When to NOT Shoot . . .

At the end of last week’s blog, in reference to not shooting the dominant bruin I’d been hunting for the past two years when I had it in my sights at 20 – 25 yards, I wrote: . . . . “there’s a time to shoot and a time to NOT shoot!” In that particular case, I gave the reasons why I didn’t shoot. After all, I’d humbly requested the GOD of all creation to let me see him, in these words: “Lord, it would be nice to see him.” , NOT “to shoot him”! Plus the fact that he was too beautiful and too big!

So, have you ever passed on shooting the animal dreamed of when it was in your sights and it would have been a relatively typical shot? If so, why?

Lets discuss that. . . .

You can read the details of that hunt in my previous blog of October 19.

My primary reason for not shooting that bear in my crosshairs at 20 to 25 yards was its magnificence and because I’d requested to SEE him – not to SHOOT him!

Again, as mentioned in the last line of that post, I’m NOT a trophy hunter per se! I’ve shot game that might qualify based on the usual means of judgment, but not because of that. A “trophy” to me might mean several things, without going into finite details :

• A “unique” animal

• A “special” circumstance

• An unplanned for game

• A “surprise”

• A much greater challenge than anticipated, like this one: He’s seven feet from heel to top of head. The story of this bear being one of my greatest challenges has previously been told.

Then, in addition to all those potentials, I’m no fan at all of the sole emphasis in commercial media on the biggest with the most points on antlered game being the most cherished game animal, and the main reason for hunting! In other words: Hunting has become far too commercialized, and most magazine articles and TV shows shove it in your face!

I love hunting for its own sake, not to become the greatest “hero” in the media, or in my own eyes based on a compilation of statistics!

My Secondary reasons were also given in that blog: a) He was at least twice the size of what I’d planned for and what, as a solo hunter, I could deal with. And b) I’d have needed at least a couple more able-bodied men to get him up out of there after field dressing to reduce weight by ~50 lbs! I well recall my first bear – a spring bear (1989) – that would have weighed another 50 – 100 lbs by late fall -, and it took 4 of us to drag it up hill to the outfitter’s pickup, and struggle in loading it after guts were out, and it was not as big as “my bear” on Tuesday, Oct 15/24.

Note to self: Don’t shoot another spring bear! No matter how “big” it might be because it’s coat will never be like a fall coat! A “big” bear during winter months sleeps in cramped quarters that has (perhaps) dirt walls, ceiling and floor. And he’ll not be immobile, but will change positions dozens of times while still half asleep to get comfortable. Imagine the beating his beautiful fall coat will take by spring! Yup, it’ll look just like you imagined! Of course, a taxidermist can do wonders but it can’t restore it to a FALL coat!

Would you like your wife to wear a coat for a special event that she had slept in overnight?

Another reason to NOT shoot a “trophy” spring bear in June!

By June it will have been rubbed against rocks and trees to remove it! I’ve seen published material of a spring bear that had been shot by a celebrity under the guidance of a reputable outfitter that was seriously rubbed. It was done, in this case for a committed magazine article, within a time frame! But it was referred to as a “trophy” bear because it was his first bear of several previous attempts on the island province of Newfoundland! And efforts were made in the video to hide the hyde that was rubbed!

I’ve shot several spring bears that didn’t suffer the ignominy of a loss of fur from a bear’s work to rub it off against trees or boulders, because they were all shot in May, not June. And the best looking bears are late fall, shortly before denning.

There is another issue rarely mentioned in media or in personal conversation and counsel: That spectacular big black bear that I chose to not shoot, had exceptional genes to pass on to a new generation of bears of the region. That also was somewhere in the back of my mind when I immediately noticed his unusual elegance and grandeur. Bar none, the most impressive animal, ever, in my sights! The bull moose was 3x larger but far less in sheer magnificence!

I was present when my long-time hunting partner shot a large male bear, and found it for him after darkness had fallen. Together we pulled it out of the thorn-bush it had dived into, and slid it down hill for retrieval. My friend asked me, “What do you think it weighs?” I replied: “350 to 400 lbs”. The land owner heard the shot and came with a tractor and a bucket on the front, we loaded it and at the barn with scales it weighed 399 lbs before gutting. I helped skin it the next day and he had a rug made. But that bear was not “spectacular” in any other way than its 3 – 4″ of fat all over! < A very nice rug with the actual skull beside it.

I prefer to remember “my bear” of last week as I saw him from 65 yds to 20 yds, rather than in a rug. Yes, I had a rug made of my first bear in 1989 – nearly identical to the one pictured above – and that was “special” because of the story and challenge of that particular day that I’ve shared in several blogs. And I recall the details very vividly, and they are unique, but that bear was not as magnificant, nor any others since, as that sighting on October 15, 2024!

My first bear in May, 1989, on my office wall. He was shot with my first 1895 Marlin lever-action in .45-70. I used a handloaded 400gr Speer at 1865 fps. Impact was at ~100 yds.

The rifle and load I was using for this fall’s bear hunt was the .375 H&H loaded with the 300gr Sierra BT. And, as mentioned, I had that great black bruin in the crosshairs of the Burris Fullfield II scope at 20 yards, and then lowered the rifle and walked away without the bear ever seeing me – at least as far as I know. The Zastava M70 in .375 H&H, loaded with the 300gr Sierra BTs at 2675 fps . Early October, 2024. It had become quite natural by then in handling and aiming offhand as I had toted it exclusively during the fall bear hunt.

The above is all about choices. . . . and why I didn’t shoot that magnificent bear!

Till the next . . . .

Shalom

BOB MITCHELL