Gabe Ward Whacks his first Bear!!!!!

[wardsoutfitters]

I would like to share my boy Gabriel's hunt with all of you. Friday morning my Father and boys Gabriel and Landon headed to unit 29 for a morning of Bear hunting. We arrived way before light because Gabe and I needed to climb a big ridge to get the good vantage of the whole area. My dad was going to walk up the creek with London , and try to catch a bear in the bottom. Gabe and I reached the top of the ridge we would be glassing form just in time as we now had enough light to see. I didn't even get set up and with my 10's I glassed this bear feeding on a juniper tree at 1600 yards. I told Gabe we would wait to see if the bear would feed to the west and present a shot across the canyon, after watching it for a few minutes I decided that we would make the stalk because the bear hadn't moved . I knew we would have to hurry. My concern was that when we get into the creek bottom I would have a hard time finding an area to shoot from. I told Gabe we would have to almost run to get into position before the bear heads toward his bedding area. We began down the mountain we were on top of and stopped a few times to make sure the bear was still there. We were almost to the bottom of the hill I stopped again looked and the bear was still in the same spot , I looked down and laying at my feet was a matching set of Coues sheds about an 80" buck . You know your obsessed with Coues deer when you're as excited about sheds as you are the bear, Of course I picked up the sheds and the race was on again. We were now in the bottom of the canyon and I picked up the pace, I found a spot where I could see the bear and it was still under the same tree I ranged it and it was 973 yards, we headed straight toward it along the edge of the creek I stopped again when I found another opening and still there now at 865, again moving toward it and along the creek I stopped in another opening and now it was 785 but no way to shoot it because the grass was to tall and if Gabe was prone he wouldn't be able to see the bear because of trees and grass. We archery Coues deer hunt along this creek often and I remembered a small opening that always has scrapes in it during January , I thought to myself I think we can shoot from there off the edge of a little drop off. We again took off and I went straight to the opening , when we got there to my amazement the bear was still feeding under the same tree. I took a range and the tree was 651 yards , I told Gabe to get set up and to rest his back on the base of a tree then to locate the bear. While he was getting set up I was making a shooting lane so he would have a clear shot at the bear. I asked him you find him, he said yes but it's behind a small tree . I told him he is 650 yards dial it in , He dialed the scope into 650 and without even telling him he dialed it down two clicks from the 650 mark , I knew he was compensating for the angle of the shot . He got back into the scope and said it just walked to the right, I said move left because now you couldn't see the bear from the position we were in and the bear hadn't even moved 10 yards , Gabe moved to the left got set up again and asked now what's the range , I ranged the bear and told Gabe 664 yards he reached up and added the two clicks he had taken off . I told him you on it he said yes , I said take it , I forgot I hadn't taken off the safety and I looked down to do so and he was just taking it off his self. I got back on the bear and said squeeze, Gabe said its quartering away, I said last rib and a second later boom I watched the bear pile up. Gabe had just whacked a bear at a what I figure was 650 yards.

[Coues Sniper]

Heck of a shot on a heck of a bear. Big congrats

[Will K]

Wow. Awesome. Congrat's to all.

[Pine Donkey]

Thats great!

[mason a]

That a great bear and a great shot, I'm sure your proud of your son.I know I get more excited for them then i do with my own hunts. congratulations

[AZLance]

Congratulations!!!!!!!! Nice Bear.

[tjhunt2]

Congratulations to Gabriel on his bear and his shot. Now that is something to brag about at school.

 

TJ

[CouesWhitetail]

Holy Buckets! Nice job Gabe!! I bet the other kids at school will be jealous!

 

 

Hey Steven, what was the bear feeding on that he stayed in one place so long? acorns?

[Coues Kid]

Congrats nice bear

[bonecollector]

Awesome job Gabe! Good shootin.

[wardsoutfitters]

The bear was feeding on Juniper berries, My Nephew also harvested a bear yesterday and One of my guides whacked one this morning. All on Juniper

[257 STW]

Nice one congrats

[arizonaelitefreak]

Steven thats awesome bro, tell gabe congrats and congrats to all that have killed bears! did bill or mondo get a bear too?

[cramerhunts]

Congratulations to Gabe! Awesome job Steven....sweet bonus on the sheds too!

[azcouesfanatic]

It is great to see someone teaching our youth. I still remember everything my father taught me. Way to go. You are teaching those boys right.

 

Brian