BigGameHoundsmen.com

Folks,

I'm going to start a thread to follow the action from start to finish. Many players have stepped up on BGH and are involved in this hunt of a lifetime for a very deserving candidate. His Name is Justin Herbert Hall. Justin served four years in the Marine Corp and is a two time purple Heart recipient and currently resides in Klamath Falls Oregon with his wife Shea of five years and two twin boys! Justin was selected through Wounded Warriors in Action Foundation to participate in a Black Bear hunt with Doug McMann owner and Guide of Skinner Creek Hunts in Tatlayoko Lake B.C. Canada.

Dean Hendrickson on this board has stepped up with the Taxidermy work that places a whole lot of pressure on the guide! Dean will also post photos of Justin so we all are properly introduced to him and let the fun and road trip begin on June 16!

First I'd like to thank Justin for his service. He is the true hero. And thank you Mike for making this happen!

Here's some pictures of Justin. Hope everyone will enjoy this adventure as much as I'm sure I will.

Dean

I'm just the guy driving the bus! The credit goes to the hosting outfitter Doug and Julie McMann. Without a place to hunt with the proper facility, none of this would happen and second, WWIAF for bringing these vets together! I live in the U.S. and Doug is so remote that coordinating all the sponsors is out of the question. I volunteer to also do some PR work here.Today I pulled Research Manikins in Lebanon Oregon on Board with a special Thanks to the entire Research family and particularly, Mark Mclain who will send Dean Hendrickson all that he request free of charge for completion of this Trophy Black Bear mount.

Mike Martell

Just got the word that Research Mannikins is on board to provide the form and other items needed for the mount. I also just talked with my tannery, Emblem Fur Dressing, and they will be glad to provide the tanning for Justins bear.
Mike, I need to get a hold of Doug. Can you send me his number? Thanks.

Dean, my # is 250-476-1288

Hunt Update.

Pouring down rain in the interior of B.C. and looks like no end in sight. I have a little time to bring this post back up. Words do no justice to describe this adventure. We rolled into Doug's on Sunday afternoon after a long drive straight from the cat hunters gathering. We looked over a few bears on the highway west towards Bella Coola from Williams lake across the Frazer river canyon.

Monday morning was a typical start with the rig dogs on deck and hitting many cold strikes, we managed to hit a smoker track of a feeding bear that was in an area with few large trees. This is a bad area to run or good depending on how you look at it. These large boars get to stopping and once they make a few stands on the dogs, they get comfortable in thinking they don't have to climb.We seen this bear many times and could have ended it at any point bayed solid and stopped up. We have two issues. One, our vet shoots a bow and second we are late season and need to look for a nice bear that isn't rubbed out.

We stopped the dogs and went looking for another track. We rigged another track in the rain and had a short race that ended in a tree. This bear was about four years old and respectable. We called the dogs off the tree and went looking for number three. Early evening found us down the lower valley towards Tatlayoko Lake. We rigged what ended up being a dandy boar that was mean. We could have taken him as well and the hide was excellent but again no chance with a bow for fear of getting a dog injured. We had a blast watching this bear run the dogs!

Day two, we went looking for that walking bear from the evening prior and didn't locate his outbound track. We dropped down on the lake and rigged a bear that was walking along the road feeding. We put some serious pressure on this bear and heard the dogs treed! We grabbed our gear and walked into the tree. I was on a side hill and Doug was below. I looked closly at the bear and thought, nice shooter bear! Just about that time I looked across to Doug and he did the thumbs up. We tied the dogs back and Doug beat on the base of the tree to make the bear move so we could look for rub marks. You could see the character in this old haggard boar. He had the crease in the head look and just a melon for a skull. He just didn't look quite like a six foot bear.

We spent about an hour looking the situation over and concured it was day two and we could do better, or could we? We decided to harvest this boar. We figured we would take this bear and Our veteran Corporal Hall could simply purchase another bear tag and we could continue on.

Now that I and Doug have had some field and lodge time with our Marine, I want to share some history. Justin was in the Al Anbar Province close to the syrian border and had taken an IED in his military vehicle and survided a horrific explosion on December 29 Th.That explosion almost claimed his life. He was hospitalized for about three months with wounds from the explosion and once he was released, Corporal Hall was hobbling around on crutches and talked his commanding officer into allowing him to go out on patrol around the first of March. This first trip out on patrol after the close encounter with death proved to be something out of a horror movie!

Corporal Hall had taken a second IED! How do you digest this sort of thing? You simply don't! We have shared some great memorable times in the Canadian Wilderness that should not have happened! This is not about bear hunting folks, this is about folks coming together to honor our military for all they do to protect our borders so we can hunt, fish and enjoy life without a care in the world!

I will post the harvest after our next outing! Breakfast is on the table and the dogs are ready!

Mike

Mike-Doug........ THANKS!!!!!!! For what you're doing!

mark wrote:Mike-Doug........ THANKS!!!!!!! For what you're doing!

X2

good to hear everything came together for you mike jim

Great Job! To every one involved. Thanks to Justin for sacrificing on behalf of me and my family. Take care,Larry

I just want to say thank you to all involved.....

Thanks guys.
What an honor to do these hunts for our deserving military purple heart vets. We treed two today and found the tough old boar and ran him out of the legal area and stopped the dogs. Four days of hunting and we have treed four nice boars, all shooters and a sow that was in the breeding process with a nice boar. We have had two other nice boars on the ground for a solid four days of catching bears. The days are long and we just returned from the west end of the guide area at 12:30 am and we have been starting at 8 am daily. These two areas are around eight to one thousand square miles combined.

Corporal Hall harvested a nice boar on day two. We almost walked away from the tree and thought about the weather and extreme conditions for the third week in June. Corporal Hall made a fanfastic bow shot to harvest a really huge boar that we figure to be over fifteen years old and almost no remaining teeth. He was a good management bear and now we are off looking for a phase bear. You are allowed two bear per hunter in B.C. I will get Doug to post some high light photos from the hunt when we wrap this hunt up after tomorrow.
Mike

Mike with Justin and his bear




Some scenery


a few bear and dog shots








eight inch grizz track








Anyone guess what this is???

Well, if you were here in CO., I'd say an elk wallow. But since I'm not sure you have elk that far north, I'll go with moose. So where do I get a WWIA sticker!? Can't wait to get started on Justin's bear, looks like a nice one! Good job you guys.

Dean

I will get you some WWIAF stickers, banner, etc, sent your way when I get home. Thank you again for stepping up.

The wallow is from a Boar Grizzly bear that took care of some business. Breeding season is in full swing and this bear has an eight inch wide track. He left the skid marks leading up to the point it pinned the sow down. The wallow is from digging in, if you know what I mean!People can live a lifetime and never see nature at work.

We have been in the middle of more grizzly bears than you can shake a stick at, a little unnerving. The dogs seem to know the difference and avoid them when encountered.

Had another spectacular day with two treed bears!

Take Care, Mike