awesome!! Loved the story and congratulation and gorgeous bear!!

 

And hey, is Chrissy rubbing off on you....it sounded like one of his hunt story...."so I threw some mountain dew and hot dogs in the cooler and drove all night to get there right before dawn" LOL!!!

[izquik72]

That's a great story. Sounds like it will definately be tough to beat having everything work out like that.

Congrats on a great bear and 1 man conquers all.

Now get some sleep

[Coues Sniper]

Awesome story and write up Jim, as always. I can't beleive you got those kind of pictures by yourself! And I have to say, that bear doesn't look that small to me. How big is the skull, and what do you guess he weighed? Congrats on a great trophy, for multiple reasons .

[Red Rabbit]

Jim, Looks to be a nice bear. Congrats.

 

For the steep uphill/downhill stuff, you might consider one of these on your custom rifle:

http://www.snipertools.com/aci.htm

Or Leicas new 1600 RF

[COOSEFAN]

Jim, Looks to be a nice bear. Congrats.

 

For the steep uphill/downhill stuff, you might consider one of these on your custom rifle:

http://www.snipertools.com/aci.htm

Or Leicas new 1600 RF

 

I like that Doug and If I had that I wouldn't have forgotten it at home like I did with my inclinometer! I've got a tool to do the same thing, my rifle builder got it for me and has taught me how to use it along with a cheat sheet he made. Most folks don't realize how much angle can affect your shot, especially at long ranges!! Just practicing angled shots and having this tool in the past has helped me a ton already because I have a better understanding of what to do, but you need tools such as these to be accurate with it!

 

This one I've got is a Suunto Inclinometer, my buddy wears his on his rangefinder strap and he's deadly with that combo hangin' around his neck!!

 

 

BTW.......that's my coues unit in the background from a couple weeks ago, look how crazy green it is down there!!!

[COOSEFAN]

Thanks a ton for the great reply's and for taking the time to read my story! I've been anxious to get on here and share the experience with you all, glad you enjoyed it.

 

Doing it alone like that is great but it's still much better to share the experience with friends or family. Usually, the first thing I do when I whack a critter and my dad isn't there, I'll call him, but where I was at there's absolutely no service for miles and miles! It was tough not being able to even call everyone and also made it a little more scary in case something went wrong! I'll most likely never bear hunt alone again, I've scratched that itch and don't really know what I'd do with a 3rd bear? My archery bear is lifesized and this one will be rugged so I'm content!

 

I haven't put a tape on the skull yet and it's still got all the meat on it, but using my reach with my fingers he looks to be around 18" on the skull measurement, give or take a little. I would've guessed he was around 200lbs maybe and like i mentioned in my story, I was very glad he wasn't a bigger bear!!!! This one was perfect size, not to big, not to small and was still manageable on my own! We've killed some giant bears in the past and there is nothing fun about that, even with somebody helping! Thanks again everyone! JIM>

[COOSEFAN]

Awesome!! Loved the story and congratulation and gorgeous bear!!

 

And hey, is Chrissy rubbing off on you....it sounded like one of his hunt story...."so I threw some mountain dew and hot dogs in the cooler and drove all night to get there right before dawn" LOL!!!

 

LOL! Naw, I roll with a "little" more class than Chrissy, he's all about the "Chef Boyardee", I splurged on some high class hot dogs, the ones with cheeze built in!!!

 

I also gotta say, I wouldn't have gotten this bear if it wasn't for my buddies Bryan and Scott, they were gracious enough to put me on the right spot! Thanks guys! JIM>

[SpotNStalk]

Congrats on an Awesome bear! I really like the color!

One day hopefully soon!!!!! Thanks for sharing!

 

[bstpeter]

Great read and pictures. Glad you made it out safely to tell the story Congratulations on a successful hunt.

[Buckfever]

thanks for sharing. Sounds like a good ol day out in the woods to me.

[kidso]

Nice color, good size, and great story! If you were driving that far, what unit did you tag in? It is always a bear hunting alone, but sometimes those hunts turn out to be the best! ...especially the impromptu ones! A six-pack of Mountian Dew and a package of hotdogs! I still do that, but with a half-dpzen Gatorade bottles!

[bow.hunter8971]

Nice story and pics good job congratulations.