PART 2 – “HOW I WENT FROM HIGH HEELS & PEARLS…to camo!”

“MAMA BEAR, HER CUB & Deb's meltdown”

I'm not really sure what I think about this bow hunting. Tree stands, HUGE bears walking below. I know I enjoy being with Doug up in the tree stand. I enjoy nature, that's totally new! I enjoy hearing noises and finding out what they are now, whereas, when I started 10 days ago, I heard any noise, and I just knew it was something out there that was going to kill me. Now granted, a lot of these things can kill me, and probably want to at this point, but I'm a lot calmer about the whole thing.

Just want to share the scariest moment of our 9-day hunt. Tons more to write about in future upcoming Chapters. But this was the moment I had an epiphany.

The scariest moment was also one of the most beautiful things I've seen in my life — besides my children... And Doug of course... and my clothes, and shoes...oh and Chanel too. Anywho...

As Doug was sitting on the other side of the tree and we were who knows how many feet up in the air, he whispered "Don't move, it's a mama and a cub coming to your left! They're coming down the trail we walk in on."  I'm thinking, "Oh good, they're coming in on the trail we walk in on. It's close to getting dark and we're going to be walking out that trail in a half an hour. This is just great!" 

So, I couldn't turn around, I couldn't really look at them, and then I started hearing noises and I heard what he's been telling me about! The mama bear doing this clicking popping noise with her mouth (apparently talking to her cub the whole way).  She could smell us ... (I was still using my regular soap and shampoos, ooooh but believe me, I WILL be writing about this NO SCENT crap I had to use. NO SCENT!)

But I DIGRESS. At one point, Mama stood right up! She was not happy. At that point I wasn't either, I started thanking God for my life and prayed my kids would not forget about me once mama ripped me apart!

The scary part was this Cub was a total nut job. The adult bears, and I saw at least seven of them in person below me ....and in cameras we saw over a dozen different ones. They're very cat-like. They walk cautiously, and they'll stop... they'll sniff. They’ll move their huge ears.... and bears are very patient, they will just look around if they hear a noise and stay still. 

This Cub was running up trees, at one point snorted or spit or I'm not sure what it is Doug said it did, all I know is it made a noise and I was like oh lordy b, I'm glad we have a washer and dryer at home cuz I think I just antiqued my skivvies!

The baby was so cute, and it looked big, I think he said it was a two-year-old. That thing, it was just like in cartoons that I watch with my grandchildren with bears and stuff in them. That little thing was trying to prove it was one of the big boys and it was making noises, then it growled, then it ran, then it ran to a tree, that ran up a tree a little bit, then it was hopping, and it was so cute. 

Meanwhile ... Mama Bear was right there, and she had her nose in the air and at one point she stood up ... and she stood up to smell in the air ... she knew we were there!! They were within 10-15 yards of us, it was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Mama seemed huge to me, heck the baby was huge. Both could have killed us both.

Then all of a sudden, the mama bear stepped on a log, the log on the other end of it went up in the air a little bit and made a loud noise, scared mama bear, so she jumped up, kind of snapped at it a little bit and growled. The baby bolted, the mama snapped a couple of times, she popped or clicked, can't think with the sound is and next thing I know the baby bear came back and then they finally walked away. DOWN THE PATH WE BOTH WALKED OUT OF THE FOREST IN ONLY SEVEN MINUTES LATER! YES, I WAS DYING! YEA, I Finally LOOKED AT DOUG AND SNAPPED STATING, "THIS IS STUPID, this is nuts, I can't do this, it's dark in the woods, I'm gonna die, you're nuts!" As tears rolled down, I later apologized, but geesh, I'm brand new at this and the darkness and an angry mama lurking made me lose my mind for a bit. 

Anyway, I'm just amazed how something could be so beautiful and the baby could be so adorable you just want to hug it, and the mama had such a cute big head, but it was scary. I will be honest, that was one of the scariest moments of our nine days together.

Below are two pictures, and one is Mama standing up cuz she knew we were there. The other is cub and mama, a photo was taken of a photo on camera so not clear. We were this close!

God’s creations are so spectacular.  And yes, I will be going back out this weekend.  It's something almost unparalleled, this is the allure of bowhunting?  Being there, playing a cat and mouse game, trying to spot them from afar first before they see you.  Being so close you hear them breathe.  Doug kept saying, as I kept apologizing for being too stinky and making our presence known, but he kept saying.... "But Deb, we won. It's a matter of who spots who first. Sure they know we're there, their sense of smell is a ton stronger than human, but they didn't know where we were, and we were right above them! You did great staying still and being quiet, you're a bow Hunter now, I'm glad you were here to share this with me!" A huge compliment from a lifelong avid sportsman.