Black bear, many say, are not hard to kill with good bullet placement. That said, there are bears harvested that reveal previous wounds and occasionally find the errant bullet. Bears are very tough, if not hit correctly.

So for all the easy-to-kill crowd, if you miss vitals, you are not likely to recover your bear, and if you do, you will likely be tracking with dogs for miles. Good luck with that. 

With a bigger bore like 45-70, perhaps you will make your bear guide happier too upon recovery.

In my own limited bear experience in 2024, with my 7mm Rem Mag with 160g Nosler Partitions, I hit the front shoulder of a smaller bear quartering towards me and exited on the last rib on the other side. I got blood immediately and the bear went 20 yards. My 7mm was designed for much longer range harvests and it worked but a bit clumsy with a long 26 inch barrel from a treestand shot at 25 yards.

I really would have preferred a more compact fast handling big bore rifle such as the 45-70.    

After significant research on YouTube, I saw a review of a new Marlin Lever vs a Henry in 45-70.

Listen and watch.

I likes this comparison video very much! As I said in a earlier piece,

Spring into a Marlin Lever Action Model 1895 SBL 45-70 – Testing Soon

The action on levers, is key. I have placed a deposit on the Marlin Lever Action Model 1895 SBL 45-70.

We shall see…

This past September, I shot a nice estimated 200 pound Maine “Foggy Mountain” black bear (a boar) with my crossbow from a ground blind. It was my 76th birthday.

It was a solo hunt as are most of my hunts. On my 75th birthday, the year previous,  I shot a nice  black bear from a tree stand with my 7mm Rem Mag. 

As I age, I have discovered that by dangling an adventure-like carrot in front of me, then I use that adventure as my health and exercise goal. 

Note: This past week in January, local hospitals were filling with possible heart attack patients from shoveling in very cold and snow conditions. 

If out in cold weather and exerting yourself, shoveling snow for example, many doctors suggest hydrating, stretching and

maybe take a baby aspirin to thin blood before heading out to shovel. 

I carry baby aspirin on my person as a rule of thumb just in case. 

It seems that I purposely become adventuresome just to maintain my body and mind health.  Maybe find non hunting adventures as I further age as well to stay healthy as well.

I like to eat what I hunt and love to chef my own food. I started a cookbook but have yet to publish it. Maybe this year. We shall see….

Adventure Awaits…

See my first article on this repair.

February Antler Repair? I Ran Across A YouTube To Fix A Broken Antler Brow Tine

This is my first attempt at a brow tine repair. Came out ok. Need to paint/stain more but the JB Weld KwickWood® putty worked.

Note: I used my new GoPro Hero 13 Black to film and edit the above video.

Below is the right side brow tine fix. Not bad for my first try. I can play with paints and other stains but hey, it looks ok for me. 

Practice on other antlers, can improve my skill. Need to buy paint/stain/urethane for correcting brow color if I want a pro job. But I am happy with it as it is for now. It was as a fun repair winter lesson.

Stay Warm

A buck that I harvested 5 years ago in Texas had a broken brow tine seen below. I never had it repaired.

Too cold to do much at 0ºF outside.  Sounds like a great cold weather project for me to try. Maybe you have an antler that needs repair too.  

Below, what the brow tine should look like.

I found a few YouTube’s to fix a broken antler with epoxy putty. You can look it up as well. You can use a taxidermist putty or wood repair putty. One fellow used polyurethane dark walnut stain once the putty was hard and dry. He wiped it on and off as needed to get the color correct.

Look for my article and how my repair comes out.

Soon…

Computer and cell phone savvy hunters and fisherman will find the GoPro Hero 13 jam packed with video and photo capability.

I went on youtube and found intro videos like this one below that begins with opening the box and provides recommended settings and connectivity links to your phone. It even has touch screen. I like it thus far.

The best way to learn my Hero 13 and my iPhone 15 app is to use the camera and try the many settings but before I begin, get the attachments kit below. I ordered the kit from Amazon. Due here tomorrow. 

More Soon…