My First Bear by Leo Haney
After years and years of waiting, I finally drew my U.P. bear tag. It was going to be tough with football season going on, but we would manage. The bait was bought somewhere around Standish. We, not as much me as my mom and dad, bought the bait which included eight hundred pounds of Rice Krispies Treats, sixty pounds of circus peanuts, nine gallons of dunkin carmel, a ten pound jug of regular carmel, three gallons of purple vanilla frosting, twenty pounds of crushed up nutter butters, forty gallons of peanut butter, and thirty pounds of oats.
We began our weekly baiting trips on Saturday morning waking up at five a.m, this was unbearable, but we got through . My dad and I started baiting a couple of spots about five weeks prior to opening day, that we had found using ONX maps and one spot my mom shot hers from two years ago. A couple weeks into bear baiting, I had to let my little brother take over because I had to have emergency surgery on my right thigh to remove an infection. Guess we didn’t have to worry about football after all. Thank God I was able to go on opening day because I would have been extremely sad.
I packed my bags for the opening day of the greatest season, with extra underwear of course.My season started on a Monday and my dad had to work the night before. The plan was to get up there around twelve thirty and start hunting at one and at least get a bear Tuesday because I've been out of school for a week due to my surgery. We did start the four hour drive to the U.P at around eight in the morning and we got up there at about twelve thirty. My grandparents, whose house we use for bear camp, made some homemade mac n cheese and my dad and I ate a small lunch. We put a twenty-pound bag of rice krispies and circus peanuts in the truck and went to the spot, where we had three bears hitting the bait at different times all day. We decided on this spot because the wind direction was the best for this spot compared to my other one. My dad, brother, and grandpa built a brush blind on a ridge overlooking the bait which was about 50 yards away. It provided a nice clear shot and could see 360 degrees around. It’s also a spot that dog hunters wouldn’t think lightly of because it is so thick and far off the trail; believe me I had to bait it. We got to the state land that was by my grandparents house and started preparing. My dad and I, more so my dad, bought raincoats prior to opening day because we would get drenched due to the forecast so we brought those just in case. The walk to the spot was still and hush or the rush of adrenaline was already pumping through me and drowning out the sound. As I eased up to the blind with my rifle ready looking for bears to be safe, I saw no bears so I sat down in a chair and watched as my dad freshened the bait pile with some Rice Krispies. Once he was done he crept up and joined me. I said, “Ya know I’d feel safer in a tree,”
“ Me too buddy, me too.”
I placed the Ruger 7mm Mag on the shooting stick and made sure I could see and had clear shots around me. My dad told me to look towards the left and forward. He'll look towards the right and behind. There was a wood-pecker that resembled Woody the woodpecker, but slightly more black than blue. Whenever he was close to the ground I jumped a tiny bit then I’d get extremely tremulous, but I would finally settle back down only to jump again. Waiting wasn’t the hard part, it was making sure you saw everything through the deep thick lush forest.
The woodpecker cawed and fluttered off. That made me think something was there. It turns out there was. My dad suddenly whispered, “Leo there's a bear coming in.” My heart could have jumped out of my chest, a buzz suddenly hit me. I was the most excited I had ever been. Dad whispered, “He's coming right in just let him, wait till he gets on the bait.” It felt like an eternity for him to slowly make his way. I couldn’t tell if I could hear my dads heart or mine, but exhilaration was pumping through us both. At first there was a paw, then there was a snout, then there was a bear. The bear walked to the bait, which was fifty yards from the blind. He was perfectly broadside. Dad whispered, “Turn the safety when you are ready to shoot.” I put the bear in my crosshair, took a deep breath, clicked the safety off. I squeezed the trigger, the bear jumped and spun around toward where he was shot. I racked another bullet like lightning. He started charging dead on toward where we were. My dad drew his pistol out ready to shoot. I tried to find the bear in the scope. He was at such a high speed. “ Shoot Leo, Shoot!” my dad urged, or more so yelled.
“I can’t find him in the scope!” I found him! I shot again! He was ten yards away from the blind when I shot again. The bear rolled down the ridge and came to a stop. He let out a final gasp and moaned. That's when I knew he wasn’t going anywhere, he was dead. I was in shock. I had done it. I shot my first bear and the thoughts were racing through my little head. What just happened, so many emotions.
“You just shot a flipping bear!” I could tell my dad was elated. He added “Let's go get your bear!”
We still had our weapons drawn on the body, when we got up to the bear my dad nudged him with his pistol. It was down.My dad gave me a big BEAR hug. We took pictures but couldn’t send them to anyone though.
We drug the bear away from the bait for safety reasons if another bear came , set the stuff down and my dad explained how to gut a bear. It was just like gutting deer. The gut pile didn’t smell the same as a deer though. It wasn’t bad it was just different. We decided to drop all the bags, chairs, and the cam at the truck then come and get a bear, including the raincoats. Then we came back for the bear and it started pouring down rain. We were already at the bear so there was no point in going back to the truck. The bear was right where we left it. We grabbed the bear by the back paws, which wasn’t really something to grab on to. When we dragged we noticed we were having some troubles. Thankfully he had ratchet straps in his truck, but that meant we had to go get them from the truck, so we started off that way again. It was remarkably a lot easier. The next step was to get it over fallen trees that were on the trail to the truck. It was a lot easier than I imagined though, so was getting it in the truck. We took pictures in the truck bed and got enough service to send pictures and call friends and family. When I was in Africa, our guides put the animal's blood on our faces, and that's what I did with my bear. “This is insane!” I told my dad. We then got it registered Tuesday and got it butchered and sent to the taxidermist Wednesday. I strongly encourage all of you reading this to get out there bear hunting or start putting in for points. It will be ingrained in my memory forever.
