The Marines B.C. Bear Hunt

[chilcotin hillbilly]

I will let Mike write up the final days of Justins hunt, but while Mike is making the 16 hour drive I will post a couple pictures. One thing i know foresure Justin is looking for Houndsmen from the Klamath Falls area to run with once he gets hims self a nice cat dog.

Here are some pictures from the last day. A big day with three bears treed.

[mike martell]

Thanks Doug, Julie, and family.

I rolled in about three AM. and Justin's lovely wife Shea and twin four year old boys were here waiting on Justin to return from B.C. All I can say is, What a lucky guy! Justin had an amazing hunt the last six days and managed to harvest two spectacular trophy class black bears.

What an honor and privilege to meet and hunt with Justin. Words do no justice for the amount of non stop action that started last Monday, one week ago! We poured it on the bears on days that averaged around fourteen hours each, stopping only to eat....The dogs were on their mark and we stayed the course with the perseverance to succeed.

Here is how the trip home played out.....Mike, what does it take to be a houndsmen? How hard is it to train a bobcat dog....uh oh..... Look out!

You guys that hunt bear in the lower 48 should consider booking a hunt with Doug and bring your own hounds. Here is how I see it, you can do more in one day than an entire week any place else. The only thing keeping you from treeing ten bear a day is the walking distance and time to recover your dogs and burning out your dogs on about day two.

I look forward to mentoring Justin as he enters into the hound dog world. Not only did he serve our country diligently and with honor, he simply is a family man first. My first advice to Justin about his wife, you have some leverage, your wife has horses and just picked up a bulldog and now is the time to make your move....I'm an enabler and found out it was not necessary, you see, Shea is more excited than Justin to get a hound.

Thanks again to Doug, Julie and the McMann Family for hosting. Dean Hendrickson for the taxidermy work and any and all sponsors that stepped up to make this a hunt of a life time for a deserving Marine!

Mike

[mike martell]

Here is an update on the Marines Black bear hunt.
Now that this hunt has concluded the balance remains....
I spoke with an old time ex hound hunter from Dairy Oregon by the name of Mitch Cain. Mitch is about as accomplished as any Taxidermist I have seen over many years and is prepping the bear for the tannery. The fleshing, ears, mouth, nose, toes and last, the salting are all being completed by Wild West Wildlife Art, Artist Mitch Cain and at no charge for his services.

From Mitch's studio it will go to the tannery in Colorado that does work for Dean Hendrickson. Once this process is completed it will arrive at Dean's studio where a full live mount will be done compliments of Dean Hendrickson.

Having never been a part of the entire taxidermy process, I'm guessing many of the viewers have never seen the actual work in progress, Dean is going to take over the thread and post pictures of the process as it unfolds....

I'm looking forward to witnessing the process and can't thank Dean enough for his generosity in both stepping up to complete Corporal Halls dream wish of a pope and young, full body mount black bear and for including the viewers on BGH.

Thank You, Mitch Cain and Dean Hendrickson!

[FullCryHounds]

10-21-13 Yesterday I was on the phone with Mike Martell to find out about Justin’s bear hide. While I was on the phone with him, my UPS driver showed up with Justin’s bear!

[FullCryHounds]

Emblem Fur Dressing here in Colorado donated their time and did an excellent job tanning Justin’s bear. I’d also like to thank Mike Martell for taking this hide to Mitch Cain who took care of the preparation work prior to tanning. This is an important step prior to having the hide tanned.

So last night after I received the hide, I put the head and feet into a solution of warm water and Kemal 4 which is a leather relaxer that will soften up the feet, ears, nose and the rest of the hide so that it can be shaved out.

[FullCryHounds]

Got an early start this morning and got the ear cartilage removed, shaved around the eyes, lips and nose, then spent several hours sewing up the holes. The one ear was badly damaged but not sure how it happened. It almost looks like a human took a bite out of it! Also got the feet sewn up. Got the hide laid out and stretched so I could get the measurements for the form. This was a real nice bear with some unique coloration. The underlying hair is a brown/cinnamon color with the longer top hair black. Looking at the pictures of this bear just after it was harvested, you can’t really see this neat color but when you run your hand over the hair backwards it really shows up. There are three important measurements that we need off of the hide to order a life-size form. The first is the nose to eye measurement. This bear was 5 ¾”. The next is the nose to base of tail, 72”. And the last measurement was the girth, 48”. Once I get the form, I’ll do some test fitting to see exactly what I’ll need to alter on the form. The preliminary measurements won’t be exact because the hide stretches a bit differently once you start test fitting.

