My son takes his first PWS black bear

[spoiled one]

My nine year old has been chomping at the bit to have the opportunity to harvest his first black bear since we did our family bear hunt two springs ago. I picked up a remington 700 .243 with a youth stock from a friend. Both he and his sister shot it several times this spring. We had the trip planned for May 30 - June 7. He wanted to bring our neighbor along as well. This would give us a solid week out on the Sound to find a suitable bear. We spent several weekends just boating in May. I could not believe the lack of snow and how fast spring had progressed. I knew that we would have our work cut out for us, so I figured I would start prepping him on the possibility of not coming home with a bear. He responded by telling me that we don't have to kill a bear to be successful. We will have good food and we will be hanging out on the boat for a week together. Pretty mature response for a nine year old.

We had plenty of food for the trip, all three tanks on the boat were topped off (OUCH!), and enough kerosene to keep the ESPAR running the entire trip. The forecast for the first weekend was calling for a small craft advisory, so we decided to leave on Saturday afternoon instead of Friday. We spent the first two days holed up waiting for the big seas to subside and the sun to come out.

Rib night followed by some kayaking.




We awoke Monday morning to flat water and lots of sun. We even found some porpoise that wanted to play.



We tend to over pack when it comes to food, so this trip we decided to rely on jigging up a small halibut and a rock fish or two for fish tacos.

[spoiled one]

Normally we focus on the beaches when chasing bears out here, but with food being available just about everywhere we had to think outside the box a bit. We hunted some pond edges and creek bottoms and even tried using the predator call a few times in areas with fresh sign...no takers.

[spoiled one]

We were having a great time. We were eating well and enjoying some fantastic weather. Three evenings and we have not seen a single bear and very little sign down low. We decided to move about 30 miles and explore some new country that is usually locked up in snow until the end of June.




I had a prime rib that needed to be eaten so we decided that a late afternoon feast couldn't hurt our odds of connecting with a nice bear. (Any fool can rough it.)



After eating we decided to take the skiff to shore and take a little walk up the creek drainage. Lots of new greens.





We spent an hour or so glassing the flats and the hillside. This area looked like it would produce...



...and it did! A bear walked out of the alders. I told my son to take the shot if he felt comfortable with it. He had a boulder that he was shooting off of.

He made a great 238 yard shot right behind the shoulder.

[spoiled one]

I couldn't be more proud of my son. We spent several evenings without seeing a single bear and he never once whined or complained. He took his shot and made it count.

Shaking the bones out.

[colonel00]

Very cool. If you would like to adopt another child, I am available

[Tearbear]

Congrats to you and your son! :topjob: Thanks for sharing your hunt, sounds like you guys had an excellent trip.

[akjeff]

Nicely done!! Congrats to all.

[stid2677]

Well done!!!

[Arctic Hunter]

Great Job!!!!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

[quest32a]

Awesome story! Very cool

[DMan]

Awesome!! Great spring.

[sh]

man you guys sure do things right!! great story and pics.

[4merguide]

Prime rib even...!!!

Congrats....Ya got a good lookin' boy there....:topjob:

[BRWNBR]

forgive my jealousy.....
way awesome tell the sharp shooter congrats! thats a great shot!

[Steve Springer]

Can't wait until my son is old enough! Congrats on a great adventure with your son.