On November 17, 2012 I finally connected on my first bear. I say finally because this story starts way back, many years back. It's a long story. Bear with me.
I live in northeast Georgia and there has been a huntable population of bears as long as I have been hunting. I kinda wanted to shoot a bear when I began hunting and then about 15 years ago I got serious. I climbed countless ridges, I scouted in the summer, I went to the mountain WMAs, and I burnt a lot of boot leather.
In 2003 my wife shot a bear. I watched over her shoulder and it was an awesome thing; but it only raised the question" Where's my bear?".
For the following 9 years I made it my number one, underlying goal to shoot a bear.
I saw bears, 22 different bears by my count, over those 15 years of hunting and for every reason you can imagine I never pulled the trigger. Out of season, too early, too late, too small, too fast, too slow, or sow with cubs. In 2011 Georgia had a surge in the bear population and bears were being killed by a lot of folks. It seemed like anybody could kill a bear. The pressure I put on myself was getting heavy.
The second Sunday of the 2012 season found me in one of my regular deer stands. There was the possibility of a bear but I wasn't really expecting one. Early afternoon I hear shuffle of feet in the leaves. BEAR! The bear is wise to my presence, cautiously creeps through the thick, and then runs through any openings. At the last possible shooting oppurtunity, I bleat like I would to stop a deer. The bear pauses with its vitals barely exposed by a small window through the woods. 55 yards; I've got this! I drop the hammer with my TC 35 and the bear rolls then regains it feet and scrambles away. I was confident the bear was dead. A short blood trail turned into a long blood trail and a late night that led to a long tracking job the next morning. There was plenty of blood but it became apparent the bear wasn't fading but was going strong, climbing steep hills and crossing a creek and a river. I found where the bullet hit a vine in route.
I stopped searching. I was sick. I was angry. I was empty on the inside.I figure I am cursed and my bear hunting days are over.
Three weeks later I am headed to a different stand to deer hunt. As I walk to the stand, there is a bear in the food plot. I gather my wits and prepare for a shot but the bear just disappears.???? Dejected I get in the stand anyway and not 5 minutes later the bear reappears. I thumb back the hammer on the 35 and remind myself this is the most important shot of my life. 117 yards. I take my time and BOOM! The bear balls up, spins and bites at itself and then scampers toward the river that runs beside the foodplot. I was confident in the shot but I was confident before.
I grab my Super Blackhawk and go after the bear. Rather than follow the bears trail into the thick laurels, I go 30 yards upstream to a footpath where I can get to the river and look down it. Halfway down the path on the river bank the chest high laurels rustle. The bear is 3 feet away! I didn't see it and nearly stepped on it. The bear lifts its head toward me and I raise the .44 high just pointing it downward at the bear burrowed in the thick laurel. At the shot the bear explodes into the river in one tremendous leap, falling dead in the river paws up.


This was the same bear from three weeks before as evidenced by a wound on its back. I had redemption.
The bear weighed 142 field dressed but is far and away my biggest trophy that can't be measured in pounds or inches.

Good for you, for staying with it. Congratulations!

excellent, great story. thanx for sharing that, especially the whole story.

Cool, very cool!

Congrats!! Thanks for sharing your story.

What a great story! Especially cool that it was the same bear, Congrats cmnash!

Very well done!! Congratulations on the very fine trophy!

Great Job! Congrats

great story and very good bear .......

Good job on your bear, Matthew (cmnash) Glad you "got your redemption!"

That's awesome. Congrats. I have tracked a few bears into the thick stuff that other people have shot. Its pretty easy to loose one.

Fantastic! Congratulations cmnash!

Awesome, great job!

That is more than just awesome, that is incredible!


Nicely done!!


Duane

Congratulations.

Congrats on a great bear, and sharing your full story. As much as you may have felt jinxed all these years, you appear to have had some type of detiny going with that bear. I think all of us would say that all hunts are memorable, but some will always stand out, for sure.

Craig

Congratulations! Nice bear. Are you having a rug or mount made? I really like the bear rug on the wall. Sure is a conversation piece. What bullet are you shooting with the 35 Rem? I used to shoot the 180grn flat point in mine. It was a hammer on deer.
Again, way to go and glad you found your bear. Great story.

Mike

Great story! Thanks for taking the time, and sharing. Its nice to see "redemption", thats for sure.

Thank you all for the responses. Words can't describe how significant this bear is to me. I am having her made into a rug. I asked the taxidermist to leave the holes in the cape as a testament to my tradgedy and triumph.
Details on the guns are, Federal factory loads with the 200 grain roundnose in the 35 Rem and 250 grain Partitions in the 44. Both bullets exited. The shot from the 35 was a third of the way up right behind the shoulder striking both lungs but not the heart doing sufficient damage. The coup de grace from the revolver was downward through both lungs and left a noticable exit.
Good luck to everyone who is chasing their dream.
Matthew Nash

Awesome stuff! Congrats!

Congrats! Matthew...WTG... Very nice Bear. They sure are hard to kill in their tracks I have killed a Bunch in my life and had only one that DRT, most take lead and run off. I'm glad you got your Bear, enjoy!

cmnash

Well done, bear hunting tends to become habit forming.

Where I live in the mountains of Oregon I do not have to go very far to find a bear. I have taken one each of the last three years in my yard.

Great story and Congrats

Congrats! cmnash, that's a well deserved trophy that's been a long time in the making. Once again, patience paid off.