My father’s favorite animal to hunt is black bears, deep in some nasty canyons in Arizona. He has a definite knack for bear hunting. He knows exactly where to look for them, what they will be eating, what canyons are ‘doable’ to get in and out of.

As long as I can remember he has been bringing home impressive bears. Over time I have grown to love bear hunting as well.

I love the way the woods smell in October and the way the sun casts warm orange rays in the evening. I love seeing the fall colors the oaks display and snacking on the acorns the drop. But most of all, I love bear hunting with my father.

This particular year, I was helping introduce a potentially new hunter to elk hunting on my father-in-laws cow elk hunt. I received a call from my dad on Sunday morning that he had shot a bear and needed help packing it out. We ran back into town, hopped into the truck with my brother, and headed out to meet my dad. We met up with him at his camp, followed him out to his parking spot, and got to hiking.

We came to the edge of a canyon and Dad re-told the story of where he first saw the bear, where it was standing, where he shot from, and where he believes the bear rolled but that he couldn’t see it in the binoculars.

So we got to hiking again, down into the canyon. Thankfully this was one of the nicer, less steep canyons we have ever packed bears out of!

We eventually made our way down to his bear. A big, beautiful, chocolate colored boar. After snapping some pictures we got to work on skinning and quartering the bear while swatting the harassing meat bees away. We loaded everyone’s packs up – one with the head/hide, one with a hind and a front quarter, one with the other hind and front quarter, and the other with the backstraps, scraps, and the gun. Then we started our sweaty trek up out of the canyon.

When we reached the trucks we indulged in some ice cold Mt. Dew – Dads favorite.

Shortly after helping him pack his bear out, my dad had this picture printed off and wrote a sweet note on the back just for me. I will forever cherish packing bears out with him and having a dad that introduced me to the love of hunting.