Another grandson got a bear

[Okanagan]

Grandson R brought a bear home last Sunday night after a weekend backpack hunt near the Canadian border.  They saw three bears in two days of hard hunting, got one and missed one. I have one pic, haven't checked with them re permission to post.

R and his Dad plus his cousins Code and Zay slept at the trailhead last Thursday night and hiked up 6 miles of steep switchback on Friday to camp at timberline.    R got his bear that evening, another mile and a half beyond their camp, down in a hole.

He and Zay found the bear in a pocket basin sloping down the outside of a volcano crater.  It was a 235 yard shot, with a down angle of 36 degrees.   He was using his new Begara rifle in 6.5 PRC, shooting a 143 grain Hornady Eldx.  One shot, double lung and the bear went about 20 yards.  When they got down to where the bear had been, R was looking for a blood trail and Zay was looking at the dead bear in the edge of the timber.  Zay already has a bear this year, so it was R's shot even though you can take two bears and Zay had a second tag.

The next day Code apparently missed a two hundred something yard shot at a large chocolate bear.  Bullet strike looked high and two very good trackers never found a single cut hair nor drop of blood.  They searched till dark and walked 3 or 4 miles back to camp with flashlights.

Huckleberries are coming on strong up at that elevation.   R's bear is average all around, probably a couple of hundred lbs. live weight.  They boned it out and packed out hide and meat plus skull.  They figure they walked about 30 miles total over the weekend.  Once you break out on top there are miles of fairly gentle meadows and alpine berry brush between some big peaks and steep stuff, and they covered a lot of country.