Before I dive into the story of how I successfully killed my first big game animal, there’s a bit of a back story that leads up to it that I would like to share. When I first got into hunting a couple of years ago, I would think to myself that I could never kill a bear. We have sort of humanized them in a way that people tend to have a little bit more of a heart for bears than other animals, like deer or elk. Plus, people tend to think that bear meat is not good and inedible, which is definitely not the case. However, last year, during my first archery season here in Colorado, I found myself sitting under a tree one day while deer hunting, and found a ton of fresh bear scat. I sat there for awhile, waiting for the wind to change to make my next move. Out of nowhere, without a single sound, a black bear poked his head out from behind a log less than 10 feet in front of me, looking under what I presumed to be “his” tree. Without really noticing me, I made myself present, and said, “hey bear!” He focused his attention on me realizing there was another being, but still didn’t scare off. “HEY! Get out of here!” I exclaimed, while waving my hand at him as if he were a dog trying to get scraps off the table. He quickly stormed off down the hill, crashing into the forest. That was the closest I had ever been to a bear, and from that point on I thought, “Man, maybe I should get a bear tag next year.”
Throughout this last year, I have learned more about bears and their population growth here in the state of Colorado. In nearly every mountain town, communities are struggling with the issue of bears coming into their dumpsters, and even hanging out near restaurant patios. This, in result, creates conflict. Bears are having to be removed from these urban areas and have trained themselves to live off of human waste. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials are also having to put several bears down due to the conflicts they are creating in our communities. Though I’m still doing my own research on the population management of bears, I presume that their overpopulation along with humans expanding into wild spaces is causing the bears to not have enough habitat space in the wild to share, and are having to utilize the other resources within our mountain towns.
This year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has made it easier for hunters to acquire bear tags. With this leniency and convenience of the tag regulations, I decided to buy one along with my deer and elk tags, sort of as a “just in case I see one” deal. Throughout the year, I have been shooting my bow, doing research, and prepping for elk hunting. It wasn’t until the season actually started when I began thinking about going bear hunting intentionally.
About a week before archery season, Jaime, our friend Kambr, and I decided to go on a trail ride with their horses, and do some scouting. Though we were looking for deer and elk sign, we ended up seeing a lot of fresh bear scat in this particular area. I marked it on my ONX Maps as my “bear spot.” Throughout the season, I hadn’t gone back to that area, but had planned out a couple of routes in case I decided to go on a bear hunt. Most of my time spent in the woods is solo. Because of this, I have been mainly focusing on deer, and have been a little too intimidated to try and get a bear on my own.
Within the first week of the season, I spent most of my time attempting to fill my deer tag, and scouting out some elk areas, while getting a few grouse along the way. On many of the Colorado hunting pages I follow, I noticed a lot of people filing their bear tags. My bear hunting interest began to increase. I decided to do a little more research on bears, how to hunt them, what they’re doing this time of year, and what can be done with their meat, fat, and hide. The more I learned, the more I was eager to get a bear. Already knowing where the bears are in my favorite unit, I knew I had a pretty good chance at getting one.
A beautiful view from one of my deer/elk spots.
During this time, I had been waiting for an opportunity for somebody to join me on a bear hunt so that I would feel more comfortable out there, since it would be my first time. Bears can be dangerous when injured or scared. I took a week off of work, and spent most of my time hiking the woods, exploring different areas, and still attempting to fill my deer and elk tags. I decided to go to this new area, that was a long ridge where I thought some elk may be. The elk sign was old, but I knew deer would be hanging out. After a long day of hiking around and “timber tossing,” (mine and Jesse’s term for crawling around fallen timber) I hiked back to the first section of this area I was in that was nothing but beautiful fields, aspen groves, dark timber, and happened to be fairly close to the truck. Earlier in the day, I had seen some rubs all over this little patch of aspens, and I assumed they were from a buck, since I knew they were starting to shed their velvet. My plan was to sit here and wait until dark for a deer to come out into the field.
