“I am 69 years old and I have been hunting in central Louisiana for 65 years. This is my story.
It was an afternoon hunt on Nov. 6, 2025. It was a beautiful afternoon with blue skies. I was in my tower stand bow hunting and having very little success.
My deer hunting takes place in Avoyelles Parish along the Red River. Our club is privately owned and we have access to about 8,200 acres of hard wood bottom swampland. That is all fine and dandy for deer hunting, except we were in a drought at that time with an excessive heat wave and the deer were not moving very well during the day.
On this particular hunt, I was pretty miserable. The heat, the mosquitoes, and, yes, the swarming red wasps held my attention. I took my face mask off and my cap, which holds it in place, because of the heat. I shoot a crossbow but limit my shots to 20 yards. This is a habit from the days I hunted with a recurve. This allows me to see deer from a distance and prepare for a shot.
On more than one occasion I have had deer, hogs, and bears come from behind my stand and actually walk under my stand to reach my kill zone area. This is the area which I have broadcasted 2 gallons of corn.
During this particular hunt, I am watching my right away and shooting lanes and, yes, playing games on my cell phone. It is about 4:30 p.m. and I heard a slight rustling in the leaves behind my stand. The sound was close but I dared not turn around in fear that I would scare off a deer. The sound seemed to be under my stand so I hurried and put on my face mask, then I put my cap on to hold the mask in place. As I was reaching for my bow I realized that the animal was not under my stand but had climbed up the 18 or 20 steps and was on my porch. My immediate thought was a raccoon had made its way to my porch on my stand. So in my chair I slowly turned to look out of my window. When I did, the bear stuck its head into my stand, and with cat like reflexes I pulled off my cap and slapped the bear right on its nose. Bless its heart, I think it had a heart attack. As it ran down my stairs I realized it was a 70- to 80-pound cub. When it hit the ground, mama bear was right behind him. I began whooping and hollering. As far as I know, they might still be running.
A buddy of mine said he wouldn’t believe this story without a picture. Well, it has been my experience, that when a bear sticks its head in your stand at a distance of 18 inches there is not enough time for pictures.
I love the outdoors. I love the thrill of it all and sometimes, yes, sometimes, you even get to slap a bear around.”
-Michael Stacey