The Singletree – The Bear Hunt – by Linfisher

The rain was light, but it slowed their travel down considerably. In about two and a half hours, they arrived at the campsite and began to unload the pack animals. It hadn’t rained there and they were glad of it. Lori stretched out a rope for a picket line and tied the horses up as Monte began to set up the tent. Lori found some rocks and built a fire ring, then went to gather wood.

She made a large pile of firewood and covered it with a tarp, in case it rained later. In about an hour, the camp was set up. They had lunch then decided to go up and ride the area and see if they could find any sign of the bear. The dogs were anxious to go also. They loaded their rifles, put them in the scabbards, mounted up and headed up to the area where bear sign had been seen by some of her hired men yesterday.

The scenery in the area is beautiful, mountain peaks up to 13,000 ft, aspen glades, extensive stands of pine trees, large meadows and millions of wildflowers. The cattle grazing are fat, shiny and healthy. Hummingbirds and other wild birds are everywhere…..a cow elk and her calf run for the trees as they ride over the top of a hill.

Monte’s dogs are staying close and not roaming far. One word from Monte and they obey immediately. After about two hours of riding, the dogs hit a scent. After a few minutes of looking, Monte finds a large bear track and bear scat nearby. Monte estimates the bear probably weighs around 800 pounds. The tracks look to be about 24 hours old. Since it was getting close to sunset, they decide to go back to camp and start again early in the morning.

When they get back to camp, they unsaddle their horses and build a fire. Monte goes to a nearby creek and catches some brook trout and they have them for supper. After the meal, they just sit by the fire and talk. Monte asks Lori if she is happy in her marriage to which she answers that she couldn’t be happier. She tells him the story about how she and Ted dated in High School, then broke up when they went to college.

She told him how they had bumped into each other one day at the grocery store and it started all over. Ted’s first wife had passed away a few years ago from cancer and he had two kids, a girl and a boy. Lori told Monte how much she loved these kids, as she couldn’t have kids herself. All in all, she thought this would be the marriage that would last the rest of her life.

She asked Monte why he hadn’t ever married. He told her that he just hadn’t found the right woman. He also told her that he wished he had met her several years ago, “You are everything a man could want…..you’re beautiful, you’re definitely not a girly girl, you’re educated and smart…..oh, did I say you were gorgeous…..plus, you can hold your own with any man……you are the perfect woman………you’re husband is a very lucky guy.”

“Well thank you for the compliments, Monte. I just find it hard to believe that you can’t find a woman that‘s compatible with you………damn, you’re a really good looking man, I’d think women would be beating your door down.”

“Well, Lori, I sometimes think I scare women. You know, the line of work I’m in, most think I’m just a “killer”. A lot of the women out there now days are conservative tree huggers. Most don’t understand why my profession is necessary and I sure can’t convince them otherwise…and there are a few other reasons, but they’re not that important.”

They talked about their lives till very late then went to sleep. They both knew that the next day would be a long day in the saddle and they needed the rest. Saturday morning came and the skies were clear. The temperature was mild and after breakfast Monte untied the dogs and they were off in search of the rogue. They searched most of the day, covering over 15 miles of tree line with no fresh results.

They returned to camp, ate, relaxed and talked for a while then went to sleep. This routine continued for the next couple of days. Each night, Monte continued to try to get closer to Lori, even kissing her once when she didn’t expect it. It felt good to Lori, but she told Monte that she just wasn’t interested, even though it stirred old familiar feelings down deep inside of her.

On Tuesday afternoon, the dogs hit on a scent. Monte checked out the tracks and estimated they were only a few hours old. He found bear scat and found it was still warm. They knew they were close to the killer bear they had searched for.

Monte gave the dogs a smell of the scat and gave the command, “find”. Immediately the dogs took off on the trail. The bear had crossed a wide meadow and entered a stand of Aspen trees on the other side. They dismounted and got their rifles out, tied the horses and continued the pursuit on foot. Off in the distance the baying of the dogs was intense.

Monte looked at Lori and said, “They have him treed, I can tell by their barks……hear how excited they are?” Lori was moving quickly through the trees in front of Monte. Monte definitely noticed what a nice ass Lori had as she ran in front of him. He was still thinking to himself how he would like to have her. After about a quarter of a mile, they came on the dogs circling a large pine tree. They stopped, breathing heavily, and checked out the tree. About 40 feet up in the tree was the bear. Monte said to Lori, “You want to shoot him? It was your stock he was killing, it’s only right that you get to take him out.”

