By Sherman T. Shifflett
Friends:
This is an unbelievable hunting story, and I am not making it up. Around 1970 I started deer hunting, mostly around Louisa County, VA, but I have deer hunted all around Central Virginia. During those 45 years, I’ve experienced many enjoyable moments, have seen a lot and could write a book. But, today (Thursday, November 5, 2015) takes the cake.
Around 3:30 PM, I decided to go to my stand on a farm at Cuckoo owned by one of my best friends, Todd Reardon, who now lives in Montana. The stand is located in a hedgerow between two cornfields, with a good view of either field. In some years beans are planted.
There was no action until almost dark, and then a large doe emerged from the cutover and started feeding on the spilled corn in the field. She fed along the hedgerow and got within 40 yards, but some bushes were in the way and I did not have a clear shot. She worked her way out into the field, but was walking directly away from me and I had to hold my fire. This is muzzle-loading season in Virginia, and I was using my 50 cal. TC “Encore”. The doe continued away from me and when she finally turned at an angle, I ranged her at 86 yards and decided to shoot. She was standing still, but at an angle. I laid the crosshairs on the boiler room and fired. The doe flinched, ran about 30-35 yards, did a semi-circle and dropped, She kicked a few times. I was thinking, “Backstrap for the family.” (with apologies to Ted Nugent)
While I was re-loading, in case she got back up, a large black bear emerged from the cutover and was walking towards my deer. I’ve heard of brown bears responding to gunshots in Alaska, but have never heard of it happening in Virginia. People who are not familiar with bears sometimes over-estimate their size. I have been bear hunting in Idaho and Maine (got a bear in both states), and I have seen plenty of bears. This bad boy weighed between 250-300 pounds.
The shot certainly did not scare the bear because he/she emerged from the cutover before I re-loaded and I can re-load in 30-40 seconds. The bruin was walking towards the doe, not in a hurry, walking slowly. I was thinking, “He’s going to claim my deer!” I considered shooting over him to scare him off, but the previous shot did not concern him. I could have tagged the bruin too, but bear season was two days off.
When the bear got within 10-12 yards of the deer, the doe got up and came running back towards the hedgerow. She stumbled and fell again, but I could not get a finishing shot. She got back to her feet and scrambled to the hedgerow, some 60-70 yards away. The bear stopped where the doe was lying on the ground in the field, bounced his front paws a couple of times, walked kind of stiff-legged in circles and sniffed the air. Acted like he was bad. We’ll see how bad he is if I see him Saturday.
The bear slowly followed the doe’s trail into the hedgerow. I was a little concerned because I had to walk fairly close to that area on the way out. The bear came out into the field a few times, looked all around, and went back into the hedgerow. I figured he had claimed the deer.
While I was debating what steps to take, I heard a loud “wheeze” and turned to see a nice buck making a U-turn and getting out of Dodge. He had come up the edge of the hedgerow behind me. He either saw or winded me. A few seconds later, a small deer came blasting from the direction of the bear and going in the direction of the buck. Initially, I thought maybe it was the big doe I shot earlier, but this deer was smaller. The deer was in the open cornfield and moving, now only 35-40 yards from me. Although it was beginning to get late, I was able to find the deer in the scope and was lucky to nail it.
Terrell Barlow called in response to my text message and said he was on his way with 4-wheeler. Told me to remain in my tree stand until he arrived. Not to worry. I was a little apprehensive sitting there in the dark. The TC “Encore” was re-loaded. I had a flashlight and a Buck Knife, but was not sure how effective that would have been against a charging bear in the dark. The bear was now feeding on my deer just 60-70 yards away. The bear figured it was his kill, and they can be dangerous when protecting their food. I seldom hunt alone, but today I was by myself – two miles from home.
Seeing the lights from Terrell’s 4-wheeler coming around the cornfield was a good feeling. We loaded the small deer and drove along the edge of the hedgerow looking for blood from the other deer. We tracked the blood from the edge of the hedgerow to the corner of the field, where the deer and bear had entered the cutover. We decided it was too risky to follow. The bear had claimed one deer and I claimed one, but I had to check mine in. I got an assist on his kill and I think he drove the small deer to me. A wash.
This is truly one for the books and absolutely true.
