A Bear of a Tale

By: Dave Cronk  

     Certain endeavors require years of dedication and unchecked motivation.  Hunting  Montana  Black  Bears  “Spot  and  Stalk”  style  with  traditional  archery  equipment  requires  these  traits  and  then  some.  I  spent  three  years  hunting  bears  all  over  Montana  with  a  good  buddy  of  mine  Matt  Arkins.  In  the  beginning,  we  set  out  with  very  little  knowledge  about  bears  and  big  dreams  of  killing  bears  with  our  superior  ninja-like  skills.  We  were  both  good  deer  hunters  with  Matt  holding  a  World  Record  Mule  Deer  so,  “How  hard  could  hunting  bears  be?”  we asked  ourselves.  Well,  without  saying  much  more  about  specific  encounters,  we  spent  the  next  three  years  spotting,  stalking  and  spooking  many  bears.  We  spent  thousands  of  dollars  in  gas  and  put  hundreds  of  miles  on  our  boots.  By  the  end  of  third  spring  bear  season,  we  were  beat  down,  and  although  we  enjoyed  the  time  in  the  mountains  during  the  spring,  we  decided  to  hang  up  the  desire  to  kill  a  bear  with  traditional  archery  gear  and  focus  on  hunting  Deer  and  Elk  with  our  stick  bows  during  the  fall.  

     September  had  arrived  in  the  very  same  year  and  we  had  found  a  new  zone  to  hunt  for  elk.  One  afternoon  I  went  up  in  by  myself  hoping  to  do  a  bit  of  scouting  and  possibly  run  into  some  elk  later  in  the  day.  While  creeping  through  the  woods  I  came  across  a  beautiful  wallow  I  had  never  seen.  Being  a  gorgeous  day,  I  decided  to  sit  down  in  shade  above  the  wallow  and  have  some  lunch.  I  had  cell  service  there  so  I  gave  Matt  a  call  to  tell  him  about  the  wallow  I  had  just  found.  Mid  conversation  I  heard  a  twig  snap  and  a  bit  of  grunting  down  below  me,  and  with  a  quick,  “Dude!  I got to go!”  I  hung  up  the  phone  and  slowly  stood  up  so  I  could  see  clearly  over  the  brush  between  the  ravine  bottom  and  me.  To  my  surprise  I  saw  a  black  animal  moving  up  through  the  brush  toward  the  wallow.  At  first  I  thought  it  might  be  one  of  the  cattle  roaming  up  from  the  fields  below,  but  it  was  not  a  cow  at  all…  It was a big beautiful Black Bear sow!  I could hardly believe it.  After  all  the  hard  work  I  had  put  in  over  the  last  three  years,  by  chance  alone,  I  was  standing  15  yards  from  a  big  bear.  This was awesome!  I  watched  and  waited  for  a  painstakingly  amount  of  time  making  sure  she  didn’t  have  any  cubs  and  just  as  I  decided  to  shoot,  she  got  up  out  of  the  mud  and  walked  up  the  bank  of  the  ravine  directly  towards  me.  The  situation  was  changing  quickly  and  with  all  the  brush  in  the  way  I  had  no  real  shot.  For  a  brief  moment  I  thought  about  my  pistol,  but  it  was  holstered  on  my  pack  and  my  pack  was  on  the  ground  behind  me…  so  much  for  carrying  a  pistol  for  bear  protection.  Within  seconds  the  bear  poked  her  head  out  of  the  brush  less  than  10  feet  in  front  of  me.  At  this  distance  having  the  wind  didn’t  really  matter  anymore.  She  smelled  me,  and  with  one  quick  move  she  bolted  back  down  the  ravine,  through  the  wallow  and  up  the  other  bank.  In  that  split  second,  I  thought  to  myself,  “Well…  #%@*!  Another blown opportunity on a bear.”  And  then…  she  stopped  and  turned  around  to  see  what  the  hell  it  was  she  ran  into.  I  said  to  myself,  “Ahh,  you  can’t  do  that  darling” and sent  the  arrow  on  its  way.  There  is  no  tracking  story  to  tell  as  the  bear  ended  up  rolling  back  down  ravine  and  into  the  wallow.  I  gave  the  bear  some  time  and  called  Matt  back.  He  couldn’t  believe  it  when  I  told  him  I  had  just  killed  a  nice  bear.  Actually,  I  think  I  was  saying  something  like,  “Bear  Down!  Bear Down!”  I  don’t  really  remember  because  I  was  still  in  a  bit  shock  over  the  whole  situation.  I  think  Matt  was  as  stoked  as  I  was,  and  he  was  nice  enough  to  drop  what  he  was  doing  and  come  up  and  help  me  get  the  bear  out  of  the  mountains.  

     After  careful  reflection  on  the  encounter,  following  the  years  of  toil  and  continuous  failures,  I  could  come  up  with  only  one  conclusion;  “Sometimes  hard  work  and  dedication  don’t  mean  a  damn  thing.  Sometimes,  it’s  just  dumb  luck  that  puts  you  in  the  right  place  at  the  right  time.”

Dave's bear (Matthew Arkins Photography) 

Dave's bear (Matthew Arkins Photography) 

Special thanks to Matt Arkins (http://matthewarkinsphotography.viewbook.com/) for taking this awesome photo.

See more of Matt's (Camera man) and Dave's (Co-Producer) work

with the short film they helped make 'Into High Country.'

http://vimeo.com/filmhuntsltd/intohighcountry