Category Archives: Trophy Gallery

Small or Large, Exceptional By Records or Trophy Standards, or Not – Any Animal or Fish Ethically Taken Can Be a Prize to Be Proud Of…

Records of North American Big Game: 1964 Edition by the Boone and Crockett Club

Records of North American Big Game:  A Book of The Boone and Crockett Club Compiled by The Committee On Records of North American Big Game, 1964.

“The best thing about hunting and fishing,’ the Old Man said, ‘is that you don’t have to actually do it to enjoy it. You can go to bed every night thinking about how much fun you had twenty years ago, and it all comes back clear as moonlight.” – Robert Ruark

I would also add, that pictures taken in the field can sure go a long way in that regard…

Enjoy!

You Might Enjoy Our Article A Pheasantful of Memories

Bella Twin, the .22 Used to Take the 1953 World Record Grizzly, and More

 

“Come face to face with a brownie at close range, near enough to hear the low rumbling in his chest, and no other wild animal noise will ever scare you again.”Ben East, Outdoor Life Magazine, 1945

 

 

By Dean Weingarten

 

Bella Twin Is Shown With The Hide From The World Record Grizzly Bear, Shot With A .22 Caliber Rimfire Rifle, While Hunting in Alberta, Canada
Bella Twin is shown with the hide from the world record grizzly bear
 

Arizona -(Ammoland.com)

On 10 May, 1953, Bella Twin was hunting small game with her partner, Dave Auger, along an oil exploration cutline south of Slave Lake, in Alberta, Canada. She was 63 years old.

They saw a large grizzly bear coming toward them. Wishing to avoid an encounter, they hid off the side of the cut.

But the bear kept coming closer and closer.  The bear got so close that Bella Twin thought it less risky to shoot the bear than to not shoot it.  It was probably only a few yards away. Some accounts say 30 feet. Perhaps she saw it stop and start to sniff, as if it had caught their scent. We may never know.

She shot at the side of the bears head.  Knowing animal anatomy very well (she was an experienced trapper, and had skinned hundreds, perhaps thousands of animals) she knew exactly where to aim to penetrate the skull at its weakest point.

She shot, the bear dropped. It was huge.She went to the bear and fired the rest of the .22 long cartridges that she had, loading the single shot rifle repeatedly, to “pay the insurance” as Peter Hathaway Capstick said.  She made sure the bear was dead, and not just stunned.  My father taught me the same lesson when I was 13.

Here is a picture of the bear’s skull and the .22 caliber holes in the left side.

 

A Grizzly Bear Skull From The World Record Animal Shot By Bella Twin With A .22 Caliber Rimfire Rifle, in 1953, in Alberta, Canada
1953 World Record Grizzly Skull

 

For those curious about how to place that shot on a live bear, the place to aim is half way on a line from the center of the eye to the ear hole.

From the front, you would aim directly up the nose. If the bear’s mouth is open, aim for the back of the roof of the mouth.  Aiming above the nose will likely miss the brain.

What rifle did Bella use to shoot the world record grizzly in 1953?

I wrote an article asking for help in 2014. Several alert readers replied over the intervening period.  Because of their efforts, and the Internets, I have been able to find more detail about Bella Twin, her rifle, and the event. One reader was able to track down the current location of the rifle and send me pictures taken by the curator of the museum. The rifle is a Cooey Ace 1 single shot .22 rimfire.

 

The Cooey Ace .22 Caliber Rimfire Rifle Used By Bella Twin To Kill The World Record Grizzly Bear in 1953 in Alberta, Canada

Bella Twin used the rifle for many years on her trapline. The rifle was produced between 1929 and 1934.  From a commenter at Ammoland:

 

Here is a quote from the curator of the museum about the gun when i talked to him via email:

” I can tell you that the rifle is a .22 caliber single shot Cooey Ace 1. I can also tell you that the rifle’s condition, which has remained as it was when Bella Twin shot the bear, leaves a lot to be desired. There is corrosion on the receiver and barrel, the front screw that holds the stock to the barrel is missing and has been replaced with hockey tape. There is a piece of rubber under the barrel – probably as a method of “free floating” the barrel. There is no finish left on the wood. The stock is missing a part by the receiver and there is a wood screw reinforcing a crack in the stock.”

