Youth Hunt 2012

The Crew



                 My fifth year with this Proving Trail Adventures youth hunt was a trip that in all aspects, reminded me of how much I enjoy doing this; taking kids on an adventure that’s bigger than anything they’ve done before…and for most of them, their first hunt.  This being one way I can share my love for God and the outdoors with others.

                This year’s hunter, Levi, was new to hunting Alaska but that’s it.  At thirteen years old, he’s put a few whitetails in the freezer and this kid can hike!  His dad’s a good friend of mine and this was to be Levi’s initiation to manhood trip.  Or better put, welcome to the journey to manhood.



Levi - The Bear Hunter

                Other than a couple days of strong winds, we had awesome weather and enjoyed the sun on our face.  Bears did their part by making a great showing to keep things lively.  The first evening into camp had us stalking up the mountainside with multiple bears to pursue.  The highlight of the trip came as we snuck up on a ridge top and had two lone bears close by.  One was moving away at 315 yrds so he was out of the picture.  The other was a big bear, up in the top of a cottonwood tree, feeding on new leaf buds and oblivious to our presence.  We snuck to 196 yrds and got ready for the shot; it was a perfect set up, but I couldn’t give him the okay to shoot.  I knew that an hour before there’d been a bear with cubs up in this area so I explained that we were going to wait till we could be sure.  I picked apart the little patch of trees and surrounding area with my binoculars and couldn’t find anything but I decided we’d wait till the bear climbed down and moved out of the patch of trees to see if anything would follow.  After a long 10 minutes the bear finished it’s meal, clambered down the rough bark, and meandered out into the meadow across from us.  Sure enough, three little cubs came out of nowhere and followed her.  Levi, who’d never seen a bear before, was thrilled with the moment.



Doing what it takes to get these guys bears



                That experience later fueled a good chat around the campfire about the importance of a man’s character in decision making and being able to think in the midst of a situation and not just react.  I explained that there’s more than a few hunters out there who would have thought nothing other than “here’s my chance to be successful” and shot that bear within the 10 minutes that we waited, but that it would have broken your heart to walk up to it and suddenly have some scared cubs  start scurrying about.





The Stalk

                The next evening we had a nice bear start feeding in the corner of a meadow.  A half hour later we were creeping across the same clearing while judging hand signals from another buddy down at camp.  Things quickly got exciting for those watching from camp as we were suddenly 30 yards directly above the bear, which was feeding towards us.  Our view only provided a shadowy glimpse of his back due to the terrain.  I advised Levi to lock and load and coached him quietly as the bear continued to come closer.  Finally, at 17yrds, he had a broadside shot and put a bullet right through the shoulders.  Both dad and son commented on how things were starting to get “a little intense” in those final few moments.  I still smile thinking of how that evening went.  It’s fun stuff for sure with black bears on a mountainside.

                After a great breakfast the next day, we did what we could trying to burn up all the dry wood around, cooked some of the bear meat, enjoyed all the wildlife, and did a little exploring.  Those guys made the trip home with tired legs and great stories to share with everyone back home.



Breakfast