WYOMING BEAR HUNT SUCCESS!

[Brazilnut]

I just received great news in an email from my friend Cliff in Nebraska.
I met Cliff Harris and his friend Herb Swan at an Idaho hunting lodge in June 2010. Cliff’s vision is so poor that he’s legally blind, but he was able to hunt with a good riflescope and help from Herb. Ron and I showed them my adaptive shooting gear, and I commented that Cliff might benefit from a scopecam because it would help a companion coach him while aiming.
We stayed in touch, sharing news of our hunts. Then Herb emailed me in February: He and Cliff were looking for a scopecam to use on a spring bear hunt, but the Trophy Shot website was no longer available. Where could they find one?
A few years ago I had acquired a spare scopecam to keep as a backup; I offered to send it to Cliff. His positive attitude and sense of humor shine through in his description of the hunt, so here it is in Cliff’s own words;

Herb and I went on our spring bear hunt in Wyoming. The first day to hunt was Mother's Day. Herb had his bear in about three hours. He bagged a real nice black boar that measured about six feet.
Since there was only one guide, whoever wasn't hunting had to wait back at camp. The next day was my turn. Jim, the guide, was hesitant to let me up in a tree stand. It was only 12-15 feet high. I kept telling him that I've fallen farther than that before. But the first night he took me to a ground blind. We didn't see a thing.
The second day he reported the baits had been hit at both the ground blind and the same stand that Herb shot his bear, and then he gave in and let me hunt from the tree stand. We didn't see anything but it gave me a chance to get comfortable with the scope cam.
On the third night we were back in the same tree stand. We were settled in the stand by 5 p.m. and Jim was snoring by about 5:15. I was using my binoculars trying to see something. This stand had two baits. One was straight out at about 70 yards. I could see it fine. But the other was about 150 degrees to the left at 100 yards. I had a tough time seeing that one.
At 7 Jim wakes up and almost screams “There's a bear coming!”
I get the muzzle on the bait in front of us. Jim said the bear was looking right at us. It then took off into the trees to our left. Jim told me to get on the bait to our left. It took a good 5 minutes for the bear to show itself. When it did, Jim helped me get the crosshairs on it and I squeezed the trigger. It ran back into some very thick cover. Jim went after it and after 15 minutes he spooked it out. It ran across a creek. It didn't go very far. It let out its death moans and the hunt was over.
My bear is a good looking 5-foot sow. It’s a reddish cinnamon color with dark ears, paws and tail. The biologist who checked it in figured it to be about 8 or 9 years old. For the area we were hunting he said it was an old bear. Now it’s a dead bear.
Herb and I took our bears to a taxidermist in Rawlins WY to have rugs made. I'm not sure how my guide dog will like that, but we'll find out in about nine months or so.
I do thank you for the scope cam. I think it will allow me to hunt for many more years. As of now, Herb and I don't have anything planned. I'm sure that will change in the near future. I'll let you know what's next.

[76Highboy]

That is a great story. Thanks for sharing and I am glad he got to enjoy that experience. Way to go!!!

[Zhurh]

I've had about a dozen bear a day coming into my barrel, several times a day each. They clean up 2 five gallon buckets a day, they'd finish off 50 lbs dog food a day if I'd put that out, no joke. Got a bunch of good game cam picts, but my photo bucket is full. Can I post picts without first putting them on photobucket? Maybe right from the ones I saved on my computer. It takes me hours to transfer a pict to photobucket from my comp on slow dial up. Anybody post direct onto ff.

[hstout1143]

Originally Posted by Zhurh

I've had about a dozen bear a day coming into my barrel, several times a day each. They clean up 2 five gallon buckets a day, they'd finish off 50 lbs dog food a day if I'd put that out, no joke. Got a bunch of good game cam picts, but my photo bucket is full. Can I post picts without first putting them on photobucket? Maybe right from the ones I saved on my computer. It takes me hours to transfer a pict to photobucket from my comp on slow dial up. Anybody post direct onto ff.

Click on the "advanced" button to post pictures. Then just above the field where you add your message you'll see where you can change Fonts and font sizes a smiley face and what looks like a paperclip next to the smiley face you can add pictures by clicking on the paperclip or below and to the right of the paperclip is what looks like a picture and you can add pics by clicking on that one. I think the easiest is the paperclip.

[Zhurh]

Thanks, I was always under the impression I Had to post picts on my photobucket first then repost on FF. We are still on slow dial up out here and it actually takes an hour / pict. My photobucket is maxed out at 100 and I don't want to delete any of the old ones; why I haven't posted any picts of late. I enjoy everybody's picts as much as the nx guy so figure members probably enjoy mine too. I've been baiting my barrel for over 2 weeks and have a bunch of bear coming in, the kids are home from school, just too busy to go shoot a few bear, nuts ain't it. My nephew will be up in a few days and he'll clean them out and probably enjoy it more than my kids anyway. They have shot enough bear over the years anyway.

Thanks, I'll try it.

[BETH]

great story i am so glad the disabled are able to get out and shoot

[BlackEagle]

Brazilnut, welcome to the forum, and thanks for passing on this story. Glad you had the extra scopecam and the generous heart to give it to him. That was a great gift and as you say, it will keep on giving for years to come.

[BlackEagle]

Originally Posted by Zhurh

We are still on slow dial up out here and it actually takes an hour / pict.

If you have a photo editing program try changing the physcal size of the picture. Most of my digital pictures come up being some rediculous size like 45 x 34 inches. I cut it down to something like 6x4.5 or 8x6. Smaller picture, smaller file size, faster upload and more pictures in the available space on the server.

My program allows me to save a picture as a .jpg. When I do, it gives me the option of changing the quality. Lower quality, smaller file size. I can preview it and choose the best quality/filesize compromise. A 4mb file can become 40 kb, which uploads a lot faster.

[Zhurh]

No photo editing, ha ha, nobody around here even has ever owned a cell phone. I tried several times posting, kept getting knocked off. I remember last year when I posted like a dozen bear picts, did it down at wife's classroom at school. Going to have to drag her down there to use their high speed if district didn't cut it off for the summer.

[Brazilnut]

Originally Posted by BlackEagle

Glad you had the extra scopecam and the generous heart to give it to him. That was a great gift and as you say, it will keep on giving for years to come.

In the interest of full disclosure, and before ya'll nominate me for sainthood, I actually sold the scopecam to Cliff. But at a great price!

[BlackEagle]

Originally Posted by Brazilnut

In the interest of full disclosure, and before ya'll nominate me for sainthood, I actually sold the scopecam to Cliff. But at a great price!