megasupermagnum
09-03-2021, 10:12 PM
I just got back from what was both the longest and shortest hunts I've been on at the same time. It was the longest, because I chose two locations about 330 miles away from me. I've been baiting for bear since August 14th, which resulted in 3 baiting trips, and one hunting trip. Where I went is only accessible by boat, so I towed that with each time for just shy of 2700 miles in 4 weeks, getting about 16mpg, so around 170 gallons of gasoline. I shouldn't have done the math as it made me sad, but that's over $500 in gas. I don't even want to think about all the bait and other stuff I got for this. I had two bait sites out, about 20 miles apart, and both had bear on them. My first pick site, had a real big one.
Yesterday I got up at 6am, and drove there, which is no small feat for a 2nd shift worker who went to bed about 2:30 am. It was raining all day, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try an evening hunt. I more or less considered it a bait run to get some scent into the area. I dumped some honey, molasses, vanilla, and liquid smoke around the bait site, then set up the blind. It was about 3:30 pm before I was settled into the blind. I was awake for all of maybe 15 minutes before I passed out. I woke up at around 7:35, didn't see anything. About 2 minutes later, I see a black blob coming. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't been honestly alert and hunting for 20 minutes, and here he comes. The nap hunting technique succeeds again, I'm becoming a pro. He would only take a single step at a time, then look around and smell for 15-30 seconds, very cautious. Finally he stepped into a clearing, I put the sights of my Remington 11-48 16 gauge slug barrel on him, and let the slug fly. At the shot, he fell right to the ground, and rolled down the slight incline a few feet. He was now obscured behind a few small trees, but I could see he was trying to get up. I figured I may as well try and feed a slug between the trees. The second shot I saw no reaction, so I sent a third shot which definitely connected. At this point I could hear he was really struggling to breath, yet was still holding himself up with front legs. The way he was acting, I was pretty sure I had broken something that kept him from moving, so I decided to step out of the blind. A few feet to the side, and I had a clear shot at his head. I steadied against a branch, and sent a final shot through his skull. He probably would have been down in a matter of seconds without the final shot, but I always choose the option that results in the best chances of a recovered animal.
First a few trail camera pictures. The first two is the one I shot at my A site. The third is a little bear at my B site hanging up a tree. #4 and #5 I have no clue. At first glance I wanted to say fisher, but it looks a little thin. If anyone knows what it is, let me know.
https://i.ibb.co/8cf01jh/bear13.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/9cBYbzB/bear12.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/vBwJ8L7/bear22.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/MGZrp7Y/fishera-1.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/nnGgqP7/fishera-3.jpg
Finally we have a downed bear, and he is massive! I shot him right at dark, so unfortunately the pictures are not world class. I am 6' 5", 300 pounds. This bear was at least that big, probably heavier. This is the first animal I was unable to drag even a short distance in the old Jet Sled. I got maybe 30 feet, and said to heck with it. I quartered him, and carried it the 200 yards to the boat. Notice how tiny the Remington 11-48 looks.
https://i.ibb.co/RBC560V/Screenshot-20210902-204549-Video-Player.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/pz93SJG/Screenshot-20210902-204700-Video-Player.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/896bHpQ/20210902-195445.jpg
The verdict after butchering is that the first shot was pretty good. I hit a little farther forward than I like, hitting him just behind the front leg, and maybe 1" high of center. This would be a beautiful shot on a whitetail, but this far forward ends up in the front 1/3rd of the lungs on a black bear. I'd guess the first shot hit about 4" from the front of the lungs. It did double lung him though, in one side of ribs, and out the other. As far as I can tell, the first slug did not physically connect with the spine, but it appears it came so close it disabled the bear anyway. A 3" section of the spine is red and bruised where it passed by. The second shot missed apparently. The third shot hit about 2" farther forward, and 2" lower than the first shot. The fourth and final shot was a dead center of the brain, right where I intended. These slugs are ridiculously accurate for what they are. He was 35-40 yards away for all shots, which isn't far, but was still good for how dark it was getting.
