I had plenty of time to set up the shot, about 30 minutes. I was shooting from an elevated stump with my daypack as a rest and I had a commanding view of the clearcut that surrounded the patch of reprod the bear had gone into. The rifle was my Ruger M77RS in .300 Win Mag. The scope was a Leupold Vari-X 2 3-9x40. I was shooting PMC Eldorado rounds loaded with 150 grain Barnes X all copper hollowpoints.

Because I had plenty of time to wait and set up, I had time to "laser" a few of the areas where the bear might try to go. All were within 370 yards of my position, except for one that was out about 490. As long as I held on the backbone on all of the closer spots, I knew I would hit the bear. The 490 yard shot was not an option for me.

My first shot was a miss, second shot hit his chest and double lunged him, the third hit low on his nearside leg because he was still going. A final shot to the spine from behind put him down for good. These bears are tough.

The drag was about 80 yards uphill to the nearest road, and that took longer than the 3/4 mile downhill drag to the gate where our truck was. I used three heavy duty canvas gamebags to protect the hide, and it wasn't any worse than pulling my kids in a sled, until it got flat.

Enough specifics?