I think I had 3 pts.
Blayne
As I like to say. "If ever they start preference points for skunk I am putting in. Never know when or if I might be be dying to pull a skunk tag...and don't want to be behind on points when I do"
I feel you might be right, but I also know that approach would land them in court and fighting with the whack jobs.
I got up at 5 am, double checked my pack for essentials, ate a quick breakfast bar, and headed over to a parking area where I would work a few canyons. As it started getting light enough to shoot, I slowly made my way up the edge of canyon number 1 watching carefully for bear. I only spotted deer and elk on that 3 mile loop. I got back to my truck for a quick look at the map and decided on another canyon 2 miles away so started the hike over there after a nice refreshing Coke and a sandwich. I slowly worked my way up the canyon hoping to see a legal bruin. After going up that canyon 1.5 miles the only thing I saw was huge piles of fresh bear dung but the problem is the wind was swirling so bad is would be futile to wait for that bear to show. It was a great place for a smart bear to stay alive.
I worked back down canyon 2 and decided to see where the boundary of the property was just for the heck of it. When I got there I took a quick sit down and started wondering how many miles I could cover in a day. I was kind of surprised I covered what I did by 3 pm.
By this time the wind was not my friend, straight at my back surely spooking anything in front of me. I slowly made my way back to another canyon on the way that I reserved for later thinking the wind would calm and be more consistent. When I got to the foot of canyon 3 it was 5 pm, my water bladder was out, and I said to myself I would look over just one more edge to see what was in this hidden pocket.
I crested the top of the bluff slowly and saw something 1/4 mile away. I pulled up my binos and yep, there is a nice brown colored bear feeding on a flat. I ranged that bear at 470 yards and thought that's just way too far for me these days. I used to shoot a lot more rifle and could make that shot but on this day I decided to cut the gap.
I quickly hoofed it around the rim of the canyon hoping the wind would cooperate. As I made my way to nerve rattling, excited distance of about 200 yards I see another bear to my left coming up my side of the canyon. There was no shot as all I could see was brief moments of bear slipping between the oak brush thickets. I quickly turned my scope down to minimum, 4.5x and waited for this bear to pop out in front of me.
The bear was now 20 yards away from me and the brush was so thick I didn't know where he was going to pop out. I did know the wind was bad, he would scent me instantly at that range with the direction it was blowing. I knew it was going to be a quick shot so I flipped the safety off my rifle and got ready.
The bear popped out 20 yards away, I quickly put the reticle right behind his shoulder and fired. It was a quick, clean, ethical kill and it all happened so quickly I don't even remember the recoil or blast of the 300 wsm.
It was a fun, short hunt and would do it again.
Bear must be cooked through and bear taste like what they eat. Don't cut yourself while skinning/butchering one. Black bears aren't that big so field judging you need to look at the head closely to be sure it's a mature animal. Make sure there are no cubs.
I went with a shoulder mount on this one with the remainder going to cover the top of a bookshelf. Also a euro and a necklace with the claws. I did all this mostly because 15 years of applying for the tag holds some weight. This was my first bear tag as I've never really been serious about hunting them. I was also happy to be able to get back to bowhunting rutting elk, so that was a huge bonus.
Good luck to you next season.
I happen to be dumb enough to have 20 bear pts. There actually aren't many guys that have more pts than me in Colo. I've considered the Bosque, 61, and others...but haven't "made" time for a bear hunt. Sure sounds fun!