I also got a call today from our Marine, Justin. We discussed how he would like his bear mounted. He’s decided on a life-size mount with the bear facing left. Open aggressive mouth with the front feet up higher than the back standing on a rock. We’ll be talking about more details later on but this was enough for me to make the call to Research Manikins. They stepped up and offered to supply everything I needed to complete this project. I went through their catalog and selected one of their largest bear forms that should work. The form is a standing bear, open mouth with the measurements fairly close. I’ll have to lengthen the form a bit and also turn the head to the left. Made the call to Research this afternoon and they'll have everything I need shipped out tomorrow.
Ran out of time today so tomorrow, I’ll get the ear liners installed and get the hide rolled up and into the freezer until the form and other supplies arrive.

[chilcotin hillbilly]

Good to see you finally got the bear. The flesher must have cut the pads back or you got the second bear Justin shot. Either way you make it all of this look easy. I can't wait to see the finished product.

[mike martell]

Very cool Dean!
I have never seen the whole process as it goes from tannery to taxidermist. Should be a fun thread to follow......

Dean, thank you again! I think I speak for all American's and Canadian's when I say you have gone well beyond the call of duty!

I have kept in contact with Justin on a regular basis and can relate to the folks on BGH. Justin was a very well deserved veteran for the black bear hunt with Skinner Creek hunts and WWIAF. Not only with what Justin has endured in Iraq serving our Country, but with the twin boys and some major health issues no parents should ever have to face. The courage of both Justin and his wife Shea are immeasurable.

While we all go about our daily lives, please take a moment to thank and honor all of our veterans.....Because of the sacrifices made by our brave soldiers, we remain a free Nation. we might not like the direction we are heading towards, but know this, as long as we have our backs covered by soldiers like Corporal Hall, I don't lose much sleep at night!

Mike Martell

[FullCryHounds]

10-29-13
Today I received everything needed to complete Justin’s bear from Research Manikins. I got the life-size form, artificial rock base, jaws, eyes and other items to get it mounted up. This morning, I pulled the hide back out of the freezer because Ill need it the next couple of days to start trial fitting it to the form. Most life-size forms come cut into one or more pieces so the first order of business is to get it back into one piece. This is done with a couple of dowel pins (I use my old drumsticks) and some Bondo. I add some cut up fiberglass to the mix for some extra strength. The next thing is to use a dremel and shape the inside of the nose. On some mounts, i use an artificial nose but this bear had a good usable nose so that’s what we’ll use. There’s some work to do around the mouth since we’ll be using a jaw insert that doesn’t have the lips molded into them.

Once the form was back together, I had to extend the base so I had something to secure the back feet to. Bases take just as long to complete then the mount does. Form back together, base roughed out and bear temporarily mounted to base. Enough for one day.

Next is to start trial fitting the hide to the form. We already know that I’ve got to do some modifying to this form so now I’ll get some closer measurements with the actual hide stretched over the form.
You'll notice the form came with the head looking forward but Justin wants the head turned left. I had to attach the head the way it came for now. Once I get the form to fit the hide, then I'll cut the head back off, get it turned the way we want, then reattach.

[outlaw13]

this is real interesting thanks guys.

[justinhall]

Wow, this is further along in the process than I had thought, thank you so much, I'm very impressed with all the unselfishness in making this happen for me.

[justinhall]

Thank you so much Mike Martel, none of this would have happened without you. The McMann's at Skinner Creek Outfitters made me feel very welcomed while harvesting this wonderful bear, and now Dean Hendrickson is putting together such an awesome mount for me, unreal, needless to say, I'm really excited. Thanks to everybody that has been involved with making this happen.

[mike martell]

Hey Justin...

This is what we do!

This is what makes America so great! Sacrifices made from one stranger to the next....Random acts of kindness....I don't miss a day that I don't thank a vet for making life safe for myself and family and I will never be able to thank you enough for the sacrifice you and your family made for all of us.

Welcome to BGH. Please feel free to follow the progress and get introduced to some of the other hunting addicts on this board....

Looking good Dean!

Mike Martell

[justinhall]

Dean Hendrickson, I saw that you noticed that one of the ears were torn. After I had shot the bear with my bow Doug McMann and I had noticed that the old bear had a fresh battle wound, I really thought that this feature was cool, it gave it some character, along with the old scars on his face. His skull measured at 19' 3/4"

[FullCryHounds]

Today I did my first trial fit of the hide on the form. I first tried the head and it was a very good fit. The nose to eye fit great, the mouth/lips were right on. I marked the location of the ear bases (you'll see why later on). So the next thing for the head is to get it cut off and turned to the left per Justin's request. He also wants an aggressive pose, so I'll also tilt the head up just a bit which will also help portray an aggressive bear.

The girth was a bit tight but not bad, I'll probably remove an inch or two there. The form was about three inches shorter then the hide. That's an easy fix. I'll just cut out three inches of the hide and it'll fit like a glove.

Ok, relax Justin, not going to cut up your bear. So we knew the length measurement was going to be off from our earlier measurements we took of the form and the hide. The fix is to re-cut the form, add about three inches to the length and put it back together. Ill show some pictures of this process in my next post. That should take care of the major form alterations prior to actually mounting it.