This is a long story, so I'll tell it. There may be blood in the pictures, so if you're offended please skip them.
I wasn't expecting to take time off work this month nor spend any extra money, but after 86er announced an opening in the black bear hunt this year I decided to go for it. Who knows where I'll be next year? Seize the day.
I couldn't decide which gun to take. I was torn between my Browning 1886 .45-70 rifle, my Winchester .30-30 trapper, my Winchester (Mikuro) 1892 .45 Colt rifle, my B-92 in .44 magnum, or my trusty Ruger Mark II all weather in .308 Winchester. I eliminated the .44 magnum and .45 Colt early on. If I was taking a handgun along, one of those would have been the pick. The guide told me to bring the .308 since it was scoped, but I REALLY wanted to use my .45-70 levergun. As I was packing my bags I chose the .308: it was stainless (and rain was a distinct possibility), it was scoped (in case I decided to call some coyotes while I was in Maine) and it would hurt my feeling the least if the airline lost or destroyed it. I'd never flown with a gun before and was nervous about it.
I loaded some .308 rounds using R-P brass, 42.0 grains of AA 2460 powder, CCI 200 primers, and Hornady 165 gr GMX bullets. (more on that later)
I read up on bear behavior and studied bear anatomy in the three weeks before my hunt. I knew the average black bear shot over bait was 150 pounds and most were under 200. I also learned that sows seldom got over 350 due to the stress of bearing and nursing young every year. I told the guide I just wanted to make sure I didn't shoot a cub, a yearling, or a sow with cubs. He told me that anything (without cubs) was shootable if it stood taller than the hole in the side of the bait barrel.
I washed all my clothes in scent-away and sealed them in plastic bags-including my hat. I wore a 3/4 face mask and light gloves to hide my white hands and watch face. The only skin visible was my eyes and nose, and I used a small amount of face paint on that area.
On hunting day, the guide took me to the stand. I thought he was lost. There was no path. You couldn't see 25 feet in any direction. When we got to the bait site, there was a narrow lane between the stand and the bait barrel-about 45 yards. away. I was excited as I'd never hunted black bear before. The guide told me shooting hours ended at 7:33 and it would be dark long before that. It was 2 days before the new moon.
For four hours I watch nine thousand (more or less) squirrels fight over the bait. To me they looked like ground squirrels with no stripes, but the Mainers call them red squirrels. A couple of ravens took turns chasing the squirrels away so they could steal some bait. I knew I was camouflaged well when a raven landed in a branch about 8 feet from me and never knew I was there.
About 6 o'clock i saw two racoons behind the barrel. One sniffed the air and took off like a scalded rabbit. I thought I was busted!
Soon, I heard some noises out in the woods that sounded like a bigger animal than any coon or squirrel. The squirrels scrammed and slowly came back over the next 10 minutes. At about 6:20 I heard the noise of a stump or log being ripped open. Was that a bear looking for bugs?
About 45 minutes later the coons came back with three healthy friends. There were 4 fat coons in the bait barrel and the 5th was fighting to get in. I thought I'd never see a bear with all that racket going on.At 7:15 it was getting dark. I checked my scope and I could still see fine through it. At 7:25 it was very dark and I was beginning to ponder my task of finding my way through the woods to the pickup sight. My eyes were beginning to play tricks on me. The shadows were dancing and this was exacerbated by the 5 coons moving around. I looked through my scope and I could barely make out the barrel, but I could make it out. I have been sitting in the stand for 4 hours and I was not going to get down 8 minutes early, especially after sitting on a plane for so many hours the day before. I kept looking through my scope and glancing at my watch, making sure that I did not shoot after legal hours. It was getting darker and darker as 7:33 approached. At 7:29 I heard a branch snap.
A loud snap. "Here he comes." I said. I readied my rifle and took the safety off very carefully so it would make no noise. I kept my finger off the trigger-it has a crisp 2.5 pound pull and I didn't want any premature discharges.At 7:30 a huge black blob came from my left. It charged in like a bull. I tried to see how tall it was compared to the bait barrel, but I couldn't see the barrel
It was moving so fast I thought, "I'll never get a clean shot." it ran past the barrel then turned back and stuck it's head in the bait hole.BOOM.
The bruin was down. I immediately chambered another round (the reloader in me saying, "I'm gonna lose that piece of brass
)BOOM. I shot again, not wanting to make a rookie mistake and let the bear get his feet under him. If he ran 200 yards in that thicket, he would most likely be gone since we had no dogs to track with.
I chambered another round. The bear was kicking. I was sure I had two good hits on him, but I added a 3rd insurance round. BOOM I was NOT going to tell a story about the one that got away.
Was he still kicking or was it my imagination? All I could see with the naked eye was black blobs dancing.
I waited a few seconds, took the live round out of the chamber but left 2 rounds in the magazine and got down from the stand. I had to use my flashlight to get the the bait site without tripping. There he was. He looked big to me but I didn't want to jinx it. The first round broke his spine, right between in front of the shoulders. He hit the ground and rolled slightly to the right. The second went in to the left of the first and cut his carotid artery or jugular vein. He rolled farther to the right. The third went in right behind his left shoulder, separating it.
The guide had heard me shoot (he was waiting to pick me up when I came out of the woods) and he made a quick trip to the bait sight. I think it was 30 seconds before he said a word. "That's a big bear." Then there was silence again for another 30 seconds.
We left the bear to go pick up the other hunters from the woods. Then came back with a 4 wheeler, a sled, a chain saw, and some help. It took us till midnight to get him out of the woods and into the cooler. Next day we took him to the tagging station. Then we took him back to the cooler. He weighed 363 dressed. The guide added 20 percent and that put him at 435. A more conservative estimate would be to add 15 per cent which would make him have an estimated live weight of 418. It took us till noon the next day to get him skinned and quartered. I brought home the hindquarters and backstraps and the guide took the front shoulders. It was very expensive to bring that much bear meat home on the plane, but I'm going to enjoy every tasty morsel of it (and try not to think about my taxidermy bill.)
I'll post more on bullet performance later.
Earlier I couldn't understand why the bear charged in so fast. He was chasing off the racoons. I had completely forgotten about them once the bear was on my mind. I am glad I was not a coon in the barrel when that guy showed up and poked his head in my only exit.
If anybody thinks $675 is took much for a bear hunt, this tightwad disagrees. The amount of work involved in baiting the sites every day for 3 weeks before season, retrieving and taking care of the animal, and dropping off/picking up hunters is immense. I recommend this bear hunt to any one who has ever thought about it. Contact 86er to get booked for future hunts.
There is a song out about "da turdy point buck" that mentions something similar
Congrats on the monster... sized bear, bill and memories. 
) Soon I will take it out to the range to re-zero for these GMX rounds I loaded. I like to set my sights for maximum point blank range using an 8" vital zone. For the Remington 150 gr Core-Loks that put me 4" low at ~300 yards. My range will be a little less for these.
I hate them, but I didn't build this house. I don't understand why the people who did pinched pennies in some places and spent extra in others (2x6 exterior walls on a single story). I think the had big dreams of adding an additional story someday, but it would be cheaper to build a new house as they didn't make any allowances for an additional story other than the exterior walls. It would require a complete gutting and do-over. I'm close to retirement and thinking my next career might be out of a home office. What an excuse for a big office with a vaulted ceiling! And if I plan ahead I can leave room for a Kudu and gemsbok 
