Didn't tag a bull this year, but sometimes, you just never know...I tagged this...

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waffentomas

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An unsuccessful elk hunt this year, sad to say. An Indian Summer in Idaho made for some of the most unfavorable conditions ever. Dry, hot and noisy. We could've killed a hundred cows, but the bulls were sly and sneaky as ever.

My hunting partner and I me up under a large rock face for a little lunch and to plan the rest of the days hunt when out of nowhere a beautiful brown bear ran by. Technically an Ursus Americanus, this 300 lb. sow wasn't 15 feet away until she saw us. Wow! Bears are amazingly fast!! In the time it took me to see her, get up, flick off safe and fire, she was a good 25 yards away. Loaded up on berries and fat, this little girl tastes mighty fine.

I'm the ugly one on the right - my buddy - the uglier one on the left.

Rifle: Weatherby Vanguard .308 Win.
Scope: Nikon Monarch Gold 2.5 x 10 x 50mm
Load: 180gr Failsafe over 44gr of WW 748

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By waffentomas at 2008-11-07

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By waffentomas at 2008-11-07
 
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Nice bear. . .cook that meat well. Most diagnosed cases of trichenellosis come from undercooked bear meat. . .I know, it takes the fun out of a nice med-rare steak.

Nice 10mm article, BTW. I heading into the 10mm realm myself.
 
Never had brown bear (never seen a live one for that matter) but black bear is delicious.

Yeah, put up a picture of the rifle. Always like some good gun porn.
 
Bear tag was a special draw, it was $400 for out of state.

She ran up on us as we were talking about how we were going to try and find the bull we saw earlier. We think she was booking it away from another hunter in our party when she ran up, saw us - about 15 FEET away and ran. Now you have to do the math...she saw us and RAN away... Bears are fast, too. My buddy said "Tom, shoot that bear!"

By the time I dropped my animal crackers, picked up my rifle and fired, she was movin'. I really tried to time the shot as she bounded to hit 1/2 down the back either on the spine, or near it, with penetration to the heart, but I blew it and shot her 2" right of her bunghole...Texas heart shot.

She was dead by the time I ran up to her. Bullet penetrated across her spine underneath and lodged in the left front shoulder. I found a piece of one petal in her spinal cord, on a lucky guess. Interestingly, the bullet did not open any of her stomach or intestines, and only clipped one lung. It did sever a major artery. Recovered bullet weighed 177gr. and expanded only to .49", but the massive penetration of the Failsafe busted her up.

Can't wait to get the hide back from the taxidermist.

Tom
 
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