Bear Hunt

[AmericanSteel]

Diary: Day 34, Pleasant Valley

My desire to stay at the farm has been eclipsed by the need to look for any survivors and more supplies. Leaving a small cache in the forestry tower over looking the coastal highway and leaving a large cache in a home near the water will only last me so long. I believe I have ferreted out all the remaining abandoned resources from this valley and I am left to wonder. My initial draw to the farm was the hope of grain being in the silo, which turned out to be empty. I then turned my attention to trapping the abundant rabbits in the nearby orchards. Boredom and the need for more fat drove to me shooting the occasional deer growing sleek on the baled hay on the other side of the frozen creek behind this farm stead. While I have an adequate store of provisions, I believe there is more to be found.

As I mentioned before, I found a rail trailer which contained maps of the local lines. There is a ravine that needed to be crossed and a far removed logging site beyond. As I had not secured a rifle or adequate protection from the elements at that time I decided to put off any exploration. All that has changed now. However, to say I am properly equipped from a trek into the unknown would be a fools lie. While I do have two sleeping bags, they are both in poor condition. Both of the bags were also never made to endure the deteriorating conditions. My hope of finding a tarp or a body bag to remove them from the wet snow have been fruitless. My experiments with deer leather, wolf pelts and rabbit pets have been equally useless. Three days ago I did see an animal that might solve my problem, a bear. I am going to check my traps tonight and outfit myself for hunting big game tomorrow. God willing, and weather permitting, I will have a bear hide upon my next entry.

If this is my last entry, there is an additional rifle under the bed upstairs wrapped in a old horse blanket. There is also two boxes of ammo in the end table. ~ David

Diary: Day 37, Pleasant Valley (there are blood smudges on the page, the hand writing is shaky)

I have returned with some bear meat and the creatures hide. I need to thaw out, tend my wounds and rest.

Diary: Day 38, Pleasant Valley

I am on the mend but I still cannot clearly express all that happened. I need to return to the wild and recover the rest of the meat before it rots but I am to weak to attempt it. There is a cold fog that blankets the valley and to even attempt a recovery would probably be my undoing. Going to check my traps. ~ David

Diary: Day 39: Pleasant Valley

I spent the morning mending my clothing and getting my thoughts together after the bear mauled me. I call still feel its hot breath on my face and see the angry gleam in its eyes. My shoulder is on the mend and thankfully my wolf skins pelt absorbed some of the blows from the attack. It is my own damn fault and I'm lucky to be alive.

I went out as planned and found the bear cave. Tracks were fairly evident, though I wound not risk going into the cave to get a closer look. I dropped off the 10 lbs of wood I was carrying at the mouth of the cave and made for the hunters blind up the hill. Once there I slowly moved along the high ground until I found the bear eating mushrooms off a stump tree. I climb up onto a large overhang and surveyed the area. The bear had moved away but at a measured pace, investigating anything it could as possible food. I made a loo coo of a whistle, waited and did it again. The bear stood up to get a better look around and I took my shot, unfortunately my aim was off and the bullet landed around the beast shoulder. Before I could react the bear started running in my direction! I took two shots as it cross the small depression about 20 meters to my right, one bullet stuck the animal in the neck. It then ducked up the side of the hill and out of view.

The gravity of my situation suddenly became apparent. I trapped on the high ground, with a 6 to 8m drop all around. My only way down was going to be through the bear as it was huffing up towards me. I backed up and took aim for where the bear had to appear. Suddenly it was in front of me and I fired. I know the bullet struck true as I felt the animals hot blood splash across my face. It did not matter to the enraged beast as slapped me with it paw, knocking me down and then was on top of me. Teeth gnashing while I tried to ward the animal off with my rifle. Look back it was as laughable as attempting to bench press a half ton barbell. I must have passed out because when I came to my sense I saw the bear walking away. I felt my life ebbing out onto the cold snow and managed to assess my wounds. My clothes were ravaged, my left arm was bleeding badly and my right shoulder felt I had taken an 100 mph fast ball while crowding the plate. Dumping the bottle of antiseptic over my arm cause a muffled scream to escape, while I tried to bite back the pain. Wrapping a bandage around the wound and tying it was an exercise in pain management. Not sure how I got the pain pills out of my pack, but I took a pair and slugged them down with large gulps from my beaten canteen.

By the time I got to my feet the bear was on the far side of the depression below and moving slowly. The trail of blood was evident from its multiple wounds. I just not be sure if it would limp off its lair or expire out in the cold. While a part of me wanted to slink back home another part wanted to end the animals suffering. Or maybe it was simply the need to procure the coat it was wearing and the hundreds of pounds of meat I saw slipping out of my reach. I managed to bite my tongue as I scrambled down the rock face and crawled toward a fallen tree. Bracing the rifle to my shoulder, I set me teeth to accept the pain as the barrel seemed to will itself across the tree. The rapport of the rifle caught me off guard as I fell back, stars clouding my vision. I slowly regained my composure and found the bear was down. Closing the gap I saw my aim was true, the bullet striking the head of the bear, right in front of its left ear. The next hour past skinning the beast and another hour packing meat into garbage bags, and then down into my ruck. I then staggered off to the nearby cave and my sash of wood. There was no way I could make it back to the farm carrying this much bloody meat in my condition. A wolf was sure to track me down, as they constantly seemed to circle the farm looking for weaker prey. Pulling back into the cave I step up a fire and started cooking all of the meat.

