My 2007 hunting season started off different than I had planned. In New York early archery season always begins on September 27th. New York gives us the last four days of September to cash in on any unused tags from the previous year. I was left with a buck tag and a bear tag from the 2006 season so I decided to get out early on some public access land a few miles from where I grew up.
The land I had scouted and planned to hunt on was on a military base that is divided into various areas. This is so the Army can use areas for training and still leave areas open to sportsmen. I had chosen three areas infested with oak trees and scouted them until I had intimate knowledge of the terrain. I knew where the food source was and was planning an early morning ambush on the edge of a thick patch of cover where I expected I may catch a buck slipping into at first light for a morning nap. I had a spot picked between the cover and the oaks for evenings in case my opening morning plan didn’t go as planned.
My work schedule stopped me from hunting on the 26th, so the night of September 27th when I called to obtain my access for the day I was disappointed to find out that the area I was planning to hunt was closed for the day. In fact all of the areas I had scouted were closed. So at around 8pm I had to go to the topo maps to try to come up with a game plan.
After going over my list of open areas and studying the maps for several hours, I decided to follow the bottom of a ridge in on one of the open archery only areas, hoping there may be cover on the bottom and oaks up top. So I then went to bed to think about the day to come instead of sleep, and watch my alarm until it was time to get up and go hunting.
Before I knew it I found myself standing in the dark on the side of a dirt road. I had my climber strapped to my back and my bow in my left hand. I was in my best camo and as scent free as I get. It was an hour before day light and I was headed into a patch of woods I had never stepped foot in before now. I was breaking several of my own rules. I felt no fear only excitement for the possibilities of what may come.
After fighting my way through the thick dark woods for a half hour I realized that I had to of scared every whitetail away in a ten mile radius. Feeling stupid I found a spot that looked to be a little open. Thinking that there was no point in scaring any more critters away, I decided to hook my climber to the tree and climb up fifteen or so feet with the wind in my face. I then sat for a half hour in the dark and surprisingly when daylight started to peak it felt like I had just appeared there and the woods were settled.
About ten minutes after light something caught my ear off to my left. It was the soft grunt of a doe. She was calling to her fawn who was about twenty yards in front of her. I was surprised to see action this soon. It was different than hunting the seemingly more cautious deer I was used to in the wood lots I grew up in. The two of them slipped off into the thick like ghost. It left me wondering if they were ever really there. I didn’t wonder long though within twenty minutes I had three more doe walking single file right towards my tree. The deer seemed to be more plentiful here too. I sat for a few more hours before I decided to take a look around. I then climbed down the tree and started off with my equipment strapped to me.
Within a few hundred yards I had found a buck rub and the oaks I was looking for. Finding a spot with acorns covering the ground like late October leaves is like finding a winning lotto ticket to a bow hunter. I climbed twenty feet up one of the oaks in the center of this gold mine. There were runways every where I looked, the wind was the last thing on my mind which is not like me. Within a half hour of studying the terrain, I heard deer behind me. Three more slipped through within thirty yards behind me. I had seen Eight deer on public land before eleven in the morning. This is out of character for northern New York. I decided to find a quiet way out to get lunch and to come back in the afternoon for an evening hunt.
Around three o’clock I was back in my oak tree. By four I heard thunder off in the distance. When the lightning stared to flash everywhere around me I climbed out of my lightning rod and stood at the bottom of the tree debating what to do. I had been fooled by these early fall lightning storms before. So I decided to wait it out and sure enough within twenty minutes I was back up in my tree. I had one deer silently pass by me to my right I never saw what it was. At sun set I climbed down and headed towards my truck. It was still light enough to see well but legal hunting hours were over. Between my stand and my truck I jumped several more deer that were passing through an open field. Even though the areas I had scouted were open the next day I decided to return to my oak tree for my next mornings hunt because of the success I had on day one.
So here I was again, climbing up a tree I barely knew in the dark. I got settled in fifteen minutes before first light. I was expecting to see deer and lots of them. I had my lunch packed and I wasn’t leaving until I tagged my buck. I sat for three hours before I saw my first squirrel.
Around nine o’clock I heard an unusual rustle of oak leaves and brush. Whatever it was it wasn’t wasting any time. Before I knew it I had an Adirondack black bear passing through in the thick slash at thirty five yards. Although I knew I didn’t have a shot something made me stand and draw my bow. I remember thinking how neat it was to see my first bear from a stand, and how it would be nice to arrow one. I don’t know how long I was at full draw for , but it seemed like forever. Just before the bear was out of my sight it turned and headed right towards my tree. When it turned it came through a shooting lane at twenty yards, but too fast for me. It ended up at eleven yards with its nose up against my scent wick that I dipped in trails end 307. The arrow seemed to release itself taking the bear in between the neck and the collar bone, passing through both lungs and the liver. Even with a good shot tracking and recovery were difficult.
After crawling on my hands and knees for several hours looking for any signs of a wounded bear I found my trophy. Not a Pope and young bear by far, but taken fair chase, one on one, and with my compound. One of my hunting goals accomplished, not how I had planned, but it was done. This feet that I once thought I had very low odds of accomplishing was complete. My interest has been sparked and this fall I will attempt to release another arrow on an even bigger black bear.
