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Hey group!
I took my lab pup Lucy out grouse hunting a couple days ago. This is in Western Oregon in the Cascades, sort of near Cougar reservoir for those in this area. We first went to hunt an old cut near some old growth in a secluded canyon. Long story short, we ran into a black bear and sort of had a standoff for 15 minutes or so. I had my 12-ga o/u and I loaded the two rounds of 00 buck I always carry once I realized it was a bear, and I had my Kimber 45 ACP on my hip, and I had a bear tag in my wallet, but I did not feel comfortable trying to shoot him out of the tree, at first, or on the ground towards the end with the above armament. Also, I wasn't sure if a shotgun was even legal for 'hunting' bear in Oregon, and the use of dogs for hunting bears in illegal here. Now, I was hunting grouse, but I didn't want to be packing a bear carcass back home with my dog in the Jeep and potentially no legal guns except, I guess, my 45...
Next time I go grouse hunting, I'll have a couple slugs and my 44 mag handgun instead. I always pack along the 00 buck shells and 45 ACP pistol 'in case I run into a bear' but now that it happened, I am upgrading my firepower <g>!
Anyway, question is, is it worth it going back to that area and hunting that bear (with my 30-06 this time)? It's a pretty obscure place and judging by all the fresh elk sign, nobody had been tramping around in there. If I give him a few days and go back, any chance he's still working the huckleberries in that cut, or are they pretty mobile and skittish?
Thanks for any advice! I'm not even sure I really want to kill him (are they good eating?) but if I go up on Monday it'd be nice to have some idea...
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