With 2009 winding down, I have another year to look back upon and be grateful for the opportunities spent hiking, looking for shed antlers, fishing, and hunting. There were two special moments from this past year. First, my daughter Ashley was visiting from Florida. I took her trout fishing for the first time and she caught her first rainbow trout. Second, my nephew and best hunting buddy Todd shot not only his first deer with a bow, but also his second. He harvested an Ohio doe and then 2 days later an 8 point buck with two sticker points and a 14 inch spread. This was his second year of archery hunting. To say he was elated is putting it mildly. To cap it off, he went back to his home state of Indiana were he shot a nice 8 point buck during gun season.

One story I would like to share from Todd’s and my hunting trip to the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia will be remembered for years to come. Todd and I were staying in a cabin at Watoga State Park. We arrived there on a Sunday, the day before gun season opened. That evening while cooking dinner, Todd thought he heard something at the front door. He opened the front door and through the storm door thought he caught a glimpse of a shadow. He walked onto the front porch but nothing was there. The next evening, we were cooking dinner, and again, he heard something at the front door. This time he didn’t open the door but looked out the front door window. There at our front door was a black bear. Todd called me over to look and we slowly opened the front door to get a better look. Through the storm door we saw the bear moving across the front porch. I ran to the front window and slowly opened the drapes. There not 12 inches from my face was the black bear with his paws on the outside window sill looking in the window right at me. What a sight. We estimated the bear to be about 150 pounds. What a memory!