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Author Topic: Childhood Dreams Tim Behle Administrator MacNeal Sector Member # 209 posted September 20, 2003 08:07 AM                       Ever since I was a little kid, I have always been filled with the dream of someday taking off into the mountains. I wanted to spend a few days camping out and spend all of my time hunting some type of big game. I recently got the chance for my dreams to come true, and my game of choice was Black Bear. I’ve spent the better part of the last year working on getting a rifle shooting well. If the only shot I got was across the canyon, I didn’t want to have to pass it up. So I read al I could find on shooting long range, then put everything into practice here at home. With the bullet and load I finally settled on, I was ready for a shot out to 800 yards, in a moderate wind. For the last couple of months, I’ve been spending all of my time finding new access roads into the unit I was to hunt. For the last month, I’ve been dragging the kids and wife out scouring the mountains for bear sign and food that bears will eat. The food selection this year is really down, we never got the rains this summer that we so desperately need here in the desert. Juniper berries were few and far between, manzanita was only a little more frequently found. Most of the bear poop I found was thick with Prickly pear fruit, and mixed with a few mesquite beans. So I headed to areas with plenty of prickly pear. Narrowed my search down to a couple of locations, then spent last weekend out walking with the kids and the wife in these areas. I settled on a beautiful valley with prickly pears growing on the hillsides, large shady trees growing in the wash running down the center and a stock tank with water less than a half a mile away. My scouting had told me that at least two grown bears were spending most of their time in this area. Thursday night, I took off of work early; the truck was already loaded up with everything but the coolers, so I threw them in and headed out the door. Telling my family not to expect me home until after dark on Sunday night. For the past week, my stomach tore me apart, I was so nervous and excited about my chance to finally get out and make this hunt. I got into my chosen camping area and got things set up with a half an hour of daylight to spare, so I took a little walk and chose a hillside to sit and glass from in the morning. Friday morning finally came and I was up and ready to go ten minutes before it was light enough to see the ground. There was also and evil breeze blowing that was going to carry my scent from the hill I planned to hunt right over the valley I expected to see bears in. So I made a quick change in plans, and walked a short half a mile to another hillside. Set out my JS512 caller and backed up to a bush. I glassed for a little while, and then hit the start button on the remote. My Mother would probably tell you that it’s not a bad fault to have. But unfortunately, I have a hard time lying to someone when asked a direct question. Mix that in with some people too lazy to do their own scouting, instead relying on others to find sign and tell them about it, and you end of with a disaster and some real pissed off feelings. Three minutes into my tape, I hear a vehicle coming. I stopped the tape and watched another hunter pass right past me hell bent for election. As he fades out of hearing, I can hear hounds making their way over a ridge a mile or more to the East. The wind had stopped blowing by this time, so I picked up my things and went back to the area I had originally wasted to hunt from. There is a little dim road than runs though the area, that is easy to miss if you are standing in it, so I though I might be safe there. I got set up and settled in and watched for about 30 minutes when a bear made his way up out of the wash and started working his way along the prickly pears. Nipping at a fruit here and there, sniffing at those not quite ripe. I settled the crosshairs on him, in easy range, just over two hundred yards out. But held my fire, he was still walking in my direction, and better than that, he was heading for the little dim road, that I thought I might be able to drive my truck down. At 125 yards, he stopped to check out a prickly pear while standing in the road, and my 175 Nosler partition hit him hard just behind the shoulder. He spun and thrashed for a second them fell into the wash just off the edge of the road and all sound stopped. It was like the World just stopped and time stopped with it. I wanted to wait a full fifteen minutes before getting up and walking to him. I did manage to make it a full five minutes before taking my eyes off of the wash and looking for my brass. Never did find the brass and I could wait any longer. I made my way down to the road and over to the edge of the wash and there he lay, not fifty feet from the dim road. Mostly all down hill. I bet people could hear my war whoop in seven zip codes! I went back to camp, took off the hot camo clothes and picked up the truck and ropes. It took me about an hour using ropes, three sheave block and tackle and a lot of sweat to get him up the hill and into the truck. As I was