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| Great bear hunt! From Bill Kinney Photography |
It began when we got there and the guide started briefing us on where we'd be hunting, how the movement was, all the important stuff that just gets you jittery and wanting to just get out there already! Alas, by the time I did get to sit in the stand, it was a little different than I had imagined...
So it was the 2007 Minnesota bear season when I took my first bear, and let me admit something to you... It was the hottest, most miserable hunt of my whole life! Not to say it wasn't worth it, but it was hot! I sat out on a red flag warning day in 96 degree heat, drank through the 64 ounces of gatorade I had brought with me, and I was still thirsty. Had I not come that far just to bear hunt, I would've stayed at home. But I'm a good sport, and whose to say I'd ever have a chance to bear hunt again? One more check off that bucket list!
The guide has told us he'd been baiting for about the last three weeks and they were hitting several of the baits, but there had also been a problem with wolves coming and running the bears off. So, what do you know, when Bill was out there he saw not one bear, but four wolves. I saw wolves as well, but at eleven o'clock I got a different visitor.
The bear walked straight down the line, straight at me and I waited for him to turn so I could get a shot. I was excited, but also a little unnerved. The bear had stared straight at me from the second he appeared, he knew I was there. Although black bear are typically not aggressive, I wasn't used to being pinned like that. At twenty-nine yards I was ready for that perfect moment, he was so close, and then he turned right back around and walked away...No shot for me! So I decided that I'd tie myself to the tree for the rest of the afternoon and take a nap because the heat was so exhausting.
I was woken up later at 5:30 when a bear came running across the trail in front on me. Once again I had that uncanny feeling he knew I was there because he glanced directly at me as he ran towards the bait. However, he didn't plan on sticking around long. He ran straight for the bait, grabbed some, and ran off. My shot was blown again!
As I began growing even more frustrated I spotted movement out of the corner of my right eye. Only about six yards from me was a bear! He was standing perfectly, surveying the area, and paying me no mind. I drew back and slowly took aim with my heart pounding...Then I took my shot.
A bear actually makes a death moan. Did you know that? I do, because I heard it as he ran only twenty yards into the brush. My first bear hunt was something I'll never forget, and at that moment all the heat and exhaustion were forgotten. I hadn't shot the biggest one out there, but it was my first with a bow, and I thought it was amazing!
After all was said and done the bear turned out to be a year and a half old brute and was 152 lbs dressed. I'd shot him with my 1972 Bear Grizzly with a Zwickey Broadhead and Cedar Shaft Arrows that my kids had made for me. What a hunt!