Over the last week, I have been getting gear ready, e-scouting, and making sure my weapon is dialed. It’s all in the name of one thing. Spring bear season is finally here. It is one of the most exciting times of the year if you’re a bear hunter. It marks the start of new life and a new spring bear hunting season ahead.
While Spring Bear season invokes much praise from a hardcore set of individuals, there are many new bear hunters coming into the fold. If you’re one of them, let me just say, I’m very excited for you and what’s to come. There are many peaks and valleys ahead, but if you stay the course and learn as much as you can along the way, you’ll get to where you want to be.
Filming my hunts is something that I honestly never thought I’d do when I was younger. It just seemed like too much work, and that’s true, but it is so worth it in the end. Being able to look back on hunts from the past and relive those memories is something special. And this past October I had a bear hunt that turned to a mountain lion hunt rather quickly. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I am thrilled to share my new film The Unexpected with you. This is one for the books and a hunt I’ll never forget.
Fall bear season in Arizona is a hunt that I hold more dear than most. I cherish both the August and October seasons and 2024 was a year where I devoted more time than ever to them. 21 days were spent in the field hunting. That doesn’t include any scouting trips I made, which add up to an additional 5 days.
Sheesh, I can’t believe I’m already writing a start of the Fall hunting season update. Feels like spring was just here a few weeks ago, but here we are. At this point in the season, I’ve had two hunts. A black bear hunt in Arizona and an elk hunt in Colorado. Both landed on the rough side, but both held their own lessons.
At the time of writing this, it’s late July 2024. This time of year always makes me think of one thing, besides the unrelenting heat in my great state of Arizona. It’s Fall black bears. Our archery season starts at the end of August and I just returned from my first scouting trip of the year.
What is an archery spring bear hunt without the bow and arrow part right? Shot opportunities in bowhunting don’t grow on trees. Each one is earned and the earning part is gonna be on the healthy side for the backcountry bear hunt I have planned. In light of that, confidence in my setup, and confidence in my shooting needs to be absolutely dialed. I may only get one shot, so I’ll need to make damn sure it counts.
Something else I’m really trying to focus on for this upcoming backcountry archery spring bear hunt is strength training. I will admit, that this is something that I have lacked over the past few years. My primary way of training for hunts has been trail running and weighted pack hikes. This has gotten the job done but with a caveat. I’ve noticed that I’ve been more prone to injury. Which is where strength training comes in.
This coming spring I’ll be heading into the Idaho backcountry for a spot and stalk archery spring bear hunt. The past few years I’ve done this hunt with a rifle and been successful doing so. It’s always brutal and I always look forward to it. With this being an archery hunt, the physical demands will be even greater and I’ve been chipping away on backcountry prep little by little to prepare myself.
Going on 4 years now, I have gone to Idaho during the spring to hunt black bears. Since my first trip, which was actually solo for 8 days, I have looked forward to this hunt every year. The first year I missed several bears. The second year I made a bad shot and couldn’t recover a bear. And the third I finally laid my hands on my first Idaho black bear. These were all backpack hunts with my rifle. There was one thing on my mind the whole time. A dream.
2023 had no shortage of gear changes for me. I’m always looking for ways to solidify my system even more. The only way to do that is to try out new things. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. During the 2023 season, I was reminded of the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” My arrow setup is now what it once was instead of something totally new.
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