November 17th 2010
Rusty Wall was a little tyke when we were neighbors west of Caroline, Alberta, back in the early 1980s. His interest in all things outdoors, including a passion for hunting, led him to his present occupation as a big game guide for moose, caribou, elk, grizzly and Stone sheep with Gundahoo River Outfitters at Muncho Lake, British Columbia. Rusty is arguably one of the finest guides in the business. Last year he became interested in bowhunting so he got a fine bow and began his bowhunting journey, which culminated with a spring bear hunt last May when he took his first animal with bow and arrow. When he related the hilarious account of his hunt with me I was reminded me of what all of us bow hunters experience as we move from practicing to actually shooting at our first animal. Rusty has allowed me to publish his story here, so all you bowhunters are in for a treat. Welcome Rusty Wall.
Russell Thornberry
Bowhunting & Murphy’s Law
By Rusty Wall
I now have NO desire to shoot a black bear with a rifle, although I must admit I had a bad case of buck (bear) fever early in the day as I tried to shoot a nice chocolate colored boar with my bow. It was mid May, 2010, and I was hunting with my friend Colin Niemeyer, an outfitter in the Valemont area of British Columbia, Canada.
We got within 20 yards of the chocolate boar at a little pond with a creek running out of it. The bear couldn’t hear or smell us so it was a perfect opportunity! He walked up the bank and I came to full draw but as soon as I did I saw that my arrow had somehow slipped under my arrow rest! So, I let my string down, got the arrow back on the rest, and then I noticed a blade had opened up on my Rage broadhead, so I had to tuck that back in. All the while the bear was watching us. Now I am panicking. I tried to hook my release back on the string loop and my arrow fell off the string! So I put it back on, hooked the release back on the loop and the arrow fell off the string again! Then the bear took off! All part of the hunt I guess but I couldn't believe how many things went wrong that have never happened to me while practicing! I had a good laugh.
Ok, so after screwing up on the chocolate bear Colin and I headed back towards the house to have supper and pick up his girlfriend. On the way we were checking out some old cut blocks and power lines and we spotted three bears across the valley. We could tell one was a good boar, so we looked at the old roads to get an idea of which corner to stop at. Once we figured it out we went back to the truck, loaded up the ranger and headed to the spot. We stopped on the chosen corner and started stalking down the old logging road where we had seen the bears. We didn’t get far before we bumped into a sow, so we got ready on the edge of the road, waiting for the boar and hoping that this sow wasn’t going to blow things for us. She fed back and forth until she was only eight yards from us! At this point she knew something was not right and she snuck off the edge of the road and into the timber. We hustled up a few yards to get in front of her and spotted the bear we were after. He was 75 yards from us with another sow, doing what comes natural for a boar this time of year (the rut was on).
It took us 30 minutes to close the distance to 30 yards. Both bears would occasionally look our direction and I believe the sow was onto us because she wanted to leave but the boar would bite her neck or back and hold on tighter if she tried to leave. It would be the death of him! When he had bred her, she immediately went into the trees but he remained in view for a minute or so. That's when my arrow sailed 43 yards and passed right through him! He stood up and grabbed the tree next to him and hung on for a minute then went down into the timber about 10 yards and piled up! Thankfully, we had enough time to take some good pictures just before dark! So that's the story on this bear! It was my first animal with a bow, and my first bear as well!