Bella Twin was a Cree woman. She had a reputation for being a deadly shot.  Her grandson, Larry Loyie became an award winning writer.  He wrote a fictionalized account of the bear shooting to include his grandmother in his prize winning children’s book, As Long as the Rivers Flow. From smokyriverexspress.com:

Kokom Bella Twin is a highlight of the adventures in As Long as the Rivers Flow. The tiny 63-year-old Cree wo- man, who lived on Rabbit Hill overlooking Slave Lake, shot the biggest grizzly bear in North America.

“I had to put Bella into the book. She was being forgotten. The only people who remembered her were readers of hunting magazines,” said Larry.

In As Long as the Rivers Flow, Larry wrote that he was with his grandmother when she shot the bear. It made sense to put the story into the book, but Larry was not with his grandmother when she shot the bear. In 1953, Larry had been gone from Slave Lake for five years.  I suspect his grandfather, Edward Twin, had died. Bella was 63 and was spending time with another man.  Larry refers to Dave Auger as Bella’s partner in a family picture. Dave Auger was with Bella when she shot the bear.

 

Bella Twin, Who Harvested The World Record Grizzly Bear in 1953 With A .22 Caliber Rifle

 

Bella Twin and her partner Dave Auger, family photo by Larry Loyie. The photo was likely taken in the 1960’s or later, because it is in color.

In Bruno Engler: Photography, the famous photographer has pictures of Bella in front of the bear skin. When Bruno told her that he wanted to take the picture, she insisted on going home and sprucing up, and changing into nicer clothes. Engler writes:

She was dressed very simply. When she thought I was going to take a picture of her she said “No, I have to go home first.” And she came back with a dress and put some cornstarch on her face for makeup. I said “Bella Twin, you looked much better before.”

Women want to look their best in a photograph that will be shown to the world. This explains the somewhat awkward grip on the Cooey Ace 1 in the Engler photograph. Her left hand covers up the repair to the rifle.

What ammunition did Bella Twin use? The written accounts say .22 Long.

 

A Vintage Box of Whiz-Bang Rim Fire .22 caliber Rim Fire Rifle Cartridges, Used to Kill a world Record Grizzly Bear By Bella Twin
Ammo Used to Kill The 1953 World Record Grizzly

 

This style of box was produced by CIL in Canada from 1950 to 1956. It is probably the type of ammunition Bella Twin used to shoot the world record grizzly. Bella Twin is specifically recorded as reporting that she shot it with .22 Longs, not Shorts, not Long Rifles. I recall that into the 1960’s Longs were more expensive than shorts, but cheaper than Long Rifle ammunition.

The High Velocity .22 Long dates back to the 1930’s and uses a 29 grain bullet at 1240 fps.  The High Velocity .22 Short dates to about the same period, with the same bullet as the Long, but a velocity of 1125.  The difference in velocity is 1240 – 1125 or 115 fps.  That amounts to a 21% increase in energy for the Long, but far short of the Long Rifle, which is almost double that of the .22 Short.

The energy figures are listed as Short 81 foot pounds, Long 99 foot pounds, and Long Rifle 158 foot pounds, all for High Velocity loads of the period.  A standard velocity .22 Long Rifle is listed at 1140 fps, with 120 foot pounds of energy, or 21% more than the High Velocity Long.  The modern CCI standard velocity .22 Long Rifle travels at 1070 fps, with 102 foot pounds of energy, still 3% more than the High Velocity Long.

What was the location where the bear was shot?  During my research, I came across a photo of the right side of the bear’s skull. The right side has the location where the bear was shot written on it. The bear was shot in Section 24, Township 71, Range 6, W 5th Meridian.   That is a section of land about 7 1/2 miles south of Slave Lake. The bear was likely shot just west of Florida Lake.  A section is one mile square.

 

A Map Showing Where Bella Twin Killed The World Record Grizzly Bear in 1953, In Alberta, Canada

 

In Larry Loyie’s obituary in the Smoky River Express, Bella Twin is described as a tiny woman. This photograph suggest that she was under five feet tall.

