# Bear hunt with dogs the last year we can. 350+lbs



## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

I would love to say I called it in but we had the help of four walker hounds. Check out the huge black bear my son got on a hunt we were able to go on. With dogs in Tuolomne county in northern California 11/1/12 He shot it from 90 plus yards across a canyon on the run. It never treed. It was kept at bay two other times and we couldn't get to it. The third time of a run for it the very large boar decided to run thru a four foot almost round clearing. It crossed in the 8 ft high heavy brush, my son had busted off alot of the brush in front of him and left a y in the branch in front of him and was following the bear along best he could. He saw the dogs were clear and took the shot. I was sitting on the steep hillside on some exposed roots as a tiny bench with a back-up shot that I didn't have to take. Jessie III made the shot of a life time with the three of use watching. The damage his shot did just behind the shoulder, from his great Grandfathers lever-action 308 Savage with the older 180 grain real silver tips didn't need my back-up. He dropped it like a rock and it never moved again. Mike, my buddy with the dogs, said, "This is the biggest bear I've seen this year." We were in heavy brush for 1/4 mile getting to the point the shot was fired and had to back pack the meat, head and hide out for another 1/2 mile 1/4 of it was on our hands and knees.Nastiest brush I have ever been in. We loved every minute of it.Take a look and hope ya like it. Please note the hump on the back of this bear. It is a black California bear that has the resemblance of a Grizzly bear. One word; Sensational!


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Congrats. on the hunt and thanks for the story and pictures.


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## youngdon (Mar 10, 2010)

Congrats to you and your son Jessie ! Fantastic !


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

Thankx Guys,
I have to add the terrain was so steep by the time we got to the bear we had all fallen at least once.from the trucks it was made clear now one was to have any ammunition in the barrel. We all agreed it was the safest. One of the times I fell I stuffed my barrel in the ground ( not on purpose) I was going down hill soooooo fast I was glad to fall. We were a great bunch of guys. Anybody fell and you were quickly asked if you were ok. I had to double knot my laces midway down and my bolt had been grabbed by brush and the firing pin released. It was all I could do to reset it by hand. I just took a very deep breath and gave it all I had. All of this was while keeping up.
The brush was a foot and a half over our heads so if you couldn't keep up with the guy in front of you them you found yourself saying "Give me voice, where are ya and then follow the sound.If you didn't keep up and lost the trail ya couldn't use the trail that was broke for you. Mike, the owner of the dogs, broke trail the entire time. Impressive! After the second Baying by the hounds we also knew it was a large Bear as Mike thru his swarovski's and me thru my 16x scope saw it's head one time when it lunged and pawed at the dogs. We both saw it. With the three inches of lighter brown on it's nose we both turned looking at each other and said, "That's a huge bear." Until then we had only seen a few flash glimps of the bruin. Mike and I both have dog hunting experience but all of us were delighted that bear went down quick. The dogs all had some scapes but all of it was normal wear and tear. Still off the charts!


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

Congrats to you both Jessie ! Sounds like the hunt of a lifetime. That bear is awesome. Glad you didn't get hurt too. No need to be laid up when you're retired. LOL


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

*Thankx T-Bones44,*
I am still sore. My son is too. Let me keep adding to what happened. With all of us done taking pictures we got it hided out, quarted up, and the back straps in a pack. We headed down the dry creek bed with the dogs leashed. Good lord. How's the shoulder? It held up fine. The Dr. told me from the start he said I rebuilt it. I didn't patched it. He said If you can stand the pain it will hold up. It did. We all have bruises from the straps on the backpacks. Not so much from the 90 lbs of meat in the pack but from the times we'd get hung up and just head down and push thru it. We had about 3/8 of a mile to go once we go to the bear may more. The hard parts were because alot of it was on our knees; We were offing the packs & dragging them. And Mike and I had the dogs Then when we got down to highway 120 our ride was not there. Bob had given up on us. He had left and gone back up to the top thinking we couldn't make it down thru the heavy brush. Oh My God, going back up was not an option. Eventually we go picked up. We were all uninjured and happy to be sittin on our butts with the backs off. Everybody was out of water. We were all happy though. Oh, and Bob had stopped and got us a bunch of ice cold beers and gatorades. Everyone of us had the gatorade. Windows down and heads out the windows. Camoran road in the back. His choice. We handed him a gatorade thru the back window n meshed rack.


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## Weasel (Jun 18, 2012)

Great replay and photos of a BIG California bear. Having been California born and hunting many years in CA I fully understand what you had to go through in that thick brush. I have been crawing through it 2-3 feet off the ground and still had 6 feet of it over my head. Your entire crew really earned that bear!!!!


