AZLance Report post Posted July 2, 2012 My 2012 Archery Bear Hunt Well after several months of scouting and placing trail cameras on every water source I could find, I located a good spot with 9 different bears coming in for water. I had over 30 differnt bears on all my trail cameras this spring. So I sat, and I sat, and I sat some more. I spent a total of 114 hours in the tree stand, and had a few bears come in, but not the right one. Finally on Monday night, just before dusk, I heard a grunt and some heavy breathing off to my right. I turned my head and just caught a nice bear moving thru the brush and the light rain at about 80 yds. The bear was dropping into a small cut that would lead to the spring I was watching. So I took this opportunity to stand up and get my bow ready. And sure enough the bear walked into one of my shooting lanes at 41 yards and stopped to sniff a small pinon tree. I slowly squeezed the release and the arrow flew straight and true, right thru the bear behind the front shoulder. It was a good hit! The bear whirled and took of running up the cut. I gathered my stuff, and my breath, and climbed down out of the stand. It was almost dark, and the rain was coming down at a steady pace. I would normally give the animal 20-30 minutes to make sure it is dead, but I was worried about the darkness and the rain washing away any blood that was left behind. So I began to follow the blood trail, and there was a lot of blood. After a few minutes I had to turn on my flashlight due to the darkness, but the blood was still very visible. I began to drop into a small cut, when I heard some rustling in the brush off to my right. I swung the flashlight, only to see the bear charging straight for me. I raised my bow, and swung it at him while screaming, (like a little girl I’m sure). The bear veered off just 5 feet from me and ran into the brush up the cut. I quickly decided, this was pretty stupid, tracking a wounded bear, in the dark and rain, with no firearm. I was also in an area where there was no cell service for miles, and no one new about the situation I had got myself into. I decided to wait, but I could still hear the bear breathing and squirming around on the ground just up the cut from me. The rain really began to pour, with monsoon lightning crashing down around me. It was time for me to pack it in for the night and come back in the early am. All night I couldn’t stop thinking about my bear, but assured myself that backing out was the right thing to do. Early morning came very quickly, and I found myself back in the area I was the night before. I quickly picked up the blood trail again, and followed it another 35 yards. The blood trail and bear tracks led into a small mine shaft. The mineshaft entrance was partially collapsed and only measured 2’ by 3’. Now I am no miner by any means, and the thought of crawling into the mine shaft after a wounded bear was in no way exciting me. Believe me it took a while for me to talk myself into this. So with a pistol drawn, for self-defense purposes only, I began to crawl into the mineshaft. The floor of the shaft was muddy and smelled like nothing I had ever smelled before. After about 25’ the shaft angled down at a steep slope. I stopped and shone my flashlight into the dark, but could see nothing but dark. The walls seemed to be creeping in, and my breathing began to accelerate. I think a bit of Closter phobia was setting in. I backed out, and sucked in a big breath of fresh air and sunlight. It felt so good to be in the open air and sun, but at the same time, my hopes and dreams of recovering this bear were slipping away. I began to hike all around the immediate area thinking there might be another entrance to this mineshaft, but another entrance was never found. I sat down under a large Pinion tree and my mind began racing in all different directions. Idea after idea popped into my head, on how to get my bear out of this mineshaft. I was assuming that he was dead by now, and laying somewhere back in the dark of that damp mineshaft. I left and headed home to get some rope and better flashlights. I returned later in the day with a bunch of rope, and a more powerful flashlight. This still did not work. After crawling back into the mineshaft, I could not see anything beyond the beam of the flashlight. And the slope of the mineshaft had me worrying if I ascended down into the shaft, would I be able to get back out. So again, I left and headed home, as I was in the middle of Little League All-Star season, and practice was just a couple of hours away. Not wanting to give up, until I was certain, there was no other possible way left, I returned the next morning. As I was walking up towards the mineshaft opening, I heard something crashing thru the brush ahead of me. Thoughts went thru my head, what was that? A deer, my bear, or something else… As I inched up on the opening of the mineshaft, I noticed that the earth and leaves had been disturbed. It looked like something was drug out of the mineshaft. What I thought, is this possible, is my bear still alive, and drug himself out of the cave? I began to follow the drag marks, and began noticing very large round front paw prints along the way. Then it hit me, the stench of a dead animal. I looked ahead and only a few yards ahead of me was my bear. But something was terribly wrong. As I walked closer, I saw something I could have never expected to see. The entire back half of my bear was gone, there was just bones picked clean of meat. From the size of the bear tracks around the carcass, there was a very large meat eater close by. That is probably what was scared off as I walked up that morning. So from what I can figure, a large boar, came walking by and smelled the dead bear in the mineshaft. He decided to drag it out, and have a feast of his lifetime. I was able to use some good photography tricks to get some good pictures, without the carnage of the back half showing. The highs and lows of this hunt were extreme, and will be never forgotten. The bear turned out to be a big sow. I am not sure if that is why the other boar came and ate her groin, stomach, and rear hind quarters, maybe she was in heat? I guess i will be back next year looking for the big boar that ate my bear! Lance 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Couzer Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Great story!!!! Wow is all I can say! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BIGAZHUNTER14 Report post Posted July 2, 2012 what a hunt!! but i would of had a buddy go in there first! lol great story and too bad about your bear! pics look great though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Elkhunter1 Report post Posted July 2, 2012 WOW!!! Holy @$##$ that would put a pucker factor of 45 on any man. Great story and photos. Cudos Lance! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
reganranch Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Hey Lance how many years did it take you to draw a spring bear tag for down south? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AZLance Report post Posted July 2, 2012 1st time! I had been out of bowhunting the past few years due to shoulder surgery. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
reganranch Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Right on man! Glad you got your bear back (half your bear back) yeah i wouldn't of gone all the way down into that mineshaft either. Are you thinking about doing a rug mount still or a half mount like the bear walking out of the wall? The bears are definetly moving i had a young blonde one on my cam i went and got out of the woods yesterday followed by a Sow and her two cubs a couple days later. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tjhunt2 Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Congratulations Lance and a great story. No one ever mentioned you were a little crazy or just the bravest man in the world. Could you imagine being in that cave and the other bear coming in behind you? Wow! Thanks for sharing your hunt and story with us. It's one of the best I've read on here. TJ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lonne Report post Posted July 2, 2012 That is a really cool story!!! Thanks !!! You had a lot of guts to go after that bear right away...must have been truly scary with it coming straight at you. I have read a few stories of wounded bears, that figured out what was going on, and waiting in the bushes for the hunter. Awesome the front half turned out ok!!! Hopefully you had some help packing it out... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naturegirl Report post Posted July 2, 2012 wow!!!! great hunt and great story! that would freak me out for sure. u did a great job with pics. dis u ever see the bear eater again? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bonecollector Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Nice read. Congrats on your bear. Good job not giving up on the recovery of the bear. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CouesWhitetail Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Wow, that's quite a story! I am glad you didn't end up in the bottom of that mineshaft!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
twigsnapper Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Awesome Story!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
huntjunkie Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Wow!! That story is awesome! Sorry that it was half gone. Looks like a really nice sow! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kidso Report post Posted July 2, 2012 Awesome hunt and write up Lance. Too bad that darn mineshaft was there! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
