Chapter 1 WELCOME TO BEAR HUNTING It is late afternoon on an early autumn day A young hunter walks through the leafy woods rifle in hand Some of the leaves are yellow but few have dropped off the trees yet 4
Camouflage helps hunters avoid being noticed by bears States have different requirements for what hunters can wear The hunter arrives at a tree stand deep in the forest Quietly he ties his unloaded rifle to a rope climbs 15 feet 5 m into the stand and attaches his safety harness He pulls the rifle 5
6 Black bears prefer to have a lot of land to roam without other bears
up with the rope and loads the firearm Then he sits down for a long and quiet wait A bait pile sits 20 yards 18 m from the base of the tree The pile has a variety of foods that bears love Its purpose is to attract a bear from its hiding place deep in the brush In a forested area this vast and thick this is one of the only ways to shoot a bear As the sun goes slowly down squirrels look for food in the woods Songbirds chirp on nearby branches But when the sun dips below the trees the woods become silent The hunter sits up and becomes more alert Dusk is coming At this time of year hungry bears often move in the evening toward the end of legal hunting hours A twig snaps The hunter’s heart beats faster A dark form drifts along the game trail approaching cautiously It’s a black bear The bear nears the clearing where the hunter left the bait It is a big bear The young hunter wonders if the bear 7