Lori smiled and said, “Hell yes, I want to kill that son of a bitch, he’s made my life miserable for the past month.”

They both had to catch their breath. Lori chambered a round and took a rest against a tree. Through the scope, she could see the bear looking directly at her. For a split second, she felt sorry for him, he’s just trying to survive like the rest of us……….then, the thought of the money he had cost the ranch popped into her mind. She took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger.

Through her scope, she saw the bullet hit the bear and the blood and tissue splatter against the trunk of the tree. The bear bellowed and fell from the tree. When he hit the ground, he just lay on the ground, his breathing labored. Lori could hear a bubbling sound when he took a breath. She and Monte had their guns up and ready to shoot again if he got up…..however he just laid there, the dogs were going nuts, but the bear didn’t move. Monte and Lori eased up on the bear, their guns at the ready.

When they got up within ten feet of the animal, the breathing stopped. For a few minutes they just stood there, watching. The dogs would go up and bite the animal, with no response. He was dead. Monte called the dogs off and made them lay down a short distance away. He walked up and kicked the bear with no response. He pulled his knife out and said, “Well Lori…that was a great shot, right through the heart. You want to keep the meat?”

“No, just the skin, head and paws.” She said.

“Well, we’d better get busy, it’ll be dark soon. He kneeled down and began to skin the bear. Lori pulled her knife out and helped him. It took them about an hour to remove the skin from the animal. While Monte finished up, Lori walked back to the horses and led them to where Monte was. He had folded the skin up around the head and took some twine from his saddle bag and tied it.

The horses definitely didn’t like being this close to a bear, dead or alive. Just the scent of the bear was driving the horses crazy. Lori’s horse, Jack, was a really a high spirited animal, however, in Lori’s hands he was a piece of clay. He trusted her completely and never batted an eye when she and Monte tied the bear skin on the saddle.

Monte commented to Lori that there weren’t many horses out there that you could do that to. They walked out of the trees and into the meadow. Monte mounted his horse and Lori swung up behind him, leading Jack. Jack stayed close to Lori, maybe just a little uneasy with the skin on his back. Lori had her arms wrapped around Monte as they rode back toward camp. She could feel his muscles under his shirt as they rode.

When they got back to the camp site, they decided that it would take too long to ride out tonight, as the sun had set about fifteen minutes ago. They unloaded the skin and unsaddled the horses. Monte tied the dogs and he and Lori went to the creek to wash up before supper. Monte pulled his boots off then his jeans, shirt and boxers.

He waded out into the creek and began to bathe himself. Lori took a good look at this handsome cowboy, then told him she was going downstream. He smiled and continued to bathe, not trying to hide his nakedness. Lori, not being very shy herself, went downstream a hundred yards stripped down and bathed. There was a short distance between them, but in the twilight they weren’t within easy sight of each other. Lori had brought a bar of soap and proceeded to clean herself up good.

After a few days without bath facilities, this felt really good. The cold water was invigorating. She could feel her nipples getting hard from the cold water and the thought of Monte’s naked body….damn he was hot. She finished up and dried herself off. She had brought a clean change of clothes as the other ones had the bear’s blood on them. She dressed and went back to the campsite. Monte was already there and had a skillet on the fire and was cooking what looked like steak. “I didn’t know you brought any steak up here, that looks good,” she said
.
“Lori, it’s bear steak, while you went after the horses, I cut some steaks off the loin of that bear, I think they are going to be good. He had also put a couple of large potatoes wrapped in foil in the coals of the fire. As he smiled at her, his thoughts were of getting her naked and making love to her.

“Go sit down and relax, I’ll cook these babies up, they should be ready in twenty minutes or so.” He told her.

Lori smiled, “well, that sounds really good. I brought something to celebrate with, in case we got the bastard. I left it in the creek yesterday to get it good and cold, I’ll be right back.” In about ten minutes, she returned with a bottle of Patron……ice cold. It had always been Lori’s drink of choice.
She peeled the seal and opened it, smelled it then took a big drink. “Can I interest you in a sip, big guy?” she asked Monte.