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It is almost 2 years now since our beloved former government decided to suspend the brown bear hunting in Romania and also wolf hunting in Romania until further notice. New government is ruling now and we still wait for the bears reopening season. I miss so much brown bear hunting and the only way to heal the pain is to write about some adrenaline adventure from my memories.
My first memory even is not about a real charge is on of my dearest. I was around 30 years old and the owner of one of my hunting areas ask me to guide one of his friends for a big brown hunt. The task was not easy as the hunter wanted to hunt the bear from the ground without hunting dogs. Our brown bear act different from what I saw on youtube on the Alaska brown bear hunting where the hunters are stalking all day long, glassing the mountains. Our brown bear are active during the late evening and especially in the night. But we do have a short period during the fall hunting season when the bears are active in the early evenings. The moment is just before plum trees orchard are ready to be harvest.
That was the time when I decided we should try to hunt the big brown bear. The businessman had only 2 evening at his disposal. He wanted to shoot the bear from the solid ground, facing at him and as close distance as possible. In the middle of the orchard was a big old plum tree full of plums where the big bear like to feed. I check the wind and we nest around 25 meters from that tree. In the first evening only small and young bears was present in the field along with a very big female with 2 cubs. The cubs were 2 years old and soon the mother will leave them on their own. In the morning during the breakfast at the lodge I ask the hunter in case the big bear will not come if he want to shoot the female. He didn’t seem to like the idea but he didn’t say no either. In Romania for maintaining the balance between sexes we have to shot females bear too. Well, there we were in the second evening, but bear looks like he had other business and he didn’t came. When we only have around half an hour of light. I ask the hunter again if he want to shot the big female wich was no more than 40 meters distance.
He said no! Let’s wait until the dark and if the bear will not appear I will shot the female. It was almost dark when he made the fireshot for the female bear. I always keep quiet after the fire and try to heard the sound of dying bear. For those who didn’t hear it before it is alike a low roar ended with some kind of gurgling. But the hunter was keep asking me immediately. After the shot if the bear is dead and I couldn’t tell if I heard that sound or not. The normal thing to do in such condition was to wait until the morning and search the bear with dogs at the first light.
The client decided he can not wait until the morning as next day has important business meeting in Bucharest. I was so young and inexperienced… I agree and we made a plan. I was suppose to go in front with my rifle and he suppose to follow me with his rifle as backup and light me the way with my torch, the only light source that we had. After promises that he will not let me down we start the searching. I don’t think we search more than 100 meters when we heard some movement in the small trees in our right side. What happened after is more like a scene from a Stan and Bran movie.
The real hunter who wanted to hunt a bear like a real man from the solid ground started to run with my flashlight, living me in complete darkness with a wounded bear probably. After a few seconds while I was holding the rifle very tide, my eyes become to use with the dark. I manage to see the silhouettes of the 2 cubs in a tree near me. I stayed there for probably 30 more minutes trying to locate the mother. It was probably the most intense half an hour of my life. When I realized the mother is not along with cubs, I slowly went to my car. Next day we found the female death no more than 200 meters from the big tree. It was a lungs shot. That was my first lesson but not last one as you will see in the next adventures.
Three years after that, in the beginning of December I was sitting on the ground waiting for a pack of wolves. That develop a habit to steal sheep from a poor shepherd outside the village. Everything was white. The snow came one week before and refuse to leave. It was like in a fairy tale. Suddenly, a young bear female, again with 2 little cubs appear This time the cubs were few months old, no bigger than a small puppy. She was very protective but very nervous in the same time. I check the wind, but it was against me. Very soon I realized what made the female nervous.
It was the pack of wolves. They circle the mummy bear waiting for the right moment when they can steal the cub from his mother. It was about 7 wolves and I realized that sooner or later they will succeed. I decided to make the shot hoping to kill a wolf. But the night was cloudy and the wolves were running around the bears. It was a totally miss shot. All wolves disappear, but the mother was not running against me. I was screaming and waving but soon was clear the bear will attack me. After that I don’t remember much except the time that was moving so slowly. First shot broke the shoulder of the bear and the last shot was breaking the skull. I went to the authorities to declare what had happened. When I come back with one police officer, 2 young cubs were stick to there mother trying to get warm….
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