I was sitting in some brush off of a pond on opening day of Arizona’s black bear season. I was camouflaged from head to toe in my leafy wear and the pond was 10 yards away. I had my .30-06 Springfield in my lap loaded with 180-grain silver tipped rounds. I also had my Kimber .45 ACP with 230-grain PCP rounds in my side holster for backup. I started getting bored and hot around 11 a.m. so I began doing a few distress calls to lure in a predator…maybe a bear or a mountain lion.
Finally, at about 1:30 p.m. I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Just 5 yards away the female bear stalked slowly in and heading straight towards the pond. After she passed by and was at the pond (10 yards) I unsnapped my .45 ACP. She heard it and stopped. She turned and faced me and stood up on her back legs. So I pulled up my .30-06 Springfield and shot the bear in the chest, right between her front legs.
The force dropped her backwards into the pond. She swam across the pond (about 8 yards) came out the other side and died on the spot (that’s why she’s wet in the picture). I am sure glad she made it out otherwise I would have gone swimming in a smelly, stagnate water hole.
The slow opening day hunt turned from boring to adrenaline-rushed in seconds and was an adventure I’ll always remember!
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