Kara, also called “Knot”, is no newcomer to hunting. Her father, Sid Cayton is one of eastern North Carolina’s best-known waterfowl and bear hunters. Much to the envy of many young ladies, “Knot” began her outdoor training by shooting wood ducks and soon graduated to bigger game. She shot her first bear, a mere 150-pounder when she was 11 years old and has hunted these animals every year since that time.
Sid Cayton isn’t a professional guide but, next to his love for his family and the out of doors, Sid likes waterfowl hunting and bear hunting best. His good-sized farming operation in Beaufort County requires that he have an intimate knowledge of the land and its resources and since his work day begins well before dawn most every day he manages to get some “inside” information on the animals in and around the land he farms.
Most bear hunters around North Carolina know that Beaufort County has a very long history of producing a lot and very large black bears. One farm that Sid Cayton works always has produced some of the largest bears every year.
Cayton’s early morning scouting observations on this farm have enabled him to determine pretty much just where what bears are on the property and when these creatures of habit are going to pass that way. He’s had a “big-un” under observation for several years now but somehow “Old Volkswagen” seems to know exactly what Sid’s shooting limitations are and has his adversary outsmarted.
Sid Cayton also had this particular bear in mind for his daughter (Knot) to take so this past one-week long season in eastern North Carolina, the father and daughter set out to outsmart this particular bear.
Since Kara attends high school in Pamlico County a problem arose between attending school and hunting that one special bear. Not to worry! Dad (with some help from Kara’s mom, Karen) figured out how to keep Knot hunting bears while still punching in at the Pamlico County High School on time.
Sid Cayton and Kara would rise at about 4:00 in the morning, dress for cooler weather and abundant insects and begin a mile walk down muddy dirt roads to reach the spot in the edge of a big canal where Sid figured that the big bear was to cross. This procedure went on for the first four days of the one-week bear season.
The last day of the early season fell on a Saturday and the two followed the usual procedure getting to the ground blind in a pouring-down rain well before dawn started to break. They hoped that the big bear would be fooled into thinking that nobody would be waiting as he crossed from the corn fields, across a canal and into the really thick briars and low scrub trees where he usually denned up.
As dawn broke the two hunters spotted the big-un headed their way. Sid cautioned Kara to wait until the bear came to within easy range before she aimed and shot. They didn’t want to mess up this once in a lifetime chance at a bear of this size.
Black bears are well known for being smart, and the older the animals get the smarter they become. This big bear was no exception.
Just before the bear walked into the range of Kara’s custom built .50-caliber Whisper rifle he stopped, glanced around for a second and sensed that something wasn’t right. Figuring that he’d be safer in the thick brush he disappeared into the thick briers and was gone.
The story doesn’t end there. A second bear was following close behind the big one and was headed their way. Again the two hunters played a waiting game until the bear was within range.
Figuring that these were the last few minutes of this early season and it was time for Kara to take the best bear she could with what time she had left before walking out to her mother’s waiting car and some warm school clothes, Kara lined up her target and shot. The bear immediately went down like a stone. High-fives and congratulations were in order as the two began their short walk over to the “dead” bear. This is where the real meat of this story begins.
Sid Cayton embarrassedly admits that at this point he broke one of the rules of hunting bears. These are potentially dangerous animals especially when they’re wounded and it’s always a good idea to administer a finishing shot to the head of the animal just to be very sure that he’s down for good. To their surprise Kara’s bear dragged himself to its feet and wobbling like a drunken sailor, made his way on across the dirt road into the thicket of briars. Sid still figured that any bear that, to all appearances, was hit hard with a bullet the size of the .50 caliber Whisper was dead and just didn’t know it. Wrong again!
After several minutes of trying to blood-trail the bear through the briars, they decided to call in the reinforcements. Thank God for cell phones. They caught Mom just as she was leaving the house with fresh clothes and a warm car to take Kara to school and asked her to “quick, bring Elvis out here to us. We have a wounded bear on our hands and Elvis is good at this kind of stuff.”
It’s best to explain that Elvis isn’t a Presley. He’s a well trained black Labrador retriever that’s been Kara’s dog for several years. He’s trained on waterfowl and has helped track down several wounded bears. None of these bears have been as big as today’s bear looked to be, though.
Friend Randy Myers (the builder of Kara’s custom-made rifle) grabbed Elvis and took him from the hard surfaced road to the briar thickets where Elvis soon picked up the trail. The shorter body of the dog enabled him to get down under the briars and brush to pursue the bear while Randy, Sid and Kara had to tear their way (literally ) through the briars. The blood trail was now showing human blood along with the blood from the wounded bear.
After several minutes Elvis had the bear bayed (fighting off the dog at ground level) and the hunters could locate the action by the sounds of Elvis’s frantic barking. With Sid and Randy closing fast and Kara having a bloody time crashing through the catbriers, the hunt seemed to be closing fast.
Sid was first on the scene.Since this was by virtue of firing the first shot her animal, her dad wanted Kara to have the honor of taking the final shot. This was another mistake.
As Kara fought through the brush Elvis was having a hard time with this bear. He was grabbing at the bear’s rear quarters and the bear seemed to be thoroughly preoccupied with this of his latest antagonists. Sid estimated that he was 15 yards away from the Elvis-bear fracas when he looked around to see how far Kara was behind. When his attention re-focused on the bear the animal was closing fast and an estimated 3 yards away. No time for Kara, this bear needed killing NOW!
Suddenly the bear changed ends and turned on Elvis. His jaws snapped shut on Elvis’s rear hip and Elvis squalled.
Bloody herself Kara heard her pet screaming in pain and screamed back. Both Randy and Sid had to finish this bear off as quickly as possible. The killing of the bear was over but the story goes on.
While Kara held a suffering Elvis the dead bear’s jaws remained locked onto the dog’s hind leg. It took the two men to prize the jaws open and release Elvis.
Elvis partially walked and was carried as quickly as possible to a waiting car some miles away and then transported to a veterinarian’s office where he was treated and released.
Later, after the big bear was pulled from the brush and things quieted down a bit, the hunters wanted a photo of Kara with her big bear. Posing with the 450-pound animal on one side of her and Elvis on the other, “Knot” refused to be photographed until she’d changed into better clothes and washed off the various mixtures of blood from about everyone involved in the hunt.
To end the story Elvis (and Kara and family) got the last teeth into the bear as they ate bear stew on Thanksgiving Day. The bear will be mounted and this story will be around the Cayton household for a lot of years.
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