How We Hunted a Giant Black Bear at Night with Night Vision Binoculars

After graduating from high school, I parted ways with my two best friends Jared Ford and Vera Malachi, and we each went to different universities. We rarely had a chance to meet, let alone have fun together. But we all had a common hobby, which was hunting. We all liked to look for excitement and challenge in nature, and feel the passion and vitality of life. So, when we learned that there was a place suitable for night hunting in the suburbs of Columbus, we decided to go and check it out without hesitation.

Night hunting is a special way of hunting, which requires finding and tracking animals in the dark, using their behavior and habits to formulate strategies and plans. Night hunting not only tests the hunter’s courage and skill, but also their patience and wisdom. Night hunting also has its own charm and fun, such as seeing some animals that are hard to see during the day, such as foxes, raccoons, rabbits, etc., and enjoying the stars and moon in the night sky, feeling a different kind of beauty and romance.

Of course, night hunting also has its own risks and difficulties, such as limited vision, loss of direction, encounter with dangerous animals, etc. In order to ensure safety and success, we must do a good job of preparation, such as choosing the right place, time, equipment, etc. The most important piece of equipment is the night vision binoculars, which can help us observe the position, movement and body temperature of animals in the dark, and judge their species, gender, age and other information. Night vision binoculars can also help us determine the shooting angle and distance, improve the hit rate and efficiency.

In this article, I will describe in detail our experience of night hunting in the suburbs of Columbus, including the difficulties and dangers we encountered, as well as the fun and emotion we enjoyed. I will also introduce our experience of tasting local food after night hunting, so that you can also feel the charm and flavor of Columbus. I hope you will like my story and learn some knowledge and skills about night hunting and night vision binoculars from it.

We chose a weekend night to go to the suburbs of Columbus for night hunting, because then the animals were more active and human interference was less. We searched online for some places suitable for night hunting in advance, and finally decided to go to a place called Blacklick Woods Metro Park. This place has rich wildlife resources, such as deer, turkey, squirrel, fox, raccoon, etc. We also booked a four-wheel drive car online to facilitate our driving in different terrains.

We set off at around four o’clock in the afternoon with our hunting equipment, including guns, ammunition, knives, flashlights, compasses, maps, etc. The most important piece of equipment was the night vision binoculars, which could let us see clearly the position and state of animals in the dark. We bought a model called Owler1 night vision binoculars.

We arrived at our destination at around six o’clock. It was getting dark. We parked our car in a hidden place and took out our night vision binoculars to look for animal tracks. We soon found a group of deer grazing on the grassland. They looked peaceful and ignorant. We decided to start hunting deer because they were relatively easy targets. We observed them for a while with our night vision binoculars and determined that one of the male deer was the largest and strongest one with the most value. We quietly approached them keeping a certain distance and angle adjusting our guns. When we were ready to shoot, we looked at each other then pulled the trigger at the same time.

We successfully hit that male deer. It let out a scream then fell to the ground. The other deer were scared away by this. We ran over happily to check on that male deer’s condition. It was dead without any struggle or pain. It had beautiful fur and antlers it was a very good prey.

We continued to hunt in the night, using our night vision binoculars to observe and track animals. We also saw some other animals, such as foxes, raccoons, rabbits, etc., but we didn’t intend to shoot them, because they were too small, not worth wasting bullets and time. We only wanted to find some bigger and more challenging animals, such as turkey, squirrel, wild boar, etc. We walked for a long time in the forest, but didn’t find any valuable targets. We started to feel disappointed and frustrated.

Just when we were about to give up, we heard a strange sound, like a low roar. We looked in the direction of the sound with our night vision binoculars, and found an amazing sight. In an open place, there was a huge black bear fighting with a deer. The black bear attacked the deer’s neck and back with its claws and teeth, and the deer fought back with its hooves and antlers. Both animals were badly injured, bloodstained. They looked fierce and stubborn, unwilling to give up.

We were shocked by this scene; we had never seen anything like this before. We felt that this was a rare opportunity, so we decided to try to shoot that black bear. The black bear was a very dangerous and difficult animal to deal with, it had a strong body and agile speed, and a keen sense of smell and hearing. If we accidentally alarmed it, it might attack us. So, we had to be very careful and cautious, not let it find us. We observed it for a while with our night vision binoculars, waiting for a suitable moment. When the black bear lifted its head, exposing its chest, we immediately fired.

We hit the black bear’s heart, it let out a terrible howl, then fell to the ground. The deer also ran away in fear. We quickly ran over, confirmed that the black bear was dead. It was bigger and heavier than we imagined, it was a very rare giant black bear. It had thick black fur and sharp claws and teeth, it was a very precious and rare prey.

When dawn came, we packed up our prey and equipment, then drove back to the city¹. We sent our prey to a professional processing shop, let them help us deal with the fur and meat. We planned to make some decorations or clothes out of the fur, cut the meat into small pieces, freeze them, and eat them slowly later. We felt that this was the best respect and gratitude for our prey.

While waiting for the processing shop to finish their work, we went to a famous local restaurant called The Barn at Rocky Fork Creek. This restaurant was a farm-themed restaurant, it offered a lot of delicious and fresh food, such as steak, burger, salad, roasted chicken, etc. We ordered some dishes that we liked, as well as some local specialties, such as Ohio Buckeye Pie and Columbus Style Pizza. We ate and chatted, recalled our night hunting experience, and shared our views and feelings about Columbus. We felt that Columbus was a very beautiful and interesting city, it had a lot of places and things worth seeing, such as museums, parks, buildings, art, etc. So, we planned to come here again in the future to play around and explore its other charms.

This is the story of me and my classmates’ night hunting in the suburbs of Columbus. I hope you will like it and learn some knowledge and skills about night hunting and night vision binoculars from it.