A bear with rubber feathers... a story for Weekend Warrior**pics added page 3&4

[Charlie Lamb]

I came across a thread here the other day by Gary "Weekend Warrior" Walker, about an old Kittredge Bow Hut catalog. That name won't mean a lot to many of you but for the older guys it will be quite familiar.

Doug Kittredge started the company in California many, many years ago and did real well with it. He offered just about anything the archer could want or imagine.

Doug was a hunter and did very well at it. You'll find his name in the Pope and Young record books very near the top in at least a couple of categories.

It so happens that in the thread   Kittredge Catalog 82-83
Weekend Warrior  mentioned the date of publication and being the curious type I rolled my chair away from my desk and reached into my book case where I have a couple of Kittredge catalogs sitting.

Sure enough there sat an 82-83 catalog. Hmmmm! I thumbed through it and sure enough found a picture I'd sent them of a bear I'd killed with his Signature recurve.
   

It's so far back now that it's almost hard to believe it ever happened... but it surely did. Fact of the matter is it almost didn't happen.

[Charlie Lamb]

Any of you new guys out there expecting me to finish this tonight?  :D

[peak98]

Charlie, we need the story of the hunt to go along with it.....you know that!

[peak98]

tease  :mad:

[Charlie Lamb]

I'm gonna give you more than that!  

[Whip]

This one will wash down well with coffee in the morning.    
Actually, knowing you Charlie, it will be more than one morning          

[Charlie Lamb]

Well the time was 29 years ago last June 10th. I'd rode along with my old huntin bud Larry Hultquist to check a bear bait he had up in the Wind River range of the Wyoming Rockies.

Larry had a small guide service and had had a couple guys from Chicago up the week just past bear hunting with him.

He'd tried to discourage them from coming weeks before the hunt and continued to do so up until the date of their departure.
You see the mountains were waking up slowly that year.
It was the bane of our bear hunting existence.
With the season ending in mid June it seemed the bears barely had time to adjust to life above ground and taking solid food again before the season was over.

If the snow pack didn't melt off early enough, the bear hunting could be real slow and that was the case that year.

I have to hand it to his hunters. They were just happy to be away from the city and off in God's country. They sat their baits like troopers and never complained.

When their week ended and they were headed back home, Larry waited a couple of days and asked me if I wanted to ride up and see if anything had hit the bait.
You sure didn't have to light a fire under my butt to get me off into the hills lookin for bears.... still don't.

I loaded my bow into the truck and climbed in. The Kittredge Signature Hunter (a Howatt Hunter made just for Doug's company) sported a modified 4 arrow Bear bowquiver, an elevated rest and a small Bear hunting stabilizer.

The quiver was loaded with 2219 aluminums and for the first time ever, they were fletched with plastic vanes.
Larry and I had experimented all winter in his garage with the plastic and thought they were just gonna be the cats pajamas.

I'd settled on a fletch pattern of 75x105 with the vanes angled slightly helical to the right and a mere 4 inches long.

In all our testing they flew like a dream whether I was shooting broadheads or field points.

[Charlie Lamb]

After a bone jarring hour of mountain travel we arrived at our destination and pulled the vehicle into the shade.

This bait site was closer to where you could park than anything else we had going on and it didn't take long to get to it.

A gentle breeze crooned through the trees and an unseen raven cronked his dicordant note to the mountains for no reason at all.

In the distance a Gray Jay called and the heavy scent of lodge pole pine made me giddy with a feeling of being more alive than ever.... it was and is always like that for me.

Snow lay in heavy wet patches all through the forest and we made our way around and across them as we trailed up the mountain toward the bait.

I hefted my bow and cradled it in it's familiar spot under my right arm against my ribs. Larry had left his bow in the vehicle since he didn't expect to need it.

I never go anywhere in the woods without my bow. Who knows when you'll have to kill a marauding stump?

We weren't more than 70 yards from the bait when Larry through his arm across my chest and froze in place all in one silent motion.

Through a small opening in the trees ahead of us was a rusty brown patch of fur. It could only be a bear.

[woodchucker]

Your bringin' back memories Charlie!!!!!

Back in the mid-late 1970's my buddies and I did all of our hunting with Bear recurves with a Bear "weather-rest",shootin' aluminium Game Getters with plastic vanes.

My buddies all used 4-blade Savora broadheads,but I liked the old green Bear razorheads (I even liked SHARPENING them too!!!!!)

I carried all of my arrows in a back quiver too.

[Charlie Lamb]

Man! Am I getting sleepy. Nighty nite all!  

[mmgrode]

Oh man, good stuff;) Looking forward to the morning and more of the story.

[Jason R. Wesbrock]

Is that the bear that ended up as a rug on your living room wall?

[Guru]

Ahhhh....another gem from the master story teller...Take your time bud,no need to rush    

[Kip]

Charlie  I hope you don't take this as a insult but I have noticed a while back in your younger pics. you could pass for Charlie Chaplin.I have always enjoyed your stories no matter who you look like so carry on.Kip

[OzarkRamblr]

Well, it's mornin', I'm finally home from work and all I have to read is part of a story...  

Can't wait to read the rest of it. Maybe after my nap?  

[gwhunter]

Booo to needing sleep!  Hooray to story telling!  He has got to be getting up soon, right?  Great story.

[TimZeigler]

I got my cup of coffee, and I'm eagerly awaiting the rest of the story.

Thanks for sharing the memories Charlie.

[Charlie Lamb]

It didn't take long to confirm what we knew from first glance. A very nice size bear with a multi color coat was on the bait.

I cast a questioning glance at Larry. I imagined he was kicking himself for leaving his bow back at the truck.

He drew close and whispered, "go ahead and see what you can do."

We had checked the wind before entering the timber and it had been good. A hasty check to confirm it showed nothing had changed.
Mountain winds are much more stable early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
The evening wind blew steady out of the northwest.

I eased ahead with arrow nocked. The low sun beamed through the trees and glinted briefly along the razor edge of the Pearson Switchblade I was carrying that year.

Larry and I had honed our shooting in his garage all winter, to the point that we were shooting at 4 penny finish nails hung from dental floss in front of the target butt.

It had gotten to be a little mundane so we'd advanced to shooting the nail while it swung slowly back and forth. It wasn't uncommon to make 3 or 4 hits on the swinging steel out of five shots.
I felt ready for the bear.

[Charlie Lamb]

A narrow lane, the remnants of an old logging skid trail, passed within a few yards of the bait and along this I slowly made my way.

I'd made quick progress the first 15 yards since the newly melted snow had wet the pine needles that carpeted the forest floor and made them soft but not "squishy".
It was a stalkers dream.

I soon came to a large area of unmelted snow that I'd have to traverse.
It wasn't deep. No more than 8 inches max. I stepped onto it expecting to sink slowly and quietly with each step.

But the snow was not soft and quiet. It was crusty, granular and crunchy. I cast around for a different approach, but the snow field was broad. A direct approach was still the most practical one.

[JC]

Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
Larry and I had honed our shooting in his garage all winter, to the point that we were shooting at 4 penny finish nails hung from dental floss in front of the target butt.

It had gotten to be a little mundane so we'd advanced to shooting the nail while it swung slowly back and forth. It wasn't uncommon to make 3 or 4 hits on the swinging steel out of five shots.
I felt ready for the bear.

Whenever you're ready to teach, I'm ready to learn    

Lovin it Charlie, fantastic story as always. What chapter will this be in "THE BOOK"?