Bear Quest 12 - Conclusion to a Great Trip

[BlkDog]

Bear Quest 12 has come to a conclusion.  All the second week guys should now be home.  Stories will surely follow once everyone has settled and unpacked. 

The hunt is a highlight for me every year and this marked my 11th trip.  I always have a great time - lots great folks and lots of bears! 

I want to extend a huge Thank You to Tom Phillips, Bill Terry, and Brian Vincent for all their efforts this year.  You guys make this a special trip and it's greatly appreciated. 

This was also our first year without Bowdoc, but he was there in spirit and in our memories.  Don, we miss ya.  There is a little something that we left you at your special place up there.  Thank you for all the good times.  You will not be forgotten.

[Bisch]

I had a ball on the the one Bear Quest I attended. That Bowdoc was character for sure!!!!

Can’t wait to read everyone’s stories from this year!

Bisch


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[BlkDog]

Week two went 5 for 8.  Everyone saw bears and had opportunities.

I found myself hunting 6 of 7 days and spent most of my time on the Hillbilly, but also hunted the Resurrection and the Co-Op.  While the Co-Op didn't produce any sightings, we had seen a really nice bear on camera and I had to give it a try.  Over the other 5 days, I saw at least 35 bears and others near that just wouldn't come in.  I carry a video camera into the stand and by the end of the week, I had 6 or 7 hours of bear video. 

Tuesday found me sitting on the Resurrection looking for a big bear that was seen the first night.  About 9 pm he approached from a trail to my right, immediately peeked at the stand and started back pedaling.  About 30 min later he slowly came in from my left, 180 degrees from where he first approached.  Eventually, he gave me a broadside shot but at last light I failed to recognize he wasn't staying still for long. One step at my release found my arrow hitting a little farther back.  Although it still looked like a solid liver hit, I cringed.  The next morning we found ourselves on a track that went for nearly half a mile before drying up and being lost in a spongy swamp bottom.  Thank you to Larry and Dave for joining me on the trail.  Dave Grant has to be part blood hound as he kept us on the trail well after the blood became sparse.  It just wasn't meant.  Should we have found him, it would have taken hours to get him out.  Big bears just don't succumb easily to less than ideal hits. 

Still, I brought home some incredible memories.  Good times with good people - what it is really all about.  I will be planning to return every year as long as I am able. 

Thank you Tom and all the second week folks - Tom, Bill, Brian, Dave, John, Dale, and Larry. You guys are a great group to share camp with! 

Until next year...……..

[BlkDog]

The week 2 crew...

[R. Combs]

Great group of guys, I hope to make it back next year

[canopyboy]

Indeed, great group of guys. No shortage of good natured ribbing with this group...

[canopyboy]

Some pretty country. The weather was generally good, the bugs allowed for a little bourbon around the campfire in the evening.




I do have a story to tell, but it will need to wait for another night.

[jsweka]

Week 2 was an awesome time I will never forget, but I must admit it could be summarized as a comedy of errors for me.  You really can't make this stuff up....

Saturday 6/16:  We get to camp, decide who's going where for the night, and then head out to freshen baits.  I hit the water with Bill and Jay.  When stepping out of the boat, I step in deeper than I should have and start the week off with a wet boot.

That night I was in the Sundown Stand and a smaller bear comes into the bait. Since I have never killed a bear before, I wasn't going to be picky.  It sticks it's head in the barrel and I shoot a crappy shot hitting it in the upper leg.  The arrow only penetrated about 2 inches.  I was pretty mad at myself.  I got down and got out of there because I certainly wasn't going to shoot at another bear that night without really following up on the one I did hit. 

When I went to climb into the boat, my foot slipped on the bow and I thought I was going to take a full plunge into the lake.  Should have just went for that swim, but instead I put my other leg down in the rocky lake bottom and twist the hell out of my knee.  At first I thought I dislocated it.  Hurt like hell and I ended up walking pretty gingerly for the next couple days.

Dave and I tracked the bear I hit the next day, but like most flesh wounds, there was some decent blood at the beginning that petered out quickly.  At least it wasn't a mortal wound.

Sunday 6/17:  Back in the Sundown Stand and a bit larger bear comes in.  Once it puts it's head in the barrel, I draw and loose my arrow.  BANG!  My arrow bounces off the blue barrel and comes about halfway back to the stand.  I know I said out loud "WTF?" and the bear popped out of the barrel, plopped down on his fat butt, looked around and said the same thing I did.  Then he just walked off with ringing ears.  Now I was really ticked off at myself for my lack of shooting ability or my lapse in concentration at the moment of truth.  I got down and went back to camp.

Monday 6/18:  After breakfast, I grabbed my bow and a couple arrows and headed out the targets Tom had in camp for a practice session.  I needed to figure out what my problem was.  My first shot was with the very arrow I bounced off the barrel the night before and I put a perfect shot on that dang 3D bear target Tom had.  I looked back towards the cabin and saw Larry laughing his butt off at me.

Monday night I was back at the Sundown again, but no bears were seen.

