mcrae
06-03-2007, 08:57 PM
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Well after two years of practice it all finally came together on Wednesday night. I was halfway through a seven day bear hunt when I managed to take this bear cleanly with my bow!
The weather was terrible it was 30 degree's all day and we just were not seeing the bears like we usually do. We had checked the high country,the low country, and every little honey hole in between but no bears? I decided to head for a high point on the top of a ridge and glass the entire stretch of powerlines to see if the bears where even coming out! The power lines were lush and green so I figured they had to come to it eventually.
I parked the ATV at the bottom of an old road and walked the 3 kms in to my vantage point of the valley. We had aptly named this stretch tick ridge because you literally had to stop every 20 feet and clean your legs of ticks. It is inaccessible with the ATV because of a wash out but has some decent area in it as well and I like to walk so I figured all was good. When you get to the back end of the road you have a vantage point of almost 10 kms of lush green powerlines. I cleaned the ticks and settled in to watch.
For about an hour I watched mulies,whities,and elk coming and going but at last at around 7:00 a nice black bear came out on a good spot. I figured him to be a decent bear because I was able to make him out with just my eyes so I started my halfwalk/run back to the ATV. I realized I was burning daylight so I moved as fast as I could!
The bear was feeding in a meadow along the powerlines when I last saw him so I moved in nice and slow and watched the area closely. It looked like I had taken too long and missed him so I was getting ready to leave when for whatever reason he strolled out of the timber and started to feed again. He was still at 60 yards which was way out of my range so I closed the gap to 30 yards and waited.
I had nothing but a small bush to hide behind and was really hoping this camo stuuf worked! The meadow the bear was in was intersected by a stretch of waist high bushes and small trees and he was slowly feeding along it towards the middle. The meadow also had allot of dips and bumps and the bear sometimes left my view in these blindspots. I positioned myself for a twenty yard shot. I figured he was feeding right towards me and would give me a good broad side shot. I picked a spot and ranged twenty yards and waited hoping my guess would pay off........
It seemed to take forever and I was not moving a muscle when at last his head appeared behind the grass mound I had ranged. He had in fact feed my way. I started to work through my thoughts and decided he wasn't really a big bear but the conditions where good so I decided to take the shot. I had probably been waiting about ten minutes when at last he stepped into the open and gave me a chance.
I lifted my body up a bit(I was on my knee's), picked a spot behind the shoulder, drew the bow, set the pin, touched the release, and THWACK!!!!. What a sound that is! I knew it was a good hit, the bear looked around, grunted and headed for the timber. I was nervous as hell about hunting bears with a bow so I waited a couple minutes then decided it was best to go back to camp and get my truck.
I had taken the shot at 7:30 and knew there was only about an hour of light left. I decided to take a peek and see if I could see where he had gone in when to my surprise there was the bear laying twenty yards away. I decided it was still best to back out and give it some time so I cut my tag and hauled ass back to camp to get my truck and some help.
The other guys were not back yet so I left a note and headed back to my bear. We have had several run ins on this stretch with a grizzly boar during the hunt so I was apprehensive about dressing out this bear by myself. I found the arrow after a quick look and it had in deed been a complete pass through. I approached the bear stuck a broad head in the eye to make sure it was dead and to my relief it was dead.
Skipping the gory details the arrow had penetrated the first lung,hit the heart,and penetrated the opposite lung. As archery hits go it was perfect. When the guys arrived we field dressed the bear and headed for the meat cutter. He was not a long bear at about 5'5" or so nose to tail but he was heavy! He dressed 132 pounds on the hook at the meat cutter. He was built like a little tank! The funny thing was I had hurt my back at work just before my vacation started and was eating Robaxacet like it was candy to control the ouch in my lower back and during this whole event I didn't feel a thing! Instant pain relief another excuse to hunt. Of course the next day when I had to get one of the guys to tie my boots for me because I couldn't bend over I realized I was about to pay the price!!!!
