[davevigne]

It was truly the hunt of a lifetime. My brother and I were able to hunt with old family friends as our guides so it was a fantastic time. We saw 2 bear early in the week but couldn't get shooting at them. Then there were about 5 days of 30 degrees with gale force winds and nothing was moving. We were due to be picked up the next day when this bear came down the valley at 10:00 pm (didin't get dark until 12:00). The two of us sneaked along the edge of the willows and he was over 500 yards accross a field. I was in the prone position and waited until he got as close as he was going to get - 436 yards by laser. I aimed about 15 inches over his back and hit him several times with my .375 H&H. He got into the alders and we waited while our other two party members ran to us from up the valley - then we started towards the alders. The bear couldn't get up the hill but was sidehilling to the left. We ran to within 300 yards and all of us shot. He went into a thicket and we ran closer. He came out the other side and we all shot again. He finally went down. He was still huffing and puffing when we got up to him and needed a final shot to the base of the neck. It took all 4 of us on one side just to roll him over. Then we had to drag the hide and head back to camp - too heavy to carry. I'm getting a full body mount made.