Arizona Black Bears
by John May

Arizona may not be first on the list when it comes to thinking of the best black bear destination, but this great state hosts big trophies of many species.  It has decorated the record book pages with legendary elk, deer, antelope, mule deer, coues whitetail deer, bison, and yes –BIG BLACK BEARS!

This year I had the good fortune of tagging along with Jarred Nichols of Nichols Guiding Service (www.nicholsguidingservice.com).  Jarred is well known for all species, but he has always been recognized for his “top-notch” lion hunts.  This spring he was awarded a guiding license for the prestigious White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation.   This reservation has produced huge trophies for decades.  It is especially known for the giant-racked bull elk.  Many of which score in excess of 400 inches!

Well, I’ve got news for ya.  The bears are huge too!  The tribal members recognized the need to manage the numbers of predators to maximize their healthy deer and elk herds.  They put their confidence in Jarred to get the job done.

Many baits were set.  Scouting cameras were put in place.  Dogs were trained and conditioned.  All the pieces were in place to start putting these big bruins in check.

I got the call early one morning.  “John, you have to get up here ASAP!  I have several huge bears ripping the bait barrels off of the trees!”  With my bags packed I headed up the mountain the following morning.  I arrived in camp at 4:45pm.  Immediately, we threw my gear into Jarred’s truck and headed to the blind to catch the evening hunt.  After a short hike up the old logging road we piled all our gear into a Double Bull blind.  Jarred checked the camera and noticed we had just missed a big bear by only 10 minutes!  We sat quietly in the blind the rest of the evening until dark, but there were no return visitor. 

Our plan for the next morning was to slip into the bait at first light and see if he had returned to feed.  Hopefully, we would intercept this cautious bear and put a stalk on him.  The next morning was see-your-breath cold as we slipped up the logging road.  Suddenly, we froze in our tracks.  We could hear the steel bait-barrel being thrown around, from 150 yards away- like a kid playing “kick-the-can.”  As we approached the bait we could see a shape of a beast twice the size of the steel drum.  I moved into the 50 yard mark and knocked my Carbon Force arrow.  Just as I hooked my release onto the string loop the bear decided to fade into the darkness of the timber.  Darn!  He’s getting away!  I looked over my shoulder and Jarred was headed for the truck at a fast trot.  I knew what was to follow. 

The hammer of the diesel engine could be heard as a truck full of hounds came to the rescue.  The dog boxes spilled highly skilled athletes onto the forest floor.  Their honed sensory circuitry sorted out the trail and the chase was ON!  I set my GPS and peeled a couple of layers of clothes off in preparation of the impending journey ahead.  About the time my GPS acquired my location a short “chop” resounding from the hound-pack echoed back up the mountain.  “Quick…Get your pack and let’s go.  I think they have’em!”  We kept going up and down the hills for about ¾ a mile and Jarred looked way up in a huge pine tree and said “There he is!”  We tied the hounds to the nearby trees and praised them.  I pulled my rangefinder out of its pouch and took a careful reading which read 30 yards.  The angle compensating feature read 24 degrees and suggested to shoot the upward angle for 19 yards.  My trusty PSE X-Force bow drove the G5 Striker Magnum broadhead all the way through the 400 pound bruin.  Five seconds later, “Big-Heavy” was on the way down!  We stood in amazement as we marveled at the size of the claws, paws, body and head of this bear!  We had just taken a trophy of a lifetime!

At the end of the day we sat back and “wet-a-line” in a nearby-pristine lake in hopes of some hungry trout.  We relaxed cherishing the memories of the hunt and felt very accomplished.  We knew our valued team of hounds felt the same way.

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