This morning while bowhunting, I had my second encounter of the season with a Black Bear. In 20 years of hunting these same areas, I haven' t ever seen one, let alone two in a year. This time I got a little freaked out. I was coming off my stand, headed back to the snowmaobile trail that leads off the mountain, when I heard kthud, kthud, kthud, something heavy moving toward me real fast. I looked toward the sound, and saw a black bear running straight for me, I don' t know if it actually knew I was there or not, but it was coming fast, and right up the trail I was walking out on, I quickly knocked an arrow and took a step back, ready to draw, it started to slow down, coming within five feet of me, to my left, yup, five feet, not yards, then it slowly came to a stop about 15 feet away. It put its nose in the air and sniffed around, then turned away, heading uphill, away from me to my left. I then grabbed for the digital camera, but I was shaking so bad, I couldn' t even turn it on!!!!![X(] My question for all of you is would you have shot???

The problem is that bear season in my zone is from Sept 1, to Sept 21, so I couldn' t legally shoot, and I have never gotten a bear tag, having never seen one, so even if it was in season, it wouldn' t be legal. You can bet I will have a tag next year, even if it means I won' t see any!!!!

Shoot, Don' t shoot, and if you do shoot, then what???????
Thanks,
Mike