Idaho bear success

[35cal]

I went up to Idaho from Utah. After 3 days and hiking 30 miles, I called this guy in while hunting a closed road. He rounded the bend 20 yards away about 10 minutes after I stopped calling. He never saw me. One shot from my .338 federal with 210 gr partition handloads and he growled and ran across the road and fell on his back and bellowed. I had given up hope of seeing a bear and he just showed up out of the blue. It happened so fast I couldn’t believe it. I started trying to call bears after reading Doug Boze’s book, “no bait, no dogs, just bears” and “the ultimate guide to black bear hunting”. He gives so much more information on bear sign than any other book I’ve read. I’d been trying to get a bear in Utah for years but we just don’t have the numbers down here. It was a much bigger bear than I expected to get and boar to boot.

 

[Crumb]

Congrats, looks like the 338 did the job!

 

[Muskeez]

Dandy, COngrats! That had to be an exciting 5 seconds.

 

[35cal]

Thanks! Those 5 seconds are burned into my memory. It was unreal. Getting him made into a rug and having his meat processed. Packed the hide down in the dark and came back at 4am to get get the meat. Two trips for the meat. His stomach only had grass in it. He hadn’t started hitting baits it seems.

 

[Losing_Sanity]

Nice Bear! 210grn Left quite a hole...

 

[kansasdad]

Close encounters of the bruin kind.

Congratulations

 

[35cal]

Yeah, that’s the exit. I wanted something that would give me two holes for tracking in timber. My primary rifle was a .375 Ruger Alaskan with 235 gr speers. I got tired of carrying it after 3 days n switched to the lighter handier rifle. I use the the .375 load for elk here in Utah and it kills at long range really well.

 

[35cal]

Hannibal also gave me a lot of priceless info on hunting bears in this region. If I were looking for bears in this unit like I look for bears in Utah, I would’ve wasted my time. Bears are lower in spring in Idaho and closer to roads than I would’ve guessed. Picking his brain made a big difference in where I started looking and calling

 

[Khunter]

Nicely done. Congrats!

 

[ashersdad]

That's awesome! I've tried calling bears several times but never had any luck. I'll be headed to Idaho next week so I think I'll give calling a try again. Thanks for sharing.

 

[35cal]

I called a lot. I’d do cottontail for an hour, then move and do jackrabbit, then move and do fawn. 45 mins to an hour. If ravens showed up, I felt good, like I was convincing. It got discouraging after three days then BAM

 

[BAKPAKR]

Congrats! You got yourself a nice bear. I have called in a couple of bears and it can get pretty exciting.

 

[SG25]

Awesome bear! Congrats!

 

[gjensen]

Great bear! Congrats. One day all the stars will align and a bear will come in to my calling!!

 

[TheGrayRider]

Congratulations on your accomplishment. Nothing like spring bear hunting. Did you have an Idaho OTC tag?

 

[35cal]

Yup. A reduced tag.

 

[el unit]

Nice work! Very cool.

 

[sharpshooter97]

Nice! An Idaho black bear is on my list of trips

 

[elkrchr]

Congrats on a nice Idaho bruiin!

 

[Scarey]

Well done on a successful hunt!