 

A Photograph of Bella Twin, Who Shot A World Record Grizzly Bear in 1953

 

We know the date the bear was shot, because it is recorded on the top of the skull. Most written accounts only say it was the spring of 1953. It was on May 10th of that year.

Bella Twin was only a name for most of the time I knew of her. I wondered about this famous huntress for many years. Now we know that she was an expert trapper, hunter, and a crack shot.  She was a beloved grandmother who taught her grandchildren well and knew the Cree traditional folkways.  She lost one man and found another.  She was shrewd enough to parlay the world record grizzly into cash. She sold the skin and skull separately, and sold the old, beat up rifle as well.

Bella Twin, I salute you. I would have liked to know you. Born in the Canadian wilderness in 1890, your life stretched between worlds.

May your memory and deeds live long, told around many campfires. I will tell my grandchildren about you.

Readers who know more about Bella Twin, please share your stories.

 

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.

 

See the Original Article Here

 

Link to Gun Watch

 

—————————————————————–

 

For Some Information On Another Previous  World Record Grizzly, Read Our Post About Grancel Fitz. 

 

I might also add that Mr. Fitz’s beloved .30-06 now looks like a Howitzer compared to Bella’s .22 rimfire. It’s all about perspective, I suppose…particularly when pointing whatever you have at something as bad as a bear…

 

Michael Patrick McCarty

 

For a captivating and hair-raising read, pick up a copy of:

 

The Big, Bad-Bore .30-378 Weatherby Magnum Strikes Again

“More than most American game animals, the pronghorn, by virtue of the terrain he inhabits, is genuinely the rifleman’s quarry of choice”. – Thomas McIntyre, Dreaming The Lion, 1993

 

October 2018

 

A Trophy Pronghorn Antelope, Taken At Long Range With a .30-378 Weatherby Magnum Rifle In Southern Colorado. Photograph By Michael Patrick McCarty
Pronghorn And The 30.378 Weatherby Magnum – A Perfect Match

As you can see, the Pronghorn would appear to be dying of advanced age in Southern Colorado, unless of course they run into a fast-moving bullet first.

Mike Kite took this gnarled, old warrior at nearly 650 yards with a 30-378 Weatherby Magnum and a 180 grain handload. It has been his cartridge of choice for many years, and with results like this it is easy to see why.

Congratulations Mike, on another fine Colorado big game trophy.

The .30-378 Weatherby Magnum Mark V Rifle With Synthetic Stock, High Powered Scope, And Bipod. Photo by Michael Patrick McCarty
A Long Range Weapon To Contend With

Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty

You Can Read More About The .30-378 Here.

You Might Also Like In Praise of the .30-378 Weatherby Magnum

The Bull Of The Woods Bugles No More

September 2018

 

Master bowhunter Rocky Tschappat with another beautiful bull in a long line of Colorado public land, elk hunting trophies.

The “Bull Of  The Woods” has stumbled and fallen, but maybe, just maybe, there is another out there just like him, waiting for us.

Congratulations Rocky!

You do make it look easy, even though we all know, it is not…

 

A Bowhunter Poses With A Trophy Bull Elk, Harvested On Public Land in Western Colorado in 2018. Posted by Michael McCarty
A Bull Of a Lifetime – Until Next Time!

 

“Few indeed seem fitted for archery or care for it. But that rare soul who finds in its appeal something that satisfies his desire for fair play, historic sentiment, and the call of the open world, will be happy” – Saxton Pope, Hunting With The Bow and Arrow, 1923

 

A King-Sized Elk Burger Patty; Ground Up With Just The Right Amount of Beef Fat. Ready For The Pan. Posted by Michael McCarty
From The Elk Woods to Table – A Hunter’s Harvest

“Fresh king size elk burger for a starving elk hunter” – Rocky Tschappat.

And might I add, that’s gonna be a lot of burger…

 

For an elk hunter’s taste treat sensation, try:

Venison (Elk) Patties Oregon

It is a particularly good recipe for that big old bull that passed the tender stage some years ago.

