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2001 Fall Black Bear Bowhunt With Fred Lutger
by Robert Hoague

| Getting Ready | 1st Day's Hunt | 2nd Day's Hunt | 3rd Day's Hunt | 4th Day's Hunt |
| 5th Day's Hunt | 6th Day's Hunt | 7th Day's Hunt | 8th Day's Hunt | 9th Day's Hunt |
| 9th Day's Hunt - Continued | 10th Day |

9th Day Of The Hunt (Continued)

Mike had missed the bear. I was still on the ground with his arrow in my hand when, uphill and behind us, we both heard a big branch crack. A bear was coming.

I turned to Mike and whispered, "Aim for the bottom half of the bear." Then I high tailed it for my stand and somehow managed to get up it fairly fast without making any noise.

Minutes later the bear passed through the tag alders and trees to the right of Mike's ladder stand. The bear is in the picture on the left, near the bottom of the picture, close to the ladder. So you can see it better I cut out a close-up pic of the bear (right pic).

This bear was larger than the first bear. He made the same half circle in front of us as the first bear. Then he moved out of the dense brush and sat down to watch the area. I set my digital camera on Manual Focus and focused through the limbs of the pine tree to my left front and got the bear as he checked out everything. 
He's 30 yards from us.
The bear started moving toward the log pile where the bait bucket was. He came in from the left and turned broadside. I looked at Mike, he was sitting and his bow was already at full draw.

The bear yanked a log off the bait bucket. Mike's arrow impacted the bear and blood spattered into the air. I could see more blood as the bear fled. It stopped in 65 yards and I expected it to go down for the count. Instead, the bear walked off into the woods.
I turned toward Mike and took his picture.
This is definitely a pic of a happy bear hunter.
I said, "you just got your first bear." He stood up.
Because of the blood I saw on the bear as it ran I was confident Mike had a lethal hit on the bear. But frankly I was worried. If the bear was double lunged it should have expired when it stopped. But it didn't and that might mean it has a one lung hit and the bear could go farther.

We waited almost an hour, daylight was fading as we got down. The arrow was covered with blood. The blood trail was a few red drops, not at all what I expected. We followed it for a short distance and it ran out, so I walked to where I saw the bear stop. In the failing light I didn't find any sign there. I took a few steps in the direction the bear had headed and promptly jumped a pack of hornets and got stung twice before I could get out of the way. 

That was an ill omen if I ever saw one. "Let's come back in the morning with Fred and Don," I said.

On the trip back to camp Mike was quiet, then he said, "Tell me we're not going to loose this bear."

"We're not," I answered, "That bear is dead. You can count on it. We just need good daylight and a few more eyes to get on the trail. "

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