Black bear appears big enough for record books

Bowhunter Charlie Radobenko early this month took down a large chocolate-colored black bear in the Coeur d'Alene National Forest, and the animal appears to be large enough to get his name in the record books.

Radobenko, 21, of Dalton Gardens, said he killed the male bear about a mile or two from the Spades Mountain lookout, east of Hayden Lake.

"Don't rush the shot, you've got to wait," Radobenko said. "One thing that I've learned over the years is to make sure that as an archer you feel comfortable with the shot. Otherwise, chances are you're not likely to recover the animal."

He already passed up opportunities on two other bears, one blonde and another cinnamon colored. One opportunity came on the same day he made the kill, May 3, while the other came about two days earlier, he said.

Radobenko said it appears the bear will make the Pope and Young Club's records program, based on the green score of the skull. Adding up both the front-to-back and side-to-side lengths, the skull had an overall measurement of nearly 19 inches.

Pope and Young Club's records program for black bear requires a minimum score of 18.

The size of the bear was more impressive because of its lighter color, he said. The black ones typically grow larger than the lighter colored ones.

Radobenko said the bear measures just less than six feet from nose to tail, and nearly six feet from claw to claw on its front legs, after having been skinned.

He estimated the bear weighed between 300 and 350 pounds, and was from 8 to 10 years old. A taxidermist provided the age estimate.

It's Radobenko's third bear.

He killed it from a tree stand, launching his arrow from 15 yards, striking the animal just behind its front shoulder.

The animal was drawn into a clearing in the heavily wooded area with molasses on logs, Radobenko said.

He spotted the large head and wide spread between its ears as the bear was standing on a log about 60 yards from his tree stand.

"It sprinted about 45 yards to the bait," he said. "It sounded like a heard of elk running through the woods. He made a lot of racket."

After being hit with the arrow, the animal ran coughing and stumbled downhill about 30 yards into some bushes.

Radobenko called his father, Bill Radobenko, to the location for help transporting the animal.

It took Charlie, his father and his nephew, Nick Radobenko, about three hours to get the animal up to a logging road to be loaded onto an all-terrain vehicle.

Charlie Radobenko will be applying for Pope and Young Club's records program in early July, he said.

Radobenko, who works with his father at ACI Northwest Inc., in Coeur d'Alene, has been bowhunting since he was 16.