Perseverance Pays Off

During the 2017 fall bear season, I had a client from Pennsylvania that had yet to shoot his first Maine black bear after several trips with different outfitters. He was an experienced hunter and knew exactly what he wanted in terms of the bear he would look to take. I set him up on a virgin bait I had specifically scouted and maintained, just for his hunt. I had several nice bears coming in and one of them was a giant boar that I knew would fulfill this clients wishes.

During his second afternoon on stand, the bear appeared out of nowhere at the bait site. My client said he looked up and the bear was just there, he never heard or saw it come in. It was the big boar. The client waited until the bear dropped down on all fours and turned, presenting the textbook broadside shot. His Remington 7600 pump-action .30-06 rifle boomed across the ridge and the bear sprinted out of sight into thick cover down ridge.

We searched for hours and could not find the bear. I retraced the route the bear took and examined the shot location several times. After three hours and multiple trips up and down the ridge in the dark, I called a stop to the search. We resumed the effort the next morning, allowing a better look at where the bear was hit. After several hours of continued grid searching, I called the search off. I had all the evidence I needed – there wasn’t a drop of blood nor a shred of hair at the suspected hit site. Furthermore, we couldn’t locate even the faintest sign of a blood trail. It’s well known that entry and exit wounds tend to plug up on a hit bear due to heavy fat reserves and that bears will roll in dirt and mud in attempt to clot the wound, but I found not a single shred of evidence that the client hit that bear. After covering 500 yards in all directions, I knew for certain what happened – classic boar fever.

I explained my findings to the client, and while he accepted what I had to say, he was still uncertain. Back at camp he questioned the rifle, the scope, rings and base security and finally the cartridge itself – the .30-06 I recommended he use. He thought that maybe he hit the bear and that perhaps the shot was a through and through, not creating a devastating, mortal wound. I assured him it was not the case and that he simply missed – it happens.

After a day to compose himself and regain some confidence, I put the client back on stand at a different location. Within two hours, a bear approached the bait from the clients left, moving slowly but steadily through a mixed fir, spruce and beech stand. As the client brought the rifle up, his eyes caught movement down ridge to his right. The bear nearing the bait froze and stared down ridge. Seconds later a bigger boar charged up the ridge, chasing the first bear off of the bait site. This time the client didn’t hesitate. As soon as the boar stopped at the bait site, the hunter let the .30-06 bark for the second time in three days. The bear hunched up and turned down ridge at a clip. We found the bear not 35 yards from where the client hit him. With his fever broken, the knock down power of the .30-06 Springfield and the large wound channel it creates, my client had his first Maine black bear – and a heck of a story to go with it.