A Girl and Her First Bear (Me!)
 

First off let me say I think this is a huge accomplishment for me, I'd never even thought about killing a bear... Unless it wanted to kill me lol! I had been to this area once before and saw a bear... It followed me and I shot twice to scare it away because I knew it was not bear season. I'm scared to death of bears for some reason... Anyways, I decided to go back and try deer hunting there again. I had only been seated (on the ground) about 30 mins or so when I heard something crashing through the laurels below me. I readied my 30/30 and waited, hoping it was the buck that had been rubbing every tree possible. When it stepped out I think my heart stopped beating, it was only 40 yards or so away and was definitely not the buck I'd been hoping for but instead what I thought was a HUGE bear lol. I clicked off my safety and took aim, knowing it was now bear season here in Northeast Tennessee. I aimed just behind its shoulder and squeezed the trigger. The boom of my gun echoed and the black bear ran back into the laurels. Mere seconds later I heard the most unforgettable sounds, what I later found out was its death moan. Keep in mind I didn't know this and was scared to death and thought I had missed and ticked the bear off... I probably sat there motionless and barely breathing for an hour until I finally got the nerve to check it out. I figured since I hadn't heard anything it must be dead or something. I got down to where the bear was and there wasn't any blood or anything so I looked into the laurels. Sure enough, there lay my bear which was alot smaller than I had previously thought lol! It was a sow, weighing around 200 lbs. Talk about a job dragging her outta there though! Man I was beat, had to call for backup to help me load her on the four-wheeler. When I dressed her out I found that I had made a perfect heart shot, quick clean kill. Some of my friends came over to check her out, then I took her to be processed. I'd heard bear meat was nasty, greasy, stringy... I found its quite delectable and tasty :). Going to try and figure out how to post a photo now... I'm new here by the way lol!

http://i1341.photobucket.com/albums/...ps67abb461.jpg

There's the address for pics, the rest of the album has some more and some of my deer... And my dogs lol

Good story... sounds like you got quite a surprise!

So, you must not need a specific bear tag to hunt bears in TN?

Congrats on your first bear. Cook it well, and enjoy.

nice story...congrats!!! looking forward to pics

Cool thanks for that bit of info, learn something new every day.

We don't even really have them around here, I'm pretty sure they would frown on hunting in the "Bear Country USA" park, lol.

Thanks guys! Yes it was a surprise lol. But I know where I live in TN your big game license includes deer, turkey, wild boar, and bear. No extra purchase necessary lol. We're allowed 1 bear, either sex as long as it's over 75 lbs and doesn't have cubs.

Congrats on your first bear. Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations girlshunt2! Thats was a nice story thanks for sharing it with us. As for bear meat. We usually keep the fact that it's tasty to ourselves.:wink:

Are you having a rug or something made?

ATB

Congratulations Girlshunt! Very cool story! It sounds like you did a superb good job of staying calm throughout the entire encounter. :cool2:

I am having it mounted in either a shoulder or 1/2 life mount... Can't make up my mind as to which though. I thought I'd have a rug made out of a larger bear if I ever get one lol


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