Big Medicine bags average bear

[ammohead]

I went to Seattle to put in my first week on my new job. Getting to know people, seeing the equipment and starting to arrange for moving the company to Nevada. After the week was over I went to the Quinalt Indian Nation for a 3 day management bear hunt. The bears are overpopulating and eating the cambrian layer of bark off the trees, hurting the forest industry that the nation relies on for income. So they have opened bear hunting to non natives.

I used TR's big medicine...a reproduction of the Winchester model 1895 in 405 caliber. The boolit came from a Mountain Mould that I designed on Dan's site. 350 gr round/flat nose plain base. I use 45 gr of imr 4895 surplus from Gibrass, a cardboard wad on top of the powder and a 1/4" thick boolit lube cookie under the boolit. Results in a slightly compressed load at 1850 fps and around 2 moa.


http://i574.photobucket.com/albums/ss189/brucerfrechette/bear1-1.jpg

The first two days it did nothing but rain...we were in a rain forest after all! But day 3 was nice. About 1 hr before dark this sow and 2 very large cubs at least 1.5 years old came to the bait. Or at least the cubs did. The sow knew something wasn't right and wouldn't come in to the bait. She circled way around popping her jaws all the while. She did come in close enough for me to thread the needle between a couple of trees. She went about 60 yards and piled up. We didn't have access to a scale but we guessed about 220 lbs live weight, average for this area. A really big bear there goes 400 lbs.

We had trail cameras on all the bait sites and had pictures of her and the 2 kids coming in from the day/night before. The guide determined that the cubs were big enough to make it on their own and gave me the ok to take the sow if she came in. The cubs were big enough to stand on their hind feet and lick syrup off the top of a 55 gallon drum that was a good 6 inches off the ground. If you still feel the need to beat up on me for taking a sow with youngins go ahead, it will fall on deaf ears. I will always take a guides word over the peanut gallery any day.

All in all I had a good time and would do it again. Big medicine, big fun.

ammohead

[Nrut]

ammohead,
A good bear is a dead bear where I live...
But legally we can't shoot a sow with cubs..
2moa is pretty darn good with open sites!
Is your boolit a plain base and what alloy were you using?

[ammohead]

ammohead,
A good bear is a dead bear where I live...
But legally we can't shoot a sow with cubs..
2moa is pretty darn good with open sites!
Is your boolit a plain base and what alloy were you using?

Nrut,

the boolit is a plain base and I cast them soft, about 9 - 10 bhn. To be honest it is probably closer to 3 moa. I get 1.5" at 50 yards, some times a little less and of course the occasional flier. But good accuracy for a lever with a receiver sight.

ammohead

[waksupi]

Glad to see you were successful! The cubs were at least yearlings or older, and certainly old enough to fend for their self! The rule here, is young of the year.

[roverboy]

Glad you had a good hunt. I like to hear about hunts with old rifles.

[BruceB]

WELL done. sir!

When I saw the thread title, I instantly wondered if it could be you, and.....sure enough! TR named the rifle/cartridge combo very well, and it's nice to see that it proved-out in your case as well.

Speaking of Big Medicine. I had NVCurmudgeon out today for his first "go" with the .50 BMG rifle. Almost had to pry it out of his hands to get it back! "This doesn't recoil!", he said (633 FMJ at 2800 fps). So I tried it again, too.....it recoils. He fired at least ten rounds at small 400-yard rocks and pronounced it to be great fun. I may have created a problem here. After shooting The Beast, our 7.62, .303 and .223 rifles seemed like pretty small potatoes.

I imagine your bullet gave full penetration on the bear? It would be mighty interesting to recover one and see how it fared during a run-in with a big animal.

Again, congratulations.

[MT Gianni]

Nice going Ammohead.

[quilbilly]

Congratulations on your bear.
It is nice to know that there is some place in Washington State where you can still hunt over bait. Congratulations to the Quinault Tribe for having the common sense to not be intimidated by the animal rights activists to ban hunting over bait on their timber lands.

