By Alan E. Lutz
Bear season opens on the first of September in New Hampshire. Alan Lutz, Vice President of the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation had the pleasure of hunting with guide Mitch Filson of Cast and Blast Guide Services. Mitch had set up his bait sites soon as the season opened. One of the sites was located adjacent to a dairy farmer’s corn crop. Unfortunately for the farmer, the bears were making quite a feast of the corn, having knocked down nearly a quarter acre of this important feed crop for his cattle.
After checking the bait sites for several days to insure the bears were actually visiting the bait, Mitch gave the author a call to set up the time and day for the hunt. Alan met Mitch around 3:00 in the afternoon and proceeded to the farmer’s property. Alan parked his truck and joined Mitch who drove him near the stand he had set up earlier. By the time clothes were changed, rifle loaded and the tree stand entered, it was nearly 4:00 pm. The stand gave a clear view of the bait site along with a good view of the two spots in the corn where the bears had been feasting. Mitch gave clear instructions to be quiet and, most importantly, to “keep your head on a swivel.” As Mitch indicated, bears are very quiet when walking through the woods as the author soon found out.
Every so often Alan would make a full scan of the surroundings. He would look to the right into the woods, back to the left into the corn and around to the bait site directly in front. At around 6:55 pm he was making his scan and when coming around from the left towards the bait site, he noticed something dark at about the 10 o’clock position. It was a bear …and it wasn’t far away, maybe 30 yards. At this point all he could clearly see was the hind quarters so he knew the bear would not see the Weatherby 30-06 being raised into position. As the gun was raised, the bear sensed something was amiss and turned left and began to slowly walk away. Fortunately for Alan, this brought the bear into a perfect position for a shot. The crease behind the shoulder stood out clearly as the shot was made. The 180 grain Nosler Partition dropped the bear in its tracks. A 173 lb. female.
After several minutes of adrenaline and heart pounding excitement, a call was made to Mitch who showed up rather quickly with his ATV. After a few photos were taken the bear was transported to Mitch’s truck. The bear was field dressed and loaded up.
The end of an exciting bear hunt in the great state of New Hampshire!
Editor’s Note: Reprinted with the Authors permission. Alan is a long time friend of mine and also hunted Africa with the same outfitter as I did. Nice Bear! Congratulations Alan!