The next day went by in a haze: fitfully resting, foraging for wood, melting water and cooking. I feared wolves would come trotting in the cave any minute, finding a helpless meal and bear steaks to spare. While I heard their fitful howls outside, I never saw one near the mouth of the cave. While I did not feel well enough to travel, staying inside the cave was an invitation to disaster. Only one way in or out and no door to bar was simply to reckless a move, especially in my condition. The cook meat was rolled bearskin and stuffed it inside my ruck. I then poured some of the antiseptic over my ruck in hopes of masking the smell. A low fog hung over the valley and lifted as the sun weakly attempted to asset its might. This was as warm as it was going to get, so I set out to return to my squatters paradise.

The thoughts of salvaging anything from the downed bear were ignored as I made my way up the nearby hill and to the hunter's blind. Waiting and listening became my watch words as I slowly moved from location to location, trying to quickly cover the gap between me and the farm but not going so fast that I could not be aware of my environment. The distance between evaporated as a blizzard settled in, masking the sun and testing the limits of my resolved. My clothes were in tatters and the wind seemed to cut me to the bone. My vision blurred as I stumbled through the orchard and past an unlucky rabbit, whose fate I would join if I did not make it inside soon. Making it inside, I did not have the energy to start a fire. I simply dumped my ruck and climbed the stairs to my pelt covered bed on the next floor.

Diary: Day 40, Pleasant Valley

I got attacked by a wolf while going to investigate the bear carcase. It tore back open the wound in my arm and I find myself in bad shape. However, as I stumbled across the scattered remains of the bear the injured wolf attacked me again and I ended its existence with my hatchet before it could finish its attack. It would seem the blows to gashes to the wolves gut were considerable and it was just ending its life at the hands of a foe. A warrior's death I can understand. While being torn apart would be bad, leaving this world as a popsicle finds no comfort in my soul. No more than killing myself with a bottle of pills or opening my veins.

I come back home to realize I was little more than Buffalo Hunter. I skinned the animal and took a paltry amount of meat, leaving the rest wolves and the elements as I recovered from my experience. Lucky to be alive, I see the errors in my foray. While I did have enough supplies, my sniping position was not well thought out. I had an overconfidence in the accuracy and power of my rifle, thinking a single bullet that could down a deer would stop a bear eight times a deer's mass. I was also ill prepaired to process a beast of that size. That being the case, I must repeat the attempt. While the bearskin is large, it is not near enough to make a sleeping bag from. I will need two or three more skins before I could even think about trying to put a needle to thread. The amount of usable and intact skin is much smaller than I imagined. I might be able to make bracers or spats with the remaining fur, offering me an additional layer of protection while fording snow and fending off wolves. I do believe I could make a cloak out of the hide, likening myself to Tlingit.

I have stashed about 8 lbs of meat in the back of the freezer but find my supplies of wolf pelts has run out patching my coat. My cloth is starting to run thin while I have an abundance of leather. I will have to spend more time searching the woods for bear and then find a superior place to shoot from... maybe a narrow ledge or a shooting spot that requires a tight squeeze to get to?

If this is my last entry, there is an additional rifle under the bed upstairs wrapped in a old horse blanket. There is also two boxes of ammo in the end table. The hunting blind near the cave also has a small stash of canned goods and my sleeping bag. It was just to much weight for me to carry back in the condition I was in and decided better to leave it, just in case. ~ David

Author's Note: This hunting and recover exercise did take 5 days. The bear mauled me down to 10%. I had to cancel my harvesting of meat as a blizzard fell on me out of the blue and stumbled into the cave at 5%. I managed to get my condition up to about 40% before I finally made a run for my home base. Fortune may favor the bold but the weather does not seem to give a damn! I made it back to my base at 8%. It is the closest I have come to dying in the game, that many times, in that short a span and still came out on top. I am now taking stock at around day 48 or so, wondering where I can find another bear. Hoping I can do a better job of making it out in one piece and harvesting the rewards. When I finally did go back out to where the bear was slain, there was nothing left. I was hoping to get some of the guts at least, but it did not happen. I assume the wolves had a party in my absence with an epic feast.

In the end I expended 4 wolf hides, 3 leathers, 3 rabbit skins, 6 cloth, 8 guts and 5 bullets. With a net return of 1 bear skin, 1 wolf pelt, 8.8 lbs of bear meat and 6.8 lbs of wolf meat.

[mellow_swe]

Great story!

Great read!

[ultron2099]

Not as much an epic hunt as yours. I used up three rounds, 2 leather and 2 guts, and about 10 pieces of cloth. Got a Bear hide and recovered 70 lbs of meat. I was mauled down to 5% but luckily near enough to base I ran back, and recovered the night. At 2/3 normal and ran out, grabbed about 2 hours worth of meat and came home. Cooked it and bedded down. Next day dumped everything but the bare essentials, ran out and harvested the rest of the meat and cooked it good. So much bear meet the freezer is full and I've had to use the refrigerator.