Bear Blog Day 3

Day 3 was a beautiful day. Little warmer, overcast, virtually no wind compared to the first 2 days. After a run to town for Country Kitchen brunch the hunters showered up and got ready for the afternoon hunt.

When I pulled into camp Brian H. was practicing from his “treestand”

Now that’s dedication! Not sure where you would hook up the safety belt? But being a professional painter, I’m sure he’s been up and down a few ladders.

Leon wanted to go back to the stand he hunted the first day. We checked the cam and a  nice bear had been back just a couple hours after we left there the first eve., and then the second eve. At 7:00 a nice bear was on the bait getting his picture taken while Leon was at a different spot getting skunked. And then to make it even worse he only saw a sow and 2 cubs tonight while Brian H. and I  decided to leave his spot rest for a night so we sat were Leon did the night before and this nice boar came in 15 minutes after we got set up.

Leon , “you should have been there”. He’s just been unlucky at which stand to go to.

Brian N. went back to his same spot for the 3^rd day in a row. He has been seeing bear and there hasn’t been too much activity around there, and with the stand being farther away from the bait we didn’t think it would hurt. About 7:00 pm 2 bear came wandering in through the brush. Then the first one presented a good shot…BANG… down it went, got back up and ran a few yards and was down.  Congratulations Brian on your first black bear!

It’s a nice 175# sow. A real pretty bear. She has some really neat markings on here face. After a phone call to Jerry and then a relay to Brian and I at camp calling for the dragging sled we met them out there pulled it out.

Here’s the whole bear crew with the first kill.

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Day 4

Brian H. and I went back to his first stand again today.  Another nice, comfortable day. We thought that maybe by leaving the stand alone for a day the bear would settle down a little. Not long after we got in place the first bear arrived. It walked right under our tree and looked up to see if we were there.

It didn’t seem to mind that we were there. We had repositioned the bait a little so the bear would hopefully present a better shot, and when this bear went in it appeared to have worked as it presented all kinds of good shot opportunities for Brian, but he decided to pass hoping for a larger bear.

This one looks fairly comfortable.

It was a slow afternoon with not a lot of bear coming in and nothing big enough.

Leon decided to head back to the east stand, where Brian H. and I sat the night before. Since Brian N. was done hunting he went in to film the hunt. Not long after Jerry dropped them off 2 bear made their way in. Looking at the video it looked like the same boar we saw the day before, and a smaller sow. The boar never gave Leon a shot. It laid down facing him the whole time just like it did the day before. After a half hour or so of activity and watching the 2 bear they suddenly bolted off the bait. A few moments later a bear appeared sneaking down the trail. It walked in giving Leon an almost broadside shot. When he released the bear jumped straight up in the air and took off. Watching the video the shot looked perfect and the fletching disappeared. He made a couple phone calls and the tracking crew arrived just after dark. We took up the trail, and had a hard time at first the blood was sporadic, and the bear didn’t go in a straight line at all, but after a 50 – 60 yard tracking job, with a couple backtracks later, there was his bear. Awesome! Leon’s first bear with a bow.

Congratulations!

The bear must have injured its leg at one time. Its right front leg did have its full range of motion. Leon said it put weight on it but it did limp a little bit.

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Day 5

Today I decided to head up north and check my deer cams. Still no nice bucks on camera. I wanted to check out the cams in the oaks and get a stand hung for next weeks opener. There are a ton of acorns this year, but nothing looks too promising yet.

 I told Brian I might not make it back in time to video him so he’d be on his own. Well I knew it was going to happen. He had 7 different bear around him all at one time. Fighting and growling, bluff charging, etc. At first he had 6 bear under him together. Most of them boars about the same size 175 to 200 lbs. Then all of  a sudden they looked down the trail and all bolted, smashing down saplings as they ran off. Brian turned and there was a big bear walking down the trail. It walked right underneath the tree, and just about into the bait where he could take a shot and one of the other bear in the brush bluffed charged and the big one disappeared. This particular spot has a ton of thick underbrush around it, if the bears come out from the sides of the trail you can’t even see them until they step out on the road. And they hardly ever make a sound. If they try to be quiet, they can easily be completely silent. And they have these trail systems made under the canopy so they are just basically walking on bare dirt with no leaves or twigs.

