We first traveled to the prairie north of I 40. There we enjoyed seeing two elk and several herds of antelope (sorry, did not think to take pictures), but no sign of deer.

In the afternoon we tried the woods near the small town of Groom Creek, a few miles away from Prescott. By the way, it was outside a cabin on the edge of Groom Creek, where in 2023 a black bear had attacked and killed a man, and had begun to feast on him before neighbors could shoot and kill the bear.

For hunting deer we seemed to have made a better choice. Here is proof:

She was maybe ten steps away. Eight times we had seen them that afternoon, a total of 21 deer! But none had antlers.

On our way home we also ran across a herd of javelina, could take this picture:

The last one in a 15-javelina herd.

But the highpoint that day was encountering bears. Note that neither David nor I had a bear permit, were not allowed to hunt one. It is very rare to see one at all, and for both of us it was the first time to see two of them together.

At first they began to move away. Then just with my mouth I did my best to make sounds of a dying rabbit.

Well, here is their story:

Yeah, it is unusual that we black bears hang out together. But Yogi and I are really good friends. So this one day were we in the woods, munching on mainly grass, when we heard this noise of something bigger approaching us. Always cautious, we began to move away. Then came this loud screeching noise, like two or three times. I went for the nearest tree!

Yogi!!! Shouldn’t we climb to safety??

NO!

Booboo, I’m gonna check this out:

I’m not afraid and I know what direction all that noise came from!

On my way …

Ahh!

I got within 5 steps, and I am NOT liking this AT ALL!

It is two darn hunters who troubled us!! You two want to get some with my claws?!?