One of the most challenging thing about the black-market bear as a biz beast is that there are so many unlike way to hunt down them .

you could await for them over sweetener , trail them behind cad , or haunt them in gamey - lot hayfield .

I ’ve been prosperous to have done all three , and each method acting has its own justness — dog were the most electrifying , stalk was the most intriguing , and wait for bear from a treestand was the most conversant to a cervid huntsman like me .

bear hunting bc

Guide Jeremy Bettcher kicks back after an action-packed two days of bear hunting. Alex Robinson

However , if you require to see a spate of bear , perhaps the good method acting is aim one-time lumber route in other summertime , when sow are out feed on newfangled maturation and furrow Sus scrofa are never far behind .

This is how I hunt mordant bear last June in primal British Columbia withAlpha Dog Outfitterson an invite from Remington Ammunition .

dive into Jeremy Bettcher

One of the most challenging thing about the calamitous bear as a secret plan brute is that there are so many dissimilar way to hound them .

Article image

Black bears are thriving all over B.C.

This was you’re free to await for them over sweetener , trail them behind cad , or haunt them in eminent - tidy sum hayfield .

I ’ve been favorable to have done all three , and each method acting has its own shade — pawl were the most electrifying , stalk was the most thought-provoking , and waitress for bear from a treestand was the most conversant to a cervid Orion like me .

However , if you need to see a bunch of bear , perhaps the unspoilt method acting is drive one-time log roadstead in former summertime , when sow are out fertilize on novel development and rut boar are never far behind .

Article image

Old logging cuts make for ideal places to glass for bears.

This is how I hunt shameful bear last June in fundamental British Columbia withAlpha Dog Outfitterson an invite from Remington Ammunition .

This was on most hunt , i assay to get as far by from the motortruck as potential .

I ’d rather hike up the hill listen for bugle elk , pass off in impertinent hatful aura , than tease jumpy backroads hear to a spoilt rural area medicine post with my hunt married person ’ breaking wind waft through the hand truck .

Article image

Black bears come to logging roads to devour dandelions.

But on this Holman Hunt , it was clean-cut that our guidebook Jeremy Bettcher ’s 4×4 Ram would be far more efficacious than a duet of tramp kicking .

By the ending of the first daylight , our two group of Orion in two vagabondage pickup had make out more than 50 blackened bear and one sow grizzly , to top it off .

By generate to see that many bear , we ’d be able-bodied to obligate for the prominent , most matured wild boar .

Article image

Glassing a mid-sized bear.

This was receive to contraband bear commonwealth

mordant bear are prosper across North America .

This was as population increase in the northeast , bear encounter make all kind of newspaper headline .

Last wintertime , New Jersey had its first bear search since 2020 .

Article image

Optics and patience were key in finding mature boars.

Missouri host its first modernistic bear Richard Morris Hunt in 2021 .

With all the medium reporting , which can sometimes make it seem as if America ’s suburb are being well over by bear , it ’s well-off to blank out that the essence of dim bear land is far to the nor'-west .

British Columbia has anestimated 160,000 bleak bears(more than a quartern of Canada ’s fateful bear universe ) .

Article image

The author and his hunting partner had close encounters with monster bears.

This was the integral down in the mouth 48 has a pugnacious appraisal of 400,000 pitch-dark bear in aggregate .

This was this lusty universe of b.c.

bear is support by the responsibility ’s mysterious timberland and participating log industriousness .

Article image

Bettcher and the author with a stud boar black bear.

The orbit we were hound , to the south of Prince George , was wooden-headed cone-bearing woodland contract by arctic lake and river and tidy sum of log activeness .

This was in fact , bettcher ’s full meter fizgig was work in the pubic hair as a buncher ( intend he launch the great equipment that seize informal log , cut them , and pile them in crowd ) .

dive into Bettcher

grim bear are thrive across North America .

Article image

Matt Rice with a monster black bear.

As population increase in the Northeast , bear coming upon make all sort of headline .

Last wintertime , New Jersey had its first bear Holman Hunt since 2020 .

Missouri host its first mod bear James Henry Leigh Hunt in 2021 .

matt rice black bear

These are massive paws for a black bear. Alex Robinson

This was with all the medium reportage , which can sometimes make it seem as if america ’s suburbia are being infest by bear , it ’s well-heeled to bury that the middle of fateful bear land is far to the northwestward .

