79-Year-Old North Carolina Hunter Takes Down 782 Pound Black Bear
Hunters from across the United States are congratulating 79-year-old Thomas Capps from Richmond, North Carolina after he hunted down a huge black bear earlier on Monday, reports WTVR. The bear, which also happens to be the second largest bear to have ever been killed by a hunter in the state of North Carolina, weighed in at a colossal 782 pounds. It was just two pounds heavier than the previous record-holding bear, which weighed 780 pounds. It was, however, still 100 pounds lighter than the largest ever bear specimen hunted down in the state. That black bear weighed in at an astronomical 880 pounds!
On the day of the historic hunt, Thomas Capps, who was the former CEO of Dominion from 1990 till 2005, had planned to go out and seek much smaller targets. The initial plan was to go bird hunting with a group in the morning. However, he changed his intentions midway after the weather conditions became unsuitable for bird hunting.
“It was hot that day and we were afraid to let the dogs go out into the fields because of snakes,” Capps said.
Nearly an hour into their hunt, Capps spotted the large bear. In an interview to local news website NorthCarolinaSportsman.com, he describes how his hunt happened in a totally nonchalant way.
“There he was, coming out of a thicket at 150 yards away. I raised my.300 Winchester Magnum and took a shot that immediately knocked him down, but he got up, and I put two more rounds in him and that finished him off.”
Images of the 79-year-old man posing with the dead bear was posted on social media websites and the images quickly spread. The news of the hunting down of the near record size bear was also reported by TV hunting personality Jim Shockey, who was also hunting in a nearby area. Later, Jim arrived at Mattamuskeet Ventures to take a look at the bear in person. It was here that the dead bear was weighed on digital scales. Jim also took a few pictures with the bear — one of which was posted on to his Facebook page. The picture has also resulted in several negative comments being written about the hunt as well.
While the exact age of the bear is not known, if we are to believe Colleen Olfenbuttel, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s chief bear biologist, this bear was not more than 12 years old.
“Black bears are in their prime when they are between 6 and 12 years of age. As bears get older, they actually lose weight during the late stages of their life.”
A tooth from the bear has been extracted and sent to Montana to evaluate the exact age of the bear, she confirmed. The bear meat was was later processed to be eaten.
The news about the killing of this bear comes barely a week after a 65-year-old hunter was injured after being mauled by a bear in Alaska.
[Images Via WTVR/Facebook]
