just took a 600 pound new york black bear with my rifle on thanksgiving in the catskills he was 600 pounds and bigger then the states largest last year. He's gonna go B&C and i couldn't be happier his skull measures equal to the current state record but after drying we will see what happens!! 6 hours out of the woods floating down the river with ropes!
Its gonna be long: I had just arrived at my entire families thanksgiving destination in Greene County NY. We were unpacking the trucks an i was dying to get out and scout for tomorrows early hunt so i rounded up my uncle, dad, brother and 2 cousins to get ready to go. We all entered the woods and I immediately split off from the group to head to a spot where i've seen good deer and bear sign in the past i was now about a half hour into walking to the spot and the light was quickly fading as it was already 4:15 hen we entered the woods. So i was walking along a river which was much higher than usual and i saw the bear at about 200 yards just crossing the river he had no clue i was there. I quickly called my uncle to let him know what i saw and then got after the bear i saw its back once more before i lost him over the bank i found the best spot to cross and sprinted (yes literally sprinted) across the river and by now i was kicking myself for not taking the 200 yard shot. I spotted the black bear behind a small spruce tree and walked 10 feet to my left where i kneeled and readied myself for him to step out. He was 30 yards took 2 steps forward and i smoked him first shot he just dropped but was trying to get up so i quickly cycled in another round i was shaking so much i shot right over his shoulder so i cycled yet another round and this one went right into the boiler room. i walked up to the bear which i thought was a good bear already and found out that he was a genuine monster.. i was so out of breath and on such adrenaline that i basically didn't know what to do... i walked in circles replaying the scenario (which was really less than a minute ) again and again thinking did that really just happen...!! i called my dad who didn't pick up so i called my cousin and said put my dad on the phone i told him what just happened and he was even more excited then me. I crossed back to there side of the river where we all gave hugs and high fives and we realized they couldn't cross to see the bear as i was the only one with tall rubber boots other than my brother. so they said go take a picture and we will come back tomorrow and get him so me and my brother crossed the river for a few photos. i realized i couldn't pick up his head so i posed for a few pics and back to camp we went. i was greeted by 18 ecstatic family members and they all headed out the next day to help get him out.. It really will be the memory of a lifetime!! so fast forward next day we bring him to the taxidermist and he says "wow thats a dandy bigger then any bear i have ever seen and i've seen thousands". He states i don't have the equipment to weigh him so we go to a truck weigh station where we get the number 520 pounds gutted... that puts him at about 600 live weight.. Overall i am the happiest guy in the world right now!
HOLY CRAP thats a brute of a bear. Thats a little lighter than the PA record bear, but the current record bear isn't legitimate. Congrats on the bear, I'm going out for buck/bear this weekend, hopefully I get lucky like you.
You already got his skull out and measured It? What's the actual measurement? Congratulation's big time!!
