There was some discussion on bear size here as this was not a target bear for the bait, and we were interested to see what he would weigh.  Also with a second tag in hand I'd be hunting for a giant next...

R

Can't wait til next year buddy. Congrats.

Nice bear, congrats.
 Pappy

Congrats on a beautiful bear Ryan!

Thanks for the great pics and hunt recap as well.

 

Beautiful bear!  

Great Bear! Congrats!

yep, Beautiful Bears..All of them !
Congratulations on the Bear hunt ,  mostly the immersion into  the boreal forest or as I call it..Heaven on Earth .  Congrats Ryan !

Huge crease on the forehead of that one.

It's always fun to get the camp guesses as to bear size, but the rubber meets the road when the scale comes out. We were all a bit surprised when my bear pulled it down to 345. The guides quickly skinned and rough cleaned the skull. The bear met the target I set for myself of 19 inches and I was tickled he square measured over 7 ft. On the bear board in the cook tent this bear was about the middle of this year's kills, with all of the bears going from 301-402 lbs. pretty respectable year so far! Gerard sends all the premolars in for aging, and it will be interesting to see the results.

The way it works in this camp for a second bear is that as long as there are other hunters in camp that have not shot a bear you go to the bottom of the rotation, and hunt bears that are very intermittent or long shot baits. This makes it fair for both the other hunters in camp as well as hunters coming in future weeks. Typically this means you'll be hunting a generally nocturnal bear or a giant that only shows up once in a while. Long shot but a chance at a huge bear.

The first night after shooting I sat the same stand I killed my bear from, and had the scar faced bear from the first night back in, a couple sows and cubs, and a pine marten.

The next day I sat a new spot in a plywood box blind. These blinds are plenty big to shoot a traditional bow from, either sitting or kneeling. Gerard is going to convert to mainly these type blinds as they help with keeping the hunters from being spotted, give some scent control, are better in the rain, and standardize shot setups at baits.

It's a neat experience to be close and ground level with the bears, and I had several small guys come over to the blind and stick their heads in to see what was inside.

The two I sat in were both 10-12 yard shots.

The blinds also make for some nice photography.

 

Great story Ryan, and thanks for the pictures.
Jack

The last evening I hunted again at the bait I killed my bear on. Several sows/cubs came in and right at last shooting light a different nice sized boar showed up. This was a new bear to the bait, and a real promising one for a year or two out. 270-300 class bear, but you can see his head lacks the mature bear look, ears up high, no forehead crease etc. A solid P/Y bear, this guy is the future.

These pictures show the difficulty of using the posts to judge when you are in a treestand. Compare the height at shoulders in the top pic vs the last pic. This is the same bear, but in the bottom pic he is right next to the post.

This outfit has some real promise as a trophy bear camp. The population density is a bit lower, 3-4 bears a night is average, though I had 10 one night (a sow with triplets bumped the count up). The age class is fantastic, however, and with the management program harvesting trophy class bears will be sustainable long term.

This, frankly, isn't the camp for a guy just wanting to shoot a bear. Probably more suited for someone with a couple bears under their belt who is looking for a big one. They obviously stress shooting older age class bears, and that includes colored bears-at lots of places small colored bears get high graded out, here they don't want hunters to shoot a small bear just because he's colored.

The program takes some discipline, and you have to be confident judging size, but this camp will generate some monster bears going forward.

Well, after a long drive home, I'm trying to get caught up and rested. Tonight after work I have to do some neglected chores and cut up some bear meat, but what a fantastic hunt, a great bear, and memories to last!

Ryan

Awesome story and photos     

Great thread Ryan.

Ryan,congratulations and thanks for the report

Thanks for sharing Ryan! Congratulations!!