If you’ve been following along with me for the past few years, then you know how much of a bear nut I am. Last year I wrote a story called Canyon Bruins, which took you along the epic journey that was my 2015 season. If you read that story then you know that is when I was able to harvest my first black bear. On that morning, we were able to see 9 bears in about an hour and a half, all within 300 yards of each other. Everything from the shot to the packout was nothing short of an adventure. It took me 3 years to find a good bear spot here in AZ, so you can imagine how excited I was to get back to that magical hell hole that these Canyon Bruins called home for the 2016 season.
Finding a good hunting partner can sometimes be just as difficult, if not more difficult than hunting itself. A lot of things have to lineup between two people in order for it to work. This became all too apparent when I really got into all of this. Up until a certain point, I had always hunted with another person. As the fire grew inside of me to be out in the field though, I came to a fork in the road. Either I was going to not go out at all or I needed to go out alone. I chose the latter and throughout my adventures have really grown to love hunting on my own. Even with that being the case, I still enjoy getting out into the mountains with good friends and family. After all, that is how I ended up loving hunting as much as I do in the first place.
2015 was a pretty exciting year for me in the field filled with new experiences and opportunities. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, when I stopped to think about it all. It was almost overwhelming reflecting back on everything, which is what I intend on doing here. Being relatively new to the hunting lifestyle(3 years), means a lot of things happened to me for the first time. The deeper and deeper that I dive into this, the more things that I want to experience someday and the things that I do get a chance to experience, seem to create new traditions that I can’t wait to take part in the following year. There were way to many firsts that happened during 2015 to list here, but I would like to take the time to reflect on the major ones.
As most of you probably have figured out by now, I am a big fan of the podcasting world. So much so, that I almost find my self listening to hunting podcasts now more than music and that means a lot coming from a musician! They are a great way for like minded individuals to interact and help all of us become even better at our passion. In this case, that is obviously hunting. The knowledge and just pure entertainment that I have gotten out of these shows has been endless. My only problem is, as I have said in the past, finding the time to listen to them all! So many good shows and not enough time in the day!
After the emotional roller coaster that the August bear season gave me, I honestly didn’t know if I was going to hunt bears again during the 2015 season. To lose an animal of that caliber, after all of the hard work that I have put in over the past 3 years, was a crushing experience. No matter how much we prepare, we cannot control the outcome of a situation. That was all too real for me. Countless talks were had with family and friends about my lost bear and how we did all that we could. It didn’t change the fact that I still felt awful. Bears are an animal that have truly become special to me and that I admire to their core. The way they move seamlessly through rugged terrain, their behavior, toughness, and intelligence are all intriguing to me.
In 2013 something happened to me that changed my life. The kind of thing that no matter how hard you try, you can’t stop thinking about. I went on my first bear hunt here in Arizona. Going into the hunt, I read everything that I could about bears in Arizona. Where they like to reside, what they like to eat, and their overall habits in the rugged environment that AZ has to offer. No matter how much I read though, I felt ill prepared for the journey ahead. It’s hard to picture something standing on a hillside when you have never really seen what you are looking for. By some stroke of luck though, it happened. I saw a bear on the evening of opening day. Because, of the bear being obscured by brush and other vegetation though, I wasn’t able to take a shot. From that point on I was caught hook, line, and sinker. I hunted bears for the rest of the season and never did get another look at one. That didn’t matter though. I would be back next year.
As I write this, January 2015 is coming to a close along with the AZ archery deer season. It has been a LONG season that started back in August for me here. August filled my mind with hopes and desires for bear and deer. The only thing August didn’t fill was my tags. That season ran into September. After that it was back to the bears in early October, followed by scouting in November for the archery deer hunt the coming December/January. January also held an archery javelina hunt, which is a tag that I was fortunate enough to fill. If I had to describe how my season went, it would be a long stretch of rugged, up and down mountains with some valleys scattered throughout. It’s a good thing that I enjoy rugged mountains.
The sun has started to make it’s daily climb up above the mountains. Your thoughts seem to be the loudest thing in the woods at the moment. Silence is pushed to the side with the crunching of leaves not far away. As fast as this sound comes, your heart starts to beat faster and faster. Adrenaline and curiosity envelop your whole being. What is it? Is it what I am after? Is it a squirrel playing tricks on me? It is then that reality hits you with the welcoming sight of antlers coming into view just 20 yards away. Curiosity turns into relief, but it isn’t over yet. Ever so slowly you raise your bow up, clip on your release, and begin to draw back. As you look through your peep sight and try to control the sudden blitzkrieg of shakes that has just come over you, that 20 yard pin that has become so very familiar begins to rest just behind this monarch’s shoulder. Breathe in, breathe out, squeeze the trigger. You watch the arrow bury into the vitals of what you have worked so hard for. Chaos erupts through the mountains as your quarry takes off quicker than they appeared just a few minutes ago. You did it. All of the scouting and hard work finally paid off. Hopefully…..
My 2014 early archery deer/bear hunt started back in March. This is when I went out to place a trail camera in a very promising spot that I had found the previous season in hopes of seeing what was moving through the area. The spot did not disappoint, as I was greeted with thousands of pictures of deer, elk, and bear over the next few months. My scouting trips would happen every 3 weeks or so and consisted of checking my camera, lots of hiking, shed hunting, and glassing. The more and more pictures I got of these deer, the more excited I got for the opener on August 22nd.
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