  • 2 pounds of venison (or elk)
  • 1/2 pound of salt pork
  • 1/8 pound of butter
  • 2 cups of finely chopped scallions
  • 3 teaspoons prepared horseradish
  • 1 Dash of Tabasco Sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • salt
  • black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard

Put venison and salt pork through a meat grinder twice. Blend thoroughly and add salt and pepper. Shape into patties 1/2 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter and place on waxed paper. In a skillet melt butter, add scallions, horseradish, Tabasco Sauce, dry mustard, and Worcestershire. Blend ingredients, and cook until onions are tender. Spread this mixture over every other meat patty, then cover with adjoining patty and press together. Place the pressed patties on a shallow roasting pan and slide under a preheated broiler. Broil for about six minutes on each side and serve on toasted buttered rolls.

*  This recipe is taken from Game Cookery In America and  Europe by Raymond R. Camp. It is my go-to wild game cookbook, and I highly recommend it for hunter’s and fishermen everywhere.

We generally have a copy for sale in our bookstore stock, if so interested.

And, as you can see, Rocky can be tough on cow elk too, and he took this one just a few days later.

 

A Young Cow Elk, Harvested With A Compound Bow In Western Colorado.
Some Elk Meat Of The Best Kind

 

A Bowhunter Poses With a Dusky Grouse, Otherwise Known As A Blue Grouse, Harvested With A Compound Bow in Western Colorado
But Then Again, Is There Anything Better Than Grouse For Dinner

 

A Bowhunter Poses With A Trophy Pronghorn Antelope, Harvested With A Compound Bow In Northern Colorado
Pronghorn Are A Perfect Warm up For The Coming Elk Season

 

You Might Also Like Forever Humbled

Antelope Down – And It’s Always a Thrill

August 2018

 

A Hunter Poses With A Pronghorn Antelope, Taken In Northern Colorado With A Hoyt Satori Traditional Takedown Recurve and Easton Axis Carbon Arrows. Photography by Michael Patrick McCarty
First Kill With The Mighty Recurve

For the last several years I have been fortunate enough to figure out how to hunt a pronghorn, somewhere, to start off my annual bow season. It’s a fabulous way to warm up for elk, or mule deer, or whatever else that you may be after.

They are one of my very favorite animals to bowhunt, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, if you hunt them over the right waterhole, under the right conditions, you can just about be assured that you will have  a fine old-time.

Set up correctly, and it is generally not a question as to whether you will have a shot, or not, but more of a question, as to when. It will probably be a chip shot too.

I have spent a considerable amount of time in my bowhunting career looking over many a good buck, looking for just the right one. There have been years when I have been mighty particular, and that mostly means that one will be spending a lot of time in a very hot, uncomfortable blind.

A Double Bull Wide Deluxe Ground Blind By Primos, Set Up Over A Waterhole While Bowhunting For Pronghorn Antelope In The Red Desert Of Northern Colorado. Photograph By Michael McCarty
Home Away From Home

I’ve learned a lot about them, up close and personal, and I never grow tired of watching them. They are a magnificent creature, and for them I have nothing but great respect.

With that in mind, I can tell you that my opinion as to what qualifies as a great buck has come a long way too. For now, I can make a case that any buck’s a good buck, in my humble opinion.

Why do I say that, you might ask?

Well, the answer is quite easy on that one – and I’ll come right to the point. Just stick a fork in one sometime and you’ll know all about it too!

It is my very favorite of all big game meats, and I can almost never wait to get some tenderloin spattering in a hot, heavy pan.

Time to heat up the stove, right now…

Best,

Michael Patrick McCarty

 

“Long ago I learned that my hunting is not just for meat, or horns, or recognition. It is a search for what hunting can give me, an effort to win once again that flash of insight that I have had a few times: That swift, sure intuition of how ancient hunters felt and what real hunting – honest-to-God real hunting – is all about. It is a timeless effort to close that magic circle of man, wildness and animal”.

John Madson, Out Home, 1979

You Gotta’ Love The Spring – And The Turkey’s…

“Some men are mere hunters; others are turkey hunters”.

Archibald Rutledge, From Those Were The Days, 1955

May 2018

My plump and healthy 2018 Gobbler, taken in the ever-better turkey country of Northwestern Colorado.

