The day of the hunt arrived with a cool north wind and the first real hint of fall in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. The dogwoods and sumac were the first to start showing off as fall began to make its presence known. The drive down the rough and winding dirt mountain roads brought back memories of past hunts and adventures from a lifetime of hunting these rouged Ozark Mountains woods. I had decided to not arrive before daylight this opening day because I had been getting a lot of bear activity just before daylight and didn’t want to spook a bear off the bait as I went in to hunt. Instead I decided to drive to the site on an old logging road the same way that I always do when adding bait and checking the trail camera. Once at the site, I added bait and Wilderness Freaks attractant to the area like I always do. Then drove my truck out to leave the way I always do. Once away from the site I simply slipped back to my ground blind as quietly as possible. With the excitement of a kid the night before Christmas wondering what this day held instore I entered my pop up blind for the day.

I had many pictures of bears at the site all hours of the day so you could never tell when one might appear. The only reason for concern and its one that happens every year is that once the acorns begin to ripen and fall the bears will leave you high and dry for the natural mast crop freely available to them in every direction.

As the morning turned to afternoon I ate my lunch and drank a cup of coffee as the sound of white oak acorns dropped from their lofty perches high up in the mighty oaks that covered the ridge that I hunted. The sound of this, in years past would have upset me but I have come to realize that what a better place to be than right in the middle of what they are looking for as the squirrels further proved my idea as they too took advantage of nature’s bounty.

It was the alarm bark of those very squirrels that alerted to the presence of an approaching bear to my stand in the last thirty minutes of shooting light. After setting in a ground blind for eleven and a half hours, the sound of barking squirrels was a sound that brought joy to my ears and my bow to my hand as I readied myself for the chance of a shot at what I thought to be an approaching bear. Just as the little squirrels had promised by listening to their sounds of alarm as they began barking, I could track the bear’s movement along the ridge that led around my stand location.  As the barking of the squirrels got closer to my location the level of excitement began to grow as I began to feel my breathing becoming more rapid, anticipating the moment as I began to look for any sign of what I hoped to be the approaching bear.

Just like a black shadow moving across the forest floor the bear made its silent appearance. I have never heard a bear approach a stand, they simply appear! As the pulse in my bow hand quickened I anticipated the chance of a shot. The bear came by the bait and walked past it and straight for my ground blind. At three yards the bear stopped but didn’t allow a shot because it was between the shooting windows of my blind. I had already drawn and let down twice thinking that the bear was going to walk past but never did. Finally it turned allowing me to draw and shoot at three yards. I watched in disbelief as the arrow kicked up flying harmlessly through the hair of the bears back. My shot was so close that I didn’t have room to keep the arrow fletching from hitting the cloth material of the shooting window. The only sound made as the arrow flew over the bears back was the string from the new string tracker that I was trying out for the first time on this hunt. To my great fortune and surprise the bear simply made a big half circle as I readied a second arrow on my bow string. The bear raised up on a log to look the situation over just long enough for me to lock in for the shot. This time I watched as the Douglas Fir shaft tipped with a single bevel 185 grain Grizzly head and 75 grain Woodyweight passed effortlessly through the broadside bear standing at just over fifteen yards.

At the shot the bear spun and ran back in the direction that it used to approach, the sound of rustling leaves this time gave me directions as to where to begin my search. As the sound of the retreat stopped I knew the trail would be a short one. I gathered up my needed gear to field dress my quarry as well as taking a quick compass reading just in case I became disoriented in the dark woods as night fall was quickly approaching. The blood trail was a short one as I sorted it out amongst the forest floor. There isn’t much that can compare to the feeling of relief a Primitive Archer feels as he approaches the prize at the end of a successful hunt. The reward of harvesting big game with a wood bow that you made from material that you harvested as well as made with your own hands is one that every hunter needs to experience in his hunting lifetime. One should also experience the amount of work that lays ahead once you have a downed bear. As I stood over the mature male bear I realized that given the ruggedness as well as the steepness of the terrain that the bear ended up in, I would need help. I did the field dressing and rolled the carcass so the body cavity could cool out as best it could. Then I quickly made my way back to a road allowing for the best and shortest recovery of the bear. I had to drive a mile or so to get on top of a mountain that would allow me cell service I needed to call and check in the bear as well as recruit a couple of younger men to help me retrieve my prize. Another part of the huge effort involved in the game we so willingly pursue.   

With a successful harvest of a big game animal in the bag with a sinew backed cedar bow as well after many hundreds and hundreds of shots over the years to its credit and other bows that I have built just like it, my confidence in the sinew and cedar is even more justified. I think that you too will be pleased with the speed and ease in shooting such a sweet bow and the added opportunities in future bow building that awaits you.