John Corrao is no stranger to the Putnam County woods. As the President of the Westchester/Putnam Branch of the QDMA, John spends countless hours in the field improving habitat for whitetails and other game.

After his bee hive was destroyed twice in late September, John had a feeling a bear was around. With a newly established bear season in Putnam County this would be the first time that John would be able to take a bear in this part of the state.

With trail cams running throughout the property, John was hoping to get pictures of the bear, but the bear never showed up.

John had about two hours to hunt on the afternoon of October 26th and decided to try and take a doe between two food plots near the house. John watched as 12-15 deer fed in some clover that was growing in the fruit orchard.

Suddenly, the deer scattered running in every direction. A full twenty minutes passed before John saw what scared the deer as a black bear appeared. Instead of walking in the clover where the deer were the bear hooked a turn towards John's ladder stand. John drew back his Hoyt Carbon Element took aim as the black bear approached. When the bear presented a shot opportunity John squeezed the release and watched as the bear turned and ran, crashing just 30 yards away.

The black bear weighed in at 250 pounds and had very little stomach contents - this was one hungry bear. What made this bear so special was that it's the first bear John's ever seen while hunting, the first arrow he release from his new bow, and the first black bear taken in Putnam County! That's a lot of firsts! Congrats to John on an awesome black bear and a great hunt.