CANADA: British Columbia Bear Hunt With New 35 Whelen

[Rick Cox]

Not being critical, but that truck will carry a bigger tent that would be just as easy to pop up . Not sure I would still be limber enough to get my boots on in that one. Great looking rifle though, and any mature boar is a great hunt. Again, congratulations.

Thanks. I have an array. I bought this one specifically for hunting in cooler weather... not that this was that cool. It does not have any mesh and so the double walls insulate well. It is easy to set up once you remember how

 

[Rick Cox]

Rick, over time you will come to appreciate your 35 Whelen more and more. The 250 Gn. Hot Cores have been considered good bear "medicine" for many years. My sons and I took three 35 Whelen(s) to Africa and used them with great success. One son used 250 Gn. Nosler Partitions, the other used 225 Gn. Nosler Accubonds and I used 225 Gn. Barnes TSX.

I have a 35W in a Nosler. Love it. I used to have a 358 Win so this is an outgrowth of that.

 

[Shootist43]

Rick I still have my Winchester Model 71 made in 1936 that uses the Winchester 348 Cartridge. The Winchester 358 came later but roughly duplicated the 348's ballistics. I love the Lever Action on the Mod 71, but the 35 Whelen shades it a little performance wise.

 

[Rick Cox]

Rick I still have my Winchester Model 71 made in 1936 that uses the Winchester 348 Cartridge. The Winchester 358 came later but roughly duplicated the 348's ballistics. I love the Lever Action on the Mod 71, but the 35 Whelen shades it a little performance wise.

That's a nice gun. I would love to own it. Guy I knew back in the day had one... Another vintage lever I wish I had is a 1895.

 

[Bob Nelson 35Whelen]

Nice, nice bear, nice rifle. The glass sounds like it would be nice. I haven’t see a Leica scope but they get a few mentions here.

I would like to hunt bear. I was surprised when I found people eat them. I shoot pests so I don’t do much game meat.

I would be happy to settle for the skin.

CBH
Chris I know you shoot pest mate but you haven't got me yet
Bob

 

[MarkB]

Nice old scared up bear, sparse camp I may add. I will also vouch for your choice of gunsmith, Dave has done a few jobs for me over the last years and I am happy with all. No nice wood but lots of stainless removal to lighten things up. Good to see a post from BC.

MB

 

[micbo]

Congrats!

 

[Chago]

That is no average bear. That is a great spring black bear. That bear puts almost 100lbs on by fall. Congrats on a beautiful bear.

 

[Rick Cox]

Here is a shot of the cleaned up skull of this bear. Have only had some hamburger in tacos so far, but they were very tasty!

 

[ChrisG]

Thanks to @Bob Nelson 35Whelen and others who weighed in on this project... I've seen a number of bears but no real huge ones. I finally decided to take this guy out of frustration I guess. He squares out at around 5.5'. Must have weighed around 250 to 300 lbs. Maybe later, but the season is getting on and bears are starting to look a little rough. This one is a fighter. You can see the scars on his face, but he had a good bite in the butt and one on his left wrist. Both were healing but bruising was still evident on his wrist.
For you folks interested in this sort of thing, one shot, 100 yds, through lungs and top of heart, went 15 meters, 35 Whelen, with 200 grain Barnes TTSX. Pass through, but interestingly found a 'petal' right at the exit hole.
If you check out the thumbnail photos you will see a hunting camp. No one around. Sign of the times I guess, this is a professional camp. No one to guide. Or maybe it is a tree planters camp. But no French Canadian guys in tye died shirts and capris playing hacky sack, or fit young women with dread locks hanging laundry in the trees wondering when they can discretely shave their legs next, or the real clue: no Tibetan prayer flags.
My bet is hunting camp....

Any Bear you take is going to be a hard fought for trophy... Where I live at least, you usually don't just stumble across a bear while our deer hunting. They are far rarer (relatively speaking) and better trophies in my mind than any white tail deer! What an awesome hunt that looked like. The camp reminds me of the tent camps high above burnt lake near Pinedale WY. Congrats on the hunt! You bagged a good size bear, especially for being north of 40th parallel. Bears up north don't usually grow into the monsters you see in pictures from South Carolina and Georgia. The growing season is just too short so that is a nice bear and I would never scoff at one that size... His meat would be in my belly and his hide in my freezer (at least until I could get it to the taxidermist). The hide is usually beautiful when it is groomed and tanned! Meat is pretty good eating too!

 

[Ridgewalker]

Congratulations! Calling in a bear is on my bucket list. Sadly I didn’t pull a tag this year.

 

[Rick Cox]

Any Bear you take is going to be a hard fought for trophy... Where I live at least, you usually don't just stumble across a bear while our deer hunting. They are far rarer (relatively speaking) and better trophies in my mind than any white tail deer! What an awesome hunt that looked like. The camp reminds me of the tent camps high above burnt lake near Pinedale WY. Congrats on the hunt! You bagged a good size bear, especially for being north of 40th parallel. Bears up north don't usually grow into the monsters you see in pictures from South Carolina and Georgia. The growing season is just too short so that is a nice bear and I would never scoff at one that size... His meat would be in my belly and his hide in my freezer (at least until I could get it to the taxidermist). The hide is usually beautiful when it is groomed and tanned! Meat is pretty good eating too!

Hi and thanks for the kind words. Yes bear meat is tasty, as long as they haven't been eating salmon or carrion. If you really want a bear, come to BC for a spring bear hunt. When I was driving in to this area, I turned onto an old logging road, went a mile or so, and there sitting in the middle of the road, was a very nice bear eating grasses and clover. Quite large, great hide, but I wanted to see this area over a couple of days, so I didn't try for him. I saw several nice bears, and finally shot this one later on the second day just because I didn't want to get skunked. You are allowed two bears here each year, and I've heard rumours that limit may be increased in some areas.
The hide is getting tanned, I saved and froze the better cuts and had the rest ground to burger.

 

[ChrisG]

Hi and thanks for the kind words. Yes bear meat is tasty, as long as they haven't been eating salmon or carrion. If you really want a bear, come to BC for a spring bear hunt. When I was driving in to this area, I turned onto an old logging road, went a mile or so, and there sitting in the middle of the road, was a very nice bear eating grasses and clover. Quite large, great hide, but I wanted to see this area over a couple of days, so I didn't try for him. I saw several nice bears, and finally shot this one later on the second day just because I didn't want to get skunked. You are allowed two bears here each year, and I've heard rumours that limit may be increased in some areas.
The hide is getting tanned, I saved and froze the better cuts and had the rest ground to burger.

That sounds like a blast! I live near the bear central region of the Adirondack Park and call bears each year in September on a private 265 acre mountainside. I have bagged a few so far, but I would love to go on a hunt for a really big one which I personally wouldn't have to drag out... I am sure you know, and anyone who has gotten a bear, that dragging a dead bear is akin to dragging a 200lb velcro covered wet blanket across a shag carpet made of superglue... It is nothing like having to move a deer that glides along the ground all silky smooth. Plus, for some reason bear limbs tend to wrap themselves around every conceivable branch and sapling you pass.

British columbia sounds beautiful and someday I would love to go on a hunt for bear there. Currently, I am looking into either a western ontario or Idaho Moose hunt. We'll see how that goes.