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BEAR HUNT OF A LIFETIME June 27, 2005 By Tom Lagatol Rich, Tom, Ken & the Bear! We left for Canada on Saturday afternoon around 4:45pm. That would get us up to our hunting camp a little early but in time to get settled and maybe even a little rest before our first hunt. My bud, Rich Grannis is an extraordinary hunter. We’ve been going on hunts together for about ten years. It just seems that we bring each other good luck. It’s always an enjoyable hunt, and we pretty much seem to be successful when hunting together. We met our outfitter/guide, Ken Taylor. It’s easy to describe Ken. He’s a clean shaven Paul Bunyon, Jim Bridger, Kit Carson all in one. I don’t think I’ll ever meet a more “real” outdoorsman in my life. He’s the son of an English father and French mother. Married to a Crea Indian and lives in Northern Canada above James Bay. Kenny’s idea of fun is to take a longbow with a few arrows, provisions for a week, maybe a few feet of fishing line and a hook, and a canoe; then spend the next thirty or forty days in the bush. Oh yea, did I mention that in his youth he was the World Arm Wrestling Champion for several years running? There’s outdoorsman…then there’s Ken Taylor. I guess we made arrangements to leave camp around 2:30pm on Sunday afternoon. My first post was to be “The Ground blind”, which was fine with me. I asked Ken if I’d have the “action” I had two years ago. He responded, “Well, ya never can tell.” It was two years earlier that I had a very large black bear come within eight feet of my natural ground blind. I remember wishing that I could take a shot…..ANY DECENT SHOT, but was unable to do so as the bruin was quartering too severely toward me. As it turned out, he gets a “whiff” of me and took off. It was a great experience for me even though I didn’t get a shot. I arrived at my ground blind around 4:30pm, a little early but it worked out well for the other guys so I didn’t mind much. Two years ago I introduced my buds to the “Thermacell”. At first it wasn’t well received, but after I told the guys that I wasn’t using any bug repellant or a head netting everyone got real curious. Kenny told me that within one year not a single bear hunter was without it. Guess everyone’s smartened up. It actually makes the mosquito “problem” a non issue. Getting back to the ground blind, I found myself settling down and really enjoying the solice. Watching the various wildlife enjoying themselves in the summer’s warmth seemed to relax my mind, lower my heart rate and sooth my soul. Around 7:05pm a very nice bear came and paid me a visit. He didn’t get as close as the other one but it was most enjoyable having a little action. This guy was near record class and weighing in at something around 325 pounds or so. I thought that if he kept doing stupid things like giving me shot opportunities he wasn’t going to make it to another winter but as he was near the size animal I’d taken the year before, and, as there were only several more days of bear season; he might make it thru….While I had the opportunity to “Count Coue” on him (meaning I pulled the string, came to anchor, chose my “spot” ….and opted NOT to shoot) it still provided me both enjoyment and more on the job experience so to speak. He stayed around for near an hour and then left without incident. As it would turn out no other hunters had any action that night. DAY TWO, THE COUGAR STAND “The cougar stand” was the location of my very first archery bear hunt. Man, what an experience! Within an hour of my first posting a record book bear something in the neighborhood of 450 pounds decided he wanted to remove the scent bucked that was attached to the tree my stand was located. Well, he got real annoyed that it was wired shut and wired to the tree. In attempting to remove it he knocked the ladder off of its position, almost sending me off the stand. “Thank God for my harness.” I was thinking as I was holding on to the tree with one hand and my bow with the other. My other thought was that “I wonder why no one told me bow hunting bear was like this, I’d a brought a few more pair of skivvies!” The Cougar stand had a ladder leading up to a Loc on “hang on’ stand. I really didn’t like it much. That darn thing is meant for little guys with little butts. It was hung for a left handed archer and we had to move it. Even having done so I didn’t care for it much as it didn’t suit my height either. There were a couple branches that were annoying me. I figured I’d get in a little early the next day and get it all handled. After all, I’ve always been lucky. I was sure I’d get my chance………Little did I know! I did a little practicing at standing quietly and seeing the stand didn’t creek too much. It was about fifty fifty it would make noise. Man I don’t like those stands. “Why the heck didn’t I take my Screaming Eagle from the start? Man, I won’t make this mistake again! Oh well, tomorrow’s another hunt.” I had just sat down when a humongous bear sauntered in like he “owned the joint”. He was a monster. A boar in the neighborhood of 450 pounds; sure to make the record book! I don’t exactly know why but I wasn’t the least bit excited. Maybe it was the ground stand the afternoon before that kept me at ease? When the opportunity presented itself, I carefully stood. The stand didn’t make a sound. Amen! The bear walked about for a brief time and then the time that all hunters know arrived. It was when the animal was positioned just right, and remained long enough to run a good shot. I drew back ol “Bear Killer”, (my Fedora bow and Gold Tip Traditional Arrow with Razorcap broadhead it’s about 635grs). Finding “my spot”, taking aim and pulling thru, I felt like everything was perfect. Little was I aware