After about a half an hour sitting under a shady aspen grove bordering the fields, I noticed a brown body coming out of the dark timber about 50 yards up the hill from me. For a split second I thought to myself, “oh my gosh, a deer is actually coming out! This is my chance!” But as the figure turned to it’s left to continue walking along the edge of the timber, I noticed the rest of its body features. This was no deer, it was a mountain lion. I saw its head, long slender body, and long black tipped tail, and within only a couple of seconds, it disappeared into the trees. I was in shock. I couldn’t believe that I actually saw a mountain lion. I know that they are pretty rare to see in the wild, and many hunters who have been in the field for years, still have yet to see one. Luckily, this cat didn’t see me, but I felt uneasy not being able to see what its next move was going to be. I didn’t want to immediately get up and rush out of the forest, for I didn’t want it to know that there was something in the woods that this fellow predator had overlooked. I gave it about 7 minutes or so to continue on his mission that it looked like he was on, and as a big gust of wind came through, rustling all the leaves, I quickly got up, threw my pack on, grabbed my bow, and got the hell out of the aspens, and back down the mountain to my truck. Now I realize that those rubs I was seeing were not from a buck, but were scratches from this kitty marking its territory. Seeing a mountain lion is my greatest fear while being out in the woods. But, after noticing how calmly I reacted to seeing this lion, and how I had let my instincts kick in to protect myself, it gave me more confidence to go out and bear hunt on my own.
The tree marks from what I originally thought was from a deer. Turns out I was wrong…
The next day, after a couple weeks of e-scouting my “bear spot,” I got myself out of bed, and headed out with the confidence that I hadn’t felt this season until that day. I arrived at my trailhead a little after first light, it was a beautiful morning. My spot wasn’t really that far of a hike in, so I decided to go check it out, and do a big loop hike to see what this bear habitat was looking like. I dipped off the main trail and headed up the hill near where I had seen the bear scat on horseback a couple weeks back. A little ways up, I already was seeing bear scat, and tree scratches. I continue up the trail to get to the point I had picked out on the other side of an open field. As I approached the corner of the field, I spotted a man in orange across the way. I wasn’t sure if he was a muzzleloader hunter, or a rifle bear hunter, but either way, I didn’t want to ruin it for him, since he got there before I did. Not expecting to have to make a Plan B, I walked back down the trail and dipped off up another hill where I had seen a bear trail.
Bear scratches on one of the many marked trees I saw.
I ended up discovering an amazing little aspen grove that looked like a bear’s living room. There were scratch marks on nearly every tree, and some going all the way up the tree where a bear had been climbing. I had never seen anything like it, and was amazed. I decided to sit here for a while to see if anything would come by. An hour or so passed. Nothing. I continued up the hill from the aspen grove and discovered an opening that was surrounded by berry and oak bushes. Perfect. I found the kitchen. The sun began to warm me up, and I decided to sit here for a while. Though I heard some crashing in the timber up the hill from me, nothing came by. I decided to do a little loop in this habitat space, and back down to the trail. I saw some great sign, and where the bears like to hang out. I came back out on the trail, and scooted up on the other ridge to do a little glassing and see the lay of the land. The other hunter was still posted up in his spot, and after getting hot and not seeing any movement from the animals, I thought a midday break would be good.. I decided to head back to the house to refuel and make a new plan. On my way home, I remembered another area nearby that I had never been, but imagined would be a great place to look for bears and mule deer. While eating some lunch, I spent a little time looking at this particular area on the map, and planned my route. Scouting two spots in one day sounded like a great idea to me, and I would be able to decide where to go the next day.
After refueling with lunch, I headed out to spot number two. I found myself being the only one parked in the trailhead parking lot, and had a good feeling about it. I began my hike up the mountain and planned to make my way to a pond I found on my ONX Maps, knowing that the bears would be frequently visiting it. It was about a mile up to the top and I saw some fresh bear scat right on the trail along the way. Cresting the mountain, the terrain turned from open grassy fields into dense oak and berry bushes with patches of aspens. Bear heaven. I slowed my pace and kept my eyes out for any bears or deer that may be lurking around. I ended up spooking a pretty large doe that was bedded behind a tree right next to the trail. A little bummed, I slowed my pace even more and began more of a “still hunting” pace. Throughout the last couple of years as I’ve done the majority of my hunting solo, I have discovered that this is my preferred style of hunting. For those of you that don’t know what this means, still hunting is a method used by many hunters in the woods. You essentially walk through the forest, slow and quiet, stopping every several yards or so to look around you for any movement through the forest. Sometimes you can use your binoculars to look through the trees in hopes to spot something in the distance before it spots you.
Fresh bear scat headed down the trail towards the pond.
