Animals teach me lessons almost every time I go out. Last week I was out hunting bear, no luck and it's getting dark so I decided to walk out a little early, hoping to see something on the way out. I get down to a switch back and think I hear something just inside the trees, up an embankment.
I pause and hear it some more, getting closer, walking toward me, parrallel with the road. I hear it snort and breath and I step back to the opposite side of the road. I have my 30 30 lever action. I cock the hammer and quarter raise the gun to my shoulder, safety still on.
More deep,snorts and brush noise. I lip squeak like a mouse and it pauses, listening to me. Some very quick movements inside the brush bring the bear just to the edge of the thick brush and it huffs a bit, gun still low, safety off, if something happens it's happening in a split second. Literally, it is under ten yards but I can't see it. A few more lip squeaks, tense moments, huffs and pops and the bear eventually moves on. While I am 100 percent sure it was a bear, and very close, I still could not see my target.
No matter how tense it was and how hard my heart was pounding, I had to remind myself don't shoot.
It's great to be tested now and again. Happy hunting.
