Scott Parkhurst Bear
Cattaraugus County Bruin
As told by Scott Parkhurst
So we had 2 trailcam pictures of what appeared to be big bears, one in late July and one in mid August. That was it for bear sign. I went down to camp early Wednesday to bowhunt up to the gun opener. I didn't see anything Wednesday 11/15/23. On Thursday, 11/16/23, I had a little 5-point I called in and a doe and fawn that bedded behind me… all in the morning. It wasn't until late afternoon that I saw a big bodied deer making his way up the hill about 90 yards away. I couldn't tell what it was so I got my binoculars and tried to find him in the brush. I couldn't find him.
I kept looking and about 15 minutes later I heard walking above about 150 yards away. I thought maybe the deer walked straight away from me in that thick stuff and made its way up top. I kept looking to pinpoint the walking in the leaves. That's when a big black blob came into view. All that I thought was "Are you friggin kidding me?". I had no idea where that deer went. So now I'm watching the bear work his way along the top and start angling down the hill. He was pawing and working the leaves as he went. He got about 100 yards away and I decided to video him, nobody was going to believe me.
I pulled out my phone and got some 7-8 minutes of video. As he made his way along that side hill, I quickly realized he was headed right for me. The wind was perfect. He closed within 50 yards and at that point I said to myself "He's gonna give me a shot!" I quickly put my phone away and picked up my bow. He kept coming, heading right for a shooting lane at 20 yards. He moved into the lane and I drew. My confidence was pretty low since I missed a big buck earlier in the season. He stopped right in the lane, I put my pin behind his front leg, opened both eyes and scanned the shot for limbs or obstacles, re-landed my pin behind his leg and let loose. My green Luminok hit right where I was aiming.
He let out a growlie roar and took a 20- 25 yard death run. Went right down in sight, took a couple loud breaths and then the "death roar" people have told me about. It was over in seconds. I wasn't nervous at all, 100% focused however, but after the shot I shook like crazy. What a rush. You can see all this in the video. I was a mile back in the woods, right at dark, at camp alone and just shot a bear of a lifetime. I sat down in my stand and collected myself. I called my Dad and a couple buddies.
I finally climbed down and went over to him. I've seen a few bears in my life, only a couple in hunting scenarios. Out in Washington State and once up by Old Forge. I am not a bear expert, I'm not even a bear novice. But I knew he was big. Rewind to the first week of vacation. We met our neighbor down there. I had some beers with him and talked hunting. He has lived there his whole life, a retired contract logger and a wicked nice guy.
I reached out to him after the kill and said "Hey Larry, what are you doing tonight?" He said, "I just sat down and opened a beer." I said, "Are you bored? I just shot a big bear and could use some help." He said, "Do you mind if my friend comes? I'll be right over."
I met him at camp and we took the wheelers up. He and his friend saw the bear and were in awe. He said he didn't know we had bears that big here. I was able to use the 4 wheeler winch to get the bear over to the trail. The three of us realized we weren't getting him on the wheeler. Earlier my dad had mentioned maybe getting a tarp to drag him on. I asked Larry if he had a tarp. He said he did and headed back down to his house to get one. A little while later I saw lights coming back up the hill. He got closer and I realized he didn't come back with his wheeler, he brought his Kabota up the mountain.
He said, "Scott I brought a tarp but I thought hell, this will work better! Holy Crap did it! Best neighbor ever. We got him on the bucket and he brought him down the hill. Such a memorable night. I got him into a cooler the next morning and a taxidermist set up to do a 1/2 mount. I didn't fill any archery deer tags this year, but did I ever have a great experience with this. I hope who ever takes the time to read this enjoys it. It was a priceless experience. I never thought in a million years this would happen.
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