In the relaxed atmosphere of Larry's little shop my new set up had tuned perfectly with super arrow flight.
Even shooting at the little ground squirrels that were so abundant in the area I'd had no problems.

But in the excitement of a big game encounter shots are sometimes delivered less than perfectly and dead calm is a relative term.

I was certainly excited and although I'd have sworn that I got off the string cleanly there was an obvious "jump" to the arrow as it left the bow.
(I would later find that the plastic fletching would hit the sight window on a less than perfect release and send the arrow way off target.)

The broadhead tipped arrow passed through the thick fur of the bears neck and cut nothing at all. The shot had gone a foot high and that much left of it's intended target... it didn't help my state of mind!

Instead of bolting out of there and out of my life forever, for some unexplicable reason the bear jumped up on the side of the tree directly in front of it.

It looked in my direction and not seeing my still form turned it's head in the opposite direction. Another plastic fletched arrow had appeared on my bow and I drew down on the bear again.
 

The results of this shot were little better than the first and once again the bear moved up instead of coming down and leaving. In those days I routinely head shot rabbits and called the shot before hand... no brag, just the way it was.
This was not doing my confidence any good at all.

Pulling a third arrow from my quiver I figured Kentucky windage (I had to do someting) and let it fly.
The arrow struck high in the shoulder of the bear who then headed way up the tree. It did little damage, apparently hitting nothing but muscle.

Anyone who has never seen a startled bear climb a tree can't even imagine how fast they can gain altitude.

I had one more broadhead arrow in my quiver and two blunts... it was crunch time.

tell us more!!!!!!!!!!

So...What's his options        

Shoot the Bear in the front feet with the blunts hopin he'll let go and fall out of the tree    

When ya finish with this one tell them about the cub up the tree next to ya  

come on tell me more heck its 8 am here and i got up early to read the rest of it and!!!!              

Come on Charlie....get your tired old butt up from your nap and get on with the yarn.  

Charlie
Don't leave us hanging...

You can eat super later  

Dang you guys are crotchety! Hold on a bit and I'll finish up.

Grasshopper sits patiently at master's feet....pebble is still firmly in master's hand  

As it happened the bear climbed waaaaaaay up in that lodgepole and sat draped across a limb looking down at me.

I reached in the back of the quiver for my last broadhead arrow. It was a special arrow and I'd planned on testing it on something other than a bear.

One of the guys from the previous weeks hunt had left a prototype broadhead from a company called New Archery Products. I'd never heard of them.The broadhead was called a Razorback 5 because it had 5 blades... and it rotated on it's ferrule.

What it had going for it was the fact that it was mounted straight as a dye, it was razor sharp AND the arrow it was mounted on had feathers on it.

I sidled around a little bit and looked the situation over. It was a fairly long shot and almost straight up. I slid the arrow across the rest, nocked it and made ready to shoot.

The only real angle I had would send the shaft into the bear's exposed belly and angle upward into his heart lung area.

Bending hard at the waist I came to full draw, took an extra half second to settle in and let the feathered messenger go.

The arrow strobed through a couple of light beams slanting down through the pines and buried to the fletch in the exact spot I was concentrating on. The broadhead came to a stop, protruding a few inches from between the bears shoulders. I knew I had him and stood there watching like a dummy.

As the bear started to lose his grip on his perch I realized I was in danger of getting squished by a very dead bear. I back pedaled out of there a few yards.

The bruin slipped from the branch and hit the branch below him and snapped it like a soda straw.
It flew out and away from the tree.

It was about then that I realized that the real danger might not be from the falling bear at all, but the huge limbs that were raining down around me. I gave the tree even more room.

The bear hit the ground with a resounding thud and lay still. It was over.
As I stood there staring at my prize I was feeling a little numb from the experience and the adrenaline let down.

Before long I was aware that Larry was pounding me on the back and babbling incoherently about the whole show. He'd come along behind me on my stalk with 35mm camera recording most of it.

We'd later find that the action shots were too blurry (obvious camera shake) for any kind of veiwing.

I learned a valuable lesson that evening and wasted no time in adjusting my bow for better clearance of the fletch. I shot plastic fletch for quite a few years after that day with very good success and never experienced the same frustration I had that day on the mountain with a bear and a good friend.
 

a good ending

I've got chores to take care of but I'll be back in the morning to clean up a couple of loose ends.

Gary... hope you enjoyed the story behind the Kittredge Bow Hut photo.

Already its over? Winey winey and crotchety  :D  We though love ya Charlie!    


       Good story as always    Now what am I going to do the rest of the weekend?    

                     Brent

Saweeet. I killed my first deer with a compound with a Razorback 5. I remember staying up polishing the ferule and blade cartridge so they would spin if you blew on them. When we were up in Canada, they hade 8-10 boxes of blades and practice blades in their archery section, brought back many fond memories (though I'm much happier with my broadhead selections now).

Thanks Charlie, enjoyed it immensely as always.

Nice story .... better then most in TBM

Charlie
Great story      
Thanks For Sharing  

Thanks Charlie for the great story and a walk in the past...Doc

Your the master my friend, no better story teller alive.

The other year, in the "Keen-Kill-Sharpener" thread of yours, you already told us you killed this bear with a Razorbak-5, but nothing more! So I knew it had to show up - in your bow - and it was well worth waiting for ...! Nice story! I can see it! Almost if I've been there myself! Thank you Charlie!    
Falk

I really look foward to your stories Charlie. Thanks for sharing them with us. I'm in agreement with everyone else. Ya gotta write a book.

Thanks for the story Charlie, it made for a good Sat. morning read, There's no bears around here but a lot of woodchucks to stalk today.