One Shot Bear

This past summer Frank, Richard and I decide'd to take a ride over to Nuksook. After getting all of our stuff ready we took off. On our way over we saw many types of tracks along the beach, like moose, bear and other wild animals.

After entering into Nuksook we were expecting to see something but we just saw some tracks and a couple of beavers. After awhile Frank stopped the boat and asked us, "Do you want to go across to Ingihaq or Gaklluvik?" We happily replied, "Yes." While we were heading out we saw a beaver in front of us that immediately dove. Then all of a sudden the engine jerked. We expected it was the beaver. It wasn't a piece of wood because if it was it would be louder than the beaver. After entering Gaklluvik we stopped on the beach and looked around. Since there wasn't anything there we took off across to lngihaq. As we entered the slough we noticed a boat parked on the beach which belonged to Nick Andrew Jr.

On our way home we saw some fresh tracks along the beach below Nicholas Boots fish camp. So we parked our boat on the opposite side of the slough and started to eat our grub because all this traveling made us hungry.

After we ate we took off to Willow. A little ways past the mouth we saw a black bear swimming. After we caught up to her, Richard shot her in the head with his .223. We made sure it was dead before we started to skin it and gut it. We then put it into the boat and started to head back to Marshall. On our way out I saw another bear on the bank so I grabbed Frank's rifle and shot, but I missed. We stopped very quickly and climbed up on the beach to check if I had hit the bear. Inside the trees I heard something walking not too far in front of us. I told Frank about it and he started to look in the direction I heard the sound. He raised his rifle and shot, but he missed because he couldn't see his rifle sights so good. When we started down to the boat, all of a sudden I heard more bears further in the trees making noises moving towards us. So we jumped in our boat again.

While idling out of Willow, Pat parked by us and told us Nick Andrew Jr. had caught a bear too. After we told Pat about Richard's catch, Lootsie and Dan Shelikof came racing into Willow. Loots asked, "What you guys doing?" Frank replied, "Just looking for bears." Then we took off to Marshall. On our way back Frank called in and told Angelina about Richard's catch. She said, "He's a good shot because he don't be lazy and always help us." Going home Richard felt very proud about his catch and said, "I'm not going to throw this bullet away because I killed a bear with one shot."

Jon Boots