As my bear fed, every so often he would stand up and lean his front paws on the top of my log pile and look into the swamp.  I realized that might be my opportunity.  If he got lazy and came up and just turned his head rather than his whole body, that would give me a good enough angle for a shot.  Finally he did just that.

I came slowly to full draw, engaged my clicker and pulled, pulled, pulled.  He was quartering just a bit and there was cedar covering most of his vitals to the rear; I had to put the arrow   tight to his shoulder.  As I pulled thru, my TallTines powered that Abowyer through the joint of the knuckle and the blade, cutting it 3/4 loose, then blew a silver dollar sized hole in the near side ribs before exiting  thru the off side ribs and meaty lower part of the shoulder.  

As the bear wheeled, it looked like he wanted to run fast but just could not.  Going thru the 20 yards of fairly open hardwoods, I could see my broadhead and arrow shaft sticking out the off side, right where you would put it in.  I saw the shaft fall out as he was swallowed up in the silence of the swamp.

Oh come on Jack, have some patience.  I'd be willing to bet a few vintage Super Kodiaks that you haven't seen a thread quite this cool in awhile.  Might as well sit back and enjoy getting the details piece by piece:lol:  I will say that Steve is making Charlie look like a speed-poster and tomorrow I may help you at Steve's place.:lol:

Sorry boys, typing on the iPad takes a little time    

I said a prayer of thanks.  Thank you for my family, thank you for our country, thank you for letting me make a good clean killing shot.  That last part is very important.  Even though I know what I saw, I did not hear any death moan.  You all know how doubt likes to creep in if you don't see the animal fall.

I mentally marked the tree where he went into the swamp and decided to wait one hour.

I am proud that I made it 40 minutes before I got down.  The shot was too good to have doubt.  Thank you Lord.

   

I started down the trail he took away from the stand.  

   

There was part of my arrow.  A little bit further, blood and the broadhead end of the shaft.  I went nice and slow and quiet marking each spot of blood, now coming more frequently on both sides of the trail.  At each pause to tie ribbon on the tree I would survey the area as far as I could see.  Then, there he was.  That is always such a moment of intensity.  Relief, sadness, and incredible joy all in one breath.

   


   


   

He had made it about 50 yards and took a hard right before going down.  He was about 10 steps fom the line he had been on.

Mick,

Just having some fun with Steve. It's a great story and I'm glad he took his time telling it.

I am pretty lucky how those trail camera pictures captured things!

Congratulations Steve on a well earned, beautiful Michigan bear!

Ditto on the congrats Steve O.

Hard earned success through and through!

Thanks for sharing the whole thing!!!  

Congrats Steve! A great bear!  

Jack,

I just had to chime in to give you a hard time.:lol:

Steve,

Pretty much a dream bear hunt for a Michigander.  Draw the coveted tag, get your family involved, and seal the deal.  Nice work!

Yes, all the hard worth was worth it when I called home to let the family know I would be home early.  Lots of raw emotion from everyone. My wife thinks because I have been fairly successful over the years, it is an easy thing to do...being along for some of the work rather than just seeing the results was a good thing for her perspective      

It was especially good for the kids.  I hunt away from home a lot.  For that reason, I am pretty selective on what I shoot.  Most of my animals they see are in the form of heads being picked up from the taxidermist and chuncks of meat in the cooler.  That was one of the reasons  I decided to take this bear.  He was not one of the huge bears I had on camera, but the trouble with always waiting on the big one is sometimes they do not come.  I wanted them to be able to touch the bear they helped me work for.  He is a trophy bear in many, many ways to me.

As I pulled into the driveway, there was Daniel with the Buck skinning knife Gene had given him earlier this summer.  "Dad, can I help you skin him?"

Absolutely!


 

Nice Steve....Nice!! Loved the whole story!

chris <><

What an awesome hunt Steve.  To be able to include the kids had to be so special.  I really enjoyed reading this and your pics are fantastic.  Thanks for sharing and congrats on a well earned trophy.

 

Great story Steve and a fine Michigan Bear.  A trophy bear for sure.

That bear is the cherry on top of the sundae...

A few years ago, I was sitting in a little ice cream parlor in Fairplay, CO with Marv and Judy Clyncke.  Marv had just flagged me within two steps of where I needed to be for a 12 yard shot on a Bighorn ram I had been chasing for three weeks by that time.  When I looked up do get my last direction and saw the "ram gone" signal I just about sat down and cried.  I felt I had let everybody there helping me down.

When I got back down the mountain to them, they were euphoric.  It was a fantastic stalk and the suspense thru the spotting scope was a thrill to everyone down on the bottom watching the events unfold.  We definitely saw two differernt things    :rolleyes:

Talking it over later, milkshakes in hand, Judy told me something I will never forget.  "Steve, that was GREAT!  You got everything but the cherry on the top of the sundae!". She was so very right.  99.9% of the hunt is the preparation and the HUNT.  The kill is a very small part.  It IS an important part, but not the only part    

   

As the title of your thread states....perfect!
Great story and a great bear Steve, thank for sharing that with us.

Steve, that was a great story.  Your hard work paid off for you.  Good job.

Steve, great story. Having family involved the way you did with this hunt is, too me, hte greatest story.

Your passion for this kind of hunting is awesome. I look forward to you sharing that passion with the kids at Camp Wilderness next summer. You're gonna love it.

You might actually inspire me to remember to start applying for a MI bear tag. I always forget to do it LOL.

fantastic story, thanks so much for sharing it in vivid detail with us. Icouls almost smell those norhtern MI pines as I read it.

Steve, fantastic on all accounts!!!