Well after two years of practice it all finally came together on Wednesday night. I was halfway through a seven day bear hunt when I managed to take this bear cleanly with my bow!
The weather was terrible it was 30 degree's all day and we just were not seeing the bears like we usually do. We had checked the high country,the low country, and every little honey hole in between but no bears? I decided to head for a high point on the top of a ridge and glass the entire stretch of powerlines to see if the bears where even coming out! The power lines were lush and green so I figured they had to come to it eventually.
I parked the ATV at the bottom of an old road and walked the 3 kms in to my vantage point of the valley. We had aptly named this stretch tick ridge because you literally had to stop every 20 feet and clean your legs of ticks. It is inaccessible with the ATV because of a wash out but has some decent area in it as well and I like to walk so I figured all was good. When you get to the back end of the road you have a vantage point of almost 10 kms of lush green powerlines. I cleaned the ticks and settled in to watch.
For about an hour I watched mulies,whities,and elk coming and going but at last at around 7:00 a nice black bear came out on a good spot. I figured him to be a decent bear because I was able to make him out with just my eyes so I started my halfwalk/run back to the ATV. I realized I was burning daylight so I moved as fast as I could!
The bear was feeding in a meadow along the powerlines when I last saw him so I moved in nice and slow and watched the area closely. It looked like I had taken too long and missed him so I was getting ready to leave when for whatever reason he strolled out of the timber and started to feed again. He was still at 60 yards which was way out of my range so I closed the gap to 30 yards and waited.
I had nothing but a small bush to hide behind and was really hoping this camo stuuf worked! The meadow the bear was in was intersected by a stretch of waist high bushes and small trees and he was slowly feeding along it towards the middle. The meadow also had allot of dips and bumps and the bear sometimes left my view in these blindspots. I positioned myself for a twenty yard shot. I figured he was feeding right towards me and would give me a good broad side shot. I picked a spot and ranged twenty yards and waited hoping my guess would pay off........
It seemed to take forever and I was not moving a muscle when at last his head appeared behind the grass mound I had ranged. He had in fact feed my way. I started to work through my thoughts and decided he wasn't really a big bear but the conditions where good so I decided to take the shot. I had probably been waiting about ten minutes when at last he stepped into the open and gave me a chance.
I lifted my body up a bit(I was on my knee's), picked a spot behind the shoulder, drew the bow, set the pin, touched the release, and THWACK!!!!. What a sound that is! I knew it was a good hit, the bear looked around, grunted and headed for the timber. I was nervous as hell about hunting bears with a bow so I waited a couple minutes then decided it was best to go back to camp and get my truck.
I had taken the shot at 7:30 and knew there was only about an hour of light left. I decided to take a peek and see if I could see where he had gone in when to my surprise there was the bear laying twenty yards away. I decided it was still best to back out and give it some time so I cut my tag and hauled ass back to camp to get my truck and some help.
The other guys were not back yet so I left a note and headed back to my bear. We have had several run ins on this stretch with a grizzly boar during the hunt so I was apprehensive about dressing out this bear by myself. I found the arrow after a quick look and it had in deed been a complete pass through. I approached the bear stuck a broad head in the eye to make sure it was dead and to my relief it was dead.
Skipping the gory details the arrow had penetrated the first lung,hit the heart,and penetrated the opposite lung. As archery hits go it was perfect. When the guys arrived we field dressed the bear and headed for the meat cutter. He was not a long bear at about 5'5" or so nose to tail but he was heavy! He dressed 132 pounds on the hook at the meat cutter. He was built like a little tank! The funny thing was I had hurt my back at work just before my vacation started and was eating Robaxacet like it was candy to control the ouch in my lower back and during this whole event I didn't feel a thing! Instant pain relief another excuse to hunt. Of course the next day when I had to get one of the guys to tie my boots for me because I couldn't bend over I realized I was about to pay the price!!!!