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## gentlemanJ (Oct 20, 2012)

Wow!! One hellofahunt fellas. Thats wutcha call earnin it. Thers an app u can get on ur fone so yall can gps each of your positions rite on your fone. It helps in time of injuries and miscommuications. I know most folks dont care for luxuries on the hunt,but when ur hurt, exhausted or jst plain aggrivated it can be real usefull. I keep it for this but was introduced to it when i really started getting into dirt bikes. Congrats


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## azpredatorhunter (Jul 24, 2012)

Congrats on your bear...


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

Good one Weasel, been there too. Pig hunting at it finest. The dogs ran in the 2 foot zone. Forget about the lease. Lets see if I can post some other photos. The caped out hide all salted down.I taped out to 7' from snout to tail and 7' from paw to paw. He's one with Mike and his dogs:


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

[sup]gentalmenJ, I do have a app I used for the first time. It tracked the whole hunt. We dropped down 1100 feet and were rigth around 3000 ft high and it showed me a google map veiw in real time. It is the "My Tracks" app. I happened to load it the night before we went. I had never tied anything like it. What is the app your favoring?[/sup]


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

Thankx AZPREDATOR, I have a couple more pics let me kick'em down. Here's another paw.shot


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

The hardest thing for me was _not shootting it myself_. Waiting for my son to get on it and take the shot. I had the head in my sights twice if not more. I was like a cat looking out the window at a fat bird. I was chattering at the Jaws. Whisking my tail. I'm tell'n ya.


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## prairiewolf (Feb 19, 2012)

Thats a big black bear ! Tell your son Conratulations !


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

Right on, My son would say thankx Prairiewolf. I will make sure he reads the post. We did not have to take pictures close to the bear with us in the distance to make it look big. We just took pictures. Big Bear. I am getting the hide tanned. I have to take it tomorrow.


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## knapper (Feb 5, 2010)

Steep slops and lots of thick brush always adds to a hunt to remember. Another saying is "If you already have done it, its not bragging". This is one of those times.


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

[sub]Good and valid point Knapper. I wanna try calling in this area again and see if I can't call one in. We had called in this very area the day before. but there was a two things that didn't help. 1. It was a full moon night and they were out eating all night long. Once they bedded down they slept thru like babies. 2. There was a storm that had come in and I think that kept everything tucked in too. [/sub]


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## hassell (Feb 9, 2010)

Eyemakecalls2 said:


> [sub]Good and valid point Knapper. I wanna try calling in this area again and see if I can't call one in. We had called in this very area the day before. but there was a two things that didn't help. 1. It was a full moon night and they were out eating all night long. Once they bedded down they slept thru like babies. 2. There was a storm that had come in and I think that kept everything tucked in too. [/sub]


 Ya that full moon will screw up hunting any kind of animals, when bears are hungry they won't be effected by the weather, in fact some of the worst weather that I've hunted in I pretty well always run into a bear somewhere.


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

Hassel, I wounder if that has been a subject of our forum. Great information. I rarely get skunked and I didn't call in anything all day. I don't really want to admit that!


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

That paw pic really shows how big that thing is ! That would be so cool to even participate in. Glad you guys had such a great time and your shoulder held up !


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

*Thankx T-bones44. I was the best! It would have been great to have you along for sure. Heck we would have loved to have put 60lb of meat in your backpack.*

*I must tell you guys this about my son. My son and I never talked about this but I want to tell a brief story about my son. When he was about 4 yrs old I took him Christmas tree hunting. While treking around in the snow we came across tracks in the snow made by a bear! My son got really upset. Sooo much so that we went back to my Grandparents house empty handed. I always remembered that time and I think it has hampered my sons abilities in the field. When the chance to go on this bear hunt I recalled that time and those terrifing tracks so many years ago.So when we went I had a second agenda. This is what really happened. After Jessie III fired the shot and we got down to the bear. We were all in awe at the size, shot placement, how heavy it looked. Even the dogs were still checking it out. I asked my son," How big is that paw?" He looked down and lifted it up by grabbing a handful of the fur and turned its paw upwards and his face lit up at how huge it was ( I thought what he said was odd at first, but it makes perfect sense.) He said,"We're good!" I think he actually said "This bear's paw is even bigger than the one that has haunted me all those years at Christmas. Did he somehow just face the other bear from so long ago?" I think so. *


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## bones44 (Jan 7, 2011)

HAHA Good story there Jesse. I remember when I was young being afraid going out in the morning for deer rifle seasons. We'd trudge through the swamps early and come out for lunch and there'd be bear tracks in ours. Always gave me the chills. I realized when I got older how curious they really are. They're not even close to the size you guys have but fun to see. I'll be your pack mule anytime buddy.


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## glenway (Mar 27, 2011)

Great recount and photos, EMC2! You are a lucky man to have been able to make such memories with your son - and, he with his father. This is one hunt that will never end with the kill shot.


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

T-bones, you'd be front lines with me for certain!


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## Eyemakecalls2 (Apr 13, 2011)

Glenway, We are both extremely greatful. Absolutely! Thanks for chiming in.


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