Sometime the reality of hunting is that you come home empty handed. As a hunter losing an animal is an unexplainable pain to those who have never experienced it. It is, however hard we try, inevitable, that at times everything falls into place except for the recovery of the animal you are hunting. It is every hunter's worst case scenario. That knot in your stomach and the gut feeling that this animal won't be found... The opening week of the 2016 Arizona August Bear season pr

Early in 2015 I was determined to pick up a client for August bear and set out breaking down the logistics to do so. It has been my goal to take my all time favorite hunt personally and involve others in the difficult, demanding, and highly rewarding pursuit of the illusive bruins of the high desert. We had taken several quality bears over the previous years and it was time to put my knowledge of the animal to the test. In past seasons I had hunted with the intent of understa

Bears have always fascinated me. Powerful and intelligent creatures Black Bears in Arizona are one of the more unknown big game species. Bear encounters by the casual forest visitor for their weekend camping trip are typically rare. In order to find and observe bears you have to be willing to go where most others overlook. My bear-hunting quest began several years before I killed my first bruin. Ultimately it was an animal I knew little about and had a curiosity for. Since th