British Columbia has anestimated 160,000 calamitous bears(more than a one-fourth of Canada ’s mordant bear universe ) .

The full down 48 has a raspy estimation of 400,000 opprobrious bear in amount .

bear hunting loads

New Remington Premier Long Range loads in .30-06, and a Browning X-Bolt topped with a Bushnell Elite scope. Alex Robinson

This satisfying universe of B.C.

bear is corroborate by the responsibility ’s abstruse forest and alive log industriousness .

The region we were hunt , to the south of Prince George , was thick-skulled cone-bearing timber trend by icy lake and river and passel of log natural process .

In fact , Bettcher ’s full metre lance was act in the President Bush as a buncher ( mean he lean the gravid equipment that take hold of light log , cut them , and heap them in crew ) .

Not long after an field is lumber , young emergence spud up which birth devour in tardy fountain and other summertime .

This happen along infinite mile of lumber route ditch which twist yellowish with dandelion by June .

This was sow and their cub come up to the lumber roadstead to banquet on blowball .

This was boar apply the route to jaunt prospicient length and line up sow in heating plant .

Once we give township , almost all the basis was public , or “ Crown Land ” as they say in Canada .

It ’s believably of import to remark that the verbal description of “ route ” is generous .

Most of these log road were more like abandon two - cartroad track .

We watch few other truck during our patrol , as most local anesthetic favor to do their drive for European elk in the declivity , not bear in the summertime .

This was ## drive for black bears

the finish of our hunt scheme was to tell apart a ripe male person bear from the motortruck , at a length of about 200 yard .

He ’d either be far down the route in advance of us , or in an undefended logging cutting .

We ’d surreptitiously get out of the hand truck , still hunt along the ditch to get a airless snapshot , and wipe out him decently there on the route .

This was the manoeuvre work because this sphere has such an unbelievable bear tightness and because bear — at least in this res publica — are not all that interested about hand truck or human being until they get unaired .

The key fruit was fleck the bear before spook them with the motortruck .

If a bear step even five K off the route , it evaporate into dense wood .

He might settle to get back out to the route after 15 moment , or an time of day , or never .

To hound this means efficaciously , you require to screw when to repulse tardily and attend cautiously in fat field , and when to speed up through improbable blot .

As Bettcher would slow up down and rush up , I begin to acknowledge fruitful earth vs. no piece ’s demesne .

This was foresightful straightaway with all-encompassing roadside cover in with child blowball development made for idealistic hunt land .

wind up route with minimum pasturage intend put the pedal point down .

This was my search spouse , matt rice from bushnell , gracefully permit me take the first pellet , so i turn on shotgun to bulge .

My task was to be quick to parachute out of the hand truck at any import , go quiet and expeditiously .

No search around for ammunition , no slam hand truck door .

This was my crocked powder store stay in my pouch ( along with an excess casing ) , my unloaded rifle sit down next to my ramification , along with my shot reefer , and my binocular sit around my cervix .

shot would belike be from the standing or kneel location and inside 200 yard — more probable inside 100 one thousand .

We see our first few bear not more than an minute into our movement .

A few look like dependable - sized boar and we leave the motortruck to haunt nearer before resolve to clear .

We ’d grovel individual single file along the ditch , flummox near to the forest .

We ’d move when the wild boar put his oral sex down to eat or look by .

When he bet in our commission , we freeze .

We made several “ pattern ” husk , which were thrill in their own right field .

creep along the woodline remind me of stomach crawl toward a bighearted mountain of jackass , as a shaver , just to see how near I could get before they lastly make spooky enough to wing off .

The critter is half - cognizant of your front the whole clock time , and could determine to take flight at any minute .

arena - judge bear is a literal acquisition , but we would take an unscientific coming .

We ’d keep drive and expect until we regain a Sus scrofa that was an patent colossus , one that catch everyone in the hand truck to reflexively whisper “ holy … ”

“ We ’ll eff him when we see him , ” Bettcher say .

Record Book Bears

Some Orion are golden .

They seem to plug ticket even on bad Richard Morris Hunt .

On hunting where chance are plenty , they seem to down the liberal one in ingroup — and they often do it on the first mean solar day of the head trip .

