The bear slowly crept in again, and once again was drawn to the peanut butter on the barrel.  We had a soup can of honey on the little stove too, and the bear seemed to like the smell, but he didn't try to get at it.  Again he got nervous and hopped back into the tree cover.  This time he circled around our blind and came to within 5 yards of the blind on my side and stood up on his hind legs sniffing.  That was about as cool as it gets!  This time he decided that it must be safe to eat, so toward the ripe maggot infested beavers he went.  Dale told me to draw when his head went behind a big tree.  I got to full draw and the bear passed behind the barrel and paused.  One more lick of the peanut butter and then he wanted meat.  Two steps put him in the clear, but he stopped quartering toward me.  Dale was hissing not to shoot, and I was hissing for him to shut up!  He was giving me play by play the whole time and I was sure he was going to spook the bear.  That guy needs to learn to zip it sometimes!  Anyway, one more step and the bear was nicely broadside.  I placed my pin just behind his front leg and when he stopped to look into the blind, I sent my arrow through his ribs. 

The bear huffed a breath and turned to escape.  He ran about 40 yards and Dale was hooting and hollering about how perfect the shot was. I was still trying to get him to be quiet so the bear wouldn't run as far.  He was convinced it was going to fall right in sight.  Two more steps and the forest swallowed him up, and panic began to set in.  Dale was positive the shot was good and told me not to worry, but I was shaking uncontrollably.  He began to pack up our gear with all the confidence in the world and all I could think was "please let the arrow kill him quickly." 

Dale is a little color blind, so I knew the blood trailing would be up to me.  I went to where the bera was standing, and Dale could see my arrow lying on the ground 30 yards past the spot.  It's as if the bear didn't even slow it down.  I saw blood on the leaves and started to believe we would find him quickly.  Dale decided that we should go to the last spot we could see him.  When he got there he told me to come there and see if I could find blood.  As I approached, I suddenly saw my bear lying just a few yards from Dale.  He wanted me to find it so said nothing.  I'll tell you this, I came pretty close to jumping out of my skin when I saw him so close.  I was urging Dale to poke him with the gun to be sure he was dead, and he just laughed.  I can't even explain how excited I was to have killed a bear with a pointy stick!  It might have been even better than getting my whitetail last fall!  I hope you guys enjoy the pictures.

pretty cool chickadee!  watching that go down was easily the most fun moment ive had hunting in several years.  i hope you had as much fun up there as i did.

Awesome, congrats on your bear.

Great story and pics. Congrats

Andy

Thank you guys for the comments.  I really wanted to get a bear with my bow, and I cannot say thank you enough to the nice people Dale met in the forest that helped out to make this possible.  If those guys had not offered up their baits, I would not have gotten a chance to get my wish.  I hope to try again next year and hold out for a colored bear.

Great play by play story Robin, congrats on your first archery bear..

Leafy

A nice bear to be proud of!