The load I shot is as follows.
Federal 2 3/4" 16 gauge
Federal 209A
25gr Bluedot
OB16 gas seal + (5) 1/8" 16ga nitro cards
Lyman sabot slug with hot glue hollow base and WLL alox tumble lube
fold crimp
I'd guestimate 1200 fps, I never did test them. The slugs I bought from GT bullets, they cast them of 96-2-2 alloy. They are around .680" on the front driving band, and .668" on the widest part of the skirt. I weighed two as-cast, and both were about 511 grains. The bore diameter on my barrel is .672"-.673".
Now here is the shocker of the whole thing, I recovered a slug. It has been many years since I've recovered a shotgun slug, and I'm a little surprised I got this one. This was the third shot, went through the meat of the first shoulder, passed through the very front of the lungs, then went through the large upper leg bone of offside shoulder, and came to a stop inside the hide. I felt a bulge, and the following pictures is what I cut out. I figured these expanded in the barrel when firing somewhat, but I never would have guessed they did this. That's not even the entirety. Along with the slug, I recovered four of the five nitro cards with the slug! That's right, apparently not only do the nitro cards suck to the bottom of the slug, probably from some vacuum effect, they also went COMPLETLEY THROUGH BOTH SHOULDERS with the slug. I am blown away.
The front diameter of the recovered slug is .706", indicating some deformation, but not what you would expect after hitting the most major bone in the body. The skirt is about .672", or my bore diameter. It weights right at 511 grains, 100% retention. I don't even need to take pictures of the wounds these created. There should be no doubt that what essentially a 68 caliber full wadcutter does is nasty. It made holes as big, or bigger than high velocity rifle rounds such as 308 Winchester, yet left no random hemorrhaging or bloodshot meat. It made these huge holes all the way through, not just one side like a rifle bullet.
https://i.ibb.co/cDWFCBY/20210902-220753.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/H2gZ3Pt/20210903-202747.jpg
I've got a big day ahead tomorrow of cutting and grinding meat. There was a lot on him. Not only meat, he must have been 50% fat. I saved him from a heart attack. Imagine the biggest slab of brisket you ever saw. I got fillets bigger than that of nothing but pure, white fat. That should make some good grease.
Yesterday I got up at 6am, and drove there, which is no small feat for a 2nd shift worker who went to bed about 2:30 am. It was raining all day, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try an evening hunt. I more or less considered it a bait run to get some scent into the area. I dumped some honey, molasses, vanilla, and liquid smoke around the bait site, then set up the blind. It was about 3:30 pm before I was settled into the blind. I was awake for all of maybe 15 minutes before I passed out. I woke up at around 7:35, didn't see anything. About 2 minutes later, I see a black blob coming. I couldn't believe it. I hadn't been honestly alert and hunting for 20 minutes, and here he comes. The nap hunting technique succeeds again, I'm becoming a pro. He would only take a single step at a time, then look around and smell for 15-30 seconds, very cautious. Finally he stepped into a clearing, I put the sights of my Remington 11-48 16 gauge slug barrel on him, and let the slug fly. At the shot, he fell right to the ground, and rolled down the slight incline a few feet. He was now obscured behind a few small trees, but I could see he was trying to get up. I figured I may as well try and feed a slug between the trees. The second shot I saw no reaction, so I sent a third shot which definitely connected. At this point I could hear he was really struggling to breath, yet was still holding himself up with front legs. The way he was acting, I was pretty sure I had broken something that kept him from moving, so I decided to step out of the blind. A few feet to the side, and I had a clear shot at his head. I steadied against a branch, and sent a final shot through his skull. He probably would have been down in a matter of seconds without the final shot, but I always choose the option that results in the best chances of a recovered animal.
