"Dad I don’t think it is safe!” I said, while we were walking into the forest.

We heard a low, deep growl and we turned our backs to the sound and there standing 50 yards away was a Black Bear. When it stood up it stood up to at least 8 feet tall with the shoulder length of 3 feet. My Dad was not a big, scary man he was instead a kind, loving, caring man with the loving nature every father should have. And I am a tall, blonde, and I have blue eyes that change color depending on the light.

It was a hot sunny day last year me and my dad left in the morning and we went up to Bear Lake in Green Mountain up by Pilchuck. It was just me and my dad driving the Jeep Cheroke and it was a long, bumpy road. I felt excited because I was going hunting for the first time with my dad. I had been up there before to put up trail cameras. I have shot guns and bows before but this is the first time of me going out and hunting with a gun.

The hardest part of our journey was trying to get my gun out to shoot the bear or at least scare it. After I got my gun out I saw that the bear was going to be a mother. I lowered my gun but then I shot a warning shot. The events are significant to me because everything that has happened was true.

What I learned when I was with my Dad that day was to stick with your instincts. Do what you need to do in order to survive, don’t keep going straight or you will get lost. And do not forget to bring a compass too so that you will not get lost.  

My instincts told me to shoot the bear but my father told me not too because it was going to be a mother. But after I shot that warning shot the bear ran away as fast as it could to a safe place. And what I learned was that you are to never shoot any female animal that is pregnant because it can kill them.

We were parked on a shoulder of the road, we then got out we got our guns and our backpacks. My gun was a shoulder carry and my dad was in the front of me because if someone behind you and you have a shoulder carry then the gun might shoot on accident. We were hiking through the woods, which the woods were really pretty with the sun shining and it was bushy. But the smell of the woods was so fresh and clean, it smelt like pine needles and tree sap.

We walked 5 miles into the woods, I have hiked 13 miles after that but before I hiked 13 miles I was so out of shape. It did not take long for us to reach our spot, but we had to be really quiet. Dad had to remind me to be extremely quiet because we could scare the deer away, I asked him “When will we be done?”,”What if we don’t see a deer?”,”Whats for lunch?”.

I had to go to the bathroom “Dad I have to go pee”, “hurry up”. After I was done Dad heard a stick break on the ground ahead of us. Then my Dad heard a “Huff” “It’s a bear.” he said I was so scared that thoughts just kept going through my head like “will we get eaten?” “will it attack us?”.

“Makayla if the bear comes at us I want you to shoot it”. I was so excited and scared at the same time. Laying down, in an army crawl position. I took my gun out and placed it in the crook of my shoulder. Then I took the gun off of my shoulder, laid the gun down next to me, put the safety on so that I did not accidently shoot it. I looked through the telescope and I saw the two lines, the middle is where you want the heart and lung of the animal, that’s the best kill shot.

I lined up the kill shot… Dad put his hand over mine on the gun and lowered it down, then he told me not to shoot- he saw that the bear had a huge stomach. “I think she is pregnant”, I gasped and said “You are right Dad she is pregnant.”