Editor’s note: The following hunt occurred in the Colville National Forest of Northeast Washington in 2013.
by David Affeldt
The hunters had a friendship that was forged and strengthened over many years. They trusted each other in the woods and like to spend time sharing stories around a campfire. They had been on many hunting adventures together and on their own. They had hunted big white tail deer in Washington. The traveled to Texas to bow hunt even bigger deer. They went to South Dakota and Minnesota to hunt pheasant. They were more than friends. They were father and son: David and Jeremy. The younger one was a better shot with the gun and bow. He was steadier on his feet and had a better aim – probably from years of standing on a pitching mound. He had better eye sight. The older one was a better cook. He could afford to take greater risks because his children were grown and had left home. Even when their relationship was strained they could rely on their hunting adventures to rekindle and restore the bond between them.
Finding the opportunity to go on a hunting adventure was getting more difficult. Jeremy had a career to manage and he had his own family to nurture. He was gone from home often and needed to spend time with his boys and his wife. Someday soon though, he hoped his boys would be old enough to join PawPaw and Dad on a hunting adventure. But the two friends enjoyed talking about past adventures and they dreamed and planned new ones in Alaska or Africa. Their friendship continued to grow.
(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
One year late in September, David was walking alone along a trail that ran next to a creek that flowed through some property that Jeremy owned in the mountains. It was a strong creek that flowed all year around. It made a lot of noise as it poured out of the hills and into the river below. The trail was well marked and many animals had walked along it in the years past. The animals used the water to drink and the Cedar trees on either side of it to hide. It was early morning and the day was pleasant. The sun dappled the ground below the trees and the water sparkles as it moved over small rapids. On this day, David spotted some new tracks in the mud along the edge of the creek. A bear had left his prints as he crossed over the creek. David was excited.
David took pictures of the bear tracks and sent them to Jeremy who was living a long way from home. That evening Jeremy called his Dad. He was excited too. He thought it would be best to put up some game cameras along the creek and put a deer stand high in a tree. Jeremy said he would be home this year and the two of them would go on another adventure together. Maybe he would bring along the grandsons. The adventure was starting. What surprises lay in the future for the two friends, the father and son?
At last the day arrived for both of the hunters, the friends, father son to meet at the hunting shack located high above the creek. It was early in October and the leaves had started to show their fall colors. The red, the yellows, the browns were mixed with the forest green from the cedar trees. The autumn days were getting shorter and the sun was dropping behind the mountains earlier. The shadows along the creek and in the woods were fading into the black darkness earlier in the evening.
David had set the cameras along the creek. He installed a deer stand 30 feet up the side of a huge cedar tree. The tree trunk was very large and it split into two pieces and continued to grow over 100 feet into the sky. The hunters arrived separately that Friday afternoon. By the time David arrived Jeremy had pulled the pictures off the cameras so the Dad, the son, and the grandsons could look at them and plan a strategy. The cameras snapped photos of a chocolate colored bear, a big black bear, and a huge brown bear. The bears were prowling the creek in the early morning hours as the sun starts to break over the mountains. By mind-morning they were gone. Sometimes they returned during the black of night and stayed around until midnight. The excitement mounted and the adventure moved forward. The hunters planned to leave the early the next morning before sunrise – maybe before the bears came down from the mountain and started to walk along the creek.
The hunters went to bed early. They had to get up before 5 a.m. in the morning. Neither slept well that night. The anticipation was high and their dreams of bears in the woods were vivid. They rose silently careful not to rouse any of the others sleeping in the cabin. Their energy was building between them. They ate a cold breakfast of banana bread and juice. Just enough to get them started. They dressed in dark camouflage clothing and each carried a small flashlight. They sprayed their clothing with a special odor to mask their scent and to make them smell like the earth and the trees. They left and started down the long winding road to the intersection where the creek trail started. They left without saying much but thinking many thoughts. They were careful to avoid loose rocks and gravel that would give away their position.
Half way down the road they spotted a narrow path that dropped down to the creek. They decided to use the path and approach the creek from the top and not from the bottom. They walked silently through the woods using only one flashlight to follow the trail. It was a very dark night and even darker in the woods under the boughs of the cedar trees. Quietly they approach the creek. They could hear it rushing down the hill through the woods. The sound would mask the noise of their footsteps on the broken twigs and leaves that littered the forest floor.
(BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
At last, they arrived at the creek and found the narrow game trail that wandered along the edge. After walking along the creek for ten minutes they heard a loud splash in the creek nearby. It sounded like a huge boulder falling into a lake or a person jumping into a pool. It was loud and it was dark. The hunters stopped and waited for more sound. Nothing. No sound at all. They continued to walk forward along the creek.
They found their spot along the creek and sat in among the bushes, the trees, the logs, the leaves, and the shadows. It was very dark. Later, perhaps an hour or so, Jeremy thought he saw something move but it was difficult to see in the early morning light and the shadows in the woods were constantly changing. Both hunters dismissed the image as a figment of their imaginations. Later they would discover that a big brown bear had walked nearby on the other side of the creek. He was only one hundred feet away. The camera snapped the time and date. The hunters waited. For three hours they waited in the cold sitting on the ground as their body heat slowly left them. They decided to leave and return to the hunting shack for breakfast. The hunters looked for a new place to watch for bears that night. It was higher up the mountain and there were fewer shadows but night seems to come early in the fall and the cold set in and they went back to the cabin when it was too dark to see. They would return to the creek the following morning.
The next day they followed the same routine except this time they decided to follow the road all the way to the bottom and follow the creek trail back into the woods. Perhaps they had made too much noise the day before. It was dark, very dark when they descended down the road and found the creek trail. They both switched off their lights and crept silently along the trail. They tried to be careful to avoid the branches and dry leaves that lay in their path. It was very dark and nearly black peering into woods.
Soon, they found a place to cross the creek and a place to sit and wait, and watch, and think, and wonder about those sounds they could hear coming from the woods. This time they had brought a small stool and a bucket to sit on so the early morning cold would not rob them of their heat. Nothing stirred. Only the shadows in the woods changed as the sun started its rise above the mountains.
After three hours they decided that nothing was coming along the trail. Their stomachs were empty and they started to talk about returning to the hunting shack for a warm breakfast. They started out along the creek trail. Back up the winding road to the hunting shack. Only later would they learn that on the other side of the trees in a small clearing near the creek trail a chocolate covered bear was parked in the bushes eating berries and grubs from a rotting log. He was only thirty feet away.
The weekend was over. They tried again that night but the shadows were long and the cold set in early. It was time to go home. But each promised the other they would return the next weekend to try again. It had been a good week end. They parted ways with a handshake and a bear hug. They were friends. They were father and son.
That next week seemed longer somehow than other weeks. It had the same number of days and hours but it seemed longer. The weather girl said the weekend temperatures would drop to freezing at night and remain cool through the day. She said there was a chance of rain. What does a chance of rain mean? No one likes to hunt in the rain. The hunters would only have one day together this time. This time Jeremy decided to only bring his oldest boy on the adventure. Once again Jeremy arrived at the hunting shack early. Once again he checked the cameras for activity along the creek. Again pictures of the three bears were snapped early in the morning as the prowled along the game path located near the creek. Jeremy also found lots of bear scat under the tree where the tree stand was located. He told his dad that he did not think the bears liked the human scent so they dropped scat around to mark the territory.
THE AUTHOR’S TREE STAND. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
The hunters decided to split up this time when they got down to the creek trail. It was agreed that David would sit high in the tree stand and watch the trail from above. Jeremy would follow the creek deeper into the woods and hide along the edge and wait for movement. They would be located fifty yards apart. Both the hunters had a radio with them so they could tell the other if any of the bears wandered into the area. That was the plan. Before they went to bed, the grandson prayed that PawPaw would find a bear.
They set out early in the morning. Both wearing their camouflaged clothing and covered in earth scent. Their small lights pierced the darkness. It was very dark. The night sky was shrouded in clouds and only a few stars twinkled in sky. It was cold and the air contained a hint of rain. It was dark, very dark, much darker than last the last time they had entered the woods. As they approached the creek trail they switched off their lights and the darkness collapsed into black.
After they had walked perhaps ten minutes on the trail Jeremy heard a noise that sounded unusual to him. It came from somewhere ahead of the two hunters. David did not hear the noise. His warm weather hood had muffled the sound. Maybe his hearing was starting to fade like his eyesight. Jeremy tugged at David’s hood just a little to expose the ears. Now David could hear the noise as well. The commotion was getting louder. Sticks were breaking, branches were snapping. It was loud and it was dark.
