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Today’s blog from fellow VA hunter Brandon. As I have said many times you never know what’s gonna happen in the woods.

Hey Mike: A lot of folks are having a hard time finding acorns this year. I am one of the fortunate ones that discovered a small pocket of whites dropping. I have been watching deer here since opening day of bow season. This place is near perfect, but there are no good climbing trees in the immediate area. I decided I needed to hunt from the ground if I wanted a chance to get a deer with my bow. I decided upon a makeshift blind, and have been hunting it since opening day.

Now for the real story.

The afternoon of October 22nd found me in my ground blind overlooking the flat where the white oak acorns were dropping. I had made my mind up to take a doe if the opportunity presented itself. The wind was perfect for the hunt, so I was in full anticipation of finally getting some venison put in the freezer.
What showed up was not expected at all.
At 5:45 p.m. this big bear showed up and moved straight to the oak flat. He moved in cautiously, but nonetheless he came right at me! I had already ranged everything within archery distance, so I was confident when he went behind some brush at 30 yards. I got drawn, anchored, and picked my spot.

The bear stopped at 20 yards and was quartering toward me, so I just held. I think at this point he sensed something was not completely right, and turned slowly to leave. It was too late for him. As he quartered away, I took the shot and he hit the ground with the loudest roar I have ever heard come out of an animal! As he ran off I could see he was hit good.

The blood trail was very easy to track thanks to the Rage. But after about an hour of tracking a wounded bear in the dark, we called the search off until the next morning. Early the next day we picked up the trail and recovered the big male. He dressed out at 340 pounds and was right at 7 feet. My trophy of a lifetime for sure, from the ground and unexpected.—Thanks, Brandon