coiling up the ropes, I could hear some hounds making their way up the far side of the wash, I saw one and called to it. That was a mistake. He came right to me, and then got a nose full of bear in the back of the truck and all of his buddies came to honor his “tree” on the back of my truck. They started following me as I drove back to camp. I saw the dog’s owner come over the ridge when I was a couple of hundred yards from camp. Talked to him for a few minutes and he said his dogs had fought a bear twice on the ground, and it had broke and run up that valley. I was so busy loading my own bear, and that wash is so thick, I never saw or heard a thing. He gathered up his dogs and pulled them back up the wash hoping to put them back on trail, and I went back to camp and started tearing things back down. I ended up bringing all of my food back to the house with me. I’m not a Breakfast person and never took the first bite of anything I brought. I made a stop at the gravel pit to weigh the bear on the way home, 320 Pounds! My three day camping trip may have come up a little short, I was home by 10 AM on my first day, but you can’t beat the fun I had! And if anyone needs them, I still have 25 rounds of “proven” bear loads sitting here ready to go! Tim -------------------- Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass kickin'. Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged Barry Knows what it's all about Member # 34 posted September 20, 2003 08:37 AM                    Congradulations,Great story.Im glad your dreams came true. Posts: 133 | From: Trinidad CO. | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged brad h Knows what it's all about Member # 57 posted September 20, 2003 08:43 AM                    Nice goin' Tim! It's always good to see a dream fufilled. Great story and pics. That's what makes it fun to read these boards. Brad Posts: 346 | From: Glendive MT | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Leonard HMFIC Member # 2 posted September 20, 2003 08:49 AM                       Good story, and well told. Congratulations. LB Good hunting. LB PS there's that blue striped shirt, again! -------------------- EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All. Don't piss me off! Posts: 32385 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Rich Higgins unknown comic posted September 20, 2003 09:02 AM              Excellent! I'm going to remind you in Nov. that I really, really like bear roast. IP: Logged Lone Howl Free Trial Platinum Member & part-time language police Member # 29 posted September 20, 2003 09:33 AM                    Well done Tim! Nice bear. -------------------- When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. Posts: 2083 | From: Texas | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged bucksnort Miss Chris from AZ Member # 202 posted September 20, 2003 09:37 AM                    Way to go Tim!!!! I am very excited for you. That is a very nice bear, and all of your hard work paid off. -------------------- "There are lion chasers, lion catchers, and lying SOB's." "Warriors of El Gato - The Lion" Posts: 368 | From: Tucson, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged John/Alaska Knows what it's all about Member # 25 posted September 20, 2003 10:32 AM                      Tim - Sounds like it was a great hunt. Your story was well written making me feel that I was there! Posts: 62 | From: Tok Alaska | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged DAA Utah/Promoted WESTERN REGIONAL Hunt Director Member # 11 posted September 20, 2003 12:53 PM                       Way to go Tim! Just love it when a plan comes together. - DAA -------------------- "Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em." -- George Hanson, Easy Rider, 1969. Rocky Mountain Varmint Hunter Posts: 2676 | From: Salt Lake City, UT | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Greenside seems to know what he is talking about Member # 10 posted September 20, 2003 01:16 PM                   Good job! Was the JS caller running? I don't remeber if that gun project was a 7MM or a 30-375? Dennis Posts: 719 | From: IA | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Lonny PANTS ON THE GROUND Member # 19 posted September 20, 2003 08:42 PM                   Fine job Tim. Nothing like a little blood and sweat to make it especially sweet. I don't know about sizes of Arizona bears but 320 lbs is a helluva nice bear up here. You got yourself a dandy. Do you think the limited food supply actually made hunting better because the pickens were so slim for bears? The bear harvest here is usually higher in the years when the berry crops are slim and bears have to search far and wide for food. I always take a week off and head to the hills each spring to spot and stalk bears here in Idaho. It is some of the most looked foreward to and enjoyable hunting I do. I never get tired of just seeing and watching bears do their thing. Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Jay Nistetter Legalize Weed, Free the Dixie Chicks Member # 140 posted September 20, 2003 08:47 PM                    Tim, you tell great stories. Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Congratulations. -------------------- Understanding the coyote is not as important as knowing where they are. I usually let the fur prime up before I leave 'em lay. Posts: 1006 | From: Arizona | Registered: Feb 2003  |  IP: Logged Tim Behle Administrator MacNeal Sector Member # 209 posted September 20, 2003 09:56 PM                       The rifle is a 7mm Remington Magnum that Vic Carlson talked me into buying at a gun show a year and a half ago. I love that rifle, it has taught me a lot about shooting, and reloading. I don't know if the hunting is overall easier when food is low or not. Probably depends on how you hunt. Spot and stalk, or behind dogs. It's a hell of a lot easier to see them out in the prickly pears than it is when they are eating Junipers. The last two years the prickly pears have come on early, and by the time bear season opened, they had moved back into the thick brush eating the junipers. I hadn't yet set out the caller when this bear appeared. Due to my change in coarse, I hadn't gotten to my location until after daylight, and I wanted to glass everything for a while to make sure there wasn't anything in sight before exposing myself to set it out. -------------------- Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass kickin'. Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged Byron South Knows what it's all about Member # 213 posted September 20, 2003 09:59 PM                       Congrats Tim Great story Thanks Byron -------------------- "Coming to the Call" predator hunting videos. Volumes I, II, III and IV. Order two or more and pay no S&H www.comingtothecall.com Posts: 313 | From: Texas | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged Leonard HMFIC Member # 2 posted September 20, 2003 11:25 PM                       Yeah, I thought it was a 7mm (something?) but couldn't remember. Sounds like you had some good advice on that purchase. To my mind, about perfect for hunting black bear, under your conditions. By the way, and certainly not to steal your thunder, but Mule posed a question on another board, concerning the weight, etc. Just for the record A few years ago, a former CSVCA member, (High Desert) name of Troy Spillman, killed a 600+ pound bear with a 243, in Central California. He's a contest hunter and ADC professional. Takes nothing away from your feat, my friend. You did great. Good hunting. LB -------------------- EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All. Don't piss me off! Posts: 32385 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Tim Behle Administrator MacNeal Sector Member # 209 posted September 21, 2003 05:49 AM                       Leonard, My mind has been kind of scattered ever since I got home, no make that ever since that bear popped into view! I'll go back and look, but I didn't notice the question. But as much trouble as I had getting this one into the truck, I'm glad he wasn't any bigger. I'd have had to run home for more ropes and rigging, or skinned him in the field. I'm glad I did take him to the scales. Someone told me once that Black bears only average 250 pounds and get smaller this far south. This is the first Wild bear that I have ever gotten close to. I would have only guessed his weight at 225-250 if the scales hadn't told the truth. Next year I am definitely taking a couple of 2X6's with me to build a ramp to help load. -------------------- Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass kickin'. Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged Locohead World Famous Smoke Dancer Member # 15 posted September 21, 2003 08:36 AM                    Tim, A job well done. I am super proud of you for scouting this year. I did not get a ewe this year because I failed to plan and scout. Last year, the ewes were very low and (Dummy Danny) assumed that that's where they would be again this year. When a well planned hunt comes together like that, luck seems to fade away and you can rest assured you are a real hunter - doing things right!!!! Congradulations!!!! -------------------- I love my critters and chick!!!! :) Posts: 2219 | From: CO | Registered: Jan 2003  |  IP: Logged Tim Behle Administrator MacNeal Sector Member # 209 posted September 23, 2003 04:16 PM                       I love this story and the pictures are great, I hope that next year it'll get better. From, Your Son, Craig -------------------- Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass kickin'. Posts: 3160 | From: Five Miles East of Vic, AZ | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged Bob Mc Knows what it's all about Member # 237 posted September 23, 2003 04:28 PM                       So this is where you guys have been hanging out!!! Lost the link somehow awhile back. Got it again now. Thanks Tim, and congratulations on a nice bear. Leonard, in the past few years (10 or so) I’ve heard of a few bears taken in CA that go over 600 pounds. Not at all sure who has the official state record now. The largest I’ve personally seen weighed 500 pounds, field dressed and hanging on a butchers scale. That’s a BIG bear, but I’ll bet the one Tim just got is better eating. Posts: 15 | From: Northern California | Registered: Sep 2003  |  IP: Logged

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