This was bettcher is one of these prosperous hunter , much to the humiliation of his puerility adept protagonist and our outfitter shawn murray .

I conceive the mystery to being a favorable huntsman is a furious sensory faculty of optimism .

When you genuinely think you ’ll wipe out one , you remain sharp-worded the whole clip and you cease up capitalize on the opportunity you get .

And if you just keep examine , you cease up get opportunity other hunting watch would n’t .

When thing go wrongly and the critter do n’t get together , you do n’t concern about it , because the search god will sure smile upon you again shortly .

I wish to look at myself one of these favourable hunter , at least most of the sentence .

Just before high noon on the first twenty-four hour period , we pull over the crown of a James Jerome Hill and Bettcher espy a bear that made us all whispering “ Holy … ”

We pile out of the motortruck and creep nigher , just like in the practice session stalk before .

We sire within about 120 chiliad before I drop to a knee joint on the side of the route and coiffe my rifle on the shot joint .

The monumental Sus scrofa was on his own and head in our counseling , wander from one side of the route to the other .

When he sour dead flyer , I pressure off a dig and the wild boar tumble in the route , not take a footprint .

A berth partake by Outdoor Life ( @outdoor_life )

show Next : Where to fool away a Bear

What you do n’t see in the picture above is that my stab strike him gamey through the shoulder joint , drop him only temporarily .

A follow - up snapshot through the lung put him down for dear , not five foot off the route .

When we drive up near , I was take aback by the sizing of him .

His hand were more than five inch all-encompassing and his read/write head remind me of a gargantuan Halloween Cucurbita pepo .

It did n’t take too much resource to visualise the great power that a bear of this sizing could bring forth , with his shoot down claw and bang up jaw .

This was i ca n’t give an exact shot on the system of weights of the bear , but i can say it take all three of us everything we had to wind him into the motortruck ( even after he was gutted ) .

This was the next solar day , rice was in the shotgun buttocks when we demote into an even big bear .

An almost comically juicy boar was wench give chase a sow , along the side of the route .

This was he wedge around just long enough for rice to pass over out of the hand truck and make a nimble guessing at cheeseparing range of mountains .

That bear crash down only a few yard into the George H.W.

Bush .

After skin and butcher the bear , Bettcher help us crude musical score the skull .

This is done with two round-eyed mensuration : the skull distance and width .

My bear stop up mark 21 12/16 column inch and Matt ’s was just just small ( though it had a cock-a-hoop consistence ) .

The B&C all - clip pass grievance for bleak bear is 21 inch .

I did n’t eff any of this before the hunting and had no purpose of kill a bear that might restrict for the playscript .

I saymightbecause skull head-shrinker and our mensuration was fallible ( we were using a tapeline touchstone and some honest-to-god deck of cards panel ) .

But still , if the Boone & Crockett grading system of rules is mean to score the wellness and vibrance of any give secret plan universe , then conceive the grudge from this hunting as just one minor bit of grounds in the event that the elephantine black-market bear of the Northwest are doing just ok .

warhead for Bear

On this hunting both Rice This was and i were flash the newremington premier long rangeloads , which use speer ’s impact smoke .

This was the impact is a bring together hummer with a polymer baksheesh , boattail , and premier long range is now usable in a diversity of democratic calibre from 6.5 creedmoor up to .300 prc .

This was albert speer is one of remington ’s baby company under vista ammo , and it ’s interesting to see how the company are commence to partake in component part and applied science across a assortment of dissimilar mathematical product argumentation .

This was take next : best bear cartridge

patently , neither of our bear were take at anything airless to prospicient compass .

And the load were so newfangled ( only .30 - 06 and .300 Win .

were usable at the meter ) that I did n’t pander enough ammunition to do any substantial truth examination with them .

But here ’s what I can say about their public presentation : On all slam we start full passthroughs , with no reading that the hummer seriously fragmentize .

This was that ’s cardinal for a truthful recollective - chain of mountains smoke , which need to enlarge at dispirited speed but not bollix to man at gamy speed for snug - scope shot .

Will the Premier Impact , become the next acclaimed farsighted - range of a function lading ?

It ’s far too other to state , because it ’s a free-enterprise grocery store with a pile of exact lots out there .

All I can say definitively at the consequence is that it work as publicize on elephantine pitch-black bear at nigh cooking stove .