I just saw this news blurb on the Hazard TV station's website and I thought it was rather interesting. I used their headline as the title for this post:
"The cold and snowy weather did not stop a Pike County man from becoming the first person to bag a black bear during Kentucky's two-day legal hunt.
Danny Smith, of Phelps, shot the 265 pound male about 5 hours into his hunt Saturday.
Kentucky held its first legal bear hunt in 100 years last December, but hunters came up empty handed during that crippling snowstorm that left many in the dark."
I remember hearing about that bear hunt last year, but the one this year missed my ears all together. Not that I would have wanted to get in on the hunt, but I do like the emotions that are evoked by a "bear hunt" in Eastern Kentucky. Such a bear hunt conjures up images in my mind of the hardy Kentucky frontiersman 230 years ago, struggling to make a life out of the wilderness, and thankful that God had provided him hunting grounds occupied by plentiful deer, elk, bear, and smaller fur-bearing creatures!
Pure Water Hollow is located about 60 miles from where this particular bear was killed, but there have been numerous bear sightings reported very nearby over the years! I even saw a black bear myself a year or so ago! It was on the other side of the county from our homestead, but it was neat to see a black bear with my own eyes in my home county!
Speaking of big game animals, elk have also been spotted only a couple miles down the road from us!
The re-introduction of black bear and elk into Kentucky may have been a bit controversial, but I think that it's a pretty cool thing! And I believe Daniel Boone would be pleased, too!
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