MuleyMadness Hunting Forums

Well I finally got around to posting about my first black bear hunt! My brother is heading to Mexico on a mission for two years, so my brothers and stepdad and I thought it'd be fun to do an out of state hunt together. We ended up going to Star Valley, WY and hunting with 5k Outfitters. I had been planning for quite a while, so I was excited to have the chance to develop a bear load for my 270 WSM. I bought some 140 gr. Accubonds and started shooting. When I saw this group at 100 yards, I was pretty confident I had found the right recipe: The bears in Star Valley have been a little slow coming out this year, but there were some pictures of good bears hitting the bait sites throughout the night. I only had a few days to hunt and met up with them half way through their hunt. It had been a tough couple of days for my brothers as the bears just weren't coming out. We were hunting some pretty awesome country: I headed out my first morning to sit over a bait site. I really enjoy being able to hunt all day and hike around, but sitting over a bait site all day had to have been one of the hardest things I've done. The forest was fairly dense, so there wasn't much to look at all day beside the bait barrel 94 yards away: We sat down at the site at 10:30 and I'll fast forward towards the end of the evening. We finally had a pine martin start messing around at the bait site. The guide I was with thought that was a good sign- they've had pics of him before and typically a bear would follow. After watching him for about 20 minutes, the pine martin took off. We both kept watching the barrel when I saw a bear's head move into my view! Game on and bring on the adrenaline! A big, cinnamon sow came into the site and was really enjoying the bait. After confirming no cubs were with her, I waited eagerly for a nice broadside shot. It seemed like forever (actually it was probably only 2 minutes) for her to turn broadside to me. My Tikka 270 WSM barked and we heard her crash only a few seconds later. I couldn't stop shaking for about 15 minutes after the shot. What a rush!

Without and cell service and with darkness approaching quickly, we hiked out of the canyon and got to the truck an hour later. I knew she was down for good and couldn't wait to retrieve her. The outfitters horses had other plans however (a gate in the pasture somehow was opened, so catching them was a nightmare), so I had to wait patiently until the morning to retrieve the bear.

Morning came and we saddled up quickly to ride into the bait site. We found the sow piled up only 30 yards from the bait site. The Accubond went right behind her shoulder and created massive shock. No wonder why she didn't make it too far. I was hoping I'd run into a big boar, but I couldn't be more happy. She had beautiful fur and was in great shape (roughly 3 or more inches of fat on her). The game warden estimated her to be at least 4 years old and thought she could be upwards of 5 or 6 years. He collected a couple molars and said I'll receive an email once they determine her actual age. Turns out that I was the only one to put a tag on a bear during our trip. One of my brothers had a nice boar come in, but the bear never offered a clean shot.

Great post and congrats. That's a great looking bear. No suprise regarding the Accubonds, they have always been accurate killers in my experience. I've heard some bad reports online but never seen of experienced any problems myself. Are you going to do a rug or mount?------SS

Cool stuff, looks and sounds fun. Never done it myself. Thanks for sharing, maybe next time for your partners.

Thanks guys! I'm planning on having a full mount done- Now I'm just trying to figure out which pose to go with!

Great story and nice looking sow. Too bad about the rest of your group, but on to Mexico (which mission?).

derekp1999 wrote:Great story and nice looking sow. Too bad about the rest of your group, but on to Mexico (which mission?).

Thanks Derek, He's headed to the Mexico City, North West mission- it'll be a bit of a change from SE Idaho!
P.S. still waiting to find out the WY deer results- ill keep you posted.

waspocrew wrote:He's headed to the Mexico City, North West mission- it'll be a bit of a change from SE Idaho!
P.S. still waiting to find out the WY deer results- ill keep you posted.

Very nice, my cousin returned this week from Mexico City South. I hope he loves soccer.

No worries, all my plans are pretty much solidified and scouting has started... cameras are up & I was hoping to have a chance to check them sooner but a business trip to Philadelphia is pushing me back an extra week. I should have pics about the same time you have results. Family was up there last weekend and saw TONS of deer. My brother said he could tell which bucks were going to be nicer because their antlers are growing out instead of up. Lots of moose around & it should be interesting to see how many fawns and calves we see this summer.