Bryant Askew - The Graduation Bear

Bryant Askew - A first time bear hunter, Bryant hunted my favorite stand site 8K for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday without seeing a bear. On Wednesday Fred moved him to Big Rock One. We set up the Double Bull Matrix and baited. Bryant returned there to hunt the same afternoon. An hour and a half passed and Bryant heard sticks crunch behind the blind.

Thirty minutes later a large bear silently walked into view six yards from the left side of the blind. Bryant's heart started beating "so loud it was all I could hear". The bear went straight to the bait and stopped ... and turned and looked in the direction of the blind. Then it rolled the logs out of the way and started eating candy.

Bryant watched for 5 minutes as the bear worked the bait. His heart finally calmed down and he got ready to shoot. The bear was broadside. Bryant started to draw. Half way though the draw the bear turned to look at him. Bryant froze but soon his arm began to quiver because he wasn't past the break over point.

After a few seconds more the bear put his head back down into the candy. Bryant finished his draw and put his pin on the kill spot on its chest and released. The arrow disappeared in the bear and when it turned to run Bryant saw his arrow laying on the ground. The bear ran for a few seconds and crashed. Bryant heard the death moan.

He waited 5 minutes and went to check out his arrow. He picked the arrow up and looked in the direction the bear had ran. It was laying dead 20 yards away. He went right to it. He tried to drag it but it was too heavy to move.

Then he cleared logs out of the way to make dragging it out easier. Then he took the Matrix down, packed up his gear and went to the road and waited for his dad to pick him up.

They drove to meet us. Fred, the Duck, Jim and Doc returned with us to Big Rock One to help drag the heavy bear to the road. Here are Bryant Askew (R) and his dad John (L) with Bryant's bear.

Bryant's Comments:  "I asked to go on this hunt as a high school graduation present a year ago. It is the funnest trip I've ever been on. I didn't know if I would get a bear or not. I never expected to kill a bear that would be big enough to be in the record book."