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From: icsg0007@cs.montana.edu
Newsgroups: rec.hunting
Subject: Bear/Deer Hunt Story (mostly true!)
Message-ID: <1991May17.071508.22908@doug.cae.wisc.edu>
Date: 17 May 91 12:15:08 GMT
Organization: MSU, CS Dept., Bozeman MT 59717
Lines: 99
Approved: hunting@osnome.che.wisc.edu
Originator: hunting@osnome.che.wisc.edu


	Just Call Me "Lucky"

It seems that rec.hunting needs a little shot in the arm seeing as how
there was only one article posted Monday. I had this article laying
around and decided that I would try to sneak it by the moderator to
give you folks something to read. This took place in Sept of '87.

At the time I was a hand for a ranch in western Montana. It being Fall
I would slip out of the bunkhouse, with my bow, just before daybreak
most mornings and match my wits against the wily whitetail.

It was quite cool when daylight caught me short of where I had planned
on being.  My plan was to beat the whitetails to a small saddle that
they would pass through on their way to their bedding grounds, and lay
in ambush for them. I felt confident in my plan and abilities. I had
studied the critters movements out of the alfalfa fields in the
mornings and had practiced a lot with my bow.  The problem was that I
was a little too late. So I just planned to try to intercept them
before the saddle. I really had to go slow to keep quite because it
was so dry in the woods.

I heard a noise in the direction that I expected the deer to be, but
it did not sound like a deer walking. I finally caught a glimpse
through the timber at what appeared a black angus calf at forty yards
or so. I thought "Great. That will spoil things." Then as I got a
better look, I realized that it was a black bear slowly working it's
way towards the direction that I was going. "Neat!", I thought. "It's
not everyday that I see a bear. Hey! Wouldn't that be neat if I could
stick him. I don't have a chance though. It's too far and I will never
be able to close the gap without him hearing me."

Next thing that I knew, the bear started pawing around next to a few
dead trees that were laying on the ground. Then he lied down and
rolled around a little before being still. It was apparent that he was
planning on taking a nap. What an opportunity. It took about ten
minutes to sneak within 23 yards of him. To say the least, I was
excited. Every time that he moved my heart sank. I'm positive that he
had been asleep when he sat up and stuck his nose up in the air for a
sniff. I had the wind though and he soon was snoozing again.

Of course thoughts went through my head as to what he would do when/if
I stuck him. I felt assured that he wouldn't have any idea what was
going on and would probably high tail it in the direction that he was
headed when he had bedded down. But there was that question, "What if
he comes this way?" I assured myself that if that were the case that I
would remain perfectly still by a tree and he would never see me.
Their eyesight is not the best in the world and I was camoued for
deer. So I drew back and woke him up.

He took off covering about 50 yds in five seconds while I covered 75
yds in two seconds (just kidding about my running). I cautiously
followed to keep him in sight as long as possible in case I hadn't
connected well and was going to have to track him. But he curled up,
let out a few low growls, (that's when I set the new land speed
record) and expired. When I got up the courage to approach him he was
dead. I had made a good shot, since I had taken the time to tie my bow
arm to a tree prior to my release to hold it still. The five blade
Razorback entered the anterior portion of the chest cavity and he bled
to death in about 20 seconds. A very exciting morning for me but not
too exciting for him. Heck he was 13 yrs old and needed culling. He
would never have had a skull big enough to score well. He needed
removed from the gene pool. Of course I analyzed all of this before
deciding to take the shot, ha.

It was a beautiful six foot boar with a chocolate brown coat with
golden colored guard hairs on his back. But actually, the first thing
that I noticed as I got close to him was a deep dent in his forehead.
It was large enough that I could lay the distal joint of my thumb in
it. I had read that adult boars would sometimes kill boar cubs if the
sow wasn't protective of them. I assumed that it must have been an old
scar from when he was a cub and a boar had about got him. After
skinning out the head I noticed the severity of the indentation. There
was a hole in the anterior part of the frontal bones allowing a view
of the turbinals in the upper nasal cavity. He could have, and had, at
one time breathed through the top of his head. After cleaning the
skull I noticed that the bones, mostly the frontal bone, posterior to
the orbit a few inches had been fractured into many pieces and had
fused back together. Embedded in the bone were several small pieces of
lead! Part of the mystery solved.

I asked several people, including experts, for their opinions on what
happened.  Most of them, myself included, think that the bullet had
entered through the top and exited behind the eye. (I wouldn't be
surprised if most of the bullet ricocheted off.) One of the foremost
authorities believes that the bear was uphill from the person who shot
him and that it was a small caliber gun. Who knows? It would be
interesting to hear their story though. That poor bear must have had a
headache for a while!

I've done quite a bit of hunting, a lot according to my wife, and this
is still my most cherished trophy and memories. The stalk took long
enough to really let the imagination and adrenalin run.
______________________________________________________________________________
Steve White	icsg0007@caesar.cs.montana.edu
		stuck in Bozeman and it's great, when the waters clear.
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