First a few trail camera pictures. The first two is the one I shot at my A site. The third is a little bear at my B site hanging up a tree. #4 and #5 I have no clue. At first glance I wanted to say fisher, but it looks a little thin. If anyone knows what it is, let me know.
https://i.ibb.co/8cf01jh/bear13.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/9cBYbzB/bear12.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/vBwJ8L7/bear22.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/MGZrp7Y/fishera-1.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/nnGgqP7/fishera-3.jpg
Finally we have a downed bear, and he is massive! I shot him right at dark, so unfortunately the pictures are not world class. I am 6' 5", 300 pounds. This bear was at least that big, probably heavier. This is the first animal I was unable to drag even a short distance in the old Jet Sled. I got maybe 30 feet, and said to heck with it. I quartered him, and carried it the 200 yards to the boat. Notice how tiny the Remington 11-48 looks.
https://i.ibb.co/RBC560V/Screenshot-20210902-204549-Video-Player.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/pz93SJG/Screenshot-20210902-204700-Video-Player.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/896bHpQ/20210902-195445.jpg
The verdict after butchering is that the first shot was pretty good. I hit a little farther forward than I like, hitting him just behind the front leg, and maybe 1" high of center. This would be a beautiful shot on a whitetail, but this far forward ends up in the front 1/3rd of the lungs on a black bear. I'd guess the first shot hit about 4" from the front of the lungs. It did double lung him though, in one side of ribs, and out the other. As far as I can tell, the first slug did not physically connect with the spine, but it appears it came so close it disabled the bear anyway. A 3" section of the spine is red and bruised where it passed by. The second shot missed apparently. The third shot hit about 2" farther forward, and 2" lower than the first shot. The fourth and final shot was a dead center of the brain, right where I intended. These slugs are ridiculously accurate for what they are. He was 35-40 yards away for all shots, which isn't far, but was still good for how dark it was getting.
The load I shot is as follows.
Federal 2 3/4" 16 gauge
Federal 209A
25gr Bluedot
OB16 gas seal + (5) 1/8" 16ga nitro cards
Lyman sabot slug with hot glue hollow base and WLL alox tumble lube
fold crimp
I'd guestimate 1200 fps, I never did test them. The slugs I bought from GT bullets, they cast them of 96-2-2 alloy. They are around .680" on the front driving band, and .668" on the widest part of the skirt. I weighed two as-cast, and both were about 511 grains. The bore diameter on my barrel is .672"-.673".
Now here is the shocker of the whole thing, I recovered a slug. It has been many years since I've recovered a shotgun slug, and I'm a little surprised I got this one. This was the third shot, went through the meat of the first shoulder, passed through the very front of the lungs, then went through the large upper leg bone of offside shoulder, and came to a stop inside the hide. I felt a bulge, and the following pictures is what I cut out. I figured these expanded in the barrel when firing somewhat, but I never would have guessed they did this. That's not even the entirety. Along with the slug, I recovered four of the five nitro cards with the slug! That's right, apparently not only do the nitro cards suck to the bottom of the slug, probably from some vacuum effect, they also went COMPLETLEY THROUGH BOTH SHOULDERS with the slug. I am blown away.
The front diameter of the recovered slug is .706", indicating some deformation, but not what you would expect after hitting the most major bone in the body. The skirt is about .672", or my bore diameter. It weights right at 511 grains, 100% retention. I don't even need to take pictures of the wounds these created. There should be no doubt that what essentially a 68 caliber full wadcutter does is nasty. It made holes as big, or bigger than high velocity rifle rounds such as 308 Winchester, yet left no random hemorrhaging or bloodshot meat. It made these huge holes all the way through, not just one side like a rifle bullet.
https://i.ibb.co/cDWFCBY/20210902-220753.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/H2gZ3Pt/20210903-202747.jpg
I've got a big day ahead tomorrow of cutting and grinding meat. There was a lot on him. Not only meat, he must have been 50% fat. I saved him from a heart attack. Imagine the biggest slab of brisket you ever saw. I got fillets bigger than that of nothing but pure, white fat. That should make some good grease.