that a branch would poke me in the right tricep and throw my shot off. DAMN! The bear was well hit but I wasn’t satisfied at all with where the arrow made contact. It was too far to the rear and too high for my liking. I immediately listened for any sounds that would indicate the direction of his travel and was not disappointed. I heard him thrash around some then took a compass bearing in the direction I last heard sound. I waited a while, than got down from the stand. I went over to look at where I’d hit him and followed the blood trail long enough to realize that there was very good blood. My spirits then lifted some from the terrible low I was feeling a short time earlier. Ken arrived and I explained to him the events of the evening and we proceeded to follow the blood trail. There was no problem following this trail, even I who am “color challenged” easily located the large amount of spore on the ground. “It couldn’t be long now!” I wrongly thought to myself. While the sign remained great, we were tracking longer than I anticipated. I rationalized that this was a large bear and would be able to sustain himself longer. That, in fact, was the case. About the time that my thoughts were “Light is fading. I hope this doesn’t have to resume tomorrow!”, we were startled by several very serious “Whoofs”! We’d actually stalked up to within a very close twenty yards of the bear who was warning us that he was a little tired of being tracked!! Right then both Ken and I decided that we would try and push the critter so that he’d bleed out all the sooner. Both our considerations were toward not having the animal suffer any longer than he had too. So we proceeded to again both follow the sign and the noise made by the disgruntled bruin. Now you may question my decision to continue to pursue the bear, but for me it was a “no brainer”. It was the right thing to do for the animal. At this point, to say that the forest was dense, terrain unfavorable, and the light questionable, would be true but not adequate to describe the reality. As we managed to stalk within ten yards of the bear Ken said, “Shoot! Hurry up and shoot now!” Now that sounds pretty simple but it really wasn’t. The animal had no intention of providing a broadside angle and in fact though I don’t read bear intentions, there was no mistaking what this bear had on his mind! He was considering which one of us to charge and have his way with first! I loosed an arrow. I thought it would finish the job. Unfortunately I drove the arrow into a perfectly innocent sapling. Man, I wish I hadn’t done that! It just angered the bear and annoyed both Ken and I. The bear took off again, but only for a short distance. The second opportunity for a shot came at a distance of about eight yards. Yea, I know you’re thinking, “I thought this guy could shoot! How could he have any trouble from THAT short distance?” The answer to that is “I wish you were there to see the kind of terrain we were in, not to mention the dense undergrowth and spartan light condition.” My next arrow also missed, glancing off another sapling. My last arrow and effort was successful but a bit disappointing. I would have preferred a quartering shot but took what I was presented. This time the arrow was delivered from about twenty feet. We were pretty sure that his time was short and that we’d finally succeeded. We waited another thirty minutes from a more “comfortable” distance of about fifteen yards. To my utter amazement the bear remained alive. At this point, being out of arrows and only having a large hunting knife and a can of pepper spray in our defense, we decided to cut a staff and attach the knife to it, making an improvised spear. Now I suspect that you’re thinking, “These guys are nuts!” We might be, but our overwhelming mutual desire to put the bear out of his suffering was our unanimous thought. We strapped the knife to the staff with my nylon belt. It wasn’t good but it adequate. As we approached, Ken with the spear (He wouldn’t have it any other way) and me with the pepper spray we stopped at a distance of six feet from the bear! As we approached the bear, I couldn’t possibly describe the ferocity in his eyes, in his open mouth full of teeth or the posturing of his body! To say that he was enraged wouldn’t quite cover it. I recall looking in his eyes as we approached. The light of day had just about given it up for night as our headlamps shown in the animal’s eyes I felt as if I were looking into the eyes of Satan himself. Ken lunged forward with the spear, that penetrated the bear’s lung, though we didn’t realize it at the time. He immediately charged forward, pulling it from Ken’s hands. Now we were in DEAP kimshi! Ken jumped back, and at a distance of something a little short of three feet I sprayed the bear directly in the face. Thank God it turned him around directly. He retreated only a short distance and expired a short time later. We both were thoroughly exhausted, not from the exhilaration of the last few minutes but rather, I think, from the total day’s experience. The easy tracking job had turned into something far more “interesting” than ever expected; it was A BEAR HUNT OF A LIFETIME!
It wouldn’t be right not to mention my really great hunting partner Rich Grannis. He’s as hard core and good a hunter as anyone I’ll ever meet. I’ve already mentioned Ken Taylor and the mountain of a man he is, but it should be obvious that he’s also a man without any visible sign of fear that I can see. Lastly, there’s my friend Len Cardinale, a most incredible man! He’s rekindled the spirit of bow hunting in me, made me a good archer and confident bow hunter with his coaching and sage advice.
Thanks guys! ~Tom Lagatol~
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