Daniel Got His Bear!!!
I bet you never thought you would see a post like this on our family blog!!! So here is a little background to catch you up... Daniel decided in the last year that he wanted to take up hunting. So, after a lot of research, looking and talking to one of our hunter friends, he purchased his first rifle! He has been practicing at the range and reading lots of hunting information over the past several months.
A few weeks ago Daniel took his hunter license test online and then we went to Eastern Washington to take his hands-on safety test. When he got his license in the mail he couldn't wait to go get his tags for this year. He has been saying for months that he wanted to go camping this summer and stake out where he wants to go deer hunting this fall and get a feel for what it is going to be like. Well, by the time we got home from California and the kids rooms were finished we were well into August and bear season had started. So, Daniel decided to get his bear tag and give it a try.
As you know, I am 2 1/2 weeks to due date, so I told him to go and get back! He left on Sunday with his Dad for their big adventure. (Ken doesn't hunt, but just went along for the experience.) Basically they did a lot of looking for berries and bear activity for the first day or two and they actually were successful at sighting a bear, but by the time they got out of the truck they couldn't find it again. So yesterday was their last day out and last chance. Ken had a conference call early in the morning to take, so they packed up their camp and went into town. While Ken was on his conference call Daniel was on the computer reading all of the bulletins about the recent bear hunts in the area and the tricks to the trade. He read somewhere about calling the bear. He had a fawn call but apparently had not been using it enough; so after the phone call they heading back up to their spot and started their bear calling. Sure enough after about an hour and just as they were getting quite sick of hearing the fawn call, a bear came over the ridge! And the rest is history. Daniel took one shot and the bear dropped. I couldn't even believe it when he called to tell us! My husband is a hunter now!!!
After the fact, Daniel found out that some hunter in the area who has been hunting for years says that he only sees a bear 1 out of every 5 hunts and only gets one 1 out of every 10! Also, when he talked to our hunter friend, who has also been hunting for years and all over the place, said that he was really impressed because apparently it is not easy to get a bear in Washington! He has only shot one himself in Washington. That made Daniel feel good. Beginners luck I guess.
Here are some pictures. As you can see the bear isn't huge. He is about 175-200 pounds. Hey, any bear counts!
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| Ken and Daniel. I am so glad Ken got to go and share in this experience with Daniel. |
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| Daniel and his bear |
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| Don't feel too bad...Remember it was coming to the bear call that it thought was a baby fawn! |
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| This picture was taken where the bear dropped, and if you look up the hill you can see a big rock in the distance, that is where Daniel was shooting from. |
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| All cleaned. Thank goodness for You Tube! |
