Editors note: This story written by Jonathan McNiven was published in the Yellowstone County News on October 10, 2014. Other images have been added to this article and linked to the gallery section. Subscribe to the Yellowstone County News for full coverage and details happening in Yellowstone County and the Huntley Project area.
Ballantine: Adam Vogel of Ballantine killed a 660-lb Black Bear near the Vogel Ranch on Wednesday October 8, 2014. It is the first bear to be killed near the Vogel Ranch in the 63 years that father Dan Vogel has lived there. Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim stated that they are aware of the biggest bear to date at 505 lbs but this one, he states, “is worth following up on for measurements and skull sizes” in order for it to be considered official in the Montana Big Game Records books.
Adam Vogel, a 2002 graduate of Huntley Project, was surprised to think his reward after weeks of long harvest days was the opportunity to shoot and kill a big game animal. While finishing the last 16 rows of corn, the record bear emerged out of the corn and ran to the neighbors and climbed a tree which allowed Adam a little time to call the Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks to make sure it was still bear season and that he could shoot and kill it due to safety reasons at the ranch.
Adam hastily retrieved a bear tag and proceeded to pursue the huge big game animal. He first tried to use his bow and was at a full draw at 10 yards when the bear took off on him. Adam had to upgrade to the next support of firearm and use his 270 Short Mag to shoot the monstrous animal out of the tree it climbed. The Vogel ranch crew all met at the ranch truck scale to weigh the animal as the last of 1,200 acres of corn were harvested. To everyone’s surprise, they checked the scale a couple times to make sure it was reading the correct weight of 660 lbs. In fact, pictures of the scale weight were taken to be documented.
Those images and others can be found on the Gallery page of the www.huntleyproject.net community website. Additional pictures of the bear hide, claws and more are available to view.
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