[TonyM]

Congrats on the bear. Where I'm from (AK), we take all the bears we can... they eat the moose. I read somewhere that on average, a black bear will eat 70 moose in its lifetime... We're crawling with those critters (However, our black bears get a little closer to 500-600lbs on average, with the big boys getting close to 800 or more).

Some of the areas up here you can take 3 in a year. Last year there was an EO in an area... and for a month, it was as many as you could take :p (I didn't even get one....lol:-x)

I agree, a dead bear is a good bear. Great job and congrats.

[357maximum]

Great Job with a classic rifle, congrats...........look at that smile.:bigsmyl2:

[ammohead]

Thanks for all the kind words.

Ric,

Yep they were last years cubs for sure. She wanted out of there and they weren't having nothing to do with leaving. Already thinking on their own.

I got the meat from the processor today. Normally I butcher all my wild meat myself but with the new job and other tags to fill I just got too busy. I had one hind quarter done in 2 smoked hams, smoked all the hocks, 4 small roasts from the other hind quarter, and the rest is bulk chorizo. I am making bear chili with the sausage tonight. Chili Con Osso.

ammohead

[white eagle]

Congrats
I absolutely love bear meat
man makin my mouth water just thinkin bout it
once again nice job

[jmsj]

ammohead,
Good job !
The size of the bears up there sound like the same size as the bears we have down here In N.E. New Mexico.
Ran into a old friend who is a bear and lion outfitter yesterday as he was looking for one of his hounds. He says that the quota might be reached this weekend.

[ammohead]

I made a pot of small white beans with some smoked bear hocks. Could not tell any difference from pork hocks. Quite good! They were just what the doctor ordered after coming in from a successful antlerless elk hunt. No pictures, and alas I used a 185 gr barnes triple shock in my 338-06 so no cast boolit story.

[Larry Gibson]

ammohead

Some should note that hunting on indian reservations is controlled by them, at least in Washington. Good hunting and shooting ammohead and welcome to Washington. Maybe we can shoot together some time? I live sout of you down in University Place by Tacoma.

I know what BruceB speaks of about recoil. I was in on the build of this 50 BMG back in the late '70s and it has no muzzle brake!!! Rockchuck gave me a "peek around the rock" shot at about 300 yards. It learned that cover is sometimes only concealment with a 50 BMG shooting API:-)

Larry Gibson

[Catshooter]

Good work, it's nice when a plan comes together.

I would comment though that though I'm no great rifle shot, I wouldn't be happy with 3 MOA. I only have four levers and each will shoot MOA or less.

My Winchester 94 with a 26 inch barrel in .38-55 that will give me and inch and a half group at 150 yards with my cast handloads.

I'll bet that 94 of yours could do better.

'Course, I doubt that that bear would notice better, now that I think about it!


Cat

[ammohead]

Good work, it's nice when a plan comes together.

I would comment though that though I'm no great rifle shot, I wouldn't be happy with 3 MOA. I only have four levers and each will shoot MOA or less.

My Winchester 94 with a 26 inch barrel in .38-55 that will give me and inch and a half group at 150 yards with my cast handloads.

I'll bet that 94 of yours could do better.

'Course, I doubt that that bear would notice better, now that I think about it!


Cat

Cat,

It is a model 95chambered in 405 win and on occasion it will put nice tight groups together. But if I count all the groups...3 moa is closer to the truth. At 55 yo using iron sights I can't shoot much better than the rifle does anyway. Heck that might be the problem all along! I am quite pleased with the performance either way. After all it did kill the only thing that it has been pointed at with only one shot. Can't kick about that.

ammohead

[ammohead]

ammohead

Some should note that hunting on indian reservations is controlled by them, at least in Washington. Good hunting and shooting ammohead and welcome to Washington. Maybe we can shoot together some time? I live sout of you down in University Place by Tacoma.


Larry Gibson

Larry,

I still live in NV. I was just visiting WA and doing some work for my new employer that is moving to Nevada. Had a great time and will be back. My son is stationed at McChord AFB.

ammohead

[home in oz]

Good Hunt!

And with a classic rifle!