At the top of this mountain there were two ways to go down into the pond, where I planned to sit until dark and wait for something to come by. I decided to go the upper route based on what the wind was doing. Playing the wind right is crucial for big game hunting, especially for bears and their incredible sense of smell. At the top of the mountain, I found a nice open area with game trails that headed toward the direction of the pond. I took this route knowing it would be the quieter option without a ton of brush to walk through. Making my way down, I found a few bear beds with fresh scat near them. As I continued, I spotted fresh bear tracks in the dirt heading in the same direction as me. I thought to myself, “sweet, I bet there will be a bear down at the pond.” Still hunting my way down, I eventually spotted the pond off in the distance among the trees. It was bigger than I expected, and absolutely beautiful. Being the closest water source in the area, there was no doubt multiple bears visited this pond frequently throughout the day.
Continuing down the trail, I walked around a corner to find a black figure bounding up the trail coming right towards me. A bear was running right at me only a few short yards away. Standing there frozen, for a split second, I thought about scaring him off, not being prepared for what was happening. Instead, I quickly jumped to the left off of the trail to get out of the bear’s way, thinking maybe he would continue to run right past me. Instead, he too jumped off to the side of the trail right on the other side of the two aspen trees I hid behind. Thinking I had just scared him off for good, he stopped on a pile of fallen timber, curious as to what just happened. I heard some deep, hollow huffs and puffs coming out of him as he sniffed and looked around him. He turned around to head back toward the trail to see if he could see what was behind the two aspens.
My bloody arrow after taking the shot!
While looking in the opposite direction, I nocked an arrow, and drew back my bow. While holding my position at full draw, he slowly walked back onto the trail, and positioned his body sideways, giving me a clear open shot to his right lung. At less than 10 yards, I gently pulled the trigger on my release, let the arrow fly. I heard a loud WHACK. The jet black bear took off running in the opposite direction down the same trail he and I were sharing just moments before. I stepped back onto the trail with adrenaline filling me from head to toe, and watched where he was running to. He ran up the hill to my right and into some thick bushes. I couldn’t believe it. My first day bear hunting, and I had just shot a bear right where I knew they would be less than 10 yards in front of me.
In amazement of what had just happened I immediately contacted my partner, Jesse. He told me he knew I was going to get something today, and that he just had that feeling. It was manifested, and I had played all of my cards right. I knew that the bear I shot wasn’t a big one, but I knew he was an adult, and that he would taste good. In Colorado it is illegal to kill bears younger than 1 year old, or a bear accompanied by cubs. This bear presented himself with an opportunity for me, and I took it. After sharing the excitement with Jesse, I contacted my girls, Jaime and Caitlin. Jaime had just finished a long day of elk hunting and was making her way back to town. She texted me and said she’s grabbing the horses and making her way up to help me track down, and pack out this bear.
I found my arrow covered in blood on the ground right where I had taken my shot. This meant it was a full pass through and that the bear is most likely fatally injured. However, there were bits of what looked like stomach content on the arrow as well. I began to look for any traces of blood on the ground to determine just how fatal it was. Moments later I heard some movement in the brush right by the pond below the trail, and found another bowhunter checking the area out. I approached him to let him know I was here and that I had just shot a bear. His name was Lucas, and he was accompanied by his wife, Tori, who happened to know Jaime pretty well! After introducing ourselves, and me explaining what had just happened, Tori told me she wanted to be more involved with Rocky Mountain Sportswomen. It’s amazing how Rocky Mountain Sportswomen continues to connect us, in the field and out. Turns out today was the day for her to start, because she and Lucas decided to help me try and track down the blood trail. It wasn’t looking good. The amount of blood that we found in a couple spots on the trail near where I shot him was scarce. I began questioning my shot, but KNEW that I had hit him good, especially at less than 10 yards.
We began scanning the entire mountainside where I had seen him run. However, the hill was covered in nothing but 15 acres of oak brush with endless possibilities of where he could be hiding. We needed to find blood. To my amazement, I ended up finding a stroke of blood on a small branch of sage in a kind of open area on the hill. We continued upward and couldn’t find anything. Tori and I were up the hill when she got a call from Lucas down below saying there were a couple other hunters here who had shot a deer yesterday with a similar blood trail. Time to start over. We came down the hill and met the two father and son muzzleloader hunters who were very kind. The older man was very nice and congratulated me on my first big game animal and offered his help as well. He gave me some encouragement that sometimes they don’t bleed a lot but will be right around the corner. He even offered to help look the next day, but I didn’t want to take up his own personal hunting time, plus I had my own team of helpers to call. We deciphered the blood trails and continued our search.
