***OFFICIAL*** 2023 SUMMER BEAR THREAD

I went scouting today. I was hoping to find the tracks of a big Eastern bear. Instead, I found this mingled in with some average to small coyote tracks:

IMG_1986.jpeg
 
Had a helluva lucky hunt with an outfit out of Manitoba CA, this past Sept. Shot a chocolate color phase boar at 60 yards on the third night (9/12/23, ~7:40pm) with a Ruger M77 in 30-06 (180grn Core-Lokt). Was watching a sow and cub feed on the bait station when the boar came charging in to take over the bait. I don't have a ton of bear hunting experience and I recall thinking his color looked a little "odd" but it was in the thick timber/cover with the shadows getting long. Plus he was bigger than any bear I had seen and I was more worried about making a good shot. When he offered me an ideal standing broad side I sent a 180grn welcome package through the boiler room. He ran 30-ish yards and piled up. I knew where he was but due to the undergrowth I couldn't see him from the stand.

Messaged my guide and when he got there we headed over to collect the bear. I knew it was a good bear but I didn't know he was a chocolate until the guide excitedly exclaimed "Do you know what you done? Did you know you shot a chocolate?!?". Honestly I thought I was in trouble until he explained to me how special this animal was. When we got back to camp the Outfitter was surprised/excited as well. I was on a stand in the middle of the Outfitter's operations (nearly 30 square miles with dozens and dozens of cameras all over) and he had no pictures of this bear anywhere on any of his cameras. Top it all off, the northern lights appeared that evening.

Approx live weight ~404# (game scale at the outfitters), hide squared out at ~6.75 (~78" nose to tail, ~84" claw to claw) per taxidermist. Waiting on the skull to come back from the beetle cleaner to get a measurement. In-The-Woods pic was right after we first walked up on the downed bear, the northern lights were that evening, and the Hoisted and Staged photos were taken the following morning at camp.
 

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gradeAchuck said:
Had a helluva lucky hunt with an outfit out of Manitoba CA, this past Sept. Shot a chocolate color phase boar at 60 yards on the third night (9/12/23, ~7:40pm) with a Ruger M77 in 30-06 (180grn Core-Lokt). Was watching a sow and cub feed on the bait station when the boar came charging in to take over the bait. I don't have a ton of bear hunting experience and I recall thinking his color looked a little "odd" but it was in the thick timber/cover with the shadows getting long. Plus he was bigger than any bear I had seen and I was more worried about making a good shot. When he offered me an ideal standing broad side I sent a 180grn welcome package through the boiler room. He ran 30-ish yards and piled up. I knew where he was but due to the undergrowth I couldn't see him from the stand.

Messaged my guide and when he got there we headed over to collect the bear. I knew it was a good bear but I didn't know he was a chocolate until the guide excitedly exclaimed "Do you know what you done? Did you know you shot a chocolate?!?". Honestly I thought I was in trouble until he explained to me how special this animal was. When we got back to camp the Outfitter was surprised/excited as well. I was on a stand in the middle of the Outfitter's operations (nearly 30 square miles with dozens and dozens of cameras all over) and he had no pictures of this bear anywhere on any of his cameras. Top it all off, the northern lights appeared that evening.

Approx live weight ~404# (game scale at the outfitters), hide squared out at ~6.75 (~78" nose to tail, ~84" claw to claw) per taxidermist. Waiting on the skull to come back from the beetle cleaner to get a measurement. In-The-Woods pic was right after we first walked up on the downed bear, the northern lights were that evening, and the Hoisted and Staged photos were taken the following morning at camp.
Click to expand...
Congrats on a great looking bear!
 
gradeAchuck said:
Had a helluva lucky hunt with an outfit out of Manitoba CA, this past Sept. Shot a chocolate color phase boar at 60 yards on the third night (9/12/23, ~7:40pm) with a Ruger M77 in 30-06 (180grn Core-Lokt). Was watching a sow and cub feed on the bait station when the boar came charging in to take over the bait. I don't have a ton of bear hunting experience and I recall thinking his color looked a little "odd" but it was in the thick timber/cover with the shadows getting long. Plus he was bigger than any bear I had seen and I was more worried about making a good shot. When he offered me an ideal standing broad side I sent a 180grn welcome package through the boiler room. He ran 30-ish yards and piled up. I knew where he was but due to the undergrowth I couldn't see him from the stand.

Messaged my guide and when he got there we headed over to collect the bear. I knew it was a good bear but I didn't know he was a chocolate until the guide excitedly exclaimed "Do you know what you done? Did you know you shot a chocolate?!?". Honestly I thought I was in trouble until he explained to me how special this animal was. When we got back to camp the Outfitter was surprised/excited as well. I was on a stand in the middle of the Outfitter's operations (nearly 30 square miles with dozens and dozens of cameras all over) and he had no pictures of this bear anywhere on any of his cameras. Top it all off, the northern lights appeared that evening.

Approx live weight ~404# (game scale at the outfitters), hide squared out at ~6.75 (~78" nose to tail, ~84" claw to claw) per taxidermist. Waiting on the skull to come back from the beetle cleaner to get a measurement. In-The-Woods pic was right after we first walked up on the downed bear, the northern lights were that evening, and the Hoisted and Staged photos were taken the following morning at camp.
Click to expand...
UPDATE: Got the skull back from the beetle cleaner. Rough score of approx. 19 and 3/8th inches (~12 3/8" length, ~7" width). Measured using a metal two foot ruler and some blocks of wood. Got a buddy that has a large caliber scale in his shop and I'll take it over there to get a more accurate measurement.
 

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