It was the September bear season in New York and the land I knew for hunting bears was extremely limited. Using OnX maps, I scanned for some land around the northern Adirondack foothills and found a really interesting State Forest called Wolf Lake State Forest.

This was also my first time using AI to help me find where to hunt. I was overwhelmed thinking about where to go on this land for the first time. I didn't know the land at all, and had hardly ever even been to this part of the state. I used ChatGPT and uploaded a couple satellite images of Wolf Lake. My original plan was to head to the eastern part of the land and head north, but the AI highlighted a large lake on the western side of the property. That was going to be my plan, and it was really all I had.

I headed out there in the evening the day before I was going to hunt and slept in my car in the parking area, waiting for my alarm to go off. I woke up around an hour before first light and headed out down the trail leading to the lake the AI talked about. I was almost immediately met with the sounds of cracking limbs in the dark and I stopped, scared trying to get my bear spray ready and my bow to try and defend myself. I stayed in this spot for a few minutes, and heard cracking again. It was coming from above me now! I turn my light on and look up to reveal a small racoon climbing the tree 🤣

I carried on and eventually came up to the lake that the AI talked about. I was excited to get to the lake shore, so I cut off trail and headed directly to the closest bit of shore near me. The sun was rising and I stayed there for a few minutes just scanning the water and the shoreline. For some reason, I decided I wanted to peak the southern shore of the lake which was just to the left of me. I found a little trail going low around a small hill and started following it. That was when I looked up.

I saw a bear coming directly down the trail I was on, about 80 yards off. I didn't think the bear saw me. I immediately realized, this bear is almost definitely heading down the trail towards me. There was a big tree that I hid behind and gathered myself. I nocked an arrow and calculated how much time I had before the bear was going to be in range. I had just a few seconds, it was go time. I either shoot the bear, or I use all the tactics in the book to scare it and have it run away.

I peaked around the tree. I could hear every step of the bear as it was walking towards, out of sight coming up a small ramp to me. In a moment, the bear peeked its head up over the crest. I remember making eye contact with the bear and it was confused. I was already at full draw and released my arrow, aiming at the bear's chest. I was using Grim Reaper 3-blade expandable broadheads.

The bear got hit and ran. I don't have all the instincts of a proper bear hunter, but I knew I wanted to go get some high ground so I knew what was going on. I ran up the 50-60 foot high hill next of me and watched. I didn't see the bear and began to try and calm down and get a plan going for what I wanted to do. I took out my binoculars and checked out the spot where I shot the bear. What I saw, was a glowing LED light of my arrow!

I was really confused and within a couple minutes, I went to go check the arrow. The arrow had meat and blood on it, right in the blades of the broadhead. The blood went only about 4 or 5 inches up the shaft of the arrow. One of the blades had snapped. My initial thought was that I probably didn't hit the bear well at all. I scanned the ground for blood, all I saw was a couple drips near impact.

I decided to expand my search for blood, didn't see anything. About 10 minutes later, I found a blood trail. It was prominent. I saw drips every 1-2 feet, leading over a small hill. I was excited and I was fully convinced I was going to harvest my very first bear soon.

I followed the blood, anxiety levels spiking. The land here is rolling hills and I was sure over the next crest I'd find the bear alive and well. The blood lead me a full mile in a straight line. Over and down steep hills, even across an old canoe that the state had left! Definitely this was my most wild photo that I've ever taken, blood spattered over an old green canoe!

The final part of the blood trail was at the edge a swampy stream. It looked like the bear was panicing and that it sat down. It was the most blood of the whole trail. I think the bear had a chance to rest and the blood clotted. I couldn't find any obvious trails to indicate where the bear had gone.

So, my first bear hunt ended up in a failure. I shouldn't have shot the bear's chest. I didn't know better at the time. I really hope the bear survived and is doing well now. The experience was one of the most intense of my whole life and I will remember it forever. This is a major reason I am building GameSearch-AI. Experiences with wildlife for any purpose are magical and I want people to have more opportunity.

Thank you for reading!