During the first weekend of the 2015 gun deer season, Daniel,
Robert, Jason and I decided to spread out and hunt what we call the Combs place
for the evening. It’s basically the top
of a hill with some small half overgrown field areas around and on top of
it. We were going to surround this hill
in hopes that at least one of us would see something. As we spread out, Robert and I took the north
side with me on the lower level and Robert on the level above me. Jason went to the top and Daniel went to a
stand on the south side. As we headed to
our stands I jumped something between Robert and I. It made all kinds of noise
by busting through the brush. I could
see movement, but couldn’t see what was doing the moving. It headed up the hill in a southern
direction. Robert saw and heard this
also and radioed me. We decided there
was nothing we could do about it now since whatever it was already left the country,
so we proceeded to our stands.
After the clock in the sky ran out of time, we all met back
at the truck. As usual we share what we
saw and/or heard. Daniel was the first
to speak up. He started out with a
question of “Is it legal to shoot bears?”.
This got our attention and we immediately answered YES and wanted to
know what had happened. He started in
with his story. He was at his stand
location and was still getting organized to climb the tree when a bear charged
him. Not knowing that he could legally
shoot the bear he stood his ground and yelled at it. At that point, the bear stood up on its back
legs and looked Daniel over for moment from about 10 yards from him before
running off. As we started putting all
of the events together, we determined that the bear didn’t charge him, but was
running from Robert and me and Daniel just happen to be in its path of
retreat. Either way a bear was running
straight toward Daniel.
There are bears in the area we hunt, but they are a rare
siting so it’s a special event to have a bear siting. As exciting as this event was, the one thing
that stood out to me the most was how Daniel handled this intense situation
with the knowledge he had. This doesn’t
mean we won’t harass him for the rest of his life about this. We will remind him every year when bear
season is from now on. But as I
reflected on the events, I’m glad he didn’t shoot the bear. Not because I’m against shooting bears or
anything like that, but because of the character he displayed. To his knowledge at that moment he didn’t
know it was legal to shoot a bear.
Instead of shooting it and claiming self-defense, or shooting it just
because he was hunting, or just risking it, he did the right thing. He did the right thing to the letter,
everything from deciding not to shoot to how he deterred the bear. He did the right thing even though we were in
the middle of no-where. He simply did
the right thing. He displayed an
enormous amount of self-control, discipline, respect, and character. Not only did he do all of that, he did it as
a natural reaction in a stressful situation.
What I’m trying to say is, this is less about hunting and more about
morals and character. This is more about
who your friends are and your own character.
I’m thankful he is one of my friends and I hope as his friend I can live
up to his example. We need more friends,
hunters, and just people in general like Daniel. We need to choose our friends carefully and
strive to be the best we can be.
I can safely say that Daniel did his part in saving the
acorns, not by harvesting a bear, but by setting an example. Maybe next time friends will let friends know
when seasons are open and he better shoot next time.
