Michigan girl breaks state record for black bears set by her mother 26 years ago

Autumn Pratt of Grayling, Michigan is literally following in her mother’s footsteps as a hunter. In 1997, Autumn’s mother, Dawn, killed a black bear with a bow and arrow, which turned out to be a state record in the women’s archery category. About 26 years later, in the fall of 2023, Autumn used her bow to tag a bear that scored even higher than her mother’s, etching her own name into the state record book for major competitions.

In 2009, Dawn became the first woman to claim one Commemorative Coins of Michigan grand slam by tagging a deer, bear, turkey and elk that qualified for state data maintained by CBM. And to this day, she remains the only woman to achieve a CBM slam. But autumn is trying to change that.

The 16-year-old already holds deer, turkey and bear records, and she is working to obtain a coveted bull elk license through the state’s annual lottery drawing. She has seven preference points for obtaining one of the hard-to-obtain licenses. (Dawn says she spent 23 years applying for jobs before signing her own bull tag.)

Both of Autumn’s parents, especially Dawn, want her to get a state record moose and complete her grand slam. If she is lucky enough to get the tag she needs, they will do everything they can to help her succeed.

The application period for elk permits runs from May 1 through June 1 each year, and hunters are limited to one application. (In 2024, only 80 bull tags were issued by the state and there were more than 40,000 applicants.) Each year a separate drawing is held for what is called a Pure Michigan huntingand the few hunters drawn each year are given tags for all state restricted hunts, including elk and bear. Hunters can register as often as they want for a fee.

“I have submitted Autumn’s name for the Pure Michigan Hunt every year to increase her chances of getting an elk tag,” says Dawn. Outdoor living.

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After all, Dawn helped Autumn get a bear tag for the Red Oak bear management unit in the northern Lower Peninsula in 2023 when she collected her state record bear. More than 10 preference points are needed to obtain a bear tag for Red Oak, and Dawn had 12. When Dawn signed a bear tag for the unit in 2023, she transferred her tag to Autumn. (The DNR allows successful draw candidates to transfer their tag to a person of their choice or to someone on the DNR’s list of disabled hunters.)

Getting started in the deer forest

With both of Autumn’s parents being avid hunters, it’s no surprise that their daughter has become obsessed with the sport. She started hunting deer with a Parker crossbow at the age of six, and has stuck with it ever since.

“I took my first deer, a six-point buck, during the youth hunt that year,” Autumn says. “I was hooked and started hunting deer every year with decent success.”

Four of the whitetails Autumn caught with a crossbow are state records. She tagged two of those deer in 2023, including her highest-scoring buck, an 8-pointer that scored 119 ⅛. (The minimum score for typical archery bucks in the state’s big-game records is 100.)

When it came time to graduate from bear hunting, Autumn wanted to ditch the crossbow and hunt with a compound bow, just like her mother. Her father Jerry bought her a compound in 2021. She shoots a Bear Legit model with a release and uses Victory VFORCE arrows tipped with 125 grain Tuffhead broadheads, with a 100 grain copper insert to bring the weight to 225 grains .

“I practiced with the bow often, but I was unable to muster enough pounds to make a clean, lethal shot from a reasonable distance until late fall 2022,” Autumn says. “I shoot in the school archery competition and with practice I was able to bring the bow draw weight to 35 pounds in the spring of 2023. That was the draw weight I used to hunt bear that trap.

“I spent most of my summer months practicing every day in my grandfather’s backyard. My mother was a drill sergeant of sorts. When it rained, I had to draw my bow several times in the living room to keep my muscles tight and my form consistent. She told me that the rigorous practice would pay off, and she was right.

Tagging a state record black bear

“When bear season started, I ended up wearing a camouflage polar fleece outfit that my mother wore in 1997 to kill her record-setting bear,” Autumn writes in an article about her bear hunt. “It was a good fit and I felt it would bring me happiness.”

Jerry was sitting with his daughter in a treehouse 50 feet from an active bait when bear season opened last fall. Although anticipation and excitement were high due to wildlife camera photos of bear activity at the site, they did not see a single bear on opening day. The next day they returned to the same place. Autumn writes:

Once we were in the stall and it became quiet, a sow and two cubs slowly approached the bait. They poked around for a moment, but seemed a little tense and continued walking.

I patiently remained motionless, hoping another bear would appear. It wasn’t long before I saw a black figure silently approaching me. As the bear approached the bait, I could tell he was nervous. He constantly checked the area, coming in and out of the thick cover twice.

I was focused on making a shot the next time he walked into the opening, so I stood up and prepared to draw my bow. The bear slowly emerged and went for the bait. He turned around and exposed his vitals. At that moment I drew my bow with ice in my veins. I focused my aim and let the arrow fly. I heard the loud ‘clap’ and knew I had hit the bear in a good spot as I watched it run away from sight, growling.

My father and I waited and listened for the bear’s sound to determine its direction. We waited about 45 minutes before sneaking down and out of the woods to get help. We retrieved my bear from the forest with a lot of help from friends and a long journey. He had a clothed weight of 330 pounds and had a skull circumference of 20 9/16 inches.

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In addition to being a new state record, Autumn’s bear was also entered into the Pope and Young record book. The minimum score for black bear skulls in the P&Y book is 18 – the same as in Michigan.

Her mother’s bear scored 19 15/16, but was much older and slightly heavier than Autumn’s. Dawn’s bear weighed 343 pounds and was 21 years old, according to the DNR, while Autumn’s bear was only six years old based on an examination of its teeth. Autumn was 15 at the time.