Thanks for the kind words guys.
Not much of a story teller but I'll give it a go.
Its been awful hot in my neck of the woods this year so I decided to hunt a familiar elk wallow. This wallow has been very productive over the years. It's in a shady little draw protected by old-growth red fir and a few cedars. Seepage oozes out from around the base of the cedars forming a bit of a trickle that flows into the wallow.
I was 30 hours into a scheduled 4 day vigil from my ground blind. Not much was happening but just at dark I heard a racket on the hill above me. As I turned around, I was thinking elk but instead saw this bear moving on the horizonal trail above me. He was moving from left to right and not offering me an acceptable shot. When he was right above me, he stopped to drink at the base of one of the big trees. I released the arrow and everything felt right but when he bolted, I could faintly , in the fading light, see my chartreuse fletching protruding from his side.Strange, I thought, this setup normally blows through elk. Something isn't right. As I listened, I could hear him growling and making a racked but after awhile all was quiet.
I packed my gear into my daypack, put an arrow on the string and eased up to ribbon the hit site. At this point, I wanted to preserve as much information as possible for a follow-up in the morning. As I was putting ribbon on a low bush I looked in the direction of the bear's flight and thought I could see the fletching of my arrow twenty feet away. I cautiously eased forward to retrieve the arrow and ribbon that site. About 10 inches of the point was broken off cleanly. I squinted in the dusk to make a final survey of the area before hiking the two miles back to the rig. Imagine my surprise when I focused on the bear laying not 10 feet from me. Thankfully he was dead. He had only traveled 30 feet after being hit.
When my son and 13 month old grandson went in the next morning to pack the boar out, we discovered why the arrow didn't pass through. There was a blow-down right behind the bear and the arrow buried itself 4 inches into the wood.Essentially pinning him to the tree. When the bear took off, he snapped it clean.
It was a great experience and I hope all of you have similar adventures this season. Mike
Topic: Bodork sorry about your knife (Read 5164 times)
