Fines Creek 21-year-old bags record black bear

Nov. 1—Every bear hunter's dream came true for 21-year-old Caleb Henry, of Fine's Creek, who bagged a 695-pound black bear, the largest bear ever harvested in Western North Carolina.

"I've been bear hunting since I was in diapers," Henry told The Mountaineer. "Since my dad was able to carry me through the woods, I've been hunting."

Henry and his friends hunt to their heart's content every black bear season, which begins in the western counties Oct. 17 and lasts through Nov. 19, 2022, and runs again from Dec. 12, 2022 — Jan. 2, 2023.

On the first day of hunting season, Henry's friend Lucas Teague took a 475-pound bear, but Henry didn't get one.

In the early morning the next day, the two hunters found sizable tracks just a few miles from his home in Fines Creek.

So Henry and Teague each turned loose two dogs — a mix of Plott hounds and Walkers.

"The dogs went down through the holler, and they started barking after five minutes and split," Henry recalled. "My dogs went one way, and his two went the other."

It turns out that Henry's dogs had caught the scent of one bear while Teague's were following the trail of another.

"We got in front of his two dogs because they were on the big one," Henry said.

While Henry's dogs had treed one bear, Henry and Teague walked the trail of the larger bear, shown through its distinctly large tracks. But hunting down the predator was no easy feat.

"The bear got across one of the old roads in front of my girlfriend and me," Henry recalled. "It went down into a big, deep holler. We drove to another road, and I got ahead of him."

Henry waited for the bear to come down the ridge toward him, and when the animal finally came in sight, 21-year-old Henry saw the largest bear he'd ever seen in his life.

Seeing how large the bear was, Henry opted to forego his usually 30-30 rifle for the large, but less common, 35 Remington.

"I just got that gun for Christmas," Henry said.

He said all he felt at that moment was pure adrenaline, which is one thing that keeps Henry coming back year after year to hunt down big game.

"If the adrenaline stops, I'll just quit hunting," he said. "There isn't any point."

Henry took his shot, and the bear fell. Henry could finally inspect just how large the animal was upon closer inspection.

"A regular-sized bear is 150-200 pounds and a few years old," he said.

This game was quite a bit bigger. And before Henry and his friends could measure and weigh the bear, they had to get it out of the woods.

"We pulled our side-by-side into a trail that it could fit down, we hooked ropes to him, and we pulled him up above the road bank," Henry said. After that, they could carry the bear home in the truck.

When Henry and Teague got the bear home, a local biologist came to weigh it, and the hunters were astonished: the bear came in at 695 pounds. At that size, estimates are likely that the bear is between 10-15 years old.

So, how does a bear outlast eager hunters year and year to reach such a seasoned age? Henry guesses the bear was traveling when the hunting party came upon him.

"Where we hunt is close to the park," he said. "I'd say he came out of the park."

The 695-pound bear broke the record for the largest bear taken in Western North Carolina, shattering the previous record of 688 pounds, taken in Madison County.

Henry said he sent off the skull measurements to make the record official.

So what will Henry do with his prize? Bearskin rug?

"I'm taking it to the taxidermist to get it half-mounted," he said, which mounts the front half of the bear for mounting on a wall. "I wanted to get it full-body mounted, but I don't think it would fit in the house."