One thing is for sure, any type of big game you hunt in
northwestern Pennsylvania is challenging.
Nowadays, harvesting a deer isn’t anywhere near as easy as it
used to be. And, if you are able to take a bear or a buck, you
really accomplished something.
However, Bradford resident Bob Ament, set high standards this
year. His goal was to harvest a buck, a turkey and a black bear all
with a bow and arrow. Ament has been an avid archer for more than
30 years. Not only is he experienced but he has been as successful
as anyone.
The first of the four game species (he also shot a doe with a
bow) Ament took this year was an eight-point buck with a 14-inch
inside spread. Shortly after, he arrowed a jake turkey at 42 yards.
For many hunters, taking both a buck and a turkey with a bow in the
same year would complete their season. Amazingly, this is something
Ament had done before. His biggest goal was yet to be
fulfilled.
“It was a good start,” Ament stated. “I couldn’t wait for
archery bear season to arrive. Taking a bear with my bow during the
two-day archery season was what I wanted the most.
“I was determined to hunt both days despite working the night
shift at Case Cutlery.”
Finally, archery bear season arrived. The first day Ament
tracked a bear for an hour and a half before catching up to it
within 35 yards.
“I found the bear lying in open timber only 35 yards away,”
Ament noted. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t make heads or tails of
which end to shoot.
“The wind shifted and it became apparent which end was which
when the bear jumped to its feet and bounded off into the thick
woods.
“I followed that bear for three more hours until I knew I didn’t
have any time left,” Ament mentioned. “I had to be to work quite
soon and I was two miles back in the forest.”
After almost connecting the first day, Ament still had high
hopes for day two. With just four hours of sleep, he still found
the strength to hike through knee-deep snow on the second day of
the season, just hoping to find a fresh track. As luck would have
it, in just two hours of hunting he came upon a set of prints made
that day.
“I followed the bear up the mountain. It entered a clear-cut and
that was its first mistake since I knew the area well,” Ament
explained. “I moved extremely slow through the thicket.
“Eventually I realized the bear had back-tracked, the exact same
maneuver as the bear I followed the other day. I started to wonder
if it was going to lie down like the other bear did yesterday.
“I was in one of the thickest sections of the clear-cut. I
accidently snapped a twig and a bear appeared just 30 yards away.
But the thick brush made it impossible to shoot. It began snowing
so hard that the bear moved and I lost sight of it.”
Ament didn’t give up, he kept looking through the snow-covered
brush. He knew the bear couldn’t be too far.
“It wasn’t long before something caught my eye. It was the bear.
He had only gone 40 yards,” Ament said. “Everytime it looked down
the hill, I would sneak toward him a step or two.
“I wanted to make the best shot possible. I kept sneaking
closer. At times the brush was so thick I could only see the bears
ears. And suddenly, we started walking toward each other.”
The moment of truth was soon to come. However, Ament had to make
a perfect shot or his life could be in danger. On rare occasions,
wounded bears will attack. This wasn’t going the way he wished it
to be.
“It almost seemed like I was the hunted as the bear kept
sneaking toward me,” Ament described. “I was beginning to feel like
this was not the smartest thing I had ever done.
“The bear got to with in 25 yards when I found a small hole for
the arrow to meet his vitals. When the bear looked away, I drew
back and let the arrow fly, just hoping I would live to see another
day,” Ament noted.
The arrow hit the bruin perfectly. He only went 15 yards before
expiring.
The bear weighed 200 pounds which is a good sized bear in
Pennsylvania. Just the perfect trophy to end Ament’s hunting
season.
“In my 34 years of hunting, I finally had accomplished what I
always wanted to,” Ament praised. “This hunting season was a very
rewarding experience.”
Above all else, after reporting the bear to the check station,
the Pennsylvania Game Commission has never heard of anyone taking a
buck, a turkey and a bear in the same year with a bow in the
Keystone State. Ament may be the only one to ever do it.
