Well last night I was doing some stalking for a black tail that I jumped last season in a really thick area of our property. About about 2 hrs of stalking, I jumped onto a deer trail heading into a tiny clearing (5yrds x 10yrds) when I looked ahead and thought a saw a huge stump.... Wrong it was a big bear just posted up. I ranged him at 35yrds and looked my way 2-3 times but didn't seem to pay much attention, I wanted to close the gap to 30yrd but as soon as I stepped, he looked at me and looked a bit unsettled. It looked like he was going to mosey on off and I didn't have much time. I drew back and when I did he left my shot window through the brush. I found another small opening that I hoped he'd walk through and he did. As soon as he stepped into the window at 35yrds I let her fly. I thought I heard my arrow nick a branch but thought the hit looked good. He roared, bit at the wound and took off, barreling through the manzanita. I gave it about 10 mins and I didn't hear much else. I went and checked the shot area and found my arrow about 10yrds into the manzanita with about 12" penetration (Blood covered the arrow up to that point). I was alone and it is illegal to carry a firearm during archery season here in CA so I backed out and gave him about 2.5hrs before hitting the trail, which was one of the most nerve racking 2 hrs of my life. We went in looking for him about 9:45pm and on another trail I walked in to where I shot him (opposite direction from the trail where I shot him) there were huge pools of blood and I had high hopes. I had lost a big deer 5 years ago with blood like this so I was wary. After about 40yrds on this trail, the blood went back into the manzanita which is my worst nightmare for tracking a bear as its just crawling on hands and knees for another 80-90yrds or so but we had wonderful blood the whole way. All of the sudden, I saw a big dark spot and there he was piled up in some scrub oaks! Ended up double lunging him but it was just the very back tips of both lungs. There was minimal bubbling in the blood. After seeing him, I felt really really good about my shot given the circumstances haha. The big boar weighed in right at 350lbs. Got him caped, and quartered and got to sleep at 3:45am this morning! It was an absolute rush! I have been really pushing for about 4 years to make this happen and had a shot out of my blind last year that I blew but to get this guy stalking was such a blessing. All praise be to God, the creator of all good things! Thanks for reading!
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