First bear hunt– color phase bear, 35A

[leilacl]

I feel incredibly fortunate to have harvested my 2018 spring (really summer) bear. This was the first time I've ever applied for, got drawn for, and hunted bear-- so I went into this with little knowledge, all your guys' advices, and God's good grace. I began hunting out of a blind but the bears tore it down after roughly a week and a half, which made me both amused and a bit nervous.

 

Several encounters of bears coming in between 8 and 20 yards left me feeling blessed, and honestly would have been enough to satisfy my expectations and hopes for my first hunt. Despite the blessings that unfolded, there grew an insatiable curiosity in me: these bears would come in, stop, sniff, smell me, and then leave. I couldn't understand it. I'd used scent spray, avoided excess scents such as deodorant (yes I smelled pretty bad at the end of each day haha), lotion, detergents, etc, paid attention to the wind, and I doused myself in scent cover sprays-- yet my attempts were futile. It was so baffling and yet amazing. What really blew me away was an article that illuminated the following: humans have 6 million olfactory receptors, Blood Hounds 1.8 billion, and bears 12.6 billion. That left me wondering how it would ever be possible to stump their physiology. Additionally, I'd read about, and somehow forgotten on my own, the fact that bears can smell... are you ready to be transfixed... our sweat. Human sweat. My sweat. You guys, I don't know how this simple, simple fact eluded my common sense. I'd been re-wearing several of the same pieces because I thought that the clothes would adopt nature's aromas. Needless to say I learned a lesson.

 

The very next day (July 4th), my dad and headed out with a few new tactics up our sleeves. At this point, my dad had come out with me twice but had yet to see a bear on this hunt, unlike the other company I'd taken, who had all seen bears... including my mom. My poor dad, I kept thinking, the guy who deserves to see these animals the most– for so many reasons– isn't seeing anything. He's going to start thinking I'm making everything I've seen up. Well we hiked our usual route but this time stopped roughly 150 yards before our spot. We took off our clothes, wiped ourselves down with a cold towel to remove the sweat, put on new clothes, sprayed our scent cover, and rubbed mint leaves over ourselves. We then slowly, so as not to begin sweating again, walked into our spot.

 

The first two hours were quiet as far as bears went but screamed with the sounds of other small wildlife. I filled my time with reading my bible and conversation with God, often praying that my dad would get to at least see a bear. Around 8:10am, I swiveled my head to my right, looking to match a sound I thought I heard with the sight of an animal. Nothing was there. But to my left, a twig snapped, and my body rushed with excitement as I turned my head and saw the sun shine down on a beautiful cinnamon bear. She walked in to about 16 yards and stopped to smell around. Her head whirled from left to right and I though for sure she would catch my scent and take off as the others had done before. But that never happened. To my surprise, she lowered her head for a drink, and I drew my bow back as smoothly as I'd ever done. As the pin began to settle around the vitals I told myself just let go...don't wait...she'll run...just do it. The arrow left my bow, passed through her mass, and she took off. I sat there in disbelief. Looking up at my dad, who sat about 10 yards above me, I waited and waited for him to look down at me and... congratulate me, validate me, tell me everything went smoothly and that the deed was all but done? I'm not sure what I wanted, but a palpable sense of eagerness and nervousness overtook me only to disappear roughly a [long] minute later when he finally looked down and gave me a thumbs up. Gosh I love my dad. We spent the next two hours packing up our things, hiking back to the truck, hiking back in, tracking, and finding my girl laying under a tree about 60 yards away.

 

I am very much hooked on bear hunting. There's nothing like getting close to animals of this caliber. I look forward to many more hunts with my dad, spending time with God, and learning just how special these animals are.

[wildwoody]

That's awesome, congratulations

[azhuntnut]

Congratulations on a well earned bear. Very well written story. These archery spring hunts can be very hard. Pretty cool that you had your dad with you.👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻👊🏻 David

[leilacl]

And if anyone has any taxidermists they'd recommend in either Sierra Vista or Tucson (possibly Phoenix) I'd love to know as I'm looking for either a rug or full mount for this one. Thanks!

[Big Browns]

WOW, very cool story and hunt! Congrats!!!

[brademan76]

Pretty colored sow, congrats!

[ready2hunt]

Awesome job! Nothing is better than dropping a bear!

[218buck]

congrats on your bear

[Will K]

Awesome.

[DCS]

Thank you for the post and taking us along.Your dad has got to be very proud of you.Congratulations

[MULEPACKHUNTER]

Hey that's the same camo top Edge wears !!!

That's one heck of a load to carry, I could only handle the head and cape. Beast mode.

[kidso]

Very sweet cinny, and I Love the darkness around her eyes! I would rug her out. Lots of great taxidermists support this site. Congratulations!!

[Zeke-BE]

Congrats

[jim]

That is a really cool colored bear. Congrats on having the will sit on water in this heat.

[lonne]

Great job and that bear is beautiful! Awesome face on the bear!!