As the light started to fade, Jaime arrived, having left her horses tied to some trees up the hill from the pond. We gave each other a big squeeze, and at this point I was very stressed. Seeing her was a huge relief. I gave her the whole rundown of what had happened and what little progress we had made so far. The other hunters decided to call it a night and make their way back before nightfall. Jaime and I continued the search for blood. Using my headlamp, she and I got down on our hands and knees at the sage blood spot and began searching in every next possible direction. About six yards up the hill there was a bundle of small oak bushes that created a little bit of a room. Perfect for a bear to hide out in. I crawled inside this room and found the best splatter of blood that we had seen yet on some of the oak leaves. Progress. After looking for the next splatter of blood for a while in the dark on our hands and knees, we decided to call it, and come back out in the morning after some food and rest. We were both exhausted.
I was nervous, stressed, and still high from the adrenaline of taking a shot on my first big game animal all by myself. Jaime and I bushwhacked through the dark back to her horses to head home. Jaime’s goal this hunting season was to pack out meat on her own horses. This was Mayday and Glory’s first experience getting to the woods for a potential pack out. Returning to them in the dark, they were on high alert and a little spooked from us crashing through the forest making our way back to them. After calming them down a bit and reassuring their safety, we led them down the mountain and back to the trucks. I made it home around 10pm that night with Ellie already asleep, and Jesse awake and ready to hear my story. He and Ellie wanted to come help me, but it was too rough of terrain for the toddler. Apparently they walked a good ways up the trail toward where we were and Ellie was looking behind every sagebrush for the bear. I love hearing that she was trying to help, even though I wasn’t around her. The emotions of everything hadn’t settled on me yet, but the anxiety kept me awake for most of the night.
I managed to get only a couple hours of sleep, and woke up in a huge wave of emotions. I laid in bed crying. I was questioning everything. Did I make a bad shot, and now he’s injured and ran off miles away? How could I have made a bad shot when he was right in front of me? Did we look for him too soon and spook him off to the complete other side of the mountain? Is he dead out there, but in a place I would never be able to find him? If I find him, will the meat still be salvageable? My mind was racing and not knowing the animal’s fate, I was overwhelmed with disappointment and emotions. During all of this, I was sharing my story with my friends, family and followers on Instagram, and received a lot of encouraging messages that I would find him, and that they were sending good vibes. It was pretty amazing actually, and definitely kept me motivated.
Jesse and I dropped Ellie off at pre-school, and headed back to the mountain to find my bear. I was excited to be out there with Jesse and show him how it all went down, but still very emotional about the situation. His lifetime of hunting experience has led him to become an excellent blood tracker and I knew he would be able to teach me a thing or two. I showed him the last place we found blood, and we began the search in each possible direction that this bear could have gone next. After an hour and a half or so of searching, the sun started getting warmer, and I was beginning to lose hope. There was such little blood, and so much brush. I may have been losing hope, but wasn’t going to give up. I would go out there for a third day if I had to. Jaime met us at the blood spot, and yet again brought me some energy that I needed. She again reassured me, “We WILL find him.”
We began discussing some possibilities and continued our search for the next blood speck. Jesse changed up his approach. Instead of looking through the possible bear trails he could have crawled through, Jesse began looking under each thick, brushy tree for any sign of an injured bear. Lo and behold Jesse found smeared blood on two tiny branches in the shade of a bush. This was a major turning point. After Jaime and I both examined it ourselves, we all agreed that he had likely changed his direction to make his way downhill, an easier route if injured. Throughout the day, we would catch random whiffs of something dead. We determined the direction the wind was coming from, which coincided with our determined direction of travel based on our last blood spot. At this point, we began to browse all of the thick bushes, keeping our eyes and noses alert. There was a point in this search where we all had relaxed a little, and started carrying on a conversation about something completely unrelated while searching for this bear.
My emotional moment of approaching the face of the bear I had shot.
It was at this moment where Jaime suddenly said, “Guys! I found him!” In disbelief, I ran over to her, saw my black bear on the ground, and gave Jaime the biggest hug, and began to cry. After a long emotional battle, suddenly I felt relieved, and I couldn’t even believe it. Jesse ran up to us and gave me a big hug. I knelt down to see and touch him for the first time, still crying and shaking. We quickly moved him into a shadier spot to take a few photos, and get his hide off as soon as possible.
