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Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 7:38 am
by ShawnD
Thats amazing, congrats Markus and thanks again for updating your post, you may not get many replies but I can assure you my eyes are glued to the screen!!

I have a question though, how do you prepare a skull like that? Looks so clean.

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 2:38 pm
by Markus
Thanks guys. I know bear hunting isnt for everyone, but i enjoy sharing it with those that enjoy following along.

Shawn, i'm working on the skull right now. There's a longer process that would be considered "better", but we just like to clean them up and place them on the camp shelf. We boil ours, then remove the meat, then simmer it more with some laundry soap...this breaks up the greas and removes even more of the hard to get at meat, then we change the water and do another laundry soap simmer to pull more grease out of it, then i dry it to make sure it's got the greas out. finally, i just soak it in bleach for a few hours, rinse well and then dry in the sun.

The longer way involves letting insects clean it and then using spray nine as a degreaser and then using peroxide to whiten. That does a way better job and the peroxide is easier on the bone then bleach is, but it costs more too. We keep all our bear skulls from the camp property on a shelf together at the camp.

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 2:57 pm
by ShawnD
Thanks Marcus,
Love how you use every part

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 3:46 pm
by Out4trout
Congrats on a nice bear Markus!

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 9:31 am
by Haulin Bass
Your adventures are great reading and shows the amount of work you put in to enjoy your time out and be successful. Keep em coming :)

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:09 pm
by Markus
This year we scouted out a new location to set up a bear site. It was a remote spot that required some time to get to. It was a mature softwood stand along side a creek with a moss forest floor. Near by was a huge wild blueberry hill, so we it looked like bear country to us.

My uncle has liver cancer and a year and half ago was told he had 6 months left. He chose alternatve medicine and is doing great with the hand he's been dealt.

Yesterday I was into this stand to reload it. We've had 1 big dominat boar tending it and i'm assuming he's been chasing anything and everything off. He' s been quite nocturnal for the most part. When i looked at the cam card, I was pleased to see he'd been in the last 2 nights just before dark.

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I texted my uncle right away and told him he had to come out and hunt this stand tonight. He was on his way and climbed into the big double ladderstand around 4pm. Just as it was getting dark, he looked over his shoulder and was shocked to see the big boy sitting 15yards behind him....just waiting for it to get a tad darker before coming into the site. He knew if he waited for him to walk by and out front, he'd likely get winded or it would get too dark to shoot. So he quietly got wheeled around and deliver a death blow right to the center of the bears chest with his 30-06. He caught a piece of the heart, all of the liver and both lungs. The bear turned and bolted. I got the text and was on the way to help. When i got there, the blood trail was easy to follow and we found him 25 yards into the bush.

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What a beauty! I knew this was a good bear, but i was even more in awe when i saw him. We went to pull him forward to get a couple pics and we couldnt move him 10 inches! lol We made a call to my bud Tim and he was on route with the trailer, bike and game sled. With a little grunt work, we got him loaded up and hauled out to the processing floor for skinning.

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Another fun night at the Hell Bear! Hopefully a few more bears will filter into this site now. My daughter is taking her boyfriend hunting at another one of our sites tonight.

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 1:01 pm
by Troutskiii
That's a beauty! Congrats to your uncle also for staying strong and continuing his hobby threw his treatment! Is that an older 7600 pump 30-06 your uncle uses Markus

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 2:29 pm
by ShawnD
Very cool! Glad our uncle got his bear.

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 6:21 pm
by smitty55
Wow, that's a brute there. Big congrats to your uncle. Great when a new site works out. Wtg.

I'm always hesitant to guesstimate bear weight from a pic, even live is hard enough. But that boar looks to be well over 3 bills. Did you get it on a scale?

Cheers

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:02 pm
by Markus
We're keeping the critter weights under wraps this year. We're having another get together at our camp after the season and a "guess the weight" contest is part of it.

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 10:49 pm
by riverdog
Some great hunting reads Markus!

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 8:10 pm
by banjo
Awesome, congrats, and great start to the season.

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:35 am
by Markus
My youngest daughter got her bear this morning. She set her snare yesterday afternoon.

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We were up this morning before sunrise and made our way in to check on things. We heard a big snap on the way in the trail and knew what was waiting for us. She got a beautiful boar with a big white chevron on his chest.

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She's off to school and didnt even miss first class....as for me, I have some work ahead of me. lol

Fun morning in the woods! :P

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:54 am
by ShawnD
That's awesome!!
Way to teach!

She'll have a heck of a story to tell when she gets to school.

Re: Bear Season 2015

Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 4:33 pm
by qcconnection
I spent the better part of the day off and on going over 69 pages of pure awesomeness.

Please, keep doing what you`re doing.

The internet needs more blogs like this.