My friend in the mountains has some land with good numbers on it. We both got one opening week. I got a little more than I bargained for with mine.
This is my first bear ever. I was set up on the ground on a steep hillside overlooking a well used trail going across a power line with a lot of bear scat near the woods on the other side.
About 45 minutes before dark I hear crunching behind me. The trails came in other directions and I had seen 3 bears during spring gobbler and they all used the trail to my right to cross over. I wasn't expecting anything to appear behind me. When I first saw the bear he was about 20 yds and closing fast. I was set up in between 2 large trees on a folding chair and had brushed in the front of me. My xbow was sitting in front too. The bear kept coming and I turned slowly to follow him. He ended up stopping only 8 feet behind me. Then he just sat down to look at me. I figured I was going to be attacked so I slowly turned my back on the bear to grab the xbow and move around to shoot across my left as I'm right handed. The bear was so close I could hear the snorting and deep breathing he was making trying to sniff out exactly what I was. As I moved into position to make a desperation shot for the attack I figured was coming any second he spooked and ran off. Stopped 20 yds away and looked at me some more.
I didn't have a good shot at him as there was a lot of brush in the way. After a few seconds he turned and slowly walked away. I tried to follow hoping to get a shot but it was too thick and he disappeared. Then I caught movement and he was on the trail I had expected him to use out in the power lines. He stopped to stare at me some more. I ranged him and he was just under 40 yds. I aimed and made the shot. I saw the arrow hit the mark and the bear took off up the other hill side crashing into the woods. I heard silence and then some more noise and then the moan of the bear. I knew he was down. He only went 25 yds after the shot.
I called my friend back at camp and told him to bring the ATV to help get him out. It took me 30 minutes to compose myself enough to walk the 50 yds across the power line. Here's the pics. A lot of teeth and claws to be 8 feet behind your back. I wanted to take a bear from the ground with the xbow but that was a little more than I had imagined.
