Daniel Parrott With 717 Pound Black Bear

Marine Corps Veteran Harvests Behemoth 717-Pound Black Bear

When they think of black bear hunting, most people think of the mountains out west, the north woods of Maine, Michigan, or Canada. However, a southern state is actually arguably the premier black bear hunting location in North America. The swampy coastal forests of eastern North Carolina are home to some of the largest black bears in the world. The region’s comfortably mild temperatures mean black bears don’t need to hibernate. That means bears in the area eat all year long and tend to grow larger than in colder places. That much is evident by the absolutely behemoth 717-pound black bear that Marine Corps Veteran Daniel Parrott recently shot.

The hunt took place on December 10th, but Field and Stream just recently shared the full story. The bear was hunted with hounds and guided by Stormy Ridge Outfitters. He used one of the most iconic rifles in American history to take the bear too – a lever action .30-30. The hunt was put together by an organization called Combat Warriors. The volunteer-driven non-profit group has chapters in 5 states and works to provide hunting opportunities for combat veterans.

North Carolina Is Home To Some Of The Largest Black Bears On Earth

The current world record for black bears was also taken in North Carolina. It weighed 880 pounds. While the bear that Daniel Parrot shot isn’t quite that big, this bruin is still an absolute unit. It was the largest bear that both he and his guide Billy Barber had ever seen.

The bear that Parrott shot was taken in Hyde County. For anyone that knows much about black bear hunting, the words “Hyde County” immediately conjure up daydreams of the best bear hunting opportunities on Earth. The area Parrot was hunting is not far from the almost 50,000 acre Dare Game Lands, which are managed by the state. The record-breaking 880-pounder was shot just three counties south in Craven County. Bears in that area have year-round access to readily available wild food sources like acorns and agricultural crops like soybeans and peanuts. Those nutrient-rich food sources, among other factors, are why bears in the area get so damn big.

“This area is full of big hardwood forests with lots of oaks and locusts,” said Parrott. “There’s a healthy bear population, and, at the same time, you have a relatively low population density of people. I’ve been told that the bear population exceeds the human population in some of these counties.” 

They Tracked The Bear To Within 50 Yards In A Dense Forest

“I’ve hunted bears a handful of times throughout my life,” Parrott said. “But this was the first time that I’ve gone bear hunting and felt very confident that something was going to happen.”

Things started bright and early on the day he shot the bear. At 6:35 in the morning, the guides let the dogs loose. It didn’t take long for them to pick up a fresh scent. “The radios came alive within seconds of the hounds finding the trail,” Parrott said. “I was hunting with Billy and two other guys. When we started hearing the hounds, they moved off to a predetermined spot about 200 yards away. Billy and I moved deeper into the woods, following the edge of a large drainage canal.”

As the hunter and his guide moved deeper into the woods, they glimpsed movement and black fur from a patch of cypress trees and loblolly pines about 50 yards away.

“The bear was moving at a leisurely pace without any hounds on his immediate trail when he paused to look in our direction for a split second,” Parrott said. “After transitioning from iron sights to my scope, I rested the crosshairs behind his shoulder. The bullet hit slightly forward of my intended point but put the boar down on his right side without another step.”

Black bear hunting often gets mislabeled as “trophy hunting.” But the fact of the matter is that’s illegal not to harvest the bear meat too, not just the trophy parts like the hide and the skull. Bear meat is actually a very underrated delicacy as well. It’s a very versatile protein, as evident by the long list of awesome bear meat recipes published by Bear Hunting Magazine.