Pennsylvania Game News - November 2013 - 18

halfway point, three shots rang out in
the direction of J.J. and Smith.
As I exited the drive I came upon
J.J. examining a fine looking bear
with Smith still sitting in his tree
stand. The rousted bear had run
right at Smith and then under him
at a distance of perhaps 20 yards.
With the bear in high gear, Smith
had used the see-through mounts on
his Marlin .30-30 to seal the deal.
Once Smith finally absorbed the
fact that he had just shot his first
bear, he began to work the Summit
climbing stand down the tree. As
Smith descended, J.J. made it quite
clear that he now was not at all
happy about winning the earlier
match of rock-paper-scissors. What
had minutes earlier been the spot
that neither hunter wanted wound up
being the spot all of us wish we had
been in.
Wasting little time, we quickly
tagged and loaded the bear into the
truck bed and lined up the second
adjacent drive, with Matko and
Jasper remaining in the same spots
they had for the first drive. In under
an hour we had two drives finished
and one bear in the truck bed.
Although the celebration was cut
short given our agenda, everyone
knew there would be plenty of time
to celebrate once the day was over.
With such an immediate boost to the
crew, the rest of the day was filled
with the excitement of knowing that
at any minute, it just might happen
again.
By late morning the rain began
to fall and the thickets that we were
driving became saturated. Driving

18

bears in the rain or while wet is
about as bad as it can get for even
the most optimistic hunters. Even
when the rain let up, driving through
the slashings was just as wet as when
it was raining. But after each drive,
everyone loaded up into the truck
bed and got a fresh look at what we
all were after.
As the day progressed, Smith's
appreciation for his bear grew
with each drive he pushed his way
through. By midday Smith made it
a point to come back and pat his
trophy on the head, perhaps to help
him deal with the task of making
every drive. Of the nine drives, not
one was considered easy and all had
the same textbook bear habitat that
grabs at hands, hats and ears.
Unfortunately, the first drive was
the only one that produced out of
the nine we made on the second day.
With prior engagements, both Smith
and Bobby had to leave Monday
evening, so our crew dropped to
seven. Many of the thickets we had
driven on the second day had us
spread thin with nine hunters, so
they were out of the question with
only seven. Nonetheless, the crew
managed five drives on the last day,
with one encompassing nearly 2 miles
of beautiful headwaters. In the end,
one bear out of a nine-man crew in
its first year at camp was looked at by
all as a huge success. With any luck,
it will not be the last bear to hang
from the new game pole, although
it may be the last that is won from a
game of rock-paper-scissors.

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Pennsylvania Game News - November 2013

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