In an amazing twist of fate and luck, 15-year-old Autumn Pratt from Grayling set a new state record for black bear among females in the bow and arrow category during the fall of 2023. The bear Autumn bagged beat one her mother, Dawn Pratt, tagged 26 years earlier. And Autumn was wearing the same camo outfit her mother did when she took her state record bear.
On top of that, Dawn was responsible for enabling her daughter to get a bear tag for the Red Oak Bear Management Unit in the northern Lower Peninsula during 2023 so she could collect her state record bear. It takes more than 10 preference points to obtain a bear tag for Red Oak, and Dawn had 12. When Dawn was drawn for a bear license in 2023, she transferred her drawing success to Autumn.
Twenty-six years ago, Dawn Pratt set the state record for Michigan black bears among females in the bow and arrow category. Last year, her daughter, Autumn, broke her record at the age of 15 with her big 2023 bear above! On top of that, her mother transferred her bear tag to Autumn, and Autumn wore the same camo outfit her mother wore when she set the record.
According to the MDNR, “The bear hunt transfer program allows successful applicants to transfer their drawing success to an eligible person they know or donate their drawing success anonymously to individuals on the DNR hunt waiting list. Visit Michigan.gov/HuntTransfers to learn more about the bear hunt transfer program. Who is eligible to receive a bear hunt transfer? 1. Youth hunters, 16 years old and younger, who applied for a bear license and were unsuccessful in the current-year bear drawing. 2. Any person who has been diagnosed with an advanced illness. (see the Bear Hunting Digest).
Since both of Autumn’s parents are avid hunters, it’s not a surprise that their daughter has developed an intense interest in the activity. It’s worthy of note that the female members of the Pratt family are not the only ones with book bears to their credit with bow and arrow. Autumn’s father, Jerry has two bears in state records maintained by Commemorative Bucks of Michigan. He tagged a bruin that scored 20 in Crawford County in 1989 and one that measured 18 15/16 in Mackinac County in 1994.
Autumn began deer hunting at the age of six with a Parker Crossbow in 2012.
“I took my first deer, a six-point buck, during the youth hunt that year,” Autumn wrote. “I was hooked and continued to deer hunt every year with pretty good success.”
Four of the whitetails Autumn has bagged with a crossbow are in state records, two of which she got during 2023, including her highest-scoring buck to her credit so far. That 8-pointer scored 119 1/8. The minimum score for entry of archery kills with typical antlers in state records is 100.
When it came to bear hunting, Autumn wanted to hunt with a compound bow like her mother had instead of the crossbow. Jerry bought his daughter a compound in 2021.
“I would practice with the compound often,” Autumn wrote, “but just wasn’t able to draw enough poundage to make a clean, lethal shot from a reasonable distance until late fall of 2022. I shot in the school archery league, and with continued practice, I was able to dial the draw weight of the bow up to 35 pounds by the spring of 2023. That was the draw weight I hunted bear with that fall.”
The compound bow Autumn shot her bear with is a Bear Legit model that she shoots with a release. She used Victory VFORCE arrows tipped with 125-grain Tuffhead broadheads with a 100-grain brass insert to get the weight to 225 grains.
“I spent most of my summer months practicing every day in my grandfather’s backyard. My mom was like a drill sergeant. If it rained, I had to draw my bow in the living room several times to keep my muscles toned and my form consistent. She told me the rigorous practice would pay off, and she was right.
“When bear season opened, I ended up wearing a polar fleece predator camo outfit that my mom wore in 1997 to kill her record book bear,” Autumn wrote in an article about her bear hunt. “It fit well and I felt it would bring me good luck.”
Jerry sat with his daughter in a tree stand 15 yards from an active bait when bear season opened. Although anticipation and excitement ran high due to game camera photos they had of bear activity at that bait, they didn’t see a single bear on opening day. They returned to the same spot on the second day of hunting.
“Once we got in the stand and it quieted down, a sow and two cubs slowly approached the bait,” Autumn explained. “They sniffed around briefly but seemed slightly on edge and moved on.
“I patiently remained motionless, hoping that another bear would show. It wasn’t long before I saw a black figure moving towards me without a sound. As the bear approached the bait, I could tell he was nervous. He was constantly scent checking the area and came in and out of the thick cover twice.
“I was focused on taking a shot the next time he walked into the opening, so I stood and prepared to draw my bow. The bear slowly reappeared and went to the bait. He turned and exposed his vitals. At that moment, I drew my bow with ice in my veins. I zeroed in on my target and let the arrow fly. I heard the loud ‘whack’ and knew I had hit the bear in a good spot as I watched him barrel out of sight with a growl.
“My dad and I waited and listened for the sound of the bear to get his direction. We waited about 45 minutes before sneaking down and out of the woods to get help. We retrieved my bear with a lot of help from friends and a long haul out of the woods. He had a dressed weight of 330 pounds and had a skull measurement of 20 9/16 inches.”
Her mother’s bear scored 19 15/16, but was much older and a little heavier than the one her daughter got. Dawn’s bear had a dressed weight of 343 pounds and was aged by the DNR at 21 years old. Autumn’s bear was only six years old based on an examination of a cross-section of a premolar tooth. Autumn was 15 years old when she got her bear.
Autumn got her record-setting bear in Crawford County. Dawn’s book bear came from Missaukee County. Autumn’s bear is not only a state record among females for bear taken with bow and arrow, it’s also in the top spot among females in the youth category. The bear was also the highest-scoring bow kill among all entries from 2023 seasons.
Autumn’s bear was also entered in national records maintained by the Pope & Young and Boone & Crockett Clubs. The minimum score for entering black bear skulls in Pope & Young Records is 18, which is the same for state records. The minimum for Boone & Crockett entry is 20.
