Bear hunting in Minnesota takes patience. But when the woods finally quiet down and a 500-pound bear steps out into the clearing, every second starts to matter.

By Kennedy R. Rasmus 

Image

On September 1, 2022, the opening day of bear hunting in Minnesota, my uncle Luke, my younger brother Kash, and I all went out to the stand to bait and sit for the night. When we arrived, we realized the wind was completely wrong for the location of the stand relative to the bait pile, and it was extremely hot—miserably hot. We all decided it just wasn’t worth sitting that night, so we left and went to a local bar to get some food.

The following day, the three of us went out to the stand around 3 p.m. to sit for the evening. We waited for a while before anything came in, but then around 6-ish, two bears showed up. These bears were decent-sized but not quite big enough for what I wanted. The two bears stayed for a while when Luke leaned over and whispered, “You can shoot the one that’s a little bigger if you want.”

“No,” I replied. “I’m waiting for a bigger one. Plus, these two are friends, and if I shot one, the other would be sad.” He chuckled and said, “Okay.” So, I waited.

Eventually, those two bears left, and the bait pile was empty for a bit. Around 7:40, we saw a different bear coming in. My heart sank—I knew it was big. So did Luke. So did Kash. The bear walked in from the woods behind the bait pile, put its head down, and started devouring the bait. It faced us head-on for about five minutes. During those five minutes, my heart was beating so fast and my legs were shaking so badly that I was surprised the stand wasn’t shaking enough for the bear to notice. A few times during those five minutes, Luke leaned over and said, “Shoot it.”

“No,” I replied. “I’m waiting for him to turn.”

“Okay, it’s up to you,” he said.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, one of the earlier bears tried to come back to the bait pile. The big bear turned his body to the right and was perfectly broadside to me. About 30 yards separated me from this trophy. With my breathing heavy, legs shaking, and heart racing, I didn’t think I was going to be able to do this. But then, with everything in me, I took a few deep breaths, focused my crosshairs behind his front shoulder, and pulled the trigger. He was hit perfectly. He ran, and from my right, I heard Kash say, “Smoked him!” I was freaking out with excitement and nerves. Luke said, “Shh, shh,” and in the distance, we heard the bear’s “death groan.” We all started screaming with excitement! Luke said, “That’s a 500-pounder!” I couldn’t believe what I had just done.

Luke left the stand first to check and make sure the bear was dead. Kash and I heard him calling for us, so we hurried down as fast as we could. The bear had run about 20 yards into the woods before he died. When we got there, he was huge! I tried to lift his head for a picture, but it was so heavy I couldn’t even pick it up. His paws were enormous! We had to get a four-wheeler with a rope to pull him out. Since he was down a slight hill, it made it very difficult. While trying to drag him out, the rope snapped, and the four-wheeler tipped up on its back two wheels. We finally got him out and took tons of pictures! I remember the mosquitoes being absolutely awful, so we tried to hurry out of the woods. It took four guys to load him into the back of the truck. Once we got back to the shop, we weighed him and took more pictures. My bear weighed 490 pounds!

This is definitely one of my best memories, and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity I had to shoot this bear!

Image

The Future of Fair Chase 

We know that the future of conservation rests squarely on the shoulders of tomorrow’s hunters. That’s why we’re celebrating the stories of our youth hunters in this section called The Future of Fair Chase. Many of these stories are plucked straight from the pages of our 32nd Big Game Awards Book. Other stories have been submitted by young hunters, who are rightfully proud of their achievement. If you are a young hunter or know a young hunter who might like to submit a story, please email it to [email protected].