When the bear started appearing again out of the brush Brian was trying to figure out which one was the one he wanted. He said the bear were again swatting at each other, snarling, and moaning to try and keep the food to themselves. He wasn’t even exactly sure how many were there when he shot because they kept appearing and disappearing. But he finally got a shot at what he thought was the biggest one. About 7 yards away he looses an arrow, he saw the arrow hit and the bear all scattered except one. The bear he hit ran down the trail, stopped, stood up on its hind legs and turned around and then bolted into the brush. He said there were bear crashing all over the place so he couldn’t tell what the one he hit did after it ran in. So now he’s up in the tree and there a bear in the bait that won’t leave. He wants to get down to find the blood trail before it gets dark, and the rain is threatening. So he yells at the bear, and of course it just looks at him and keeps on eating. He throws some gear down at him but that doesn’t work either. He makes a few phone calls to try and get a hold of me or Jerry, but no one answers( I had my phone on vibrate and sitting on my dash as I’m heading home, and Jerry was driving his tractor grading the road on our hunting property)

Finally he pulls out his .357 mag and shoots one into the ground and the bear finally decides to leave so Brian can get down. He then gets a return call from Jerry, and then I just happen to call Jerry also and he tells me to bring the sled and meet them out there.

I catch up to them just after they start tracking. Not long after it started to get dark and I didn’t bring a light. Brian has an extra one and we continue on. The bear went about 30 yards off the trail with not much blood and then it stopped and bit off the arrow. It walked across an old logging road and into the thickest stuff I’ve ever tracked an animal in. it was super thick aspen and tag alders mixed, and it was gnarly. You had to literally get on your hands and knees at times to get through. The bear walked about 30 more yards and then we could see where it laid down. It got back up and walked some more, and then we lost the blood. We discovered that it had backtracked about 5 yards and changed direction. Now it starts to rain, we follow it some more and laid down a couple more times. Now it starts to circle as we cross the blood trail again a couple times. Its really difficult to follow because its so thick and you lose your sense of direction so quickly as you are looking all around you for the next blood. Finally we see where it walked completely around in a circle around an uprooted tree, and there he is! Awesome! It looks to be about a 250 lbs. boar!

We check out the entrance hole and its perfect right in the middle of the ribs. The arrow must have went down and hit the sternum area to stop it from coming out the other side. It made tracking more difficult but it worked out.

Now its pouring rain hard! But we can see the sky clearing off in the west so it won’t last long. We walk out to get the sled, marking a trail out to the road through the thick brush. I don’t have a rain coat but I have a wet sweatshirt from earlier in the day, but its better than just a T-shirt. I know it won’t be long and I’ll be sweating from dragging. When we get back in the rain stops and we take a few pics. Then lash the bear onto the sled and drag him out to the road where the ATV is waiting to take him out the rest of the way.

Congratulations Brian. Great shot with his longbow.

It figures, I skip the hunt that day and it would have been the most exciting hunting video EVER!

Congratulations to all the guys on a successful hunt! I think they were all pretty excited. Some had never even seen bear that close while in a stand. They all had plenty of action. It seemed like we had less bear come in per sit this year. But with abundance of acorns, sweet corn, and cherries in some spots the bear seemed to be spread out more. And of course you never know where there may be other baits around you either.

With the 3 bear all at Fischers meats in Kempster for processing the guys will have a good smorgasbord of treats. From sausage, to hot sticks, to hamburger, and smoked sandwich meat. All the hunters will be enjoying the harvest for months to come.

All in all it was a good hunt. 3 bear, 3 days in a row! Awesome!

Hope you enjoyed following us!