7:33am, I kick out a HUGE buck in the bottom area of where I hunt, right by the river where I didn't expect to see one, and where there was no sign, but he was in there and I missed the only shot I had at him while he was trotting away. I couldn't count tines, but his main beams were the size of my wrist and the deer was gray and huge, the biggest buck I have pulled the trigger on. I misjudged the distance bigtime and I bet I shot right over his back.

11:33am, I find a nice 8 point on a brushy bank about 80-90 yards away,I'm in an open field walking to my car, it sees me, but probably doesn't spook, just stands there motionless, it probably thinks it's concealed. If he steps 5 steps to the left, right, or down I have him, where he is at is too brushy so it's a Mexican Standoff. He doesn't move for 10 minutes, but staying where I am is the best odds of getting him, if he runs up the hill I have no shot what so ever, and if I move I have no concealment and no rest.

11:43am, all hell breaks loose below the hill about 50 yards to the left of the buck, 4 does come running out , I glance down to see if one's a buck, maybe 3-5 seconds at most. I look back up the hill and the buck I was watching evaporated, he's gone and I don't know what direction he went.

11:50am, a spike runs out of the same place the doe came out of. Pennsylvannia has an at least 3 points on one side minimum before you can shoot it, not that I have any interest in a spike anyway.

I figure a hunter, a coyote, or a bear has spooked the deer, but lean strongly towards hunter. I decided to sneak up the point and get above where I suspect the buck went. I get half way up the hill and see what caused the ruckus. There is a 300-400 pound black bear leaning against a tree 40 yards above me and to the left. I grab my camera and take some pictures. I stand there for 15 minutes just watching him. I slowly still hunt up the hill, one step every 5 minutes or so, and take pics along the way. I get within 25-30 yards away and 2 doe come down to me on the right. So I have a bear 30 yards due left, and 2 doe 15 yards due right, with me in the middle, pretty weird feeling, but I didn't think the bear would do anything so I wasn't too worried. I also had my Browning Lever Action 300 Winchester Short Magnum with 4 bullets ready to go. At this point I've watched the bear a good hour and I need him to leave so he doesn't cost me more deer. I take a few steps, let him get a clear visual and he bolted out of there.....extremely quietly I might add.

While I have seen one other bear while hunting, it was over 200 yards away, this was face to face on the ground at 35 yards, which was an amazing experience. They are black beyond black, the deepest black I have ever seen. Their eyesight must be horrible, and the wind was always in my favor. Sadly, the 8 point he spooked was a very nice 8 as well, not of the caliber of my mounted 8's but still nice and would have been perfect for jerky.

All in all, it was the best of days, it was the worst of days.

My first glimpse of him:


He was just chilling, scratching his back, yawning, snoozing...


I'm no bear expert, but they must have some bad eyesight and be color blind, we were looking right at each other:


No zoom, about 25-30 yards away, too damned cool man.


His butt was big, 2.5-3 foot across.


I'm no bear expert, so my size guesstimate is wide swathing, but he dwarfed me and I'm 210. I know his ears look big, but his head was flat and his belly was sagging too.

Cool story and pics! Too bad you didn't get the Buck! Good Luck Saturday!

chekin him out ehhhh?

Hopefullly. I made the mistake with the really large one of "still hunting to where I was going" instead of "still hunting where I was." I was too preoccupied trying to see where I wanted to go instead of noticing what was around me. The 7:33 buck was large, and I had a chance but I was zoning out.


Oh yeah.

I wanted a shot of his paw print, but the snow was crunchy and crispy and there was no clear print left, but it was 5-6" wide or so. It was cool, it's just ashame PA bear is during Opening day WV, I'll never get to go up there for it and I would have a decent chance.

Great pics and a great story! Sorry about the buck but look at it this way....this story will be alive long after another buck kill story would have died

Good point, and the experience was great, it's what we go out there for. I feel bad for people that don't get out in the woods and experience this kind of stuff.

That was a great story brent,Thanks for sharing. It's the ones that get away,that seem to stick in your mind forever.

Very well documented story. I appreciate the read. I too judge a hunt's success by the experience, and not the filling of a tag. Although writing on tags is very nice as as well.

you hunt around al thyem houses?

You can only see one house from that whole valley, the other near my dots are barns and buildings at the top of a hill. The area on the outside of the creek is cliff for about 50 feet. It's not really a very populated area.