Another finally...

[lonne]

I've been hunting bear for 6 years in Arizona...closest I've come is seeing one in the last hour during the Spring Archery hunt, think that was my 3rd year bear hunting. I hand called a deer in once that scared the daylights out of me because it came storming in snorting and angry blowing a fawn bleet call, never saw it, my friends did, but man did it scare the daylights out of me! Another time calling called a coyote in and shot it with my bow, that was exciting.

 

I've been trying every year, and one summer I think my wife about had it with me because I was going out every single weekend hiking my butt off and sat in a treestand 100+ hours with nothing but a snake and a deer sighting. When Kidso talks about an addiction, he isn't kidding.

 

I had read about a San Carlos hunt for years, and thought it sounded really cool! I finally decided I was going to try it this year, and I'm glad I did. What a beautiful beautiful place. You do have to put some time into finding them! Unless you are one of those people where they just happen to run across the road in front of you, or just have good luck seeing bears, I had to work a bit to find them. There are definitely alot of bears out there if you put some work into it. My first trip with my cousin and his friend, we didn't see any but we did catch some trout. We weren't putting enough work into it. I did some follow up trips and I think my 3rd or 4th trip out I finally spotted a bear. Then I really started spotting some bears after putting in some driving & boot time looking for good areas and glassed up 8 in one weekend. Including a beautiful blonde colored sow but unfortunately she had cubs, and a couple of really nice big boars.

 

I always seem to work hard and if I get something it's usually on the last day. I've had luck with Adam once and scored a turkey opening day and so did he.

 

Spotted a really nice blackie about 850 yards away and only got to 600 yards before time was running out, tried calling and the bear just looked at me indifferently as though his stomach was full and he wasn' t going anywhere. Before you know it, he casually strolled off and disappeared into the distance.

 

Then it got really hot. Really, really, really hot! I hadn' t seen any bears being on the rez when it got past about 70 degrees, and suddenly it was 80+. Sat there for hours on end glassing and nothing, and the sun just started beating down on me, shade or no shade. I quickly started getting negative. On scouting trips we had only seen bears at 400 + yards, so I finally took my shooting out to 500 yards the day before heading out....and suddenly it cooled down so quick and this beautiful red colored bear popped out of nowhere on the hillside eating good ole prickly pears at 238 yards! It wasn't really red but the way the light shined on it. More of a chocolate color. He was definitely not a monster but definitely a taker for my first bear. To say I was excited would be an understatement, I could not hold myself together.

 

I'm scrambling to get a shot, hadn't quite sorted the landmarks out on the hillside the bear popped up, b/c I had only seen bears on the farther hillside. Suddenly I'm losing visual of the bear, then I'm seeing it again, losing it, my binoculars are 10 yards away as I left them and my range finder there looking for a prone position to shoot from. The bear is feeding and moving, finally I take a shot, and I see the bear saunter off and disappear into some bushes and disappear. I glassed for a few minutes and wasn' t sure if I hit the bear. After a few minutes I did hear the famous death moan. I starting hiking over to my cousin who spotted the bear literally at the same time, and then the bear is in my view under a tree. II put another shot into him for insurance, and he didn't move, so that told me he was done for. I reached my cousin, and he said he was pretty sure I hit him b/c he looked sick and then suddenly put his head down and didn't move. I put on some hunter orange and had my cousin yell to me across the canyon until I found the bear. I walked up with my pistol drawn just in case. Just like they always say, the bear was facing the direction where his wound came from. He was a nice looking bear.

 

I was scared as heck and poked him with a big long stick, and tossed a rock his way. No movement. I even thought I saw his eyes blink at one moment. When my cousin reached me, he thought he saw him breathing. It took me a few minutes to feel brave enough to touch his head. Any deer or elk could stab the heck out of us with its antlers! But its funny the feeling a bear gives you. My uncle once shot a deer in the antlers, knocked it out cold, only to have it attack him when he approached.

 

In the end, San Carlos is a beautiful quality hunt and gorgeous country! Bears aren't hiding around every corner peeking out at you, but there are plenty of nice bears out there if you look for them and put a little quality time into it you will definitely find them.

 

I'm still pulling cactus spines out!

 

Thanks to my mom and dad for putting up with my determination over 6 years to get a bear. Thanks to the Lord in Heaven for giving me such a wonderful and tremendous opportunity !!! Thanks to my dad for getting me into hunting when I was a kid and teaching me the value of firearm safety and respect!!! Thanks to my wife for not kicking me out a long time ago and thankfully she had a brother who is a huge hunter and she actually loves it when I bring hard earned meat home to eat. Thanks to Kidso for always being a great teacher all these years and everyone else on this forum. Thanks to Adam for being a great bear hunting friend who also has a bear addiction problem. Thanks to Apache77 Dan for all the confidence he had in me and just generally helping me get around and know where there might be bears and all the help. I've probably made both Dan and Keith's eyes bleed I've typed up and emailed so many qs. LOL. I was one of those guys that posted a pic from my trail cam asking "Is this a big bear?" and then got hooked. I'm still hooked...can't wait for the next one...here comes deer season

Lonne

[Edge]

Nice job!

[Maverick351]

Great looking bear. Good job. I'm hoping to fill my first bear tag this year.

[wildwoody]

Still living at home, great bear

[Shedhunteraz]

What a great story. And one heck of a bear. Big congrats to you and what a great group of guys who helped you out also. Congrats to all of you

[capoeirajosh]

Awesome job!

[4Falls]

AWESOME. Nice to see all that hard work pay off.

[Will K]

Good job.

[Couestracker]

Congratulations on your success! You had great people helping you, but bottom line is YOU got one! Awesome job.

[PelaPapas]

Congrats on getting it done!

[Big Browns]

You da man buddy! Congratulations on getting your first Bear! Hopefully many more to come....

[duarte64]

Congrats Nice Bear.....Get the fever...

[lonne]

Thanks all!!! Yep I've had the fever for awhile now. Last spring had a surgery in March that took me out of the game for about 6 months and didn't bear hunt at all last year, so was really anxious to get out there this year. Good luck on all your hunts!!!

[ElkyG]

Awesome! Congrats on your first bear

[kidso]

Dreams do come true! You never know when they will come to fruition, but when they do, it is sweeter than one ever imagined! I'm proud of your dedication Lonne and congratulations on some great meat and a color phase chocolate bear!! P.S., you can still sneak out and tag another this year, but on state land to feed your addiction!