12-year-old who beat cancer bags his 1st bear

Kellan Tilton’s first bear was an emotional experience for the 12-year-old and his dad Dan on youth day.

The Tiltons had loaded Kellan’s wheelchair into the back of a truck, which brought the hunter’s entourage as far as it could go into the woods. Dan then carried his son the final 150 yards and settled him in a 6-by-6-foot ground blind that was set up for him near a bait site.

Kellan only had a triangular window big enough for one person to look out and spot a bear. His guide told him to keep the barrel of his gun inside so he wouldn’t spook the animal, and his father couldn’t see what Kellan was seeing.

Dan’s advice to his son was if he could see the bear’s neck, shoot it when ready.

It was all on Kellan’s shoulders to choose the timing and placement of the shot. This was his hunt.

Kellan had never hunted bear before, but he dropped the 150-pound boar with one shot from his father’s old .308 Browning lever-action rifle.

Other than turkey, it was his first big game animal.

His excitement could barely be contained when Kellan described his hunt.

“It was pretty fun. Being able to harvest that bear was really exciting,” Kellan said Monday night.

He was shaking like a leaf after he shot the bear and he and his father were crying and hugging each other, Kellan said. It was an experience they never expected to have together.

Kellan was born paralyzed from the waist down, due to a tumor in his spine and abdomen, his father said. The boy started chemotherapy on the third day of his life to beat cancer.

“Now Kellan is a vibrant, happy kid that doesn’t let anything stop him,” Dan said.

Kellan wasn’t actually supposed to participate, but when someone dropped out of the Moose Maine Kids bear hunt, director Ron Greco nudged the Tiltons.

Kellan, of Detroit, already has one of the three new free moose permits for kids the Legislature approved during the spring session. He hunts for his moose in October. That also is through Moose Maine Kids, a nonprofit that takes kids with critical illnesses or disabilities on outdoor adventures such as free guided hunts.

He was one of 15 young hunters Moose Maine Kids will guide to hunt bears this year. Three kids have had successful hunts thus far, Greco said. Kellan’s was the first of them.

As the first Moose Maine Kids bear hunter to get his quarry this season, he had a choice of a free bear skin rug or half-body wall mount. Kellan chose the rug, which he plans to put in the family’s camp.

His father said he has had so many experiences around hunting with his eight children, but this was very special for him.

“There are so many things that Kellan can’t do. But because of Moose Maine Kids, Kellan gets to do things he wouldn’t be able to otherwise. We are super thankful,” Dan said.

The Tiltons are looking forward to the fall moose hunt. As for the bear hunt, Kellan said there was nothing he would have done differently.

He might even try for his grand slam of a bear, a moose, a deer and a turkey.

It’s definitely possible.