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September 24, 2006 We slept in and by the time we had a bite to eat, it was 10:30AM before we left the boat to start our hike up the mountain. We planned to hike to the high country in search of deer. After about an hour and a half, we were several miles from the beach and had climbed to about the 400 ft level. . Since we were still several miles from where we planned to hunt, we continued to make noise as we traveled, "Hey Bear, No Bear," etc. We rounded a corner and headed up to the next meadow. As we entered our next plateau, we heard the woofing sounds of a bear. Across the plateau, about 125 ft away, we saw a brown bear stand up on its hind legs. We immediately started yelling and making as much noise as possible trying to scare it away. However, it dropped to all fours and CHARGED!! About 30ft from us it stopped for ¼ second and then continued a full-on charge straight for us again! As it started for us again, Shanna immediately started spraying with her bear spray, covering its face! It still continued charging at top speed, and was nearly to us! When the bear first stood up, I pulled my rifle from my pack, loaded a shell, and fumbled the safety off. When the bear was 8 ft away and still coming full bore with its head down, I fired from my side -- the scope covers were still on! There was no time to aim!
The spot of blood on the bear's forehead is where the bullet entered. |
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Thankfully, the bear fell immediately into a pile of fur! I was backing up and attempting to reload when I stumbled and fell backwards in a small creek. Luckily, after the shot, the bear never moved! If the shot hadn't dropped her instantly, she would've run us over in her next step or two! As we were looking down at her, breathing a huge sigh of relief, we suddenly started hearing more bear noises on the hillside. We then saw two yearling cubs stand on their hind legs to look at us. We thought, Oh, no! It's not over......here comes the second wave! We yelled at them and waved our arms. One of them bawled and they made lots of noise in the bushes for quite a while. Finally, things calmed down. The sow was very dead. When the adrenaline rush was over, Shanna started to cry a bit. She said she didn‘t know if she was crying for herself, the dead bear or the cubs. It was all very overwhelming! After we calmed down, Shanna stood guard as I checked to see where my shot hit. I had hit the bear slightly higher than right between the eyes.
The bear's front legs folded under it after the shot and it never moved again. |
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