bear and boar territory

Southern

Well-Known Member
My daughter told me she had gone to visit her grandmother up in the country, and some wild pigs came into the yard to eat the fallen pears. A huge boar came out of the woods and ran them off until he had had is turn. She said it was well over 3 feet at the shoulder, because it could not get under the bottom limbs on the trees. So I am after that one.

But in the meantime, I had gone to my spot in the mountains, 200 miles away, to scout for bear, boar and deer,
with and old friend who likes to shoot but not much hunting anymore. The woods were gorgeous, all hardwoods, just past their color peak. We saw wild turkey, deer, and while scouting the woods, I ran into several small bears.

Bait is not allowed in South Carolina, North Carolina or Tennessee, so you have to hunt by spot and stalk after the leaves fall off, or know where a big one was, and trail it with a mix of scent and sight hounds (Redbone, Walker, Bluetick ).

My friend wanted to buy some apples from the local orchards, and local honey, so we ventured out one afternoon. This little roadside stand was owned by a bear hunter, who had some nice hounds. He said he did not do it much anymore, but told me his friends had taken a 565 pound black bear on public land ( National Forest ) near our cabin. Because it is so rugged up there, the dogs had cornered the bear after trailing it for several miles, long before the hunters could catch up. The bear had killed four dogs ( about $5,000 each ) by the time a hunter reached them and killed it. I am still looking for a photo of that.

He also told me that a deer hunter, just south of us, in South Carolina, had killed a record 609-lb black bear while leaving his stand, when I was up there a few weeks before. He had seen the bear several times over the years, and took it at 170 yards. He thought it was 400 lbs, but was stunned when he got up to it. It took four men to load it into his full-size pickup truck. Here is one good photo of it.
sc-bear-609lb-sm.jpg
 
Yes, he wants to spend the money for a full-body mount, but the taxidermist said it would require a grizzly bear form.
 
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