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 Did you ever have a hunting season that things never worked out? Well this was the case for us. First it started when we applied for our bear license back in April. You have to be drawn to get a license. I was notified that I was chosen for a license but Bill, my husband, didn’t receive one. (We always put in as a group.) Upon checking with the DNR we found out that the lady deleted Bills name accidentally at the place we applied for the license. (Number 1)
Since Bill is retired he decided to do the baiting for me. We had almost all the bait stations being hit and the one was coming in all day. Things were just starting to look up when guess what? wolves moved in and the bear went nocturnal only coming in about 2 to 3:00 in the morning. (The wolf has a collar on it.) (Number 2)
 Then there was a flat tire and then another flat tire, thank God for air tanks. The road we use, used to be an old railroad line and the rocks are a little sharp after they grade it. And being in high altitude, the fuel pump started to act up. We have an old Dodge pickup with 250,000 miles on it for driving on the back roads up by Isabella, MN. We usually have the 4 wheeler with us too, but that day but it was only the Ford. Too make the long story short, the Dodge died. She wanted to start but wasn’t getting any gas and the battery lost its charge. We walked out to the end of the forest road to the grade and hoped someone would come along. Along comes a car, an old 1990 Toyota station wagon with a canoe on top. The guy stopped and asked if we needed help. The driver and his buddies were going to pick rice but said we could use his car. This was amazing! For one thing he did not know us and this was his only means of transportation. In this day and age there aren’t too many people that would do that anymore. So then we had wheels. We drove back to get the Ford and stopped to see if Tim, a good friend of ours, could help. We found out that pounding on the gas tank got the fuel pump working again and we were able to drive it home. We dropped the station wagon off at the lake where the Good Samaritan and his buddies were; we had filled his gas tank up and left some money for the use of the vehicle. (Number 3, 4, and 5)
 It was the third day of hunting bear, the first two days were uneventful, just a bunch of pine squirrels, chipmunks and pine martins. It was getting closer to dusk and as it was starting to get dark, I was just about to get down from the stand when I heard a lot of commotion in front of me. A bear was coming in, breaking branches, and snapping its teeth. That’s when I put my bow aside and reached for my 357 Automatic pistol. As I took it out, it hit against the stand and that’s when the bear backed off and went back into the forest. Here was my chance to leave. I stood up, got my backpack on, released my Hunter Safety line and started down the ladder. At the bottom, I looked down with the flashlight and thinking I was at the bottom of the ladder and stepped off the ladder,. Boy was I wrong! I had one more step to go. I landed on my right leg with my leg straight and I felt a crunch in the knee. Talk about pain shooting through my leg! Well I stood up anyway and tried to stand full-weight on my leg. At least I was able to put weight on it. So I gathered up my pistol and bow and commenced to walk(limp) out of the woods. My truck was about a quarter of a mile away. I made it back. The next day I did have to go to Ely to get it checked out because by then I could not stand on it. No broken bones but I have to wear a brace and put ice on it. (Number 6)
Since Bill could not hunt he sat on one of my other bait stations to see if there was any bears coming in to it, without any weapons. He wished he did; just for his own protection. You see a pack of wolves started to howl to the side of him and all of a sudden a bunch started in back of him. He estimated about 10 to 12 wolves. They met on top of the ridge and commenced to fighting. He could hear branches braking, wolves snapping their teeth, and a bunch of other noises that he didn’t want to repeat. He quietly sneaked his way out to the truck while they fought. He was very thankful when he reached the truck. (Number 7)
At this point, we both had enough, and decided it was time to take a time out. Maybe in a couple of weeks it will be better!
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Bows 
