PA bear..... *pics


Strut10

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Shot this guy this morning at 7:15 A.M. on the first drive. I was a driver. Right at the end of the first leg of a 3-part drive I saw him walking out in front of me. One well-placed shot (about 6" right of the tail) downed him on the spot.......except for a bit of a roll downhill. Live weight was 677 lbs. and dressed at 574 lbs. The skull green scores 21 3/4".

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Re: PA bear..... *pics

Hey all!! Thanks for the nice words. wink.gif

I got this bear in northern Indiana County, PA.......just two ridges over from my dad's house. A little more of the story:

The first drive of the morning was in 3 parts, working our way up a valley. Mostly looked more like pheasant country except for a really thick hillside and a couple spruce patches. The first leg of the drive was a super steep hillside that had been pines but was clearcut about 8-10 years ago. It's only about 75 yards from top to bottom with a beanfield on top and mostly pasture below. Three of us took the hillside around with my brother flanking the top in the beanfield. Total length of the thick hillside is maybe 300 yards. We came through and about 60 yards from the end of the grown-up clearcut I walked across a huge bed that was well established. Did not look to me like it had been freshly used, though. I yelled up to the other two guys what I'd seen and just kept pushing forward. I had gone about 30 yards from there when I look out in front about 40 yards and see a black thing rolling from side to side. Immediately I thought "bear!!" and threw the rifle to shoulder, stopped and double-checked myself. Yep. Bear......walking straight away from me. I looked through the scope and a tree was in the way so I sidestepped one step and could get the hairs clearly on the middle of what I could see of the back of the bear. When I fired, he disappeared. I turned to run down the hill and got caught in grapevines and multiflora. So I twisted/rolled about 10 yards down and got out on to a grass road that followed the bottom of the hill. I ran toward where I thought he should be but saw nothing. When I stopped, I could hear brush cracking in front. I threw the rifle up again but still saw nothing. Then I saw some goldenrod moving at the base of the hill and over a small hump. So I circled wide right and down the hill a bit. Then I could see him laying all piled up. My brother and the other two drivers came down and the celebration followed. Then the other guys finished out the 2nd and 3rd legs of the drive (which netted a 285 lb. bear) while I went to get my Jeep and hitch-hauler. It took 9 men to lift the field dressed bear a foot up on to the hitch hauler!! shocked.gif Of the 1461 bears checked in yesterday in PA, mine was 2nd largest. A 693 pounder was also shot yesterday in the state. I gotta give a lot of credit to the Skunk Hollow Bear Gang for all the help they gave me yesterday. I'd never have been able to deal with the bear without them. Thanks guys!!!

THE SKUNK HOLLOW BEAR GANG

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This big old guy is on his way to being a bearskin rug. I stayed while the taxidermist skinned him out. The hide alone (no head, just the skin) weighed 96 lbs.

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