Brown bear hunt pics. Mount ideas?
Bears
This spring I went on a great hunt with Jonah Stewart, hunting brown bear on his baited hunt.
After sitting for alot of hours, I got my opportunity. When the bear showed up it was still a little too dark to shoot, I had to wait around 15 minutes for enough light to see my pin. When there was enough light that I could shoot the bear was angled towards me too much to take the shot. After a couple more minutes the bear adjusted his position and moved his front leg forward. My guide, Justin Roth, said there is your shot, anytime you are ready. I was amazed how calm I was considering the size of the animal that was 20 yards from me...
I drew, everything felt good, I settled the pin on the spot and triggered the realease. The arrow made the most solid, thud - swack type sound of any animal that I have ever shot. The bear rose on his hind legs to about 3/4 standing, growling, roaring and biting at his side. Just before he went back down on all fours he glared straight in the blind window, I'm guessing that he heard enough sound from the bow to think that whatever had just stung him came from that direction.
We saw him make 2 bounds, heard a couple sticks break then silence. I asked Justin what he thought of the shot, he said he couldn't see the hit because of the angle of the blind and asked my opinion. I told him I felt very good front to back and was sure I had stayed away from the shoulder, based on the fletch that I could see sticking out, if anything possibly 2 inches low, but I felt that it was a good shot.
We waited close to 2 hours before tracking, I replayed the shot in my mind a bunch of times, I was sure it was a good shot, but due to the type of animal that we were dealing with, I was feeling cautiously optimistic.
After the time had passed we got out to start tracking...
We found the back part of the arrow after a short distance, penetration looked good, we were able to follow his tracks, the ground was soft and he was sinking in a bit, there was a fair amount of blood from the entrance side. After 30 yards or so he started bleeding out both sides, then he left the trail and plowed through some head high weeds and small trees. Justin was in the lead, when he cleared the tall weeds, he raised his shot gun, I was relieved when he pointed it towards the ground. The bear had went about 80 yards total.
As he lay picture. Can also see where the broadhead poked out the off side, penetrating through the whole bear.
Congrats! Dream hunt right there.
Gene, congrats on the bear! Sounds like the guide was a case of "like father, like son" as no doubt he was trained by the best.
The shot placement ended up being fine, the angle that I was looking from gave the illusion of being a little low.
Kurt,
There is no doubt that he is just beginning in a long successful career, and I doubt there could be anyone better than Jonah for him to be working with. Jonah runs a top notch operation, is a great guy and is a very accomplished bowhunter.
Amazing. Congrats Gene. On my bucket list!! Hunt
For the mount ideas part of the title. The bear has very nice hair on the front half, but is thin on the back half. I had expected less than perfect hair from the day that I booked the hunt, so I wasn't surprised or disappointed in any way.
With the hair issue and the fact that I already have a full mount brown, I'm planning on some sort of half mount. Looking for creative ideas or pictures of half mount brown or grizzlies, if anybody has any to share.
The skull is at my local beetle guy, it is approx 16 1/2" x 9".
Nice bear and story, congratulations! I hunted with Jonah last June and arrowed a brownie, it also went about 80 yards after the shot. We waited three hours before tracking, and the bear was still when we found it. The hair on mine was so-so. I just had the hide tanned and of course kept the skull.
Congrats Gene...Great stuff. Jonah IS the man! I agree with the above poster on a creative 1/2 mount.
Congratulations Gene...Awesome! I will see if I can find some of the mounts I liked when doing my full mount of my arctic grizzly this past year with Dennis Razza. Mike
Congratulations Gene, First question for a mount is what kind of space do you have? What location do you want it in your house or?
well done. any more photos you could share of the hunt
Nice bear Gene!! Congrats!
That is some awesome stuff
I hadn't thought about the arrow in mount, sounds like a neat idea.
My current trophy room is over full, I have plans to build a bigger trophy room in the future, so i don't really have any size or location restrictions for the mount.
Bou, I slacked a little in the picture dept on this trip, I do have a few more pics that I will add.
Nicely done....your bear has decent belly hair for a "poodle bear". I would consider a 3/4 upright wall mount with arms relaxed in front.
Congrats on your bear, Gene!
I think one of the major things for me is money... trying to be a good steward of money.... to some this isn’t an issue.. I just checked on a full mount on a B&C black bear and guys here start at 5500.00 which is 2 spring bears hunts and some so off to tannery and I write story of hunt on tanned hide and pass on in family.
Is that monopoly money or real $$$$…..$5500 for a black bear lifesize is crazy....I wouldn`t spend that either.
I’d spend a fraction of the $5500 and get a rug, and spend the rest on another hunt.
Congrats on a great bear. Thanks for posting the pictures and story.
Twenty yards from the bait in a ground blind!! If he made it eighty yards that means he could have came and mauled you four times. Exciting stuff!! Congratulations on a very impressive bear and hunt.
With all the forms and adaptability you can get very creative with a half mount, especially with the good belly fur. Would be nice to show off at least one of the massive paws.
View from in the blind. The stick wasn't in the way for shooting, the pic is taken from a different angle. This was my first time using a blind with the see through walls, very nice to be able to see out more than one small shooting hole. And definitely helped getting more light inside during low light times.
Congrats on a beauty bear!
Congratulations on your awesome bear!!
I have always liked the half body/ shoulder mount with legs... The ones that looks like it is coming out of the wall.
Good luck on your mount!
Congrats Gene! That's a great bear!
Congrats! Awesome bear! I've seen some of those deer mounts where they are strapped on to an old wood frame backpack. Wonder how that would look with a nice bear?
Beautiful bear! Definitely a dream come true, congratulations!
Nice bear!! Cograts! And from a ground blind...Pretty exciting!
I am amazed the bears don't tear those blinds up when no one is around. I gave up leaving out pop-ups after having two trashed and re-trashed by black bears.
You said it was a see through blind. Is that the new Primos one?
He uses the portable electric fencers that run on D batteries with several strands of fence around the blinds.
Yes, it was the Primos see through blind
Wow! 20y from that beast?! MUST have been exciting! ;-) Congrats!
Also must have had the adrenaline pumping tracking it in that thick growth!
Just curious Gene- what part of Alaska?
Roughly 100 miles southwest of Wasilla
Are they still considered coastal brown bears there?
Wow! Never knew they inhabited so far inland! Thanks for the map Gene.
Congrats! Great lookin bear Gene!!!
The skull is back from the beetle guy and it came out great.
The official PnY is 25 10/16"
The hide is at the taxidermist and definitely has enough good hair for a good half mount. The form the closest in size is ordered and will be customized for pose.
Not a bad bear Gene! Huge congrats!
Gene
Nice bear. Hope all is good with you. Cody has to be getting pretty old now. LOL!!
this is so neat. well done