At this point, I was all smiles. We did it. We persisted, worked as a team, and found my bear. Without Jesse’s tracking skills, and Jaime laying eyes on him, who knows if I would have found him. It turns out, the shot I had made went perfectly into his right lung but exited through his left side a little far back, due to the angle he and I were facing each other at. This is why the blood was scarce. That, and bears absorb a lot of the blood in their thick fur, making them harder to track anyway. As a hunter’s tradition, I made the first cuts on my own animal. It was the first time any of us had handled a bear before, so we learned together. I had watched several videos, and knew the basics of how to skin the entire hide. Jaime actually took screen shots on her phone of each step on how to skin a bear. We managed to get it done, and salvage all the meat that we could. As the sun got hotter, we needed to get that meat out ASAP. We loaded up our packs, and headed back to where Jaime tied the horses.
I couldn’t stop holding him and petting him. I had built such a strong connection to this bear, and was so grateful to have him in my hands.
Jaime and I sharing our first pack out together. Don’t know what I would do without this girl.
My partner, Jesse and I in awe that we have our first bear in our hands. I think he was pretty proud of me ;)
This was the first time I had ever carried a heavy load of meat that I harvested all on my own. A feeling I won’t soon forget. A few years ago, I helped Jesse pack out his bull elk, but this was different. I was the one carrying the head and the hide. I am certainly proud of myself for getting out there, staying calm and persistent. It came out with many rewards of not only the meat, but also the memories. What also made me just cherish and adore this day even more was having Jaime and Jesse right there with me. Two people I care so much about, and have been a part of my hunting journey along the way.
We made it to the horses after bushwhacking our way back up to the trail. This would be Mayday and Glory’s first time ever packing meat. Though it wasn’t a ton of meat, it was a great trial run for them. We slowly approached them and let them smell our bloody hands. Not only was it their first time packing meat, but their first time smelling a predator that close. They did amazing. We were all so proud of them, especially Jaime. After this experience, they will be ready for the next level. Elk.
Jaime and I with her horses, Glory and Mayday, packing out their very first load of meat.
Getting my bear checked at the Steamboat Springs CPW office.
We got the meat home as soon as possible and threw it in the freezer to cool down. We were all wiped. I was so relieved to have found my bear and successfully brought him home. The next day, still processing what had happened, Jaime came with me to bring him to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife office to get inspected before bringing him to the taxidermist. The night before, I shared a photo of my first big game kill. I was getting a lot of comments about him being too small or not a legal bear. Despite their comments, I knew he wasn’t a cub, but I was still nervous to bring him in. The woman who inspected him at the office predicted him to be about 3 to 3 ½ years old. Young, but still meat for the freezer, and an amazing first experience big game hunting. Now that I have one under my belt and understand things more, I’m looking forward to a bigger one next year. With the new bear regulations in Colorado, I could get another tag if I wanted to for a different area. However, I have had my fill for bear hunting this season, and am turning my focus to deer and elk.
After our visit with the parks office and another wave of relief, Jaime and I took the hide and the head to Go West Taxidermy in Steamboat Springs. Owner, Ashley Gillespie, has many years of experience and passion behind her work. She and Jaime contacted each other at the beginning of the season about promoting each other. She offered us Rocky Mountain Sportswomen a discount on her services by mentioning us and our posts! We were so excited to meet her. When bringing the bear in, she had a huge smile on her face and was full of enthusiasm. Jaime and I immediately loved her. We took a look around at all of her amazing work for other clients and talked about our dreams and visions, and excitement about our partnership. She took a look at my bear and said we did a great job skinning him! Jaime and I were proud. I said my farewells to my bear, whom I just adore, and left him in Ashley’s hands, excited to see him later. Only a week later, she gave me my cleaned skull back. It will be a couple of months before I get the hide back. If you are successful this fall, be sure to stop by and see Ashley at Go West Taxidermy and mention this blog to receive a discount on her services.
My beautiful bear skull cleaned and quickly returned to me from Ashely at Go West Taxidermy.
Thank you for reading this long, detailed story of my first big game animal. It is something that I am passionate about and that I had a lot of emotional detail that I felt needed to be shared. I never would have believed this is where my life would lead me, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. My connection with nature and myself has deepend. I am proud to be a hunter, and for the people it has brought into my life. I will continue to share my journey with this bear as I process the meat, and create some fun recipes!
-Elena Reynolds, Founder of Rocky Mountain Sportswomen
Do you have a hunting story you’d like to share on our website! Contact us! We love hearing stories of amazing Rocky Mountain Sportswomen in the field!