TMike!! How about a story to go with that bear?

[DeKuma]

As some may have seen, TMike got a nice bear with his bow, and MRay served as back-up and cameraman, but there was no story to go with it.

GREAT looking bear.  Good looking coat and a big body.  And taken with a bow.  AWESOME!

So where is the story guys?

[M_ray]

I 'll have to let tmike tell this one I was just along to document on film, Help him track, flex a bit of muscle and help him finish the bottle of Canadian Club! 

I was actually getting ready to head up to my Bear spot when I got the call from him that he would like a hand!

[bucklucky]

Well dang it I want the story .

[tmike]

OK Here's the condensed version. I put my camera up in a thick as hell place near where Mray had killed a bear a few years ago. I didn't get any thing for a couple of weeks and then started getting some glimpses of BLACK. I put a stand in there and figured if I was going to get shot it would be in bow range. I sat in there a couple days with nothing to show. The night I got it I hadn't been in there 20 minutes when I heard a branch snap. After telling myself to calm down and 5 minutes of nothing I look over and can see black about 30 yards to my left. I had 2 lanes the farthest about 25 yards. The bears sat there for 10 minutes with it's nose up trying to figure out what was up. Finally it started slowly working through. When it came out. I tried to draw and it looked up at me. I thought it was game over, but it turned and started to walk away. I drew, it looked back, and I smoked it. 18 yards. I immediately called Mray and told him I needed help. After an hour of getting packs, weapons, gamecart, whiskey (only to calm our nerves) we went in and got my arrow. It took about 15 minutes to find any other blood and I was getting nervous. I finally found a speck and we had to ditch everything to crawl through the tunnel it went through. Mark goes a ways and says there it is while backing up and getting behind me. I get my pea shooter 22 at the ready and crawl in. Luckily it was piled up about 50 yards from where I stuck it. Mark was a big help. We got it to a place we could cart it and took it out whole. The thing had 3 inches of fat all around it. It was a fatty, but not as big as we thought. On the ground it measured around 5 feet and I think the skull is around 14. Here's another shot of the tunnel, the bear is to my left. How we found it. And a hero shot.

[Gobble]

Thats a nice shiny coat, are you going to get it mounted, rug?

[M_ray]

Don't you mean tried to cart it! some of the time we were carrying it like it was on a stretcher!

[tlbradford]

A friend will come help you look for a bear.  A true friend will crawl through a brush tunnel ahead of you to help you find a bear.  Great job on nailing it with a bow.  You guys are getting me pumped.

[tmike]

I thought it was "a true friend can run slower than you"  I may do a shoulder mount haven't decided yet. I'll wait for a 6 footer for a rug.

[Ray]

That is a great looking bear 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree, its got a great coat on it. 

[DeKuma]

Great Job guys.  Great story too!  Was that out in BD?  My old stomping grounds.  Taken several bear and deer from the area around there, but man can it get a little scary when they bury themselves in the thick stuff!  Nothing like crawling into a tunnel like that!

I had to track through a tunnel one time, and it was getting dark.  Sure makes you feel alive with electricity being that "scared".

Thanks for the story.  Gets me more pumped to make it happen. Especially with a bow!

[bucklucky]

Thanks for the story, nice lookin bear. Here I thought Mark stayed behind you the whole time

[tmike]

Here I thought Mark stayed behind you the whole time

I'm not that stupid. I pushed him in the hole first. 

[bucklucky]

  Thats what freinds are for

[billythekidrock]

Thanks for the story! Congrats on a good looking bear.