My little girl just got her first bear.  She hunted hard a lot of days by her own choice.  There were days that we were not going to go out, but I would show her the pic's from the game camera that night and she would be like lets go sit there tonight.  I posted a 5 part set of videos of the hunt on Youtube.  Just search Caslin's 1st bear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayCUbWPSQzk&feature=related
Check it out if you can.  Here are some pic's to check out as well.

The bear weighed in at 260lbs Live Weight, 208 dressed.
The Gun was custom built for her by Tom Gilbert of Gilberts Gun Exchange in Elk Mound, Wi
it is a 7.62x39 with JP Enterprises Recoil Eliminator on it.  Caslin has Loeys-Dietz Syndrom and will need to have her Aorta replaced in the near future so she can not take any recoil from a gun.  She says her Crossbow kicks more then the gun. 

Congratulations to both of you.  Sounds like a very determined young lady.

Congrats to Caslin on her 1st bear! Nice one...like her choice in "hunting" footwear in the 1st photo!

Congrats to her... And prayers for her...

Thanks guys!!  She says after deer season she wants to go find Prarie Dogs. LOL  I explained that we will have to wait till after Spring Turkey hunting to go for them.   But I guess I better start reloading sooner then later.

Caslin is scheduled to have open heart surgery on May 17th. We have started a page for her on Facebook. Please take a look at it and Like the page if you can. Every little bit of encuragement will help as time gets closer and the healing begins. http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!...86?sk=wall

From one bear hunter to another,  I will be praying the surgery will put all of these health issues into your past, so you can live a long life without any health issues and continue to enjoy hunting for many years to come.  I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of the next bear you get too!

Put the picks of all your kills on here .Good luck and our prayers are with you .

Thanks for all the words of encuragement and the Prayers. Caslin meets with the Surgen on Friday for a question and answer. She has about 25 questions ranging from "Will you go in the same scar as last time." to "When will I be able to eat Mac and Cheese" to "Will I be able to use my shotgun for Turkeys again" (She has not been able to shoot anything with recoil in about 2 years, So she took her last Turkey with it at 7 years old.

Again Thanks and I will try to keep you posted. So far surgery is still a go for May 17th.

Congrats to that brave young girl. Not having any bears in Kansas I can only imagine it as being a little scary going out and hunting them. Prayers to her on her surgery as well.

Please pass on my congratulations to your daughter. Feel free to keep some for yourself as well. lol I am sure you have it coming since you obviously got her headed in the right direction. I will be sure to put an extra "clause" in prayers for a speedy recovery after the surgery as well. I hope someday I will get a bear as nice as hers.

Caslin had her Heart Surgery this morning.  She is now in ICU starting her recovery.  The Surgery took about 7 hours.  She has been awake on and off and her only comlpaint so far is that she is hungry and thirsty.  So far just ice chips but hopefully tomorrow a little more.  The longest she has stayed awake so far is about a 1/2 hour.  You can follow her progress on facebook by searching ( Caslin's Quest ).

Also check out this link that the TOUGHEST MUDDER put up for us.   http://www.toughestmudder.com/tough...ins-quest/

Sounds like good progress so far! Wishing her a speedy and full recovery! Parents...y'all take care of yourselves, too.

congrats on the fine bear to her, and she will be in my prayer as well!
stay strong gooddogs

I;ve just come across this old-ish thread. Great photos. What is the news on your daughter?
JH

Thanks for asking about her.

Caslin is doing very good.  She spent 6 days in the hospital after the surgery and has been home since.  While in the hospital they had her hooked to a morphine button that she was told she could hit once every 10 minutes for pain.  Well after 2 days she had only said it hurt bad enough for the morphine twice.  So they disconected it and told her what she could now take for pain.  Well she has not had so much as a tylonal since then.  Even while in the hospital when asked what her pain level was on a 1 to 10 scale she averaged between 2 and 4.  Since being our of the hospital she has not mentioned pain once. 

She still has a lot of restrictions on what she can and can not do, and she is ok with that but you can tell she really wants to just start going full bore.  4 more weeks and she might get the ok to ride her bike.  At that time most all restrictions will expire.  As of now she is happy drawing blowing bubbles throwing water balloons at me when I am not expecting it,  going for walks and she started summer school yesterday.  Right now the worry is more about other kids then it is her.   Don't want them to hug her to hard or horse play around her.

She really wants to go fishing but casting and even fighting a bluegill is out for a few more weeks also. 

Hopefully in a few more weeks we will be able to start practicing with her crossbow again.  Right now even with it on the bi-pod the muscle that it takes to hold it steady and not tip are not ready to be used. (Trust me if I pulled it out and said lets give it a shot she would go for it.) 

As for shooting her gun the doctor said after the 8 weeks she should be able to, but that does not mean that she will feel up to it.  He said that because of cracking her surtum the jar even on a low recoiling gun might hurt for a long time.  So when it is time we will start out with the 22's again and work back up to her AR.  The last thing I want to do is let her shoot if shooting hurts. 

gooddogs, very good to hear Caslin is doing so well. Please give her a (very gentle) pat on the back from here, and yourself one too for that matter.

Glad to hear the good news! Hope the healing continues well.

Was just thinking about her the other day and was thinking about asking and then seen it on here .She is a real little trouper .Tell her good luck from another one .