Billy White of Brookhaven, MS went on his first Black Bear hunt in North Carolina and told the following story:

"Made it to NC Sunday evening and temps were in the mid 40's and after a 11 1/2 hr drive the cool air was very welcome, so I made it to the store where I was suppose to meet the guide and after a few mins he showed up and we did a little talking and off to the camp we went , another 30 min drive. He had 2 other guys staying in camp with us that had dogs as well as him so between me and those 3 along with a camp cook it was 5 of us in camp. WE all did the meet and greet thing and got to finishing up setting camp up.

So we had a great supper and talked about the plan the next morning, myself and the 3 other guys were going to lead 3 dogs a piece into the bottom of the mountain up the Appalachian Trail , and he had some other guys coming from the top of another mountain leading dogs in from there.

We left the truck at 6:30 am for our walk up the trail and it wasn't long before the guys on top had stuck a trail and turned the dogs out on it , so the chase was on but we couldn't hear it yet, we were keeping in contact with 2 way radios, it wasn't long and they had it treed and we got to where we could hear them treed and turned our dogs loose to go help. And as soon as ours made it there the Bear came down and ran another 1/4 mile or so straight up the mountain and they had him treed again.

Now here is where the fun starts: we were still a long long ways away from them and there were others closer but they wanted me to kill my first so off we went, at 7:30 am up and down, up and down mountains, there were a few of them where we were climbing up and I had my hand no further then a foot in front of my face it was very hard climbing to say the least, the last 2 mountains were so steep that we would have to pull our sleeves up by trees and bushes and make it to a big tree and get behind it for a break.

I was getting cramps and cut in places I didn't know I had LOL, but after 8 hrs of walking and climbing we were finally above the Bear and in position for a shot, Boom, flop here he comes out the tree hits the ground rolling with 16 dogs fighting and rolling with him down the mountain.

The younger guy with us took off trying to catch up with them and start tying dogs up, me and another guy start slipping down the mountain trying to catch up with all the dogs and Bear rolling down the mountain, and come up to where he hit the ground and you couldn't have cleared the side of that mountain out any better with a D8 dozer they knocked over trees and up rooted stumps and everything else in there way for about 400 yards down the mountain.
We were getting close to the bottom of the mountain and both us caught cramps in out legs and stopped to try and work them out , and while doing so I happened to look over the guys shoulder and there stood a bear 50 ft up a tree , I asked the guy was that mine and about the time he opened his mouth the Bear started shaking his head and Blood was going everywhere, and my question was answered for me.

Boom, flop here he comes out again and the rolling started again another 200 yds or so , it finally came to a stop in a thicket 10 ft from a 60 ft water fall and we all made it down there and started tying dogs up, and had to push the Bear the last 10 ft into the waterfall and finally got all the dogs tied up.

By this time it was 2:45 or so and we pulled out the GPS to see just where we were at to let the others know where to come help and to see just how far we had went, 11.6 miles from when we left the truck to where we had him on the ground, MAYBE 1/2 a mile of it was flat ground, and we found a rd that was 2.7 miles from us and made the call on the radio letting them know we had the bear and where to come in from and after another 2 hrs we had help falling off the mountain from everywhere, Those guys were happier for me then I was and they took turns 2 at a time dragging and around 7pm that evening we finally hit the rd. So between the hike to him and the drag out we went 14.3 miles that day. To say I was wore out is a understatement.
 
And after a few pictures and letting the other dogs get a smell and bite we were off to camp.

Made it to camp, got us some well needed supper and something to drink beside creek water. Which I bet I drank 5 gallons of that day. LOL
The wildlife biologist showed up and we got his tooth pulled and weighed it and check in and I had my first Bear and a well deserved one I think.
He weighed in at 250 and I will know next year of his age, he had a real long body and big feet, I was told the bear over there that stay high in those mountains where all the rocks are don't get as fat as the ones living in the valleys where the creeks and acorn trees are everywhere, so I had a nice size Bear for where he came from and I was very happy with it."