Maybe, just maybe, I am really getting the hang of it after all of these years…

 

A Hunter Poses With A Large Male Wild Turkey, Taken in Spring 2018 With A Shotgun and a Heavy Turkey Shotshell Load in Northwestern Colorado
I Don’t Believe I Will Ever Lose The Thrill Of Standing Behind The Bird!

 

A Wing of a Wild Turkey, Harvested in Northwestern Colorado in the Spring 2018
An Early Morning Prize

 

A Close-Up Photograph of the Wing and Body Feathers of A Male Wild Turkey
Wild Feathers of Iridescent Beauty

 

You Might Also Like Girl…Do They Grow Them Turkeys Big In Wisconsin

Memory’s Gift

 

“The Whitetail is the American Deer of the past, and the American Deer of the future.” – Ernest Thompson Seton

 

 

A Photograph of a mount of a white-tailed Deer 6 point buck, taken with a shotgun and slug in Maryland in the early 1970's
A Boy’s First Buck

 

Few events are more memorable to a hunter than the taking of his or her first buck. My guess is that you would probably agree.

Here is a picture of mine, which I recently found in a box of old Ektachrome slides. It is the only physical record I have left, as the mount was lost in a fire so many years ago.

I took this Maryland buck in 1971 when I was thirteen years old, with a Pumpkin Ball slug fired off the bead of my Remington 1100 shotgun. It could not have been a more beautiful, crisp, November morning in that wonderful land of whitetails. It was a fine shot too, for it is not so easy to make a fifty yard shot with that equipment. I was more than thrilled, and I don’t think anyone could have wiped the smile off of my face for several days.

I can recall almost every detail of that scene to this day, and I don’t mind revisiting it periodically in my mind. Obviously, it is not the biggest whitetail buck ever harvested, but it may as well have been, at least to me. Why it was as big as the world.

I hope that you have a memory like this in your box of experiences, and if not, may you get one soon.

Long live the white-tailed deer!

 

You Can read the full story HERE

 

Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty

 

The front cover of dustjacket of The Whitetail Deer Guide: A Practical Guide To Hunting... by Ken Heuser
A Lifetime of Learning

 

For Sale:

The Whitetail Deer Guide-A Complete, Practical Guide to Hunting America’s Number One Big Game Animal

by Heuser, Ken

Hard cover. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York (1972)
Very good in Very Good dust jacket. xii, 208 p. : illus.; 22 cm. Includes Illustrations.

Please email us at huntbook1@gmail.com if interested in details.

 

We Also Recommend:

 

The Promise Of Deer

A doe white-tailed deer on alert, watches for movement.
Watching Deer – Watching You

 

October 15, 2015

 

“One hot afternoon in August I sat under the elm, idling, when I saw a deer pass across a small opening a quarter-mile east. A deer trail crosses our farm, and at this point any deer traveling is briefly visible from the shack.

I then realized that half an hour before I had moved my chair to the best spot for watching the deer trail; that I had done this habitually for years, without being clearly conscious of it. This led to the thought that by cutting some brush I could widen the zone of visibility. Before night the swath was cleared, and within the month I detected several deer which otherwise could likely have passed unseen.

The new deer swath was pointed out to a series of weekend guests for the purpose of watching their later reactions to it. It was soon clear that most of them forgot it quickly, while others watched it, as I did, whenever chance allowed. The upshot was the realization that there are four categories of outdoorsmen: deer hunters, duck hunters, bird hunters, and non-hunters. These categories have nothing to do with sex or age, or accoutrements; they represent four diverse habits of the human eye. The deer hunter habitually watches the next bend; the duck hunter watches the skyline; the bird hunter watches the dog; the non-hunter does not watch.

When the deer hunter sits down he sits where he can see ahead, and with his back to something. The duck hunter sits where he can see overhead, and behind something. The non-hunter sits where he is comfortable. None of these watches the dog. The bird hunter watches only the dog…”

From the chapter entitled “The Deer Swath” in A Sand County Almanac”, by Aldo Leopold.

————————————————————————————-

I read this for the first time many years ago, and the basic premise of it has stuck in my mind ever since. It is classic Leopold, whose writings always seems to leave behind more thought-provoking questions than he answers. He was, and still is, one of the preeminent teachers of the natural world.

