Finally got the pics off my buddies camera.
Dad and I setup a blind on a heavily used elk trail about .5mi from camp just before daylight. We hadn't seen a thing until 8:00 when something caught my eye about 60 yards to my right. Every once in a while I would see a patch of black above the top of a log. It looked like a squirrel running back and forth and I discounted the dark color to the low light. Around 8:30 dad's stool broke and he fell over crashing into the side of the blind. We got a chuckle and decided to pack up and head back to camp. I broke the blind down and strapped it to my back and we were off. I only took a few steps when I could hear something in the direction of what I thought was a squirrel. Dad and I decided to make a loop in that direction and work our way back to camp. About 50 yards later I saw a bear sitting down facing the opposite direction. He was content to eat some huckle berries and didn’t have a clue we were behind him. I told dad to nock an arrow, there is a bear 10 yards ahead. He nocked an arrow and snuck up to where I was to take a shot. By then the bear had moved on, so dad was heading in the general direction the bear went. I noticed something off to my right behind some small fir trees. When I took a better look I could see the bear had doubled back and was going to give me a broadside shot at 20 yards. I quickly nocked my arrow and tried to get dad’s attention without spooking the bear, it didn’t work. I drew and took the shot. He jumped over a log and was out of sight, I had just enough time to look at dad and give him the thumbs up when we heard him crash. Being that I just shot a bear with my bow we were in no hurry to run off and see what had happened so we sat at the spot I shot him for a solid 20 min before we started the track. The tracking was the easiest I have ever had with a bow. He was bleeding buckets of blood.
Wich way did he go?
We found him not 50 yards from where I shot him.
We hiked back to camp to get help and returned to put the bear on a pole and pack him out. After we dressed the bear I cut the stomach open to see what he had been eating. He was full of probably 50lb of berries. I didn’t get a shot at an elk, but it was a great trip. Here is a track made from a VERY large bull I saw at about 70 yards.
Andrew
2001 Hoyt Vortec 72#
Beaman ICS 340
Rocky Mountain Ironhead 125