The stalk took me down through this dry streambed, which gave me relatively quick and quiet access to the bear, who was feeding on mountain ash berries on the lower portion of the slope.
with a steady wind blowing up in my face I was able to make good time, and about 15 minutes after the extra hour I had granted myself elapsed I found myself low on the slope 30 yards from the bear. There was no turning back now, so I crawled to 25 yards at which point things got too thick to proceed undetected. I put an arrow on the string and got ready for the shot, now it was all up to the bear. He was feeding slowly toward me, no shot there. Meanwhile the wind , which had been so steady, showed signs of growing fickle, and the bear picked up my scent. Curious now he closed another few steps, but was now partially alert and angling down wind. Things were falling apart fast. At probably 20 yards or a tad more he got a solid noseful, whirled around, and headed off uphill. For a brief instant he'd opened up at a reasonable angle and distance, but something just told me not to take the shot, I just knew it wasn't a can't miss situation, and I guess I was probably slightly distracted by the fact that for all I knew my wife was going into labor at that very moment.
I'm still haunted by the encounter, and even though I very much wanted to bring that bear off the mountain, I'm still glad I passed on the shot.
(sorry about the sideways pic,it's right side up on photo bucket, can't figure out how to turn it around here)
Topic: My season thus far (Read 399 times)
