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For the past several years my wife, Evelyn, and I have hunted deer in the high rimrock country in northeastern Oregon. From one of the ridges we can look across a precipitous canyon of the Snake River into the mountains of Idaho. Below is the proposed site of the Mountain Sheep hydroelectric dam. It is a vast country, rugged beyond belief. In hunting this area, binoculars or a spotting scope are indispensable. Toward the end of the deer season last fall, we had glassed over many miles of the ridges and ravines but had not located a buck. Then one morning just after sunrise we spotted a small buck on a grassy slope above us. The range was about 250 yards, and I had time to get into a steady position. My flat-shooting .270, with 4-power scope and handloaded ammunition, placed the bullet as intended on its target. We field-dressed the animal and headed back to camp. When we arrived, we found that Willard, another hunter who shared our campsite, was all worked up. He had shot his deer the day before and had slept late this morning. Upon arising, he found that his deer was gone. It had been hanging near his tent on a sturdy meat pole lashed between two hemlocks. Investigating, he found the carcass a short distance up the hillside in the woods, badly chewed up. We knew of only two animals native to Oregon that could carry or drag a deer away— a cougar or a bear. We judged from the evidence that this was the work of a bear, a rather large one at that. However, we had never heard of one doing anything like this. Alarm in the Night That night as darkness approached, we wondered whether the animal might possibly return. We thought it very unlikely, but to be on the safe side I took my gun into the tent instead of leaving it in the car. We also decided to hang some cans on our deer that would make a racket if anything molested it. It had been a long day, so we eased into our sleeping bags a little earlier than usual. It was about 8:00 p.m., and I went to sleep almost immediately. At 8:45 Evelyn reached over and awoke me, saying, "The cans are rattling." It was as if lightning had struck. I grabbed the camp light and threw open the tent flap. Willard had been still up at his campfire, had heard the noise, and was coming on the run. I yelled: "Got your gun?" and he said "Yes." We dashed around the tent and threw the light on the deer. The carcass was swaying eerily, the protective bag shredded. The front quarters had been torn off and were missing. I flashed the light out into the blackness, swinging it in an arc. The light stopped on two bright yellow eyes and a glossy black hulk. Only fifteen paces away was a large black bear looking me straight in the eyes. Willard dropped to one knee and fired. The animal wheeled and disappeared into the woods. When I recovered enough to ask Willard what had happened to his aim, he said he couldn't see the scope's crosshairs in the poor light, but thought he surely couldn't miss at that close range. I felt a twinge of anger that he had risked wounding the animal and exposing us to attack. Much too nervous to go back to sleep right away, I rigged some more cans on the front quarters of the deer where the bear had left them and moved the car up as close to it as I could, to within about 30 yards. I settled down in the front seat with the .270 across my lap and the camp light beside me. I thought I would stay there at least until I got sleepy. I knew that the heavy post reticle in my scope would show up all right even with poor lighting. Within an hour my nerves had steadied. It was the dark of the moon, so I had to rely on hearing to tell me if the bear returned. I heard a low "whumph," a noise I didn't recognize—the bear returning? I was listening for more clues when a dull thud sounded on the window a few inches from my head. A shock wave ran through me, and turn-
Object Description
Title |
To shoot a bear |
Author |
Nolan, Mason E. |
Contributor |
La Grande Observer |
Subject |
Hunting -- Oregon |
Personal Name |
Nolan, Mason E. |
Portrait |
Nolan, Mason E. |
Citation |
H&S Reports, Vol. 01, (1964 spring), p. 18-19 |
Date-Issued | 1964 |
Source | Originally published by: Haskins & Sells |
Rights | Copyright and permission to republish held by: Deloitte; Photograph by Le Grande Observer; |
Type | Text |
Format | PDF page image with corrected OCR scanned at 400 dpi |
Collection | Deloitte Digital Collection |
Digital Publisher | University of Mississippi Library. Accounting Collection |
Date-Digitally Created | 2010 |
Language | eng |
Identifier | HSReports_1964_Spring-p18-19 |