John Boismier Bear Hunt, Vancouver, Canada

I was sponsored as a wounded Iraq War Vet to go on a hunt to Vancouver Island to hunt black bear with
Jim Shockey outfitters. We arrived on Friday morning and were out in the field by early afternoon.

Saw several nice bear for the next two days, but not "my" bear. On Monday (Memorial Day), my guide
Brian "Wojo" took me to an area called the grass flats to glass the area.

As we entered the flats we saw 3 bear way in the back of the flats (approximately 1/2 mile away). The
grass flat area is shaped like a horseshoe. We entered at the top of the shoe. Unfortunately we had the
wind at our backs which was blowing right towards the bears. We skirted the far edge of the flats in an
attempt to keep our scent down. As we got closer a fourth bear ("my" bear) came out of the timber and
began to feed on the grass. This bear was closer to us than the others were so we had to be very quiet
and move very slow.

The bear picked up a trace of our scent and began looking in our direction. So we ended up crawling on all fours. The grass in the flats was about 8-10
tall. As we approached yet closer it was obvious that we were gonna' get busted. I slung my TC Pro Hunter across my back and belly crawled over
100 yards to get in position. I crawled up to a deadfall log and used it as a rest as I was in the prone position. A quick look at the range finder told me
that the bear was 265 yards away. The wind was moving from my right to left now.

The bear stopped feeding and slowly walked over to a good size cedar tree and started tearing it up. When he was finished toying with that tree he
continued to move towards the other bears. He was now quartering away from me so i decided not to take that particular shot.

Figuring that he was going over to look for a sow I decided to move (crawl) that way and cut him off. After crawling another 100 or so yards I was
again rested at a deadfall at 102 yards. The bear must have winded us because he was staring in our direction trying to locate us.

He walked behind a huge downed tree and jumped up on it leaning on it with his front legs while standing on his rear legs. Not wanting to take a
chest shot I waited (not very patiently either). The bear then jumped up on the log and began to walk its length. I centered just behind his shoulder
slightly down a bit and waited. It became obvious that he wasn't going to stop.

I took the shot and the 338 Win Mag barked. As I watched in my scope I could see the strike of the bullet and the bear spin off the log and land on his
back with legs in the air. My guide and I stood and gave each other high fives. As we began to slowly walk the 102 yards to the bear he stood up
and ran into the timber. Lots of blood to be found and a pattern that indicated a through and through shot. We waited a few moments and then
began to track (Thinking that the bear was down just inside the timber).

As we entered the edge of the timber it became obvious that the track was not going to be easy. The mountainside was right there and went up at
about a 40-45 degree angle. We tracked the bear for about an hour and a half, because of the nature of the terrain we had only tracked about 200
yards. IT was starting to get very dark in the timber and the guide decided that it was not safe to continue tracking a big male bear in the fading
light. I was sickened by this!!

The last words the guide spoke were, let's just hope it doesn't rain.
I didn't sleep at all that night!! At about 230am I heard the sounds of thunder. When I looked out the window I saw that it was raining.

The next morning I met my guide Brian and he told me that we were taking another guide out with us as extra eyes. Fortunately the other guide
(Ted) brought along his Tennessee Coon Hound (Dingo). Dingo is normally used to hunt Cougar. He has never been turned on to a wounded bear's
track.

We got to the location and went to the spot of last blood. After about an hour Dingo's nose pointed us to a fresh bed. In the bed was a good amount of
fresh and warm blood. As we were looking at the bed we looked to our left and there stood the bear looking at us. I'll tell you what..it was an eerie
feeling knowing that this bear was watching us seeing us long before we saw him.

It took an additional two rounds to put him down for good. Man he was pissed off and was trying his best to get to us. Sure glad he didn't!!
Hopefully the pic link will work.

It was an incredible hunt!!! Jim Shockey's crew did an outstanding job accomodating myself and another disabled combat vet from Texas. I cannot
thank Tony Covell and the fine people at Injured Soldier, and the Wonderful people at The Flint Group (Bill Miller and Dan Goodenow) for making
this hunt a dream come true.

Of the Troops and for the Troops!!

John Boismier
SGT, Military Police Officer
US Army, Iraq
04JAN - 05MAR