Archery Bear

[thegunsmith2506]

For some reason 8 years ago I decided I was going to kill a bear with my bow. I have dedicated many hours to this pursuit. Calling,

 

glassing, sitting water, I tried it all. I have yet to fulfill this goal. About 3 years ago my sister's boyfriend mentioned that he

 

would like to start hunting. I figured he would be like most beginners I know and lose intrest after a few trips. I was amazed at his

 

dedication! I have a passion for hunting and calling predators, he seems to share that passion. From the very first hunt , he was

 

determined to kill a bear with a bow. We have spent countless hours in pursuit of these animals. Although he has made a few gun

 

kills, Jason had never made an archery kill until this day.....

 

 

This year we didn't have much time to bear hunt due to other hunts we had drawn. We hunted for 7 days in the spring, and for a few

 

days in August, but just didn't have the time to get serious. I guess its safe to say that if the season is open, and we are in the

 

field, we are always bear hunting. This wasn't a dedicated bear hunt though. Heck, we hadn't even had a bear on camera at this spot.

 

There was a little sign, but they just wouldn't come by the camera. This had been our deer spot in August. Jason had sat in his stand

 

for 9 days with no bucks and no bears back in August. Deer season was over now, and I don't know why we decided to sit these stands

 

but here I was. It was 4pm on a Saturday and I was tucked away in my groundblind on a good trail. Jason was 400yds behind me sitting

 

in a ladder stand over looking a little basin. Shots are limited here, so we usually just carry a bow. I was just sitting there

 

enjoying the fresh evening air when I glanced at my phone. I had a txt from Jason. I was sure it was going to be a pic of turkeys.

 

The turkeys were in his little basin every night tearing up the acorns. He had been having a blast watching them from his stand.

 

Instead of a pic, I had a txt. "Get over here now! I just shot Yogi!". Huh.... Jason can be a bit goofy at times.

 

Don't get me wrong, it does keep things interesting, but its hard to know what he is thinking. I thought he was kidding around, so I

 

txt back asking if he was serious. "Get over here now!" was all I got back. Huh..... I guess he actually saw a bear. So about 20 txt

 

later I talked him into meeting me back at the jeep. I still didn't believe he had actually killed a bear. He was at the Jeep long

 

before I got there. He proceeded to tell me how this big bear had walked up the trail behind the camera and looked straight up at

 

him. Took him a couple of trys to get his bow drawn, but he finally made a shot. He wasn't sure of the hit, but he had found blood

 

when he got down from his stand. "What? you found blood?". Now I was convinced he had actually shot a bear. We dumped most of our

 

gear at the Jeep, and headed up to his stand. Light was fading fast, but we found blood and started trailing. Almost an hour later we

 

were 200yds away with no trail, and things were not looking good. Jason was unsure of the shot. He thought it looked good at the

 

time, but was starting to second guess himself. I wasn't too keen on tracking this bear with nothing more than a flashlight in my

 

hands. It was time to head back to the Jeep for better lights, and a gun. I headed downhill towards a well used trail that would take

 

us back to the Jeep. I had never seen that poor guy so down on himself. He was just sick thinking he had made a bad shot. I don't

 

know why, but for some reason I shined my light off the trail about 20yds to my left. There was a big brown lump under an Oak tree.

 

No way... I walked over to it and sure enough, there she lay. A beautiful brown colored Black Bear. Piled up less than 200yds from

 

the stand, straight down a steep hill. His shot was good. The Copperhead broadhead had done its job well. Lots of backslaps and high

 

fives and we were headed back to the Jeep. We were able to get within about 800yds of his bear with the jeep. Its a good thing cause

 

I was beat by the time we dragged her that far. It was 2:30am when we finally got her in the freezer. I have never been so exausted!

 

G&F aged her at 6-7 years old.

 

Congrats buddy on a great bear! You earned it!

 

We took pics after we got her down off the mountain.

 

[Pine Donkey]

Nice bear, I love the color.

[Big Browns]

Great Job guy's! Congrats on getting a Bear with your bow. That's a day both of you will remember for the rest of your life. Great job!

 

Adam

[Non-Typical Solutions]

Nice job and congratulations on your success after so much time spent.

[WHALE]

Man that is cool, good job.

[azcouesfanatic]

Great bear and great write up.

 

Brian

[Redman]

Wow that is awesome.

[.270]

good job dude. i shot a big ol' chocolate boar with my bow once. a long time ago. it's still exciting to think about it. good job. Lark.

[KidBowHunter]

Awesome bear! Congrats!!!

[azmetalman]

Very nice bear. The color is just great. I enjoyed the story.

Congratulations!!!