Big Bear Taken

[skyhightree1]

http://www.wset.com/story/24175881/char ... va-history

Charlotte Co., VA - A Charlotte County native may have killed the largest bear in Virginia on record.

Tyler Napier was hunting Saturday morning on his parent's farm in Keysville when he came across a black bear.

The bear weighs 728 pounds and is 7' 2" inches tall.

Last year, the largest bear killed in the Commonwealth was 674 pounds.

It took five people and a tractor to pull this weekend's bear out of the woods.

Napier says he's seen the bear from time to time on his parent's property, but never got close enough to shoot it until this weekend.

"The only time I was a little nervous was when I shot. I actually shot the bear five times, and then it actually rolled over and roared at me. And that's when I was nervous, because I was out of bullets of course," Napier said.

The bear is at Duffy's Mini-mart in Lunenburg County where Napier hopes to get it mounted. He says officials will measure its skull to determine whether it is in fact the largest on record.

 

[Dave]

Question? Do people in your part of the world normally bring animals in intact? The first thing I do once an animal is dead is to pull the guts out. This bear would weigh lot less had it been gutted.

But nice bear.

 

[skyhightree1]

Question? Do people in your part of the world normally bring animals in intact? The first thing I do once an animal is dead is to pull the guts out. This bear would weigh lot less had it been gutted.

But nice bear.

Dave with bear yes they all have to be taken to a checking station. The other part of that is had he gutted that bear they could not put it in the books as the largest bear.

 

[Deepsouth]

Boy Sky I thought you had done killed a big bear! I was thinking, man ole Sky's carrying a good rabbits foot.
That is a big bear, how big do black bears get? I thought they topped out at about 600 but I saw another one that went over 700 that was killed in Pennsylvania last week.
Do you hunt them?

 

[skyhightree1]

Boy Sky I thought you had done killed a big bear! I was thinking, man ole Sky's carrying a good rabbits foot.
That is a big bear, how big do black bears get? I thought they topped out at about 600 but I saw another one that went over 700 that was killed in Pennsylvania last week.
Do you hunt them?

Deep I wish that were me. The bear around my place seem to only be found during the summer when corn is available after the corn is cut they disappear. I have never taken a black bear yet. I plan on hunting bear more with a friend of mine that lives not too far from where that one was killed. He has killed one this year weight only 200lbs as the larger bears on his came never showed face during the day. I honestly until the last few years only seen what used to be a big black bear of 300lbs. Last year a guy killed a 674lb bear not too far from my county just about 30 miles away and seems that has broken the ice for big bear on that region of the state.

 

[Dave]

Question? Do people in your part of the world normally bring animals in intact? The first thing I do once an animal is dead is to pull the guts out. This bear would weigh lot less had it been gutted.

But nice bear.

Dave with bear yes they all have to be taken to a checking station. The other part of that is had he gutted that bear they could not put it in the books as the largest bear.

I forgot about your check stations. That is an east coast thing. I hope our wonderful Fish and Wildlife never adopts that silliness. Here we just hang a tag on it and take it home. If you happen to drive by a check station you stop. But the odds of that are pretty slim because they are few and far between. I have been hunting for 50 years, shot a ton of game, and never recall stopping with one I got. Stopped once with a buck the youngest son shot.

 

[skyhightree1]

If not mistaken I think the only things that have to go to the check in station are turkeys killed in spring season bear and elk everything else you can call it in. It is still a pain in the butt.

 

[kenny thomas]

I dont know if I have been on that farm but have worked alot in that area. Seen bear sign 10 years ago there and couldn't believe it. I thought the big bears were in the mountains but not so. We have lots of bear but its rare that we see one over 350 lb.

 

[skyhightree1]

I dont know if I have been on that farm but have worked alot in that area. Seen bear sign 10 years ago there and couldn't believe it. I thought the big bears were in the mountains but not so. We have lots of bear but its rare that we see one over 350 lb.

Exactly use to be rare over 350 here.. Kenny you all gotta start feeding your animals more on your end of the state buddy lol We have taken over on animal sizes lol

 

[kenny thomas]

We fed the coons for a while and now they are terrible. We feed the hogs enough to shoot them. Everything else has to fend for itself. Bear cant get big here where they have to climb the mountain. U got those flatland bear out of the big swamp. hahaha

 

[skyhightree1]

We fed the coons for a while and now they are terrible. We feed the hogs enough to shoot them. Everything else has to fend for itself. Bear cant get big here where they have to climb the mountain. U got those flatland bear out of the big swamp. hahaha

LOL this is true. These bear up here have so much they can eat I am surprised some arent 1,000 lbs or more. When we had the fire up in the swamp I tell ya the bears really came out of hiding.

 

[kenny thomas]

I worked a fire on the NC side of the Dismal Swamp 3-4 years ago and in 2 weeks seen 52 bear. It was unreal.

 

[skyhightree1]

I worked a fire on the NC side of the Dismal Swamp 3-4 years ago and in 2 weeks seen 52 bear. It was unreal.

I honestly had not seen a bear around here till that fire and then the year after that fire it seemed that the enormous bears came out the woodworks. How often do you see a bear up your way?

 

[kenny thomas]

I worked a fire on the NC side of the Dismal Swamp 3-4 years ago and in 2 weeks seen 52 bear. It was unreal.

I honestly had not seen a bear around here till that fire and then the year after that fire it seemed that the enormous bears came out the woodworks. How often do you see a bear up your way?

I see 3-4 a year at work but never one here on the farm but I do have one on a game camera. He must have been just passing by as once was all he was there. I work in a different county that is lots more mountainous. Much more remote also. But it seems they are coming out to where the people are more and more.

 

[skyhightree1]

Do you know where glen allen is kenny ? In henrico county? Well I have driven there numerous times and a bear is walking down the side of I 64 and glen allen is where all the rich folk live and there is tons of houses there and very minimal woods.

 

[kenny thomas]

Wow, thats when laws change. When wildlife becomes a problem near where the politics happen and where rick people are.

 

[skyhightree1]

If you remember kenny after the fire and bear started coming out more and more thats when this side of the state changed the game laws and allowed us to kill bear here. If you have old hunting regs books and you look at them you will see there was only a bear season in a couple counties mostly on your end of the state and some near w va.

 

[SmokinM]

They are definatly spreading out. Not many in the mountains this year for sure. I think they kill more in the flat ground now then the mountains anymore.I mostly bear hunt but I am a traditionalist in that if your not out of breath from climbing a mountain,scratched from a laurel thicket, and he ain't on a tree or bayed in some rocks he ain't ready to shoot! Something about a bunch of hounds treeing that really make it fun! 725 lbs. tho you gonna have to shoot him walkin or bayed cause he ain't gonna tree!

 

[skyhightree1]

They are definatly spreading out. Not many in the mountains this year for sure. I think they kill more in the flat ground now then the mountains anymore.I mostly bear hunt but I am a traditionalist in that if your not out of breath from climbing a mountain,scratched from a laurel thicket, and he ain't on a tree or bayed in some rocks he ain't ready to shoot! Something about a bunch of hounds treeing that really make it fun! 725 lbs. tho you gonna have to shoot him walkin or bayed cause he ain't gonna tree!

LOL i no longer want to climb mountains flat lands are fine for me I did enough of that for a long time.