Not knowing what was causing the sound, the hunters decided to bury themselves in the woods and wait. They hid underneath some low hanging cedar boughs. They waited. They waited for thirty minutes in the cold and in the dark. It was very dark. They listened as the sound continued and then it began to get quiet. The forest became real quiet. Jeremy whispered to his dad and asked if they should continue to move forward on the creek trail. David motioned with his fingers to move ahead. He whispered back that the tree stand was only a few yards further.
They moved silently, warily forward. David was armed with a hunting rifle. Jeremy only brought along a pistol for safety. It was dark very dark. The hunters found the tree where the tree stand was located. David looked up and said that he did not think there was enough room for the two of them to sit in the stand. Jeremy agreed with his dad. Jeremy also decided that with all the suspicious noise in the woods that he would backtrack along the trail and head back to the hunting cabin and wait for his dad to contact him by radio. They decided that 9 a.m. would be the time for Jeremy to return and pick up his dad with the ATV. Jeremy left.
David climbed the tree using pegs screwed into the side of the tree. He seated himself in the tree stand and stared out into the darkness. It was dark and he could only see the end of his brown hunting boots. He sat and began to think about things other than hunting. He had work to do at home. He had assignments at work that needed to be completed. Tomorrow he would go to church. He thought of many things. And then an odd thing happened.
It started to rain cedar needles onto his head. He was wearing an orange Fedora hunting hat and the brim was catching the needles as they fell. At first, David thought it was rain drops starting to fall. There was rain in the forecast. And it was dark and he could not see if the rain had started to fall. Strange because he did not feel any rain drops fall on his face. The needles continued to fall. He looked around for a squirrel or bird that may have caused the needles to fall. And then the needles stopped falling.
Soon afterwards David noticed that the tree was swaying slightly. It was swaying slightly from right –to-left. It swayed just a little, just enough so that David thought his vision was playing tricks on him in the dark. It was very dark and David was alone in the woods. The tree stopped swaying. Moments later the tree started to sway again. It move just a little and then it stopped. David looked around to see if the wind had started or if a front was moving through the area. No other tree moved. Nothing else moved. No branches or leaves moved. David wondered why his tree was moving. The tree did not move again. He thought that perhaps a bear was using the tree to scratch his claws and mark his territory. Maybe the scent spray did not work as well as advertised. David peered over the edge of his seat and looked toward the ground. He did not see any bear that was for sure.
And then…..
David heard a low, guttural, menacing growl. A real growl like you would think a lion might make. He thought the bear must be below him. So, again David peered out over his seat to see if the bear was lurking in the bushes below. Nothing, he saw nothing in the early morning light. Moments later he heard a louder, much louder growl. The sound was a real low, guttural growl that had some real strength to it.
David looked up into the tree and peering back at him was a six foot, 220 pound bear try to get out of the tree. They stared at each other for a few minutes while David tried to figure out how to get out of the tree without taking his eyes of the bear. David lifted his tree stand so he could stand up fully and face the tree. He placed the boots so the heels extended out over the edge. He positioned his rifle so he could protect himself if the bear moved down the tree any further. David uttered no expletive only a prayer.
The bear moved.
The gun fired upward into the bear.
The bear fell through the branches nearly knocking David out of the tree stand. The bear crashed to the ground and all was silent. With the adrenaline still pumping through his veins David contacted Jeremy on the radio. Jeremy’s single question was framed around the all- important issue of where is the bear. David’s single sentence reply was that it had been in the tree and it had fallen out. David did not know where the bear landed.
DAVID AFFELDT AND HIS NORTHEAST WASHINGTON BRUIN. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
Minutes later David heard the sound of the ATV as it came roaring down the road and through the woods on the creek trail. Jeremy arrived with his hand gun drawn. David was still in the tree stand looking down trying to find the bear. David asked Jeremy if he could see where the bear had landed. Jeremy replied that it was located at the base of the tree and it was not moving. David breathed a prayer of relief and thanksgiving. Jeremy came around the tree to watch his dad exit the tree. As Jeremy looked up at David to assist him with his footing on the way down the tree – he gasped.
Jeremy told his dad to look up into the tree. There were four more bears lying in the branches. It was time to exit the tree and leave the bears alone.
The adventure was over – the adventure will never be over.
THAT DARK LUMP ABOVE THE TREE STAND — A BEAR. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)
ANOTHER VIEW OF THE TREE WITH AT LEAST ONE BEAR VISIBLE IN IT. (BROWNING PHOTO CONTEST)