ARKANSAS Bear Camp

Fall Bear camp is a time-honored tradition & 2020 didn’t disappoint.

- Kolby Morehead & Brent Reaves

The fall bear season is finally here, and I look forward to hunting with my “hunting family” in western Arkansas every year. Bear Camp is nestled among the hills and hollows of the mountains that were home to the Ouachita Tribe of Native Americans. Two theories translate the word Ouachita, pronounced locally, “wash-uh-taw”, as meaning “big hunting grounds” or “good hunting grounds.” Being a flatlander since birth, I think both apply equally.

On opening day, I unceremoniously arrived in Bear Camp as everyone was out doing bear hunting prep. Kolby Morehead, Clay Newcomb, and the Newcomb family had settled into camp the day before. It has become somewhat of a “family tradition,” this yearly Ouachita Mountain bear camp, where most of us are related only by our love for one another and our devotion to the resource. It’s a big deal to us and marks the start of hunting season in Arkansas.

David Miller and James Lawrence have been pivotal in my bear hunting success and, more importantly, great friends for several years. Both men have years of experience in baiting and know the habits of bears, and I learn something every time I’m around them. This year would be no different. I would be David’s guest again, hunting an area that produced my first bear four years ago. Since that time, I’ve traveled and documented bear hunts with Clay and James all over North America, but instead of being behind the camera, I’d be back behind the bow on this one. I was ready and anxious to get up the mountain.