Although the Iowa Hawkeyes limped to a somewhat disappointing 7-6 season in 2011, it’s hard to blame starting quarterback James Vandenberg for many of their problems. With a revolving door at running back, and the departure of the Hawkeyes best receiver from 2010 (Darrell Johnson-Koulianos), Vandenberg still managed to throw for over 3,000 yards in 2011, with 25 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
Yet despite his stellar play under center last fall, Vandenberg’s greatest talent may not come with a football in his hand, but instead a bow and arrow. That’s because as you can see based on the picture to the left, Vandenberg had a much more eventful Memorial Day weekend then any of us, as he apparently hunted down this massive bear. This picture provided by the excellent Iowa website HawkeyeLongue.com.
As for specifics of the excursion, well, details are still emerging, but apparently bear hunting is actually something Vandenberg takes quite seriously. According to a previously published article in the Gazette of Iowa City, Vandenberg has been bear hunting before, and has a trip planned to go to Alberta, Canada and do the same next year. In the intermediary, he went out this weekend and apparently did pretty well for himself.
Here’s Vandenberg on why he likes hunting bears:
“Bears fight back,” Vandenberg said. “That’s why I’ll be up in a tree.”
A smart man, that Vandenberg is, and apparently he’s even smarter than we thought given that he elected not to tell the Iowa coaching staff before taking the trip. He followed up the first quote by telling the Gazette, “I haven’t told them yet,” in reference to his coaches.
Of course the ironic thing is that Vandenberg is hardly the only major college football figure who has taken up bear hunting this off-season. As you may remember, some guy named Mike Leach went bear hunting earlier this month, and according to his Twitter account snagged a pretty good catch in his own right.
Oh, the joys of the college football off-season, huh?
For all his opinion, insight and analysis be sure to follow Aaron on Twitter @Aaron_Torres.
