SafariCurious
AH member
Just got back from an EPIC hunting trip in California. I went through Lockwood Hunting Services and had a wonderful guide named Charles and the opportunity to hunt a gigantic ranch in California's northern A zone for bear, deer and pig.
I haven't been to Africa yet, but this was without a doubt the best hunting trip I have yet had. As far as I know, all the animals were real wild freely roaming animals on this gigantic private ranch that included numerous vineyards.
It was almost surreal, within minutes of starting the hunt I had an opportunity at a 4x4 blacktail buck still in velvet, I wasn't expecting it, was kind of in shock, and was too slow to get set up for the shot before it noticed me and took off - but the ranch was so abundant with game that it didn't really matter. I passed up an opportunity at a deep forky later that day, and then the next day I got the nice 4x3 in the picture.
I started off using the .375 Ruger I bought thinking I maybe might go to Africa on a safari someday, but honestly, I wasn't that impressed with it on the blacktail deer. The copper bullet (California requires non-lead ammo) just blasted right through and since my first shot hit the deer a little high and broke its back, I had to take a second shot through the heart to put it out of its misery. Within reason, shot placement does matter more than caliber for sure.
After that I wanted to get some use out of my handy .308 Browning BAR semi-auto. Next up was a nice pig that came innocently sniffing around about 40 yards from me while me and the guide were hiking around looking for bear - Blam! Bonus pig harvested, lol. I didn't originally plan to also take a pig, but the ranch was full of them and it was only 1k to add on a pig so I did.
The rest of the trip was 100% about getting my first bear, the main event for me as I had never gotten a bear before.
The first opportunity I had for a bear was quite sudden, the guide and I had gotten out of his jeep to hike around an area he had noticed some bear sign in, and we slowly climbed over a ridge to look down into a valley below. I was trying to be real quiet the whole time, and in hindsight, I was too slow and quiet when closing the bolt of the semi-auto (can't have a round in the chamber when in a vehicle).
I heard some minor noise behind us while we were looking over the ridge and thought "oh it's probably just a squirrel or a bird jumping around some branches" but I turned and saw a big black bear creeping through some bushes maybe about 50 yards away. I think I yelled in excitement as I pointed the rifle at it and pulled the trigger.......
.....and nothing happened when I pulled the trigger, not even a click. Fortunately the bear ran away instead of charging as I started screaming curses at my gun for not working. Later on figured I had just not had the bolt fully closed at the time.
At least the guide was there with a 10mm glock for backup just in case!
The guide was very patient with me and kept busting his butt to find us another bear. The next day we found a big, big, bear about 200 yards away. We were downwind and the guide suggested we take off our boots and try to get closer in socks, but I was like, "nah I got this". I was too excited with adrenaline coursing through my veins and I completely missed the shot while trembling with excitement.
Not only did I miss that first shot, but at the risk of being way too honest, I impulsively and without really thinking promptly mag-dumped the rest of the 10 round mag in about one second as the bear started running away. This was of course really stupid and I will be sure to not ever do that again!
We then had to spend quite a bit of time thoroughly searching the area for any blood or evidence of the bear being wounded, but after a thorough search the guide was satisfied I had missed all 10 shots, which is rather embarrassing in more ways than one. I am writing this in part to warn others against making the same mistakes as me.
I was thinking at this point I would probably be going home without a bear....but....around sunset time later that day the guide found us another bear! I followed his instructions to the "t" this time. He set up the shooting sticks for me. I kept the safety on until I was absolutely certain the crosshairs were on the bears heart (about 100 yards away). I took two slow deep breaths and then slowly pressed the trigger until BLAM, perfect heart shot!
The bear I got wasn't as big as the other two I had opportunities for, but I am still very very happy to have finally gotten my first bear, and I'm looking forward to trying bear meat for the first time for dinner tonight!
