I was on Day 6 of a 7-Day hunt. We were seeing fewer bears every day. My guide said that the bears disappear for a few days just before the rut starts. I knew taking a trad bow to stalk bears would mean that I'd have to be willing to come home empty-handed, but I was worried that I wouldn't even get a stalk on a mature bear. After walking the railroad tracks, we got word of where two boars were spotted feeding along a logging road. We drove to the logging road in question and got out to walk. After about a half-mile (give or take) we spotted a bear feeding on the side of the road. We slipped down into a ditch on the right side of the road and low-walked paralleling the road every time the bear had its head down feeding or looked the other way. We crossed over the road several times landing in the ditches on either side of the road for concealment. After a half-mile, we took off our boots and continued the stalk for another half-mile.
Just as the bear stepped off of the road to feed in the ditch/field on the right side of the road, we crawled along a small concrete bridge which spanned a narrow canal/drainage. We were about to close the final 20 yards and shoot the bear unaware in the ditch, when the bear stepped back out onto the road way and looked at us. After a few seconds it quickly shuffeled across the road to our left and made for the tree line. We broke out into a run. As the bear made the tree line, my guide woofed at it several times. The bear stopped and came back out from the tree line to woof at us and pop its teeth. At about 40-50 yards, my guide woofed again and the bear shot up the tree next to which it was standing.
I ran across the road and made my way through the ditch filled with mud and deadfalls to the tree where the bear was esconsed 15 yards up with some branches for cover and concealment. My only shot was from the base of the tree right beneath the bear (kind of to the left). My guide duely cautioned me about taking a shot from the base of the tree and what the bear will do if it lands at my feet. I paused for a second and unfastened the rentention strap on my belt knife, then took the shot and hit the bear a little high and left. Mind you, this is the only shot I've never practiced. Straight up. Arrow entered behind the left shoulder and stopped in the bear's neck vertibrae (maybe a single bevel head would have broken the spine and dropped the bear?). The bear stayed in the tree. I backed up and left for a second shot (the bear had moved a bit and brought its hindlegs underneath it) and hit it in the left ham. I recall being disappointed with that but was committed to delivering and immeidate, dispositive shot, and so I didn't have time to pout about it. I circled further to the right and back closer to the base of the tree to get a broadside shot and the third arrow double-lunged the bear and, according to my guide, exited with a spray of blood and kept sailing off into the forrest as if it had no intent of slowing down.
With that, I knew it was dead. My guide said, "Good hit, it's done." I must have released a 4th arrow at some point but neither my guide nor I recall that. Then the bear, huffing and popping its teeth, started to come back down the tree. My guide said, "If it comes down it's coming for us," and levered a round into the chamber. I drew my knife (I carried a 9" Bowie becasue, I don't know, it's cool and I like it) and tried to get away from the base of the tree but I was now very conscious of the two plates and 12 screws installed in my left foot in January of this year, that I was in socks, and that walking on downed trees and tree limbs seared with pain with every step as I could feel the healing bones moving, and that I was getting bogged down in mud. So, I didn't move as quickly as I wanted to and for a moment, the bear was coming down, I was going back, and my guide was coming forward, with the results of this excitement not readily foreseeable. Spice! My guide passed me with his rifle at a high-ready as I backed up passed him with my bow in my left hand and knife in my right. The bear fell the last 10 feet out of the tree and landed about 5 yards from us. I put my knife back in the sheath and went to nock another arrow when my guide stuck is hand out. I looked at him quizically while nocking another arrow. He was smiling and saying, "Congratulations!" I calmly explained to him that I needed to shoot the bear again. He calmly replied that there was no need. I couldn't accept that for some reason and he had to tell me two more times to put the arrow away. When it hit the ground, it had taken two steps and had collapsed. He then said, "Listen," and, as if on cue, a low, sad death moan rolled our way and washed over us.
I was numb for about an hour or two. Didn't smile. Didn't joke around. The bear turned out to be an unsually butch looking sow with some swagger. My guide thought I was disappointed that it turned out to be a sow. I wasn't. I'd told him all week I was willing to shoot any mature, legal animal. I just felt nothing. When the calm, numbness wore off, I got excited. I played the stalk over and over in my mind as well as the split second of that first shot in which I really thought I had a 50/50 chance of dropping the bear at my feet with an unknown amount of moxie left in it. And, after that, the moment it was coming down the tree while I was backing up with my knife in my hand and the guide was dutifully advancing forward with his rifle ready to find a shot if it charged WAS A RUSH. It was about as far from my desk as I could be. It was exactly what I wanted.
We hunted hard for 6 days. I got a memorable, long stalk. And, although I'd prefer to have shot the bear on the ground, the circumstances of the end were sufficiently exciting to nullify any previous resevation I had about shooting a treed-bear.
First real bear hunt. First time in the field with my trad bow, which I picked up December 24, 2018. First time in Canada. It was just a great time. I was with Primitive Outfitting in British Columbia. I've rebooked with them for May 31-June 7 of next year to hopefully hit the first week of the rut.
Topic: 2019 British Columbia Spring Black Bear Spot and Stalk Hunt with Longbow (Read 4428 times)
