Hunter patterned the bear, was waiting for it on opening day
When Randall Collins of Rockingham County, N.C. noticed a bear was living on the private farm he hunts, he decided to add the species to the list of wild game he enjoys pursuing. He’d never killed one before, or even tried, but after running into the bear last year and continually seeing sign of it, he decided 2018 would be a good year to harvest it.
Collins killed the bear this past Saturday, Nov. 10, the opening day of bear season during an afternoon hunt. On the surface, it appeared to be a pretty run-of-the-mill hunt; the bear walked out and he shot it. But as is usually the case when a hunter targets a specific animal, a lot more went into the hunt than just pulling the trigger on opening day.
“I ran into the bear last year and decided to hunt it this season. I patterned it really well and knew where its den was, knew its travel routes, and I was really just waiting on opening day and a proper wind,” said Collins.
The amount of rain in the past few months helped Collins pattern the bear. Trail cameras were helpful, but much of his scouting also involved tracking bear prints in the muddy soil.
When opening day arrived, Collins refrained from hitting the woods in the morning because the wind was not favorable. He had already put a lot of time into figuring out this bear’s habits, and he didn’t want to blow it by being too anxious.
“It looked as if the afternoon wind would be just as bad, but it shifted during the day and turned out to be a good afternoon wind,” he said.
So he headed to the woods and perched himself up in a stand that overlooked the bear’s afternoon travel route. Then he waited.
After a couple of hours, the bear showed up, faced Collins, and sat down. And while a straight-on shot like that would tempt many hunters into shooting, Collins held off. He was content to wait for a broadside shot.
“Once I decided to hunt this bear, I did a lot of research and reading on bears and bear hunting. One thing I learned was that a broadside shot with the closest shoulder forward was the deadliest shot to take, so I waited for the bear to present that,” he said.
And once the bear stood up, it offered just that shot to Collins, who pulled the trigger on his Savage 110 .7mm mag, sending the 154-grain Hornady Super Performance InterBond bullet into the bear, which dropped immediately.
The bear weighed over 325 pounds, and Collins is waiting on NCWRC to evaluate a tooth he sent in to get an estimate on its age.
Collins said the most satisfying aspects of the hunt was preparing for it, then seeing it all work out.
“I made a plan and it all came together. It’s always a good feeling when that happens. I think it makes the harvest much more enjoyable,” he said.
Be the first to comment