I had just climbed down into the “shooters” stand and helped my partner into the “camera” stand, attached my Lumenok ended Black Eagle Arrow tipped with a Grim Reaper Broadhead to my bowstring, hung my setup on my Morph Pro bow hanger and sat for the wait. Well, I didn’t have to wait very long, two minutes to be exact. Then on the ATV trail steps out “BIG BEN”! I could clearly see why the guides named this bear BIG BEN… he was like a Volkswagen beetle walking down the trail, and I could see him from 90 yards plain as day and immediately knew it was my “target” bear everyone was talking about, all 600 Lbs. of him! I looked up at my partner and said with excitement and a quiver in my voice “that’s Ben”! Now Ben is the biggest black bear I’ve seen let alone get the chance to arrow him in my 32 years of black bear hunting! As a rule, I’m cool as a cucumber until after I make the shot, then I lose my composure, if you’ve ever seen me on BearMagnet TV before and after I arrow a bear, you’ll know what I mean! As Ben gets closer to the entrance of the bait site, I have to look away because the excitement is building within my body and I feel like I’m losing my composure, and doesn’t Ben walk into the bait site and walk directly to the base of our tree, looks up through the mesh steel base of my True North Tree stand to say “ I know you’re there” so to speak, then turns and casually saunters back towards the bait barrel with that BIG BEAR swagger, and if you’ve seen BIG bears you know what I mean by swagger.
Swagger On
As Ben swaggers to behind the bait barrel and sits down to catch his breath, or should I say, “last breath”, I draw my PSE Dream Season. As Ben decides to remain seated which seemed like an eternity, as I’m drawing 68 Lbs and still holding at full draw. He finally decides to make his move, takes two steps, and still on all fours stretches out under the beaver cross pole as if he was smelling that sweet beaver scent. I place my single pin PSE Slider bow sight on the mark and touch off my Cobra release, sending my Grim Reaper Fatal Steel broadhead directly through the boiler room and stuck 6” into the ground on the exit! Ben didn’t waste any time getting out of there although only went 30 yards, death moan, it was over! I had just arrowed my biggest bear ever, with BIG Ben weighing in at 603 Lbs and my first B&C black bear in 32 years scoring in at 21 4/16”. Special thanks goes out to Brian Kitzan, Master Guide and Host of Burnt Lake Outfitters Alberta, Canada for putting me on this gorgeous and once in a lifetime bear! If you’d like to watch me arrow this HUGE bruin, tune into BearMagnet TV YouTube channel, it’s quite entertaining.