Looking back, I realize now that I have always sat with shoulders squared up to something at my back, watching.

Perhaps I am just a deer hunter at heart. It is the promise of deer, for which I wait.

Where do you sit?

Michael Patrick McCarty

You Might Also See The Aldo Leopold Foundation

You Might Also Like Our Post called The Gift

https://steemit.com/nature/@huntbook/it-is-the-promise-of-deer-for-which-i-wait

 

Vintage photo of what looks to be a 30" plus trophy mule deer, taken in Nevada during rifle season in the mid 1960's
Trophy Nevada Mule Deer Taken in the Mid-1960’s. Photo courtesy of David Massender.

Boy, (Or Should I Say Girl) Do They Grow Them Turkeys Big in Wisconsin

skeeze / Pixabay

 

A Young Wisconsin Girl Poses With Her Trophy Spring Eastern Turkey, Taken on a Youth Hunt in 2017
Jenna McBride Celebrates Her 26 Pound Wisconsin Gobbler

A big thumbs up to Jenna McBride, who took this magnificent  Wisconsin Eastern Turkey in April 2017.

Jenna is becoming quite the huntress too! At fourteen years old, this is already her second bird…

“It was an interesting day,  we were in a blind and I called once or twice early when the turkeys were still roosting.

We then had a hen come to our two decoys and stay by the decoys for 2.5 to 3 hours or so until this tom came in.  We had one other tom that stayed just out of range for almost two hours before leaving once it started to rain.  So I never had to call again as I had a very cooperative hen with us all morning.

Jenna did all the gun work though.  She told me if she gets a shot, she would get a turkey.  She didn’t miss!

And I forgot, I’ve never got one that big”. – Kevin McBride, Proud Father

__________________________________________________________

Not to be outdone, 16 year old sister Molly McBride followed up in May with an even bigger 27.1 pound tom.

Now that’s a turkey hunting duo to reckon with!

A teen-aged girl poses with a 27 pound eastern wild turkey harvested with a shotgun in central Wisconsin
A Beautiful Day To Be a Turkey Hunter

Dad had a tag in his pocket too but never picked up the gun.  He says that it is much more fun to be their guide. And yes, Kevin also acknowledges that “the girls had a good year”.

Now that’s the turkey hunting understatement of the season…

My biological nature makes me wonder if there is something in the water out there, or just what in the world these turkeys had been eating to get so big. Whatever it was, it certainly did the job. If registered, both birds would fall in or near a list of the top 50 heaviest birds ever recorded with The National Wild Turkey Federation in Wisconsin.

Search The National Wild Turkey Federation Record List Here

As for Jenna and Molly, something tells me that this will not be their last turkey hunting adventure. I can only hope that I get a chance to hunt with them sometime, or at least follow them around for a bit. No doubt they could show me a thing or two about how it should be done.

Congratulations all!

A Young Women and Her Dad Celebrate Her Trophy Eastern Gobbler, taken with a shotgun on a wild turkey hunt in central Wisconsin during the spring hunting season.
Like Father, Like Daughter – A Hunter’s Bond Runs Deep

Now that’s a mean set of wheels, and some spurs to be proud of!

A Close-Up Photo of the Spurs of a Trophy Eastern Wild Turkey, Harvested in Wisconsin During The Spring Hunting Season
A Spur To Make You Glad That You Are Not Another Male Wild Turkey

 

Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty

You Might Also Like Hunting For Colorado’s Mountain Gobblers Is Always a Thrill

A Hope for Next Year

 

Here’s a buck that I have watched grow up over the last few years. I can only imagine what he may look like next year – should he survive another Colorado winter and a long hunting season. The light may not be very good, but as you can see, he is a good buck by any measure.

Unfortunately, this buck roams from private land to private land and my guess is that he never steps foot in a place where you could hunt him. But then again, perhaps he does.

There is a small piece of almost inaccessible public land that borders his normal range. I think I shall hunt him there, next year. Or should I say, I will try.

A man has to look forward to something, particularly through the long interval between seasons.

But for now, it’s sure nice to see him again…