Tuesday 6/19:  I was up for a change of scenery, so I hunted the Mile Marker 41 stand (The same stand I spent a week at back in 2016 trying to get a shot at a big one).  At about 8:00, a decent bear comes in, looks right up at me in my stand and walks back out.

Wednesday 6/20: In an effort to fool this bear, we added another stand to Mile Marker 41 and left the original stand there in case it knew where to look.  I heard some woofing around nightfall, but didn't see any bears come into the bait.

Thursday 6/21:  This was the pinnacle of my bear quest.  At 9:00 the decent size bear shows up and mills around for a while.  At one point I started to raise my bow for a shot, but I brushed at pine brow and the bear startled, but he settled back down and headed back towards the bait.  Another bear was woofing and he turns his head in that direction which was directly away from me.  He was completely broadside.  This was my shot opportunity.  I draw and shoot and then see my arrow GRAZE THE TOP OF HIS ASS!!!!!!!!  I couldn't believe it. I just blew my third shot opportunity at a bear.  I climbed down and checked out the arrow.  There was no blood on the broadhead or shaft, but there was a touch on the fletching on one side.  I just nicked him and the feathers drug through the cut.

The real kicker on this latest folly was that it was all captured on Jay's trail cam.  You see the bear walking around, then you see my arrow in the dirt behind where the bear was standing, then you see me walking up to the arrow, then you see me inspecting the arrow with a look of utter disbelief. 

So back to camp I go, but this time I really wasn't that mad at myself and a sense of acceptance came over me.  I was not meant to kill a bear.  I shared my story with everyone and we all laughed and laughed and my escapades during the week.  Bill Terry said he hasn't laughed so hard in a hunting camp in a long time.  I'm glad I could provide the entertainment even if I was the butt of all the jokes (AND THERE WERE PLENTY!!!!)

I simply don't know what happened to my shooting.  I guess it was "Bear Fever" and the moment I started to draw on a bear, all concentration went out the window and I shot at the entire bear rather than a spot on the bear.  It sucks, but we all had a good laugh at my adventures - myself included.

I didn't hunt Friday night because given the week's events up to that point, I sure didn't want to risk mortally wounding a bear with no recovery.  So I decided to relax around the camp fire with a few others and enjoy a few beers.  I needed them.

Awesome hunt, saw bears, had shot opportunities, and had great company.  It was as much fun as an unsuccessful hunter could possibly have.

Thank you Tom, Brian, and Bill for all the work you put in to make it a memorable week for us.

[jsweka]

Indeed, great group of guys. No shortage of good natured ribbing with this group...

This was Bill's recreation of my infamous "barrel shot"

[Wannabe1]

I thought that might be a bucket list bear!

[jsweka]

Another highlight of my hunt I forgot to mention - Tuesday I went on a bait run with Brian Vincent and Larry Dix.  Those two had me in stitches the whole time.  I only wish I would have borrowed Jay's video camera to record it.  I could have produced a movie called "Gumpy Old Men - The Great North Woods" 

[Roy from Pa]

LOL..

Maybe next year, John..

[shick]

John, luvd your 'recount'; it's good that you can laugh at yourself along with others; after all you are only a mere mortal.  Glad you had a super time.  Hope to catch up with you, perhaps at Denton.  Thanks for sharing your experience.  You gotta luv Tommy and Bill.
Shick

[Caddo]

Absolutely one of the best Bear Quest's that I've been on! Great folks in camp, great hunting opportunities, awesome memories!

I started out the first 3 nights hunting the Beaver Pond. Had bears in every night with ample shot opportunities. Just nothing of the size that I was looking for. About mid-week I moved over to the Bowl, which is now been named the "Bowdoc" stand. Had a couple bears around all night, both nights. Again, just wasn't what I was looking for.
  On Wednesday night I had a little excitement. Earlier, when I was getting set up, I dropped one of my gloves and it landed at the base of the tree. Didn't see any big reason to go down and get it so I left it. Later that evening I had the first bear come in and pretty much make himself to home. Shortly after that a second smaller bear came in. As they were jockeying for position abound the bait barrel, I was trying to get a picture with both bears in it at the same time. I lowered my head slightly to see the view finder and when I looked back up bear #1 was looking at me. I guess it peaked his interest to see exactly what that was hanging on the side of the tree. He came walking over to my tree, nose in the air, sniffing the whole time. As he walked under my stand, he went straight to the glove I had dropped and was sniffing it. He looked, nose in the air. Decided he needed a closer look so up the tree he started! I decided that was enough and woofed at him. He bailed off the tree and took off.

As John eluded to above, this one of the best Bear Quests of all time, strictly due to the great guys in camp! John kept us entertained with his antics, by the way, John builds a heck of a forward handle longbow! Bill Terry, Brian Vincent and myself made up the Grumpy Old Men's club and provided entertainment as required!

Enjoyed the tracking and recovery expedition with Dale, glad we got her! It adds a new level of excitement to walk up on a bear that is presumed to be dead, but isn't! Good Job Dale in finishing it right!

Jay and Dave provided the comedy relief that kept us all in stitches!

Then there's Tom Phillips, what a class act! Another great hunt, Tommy! I can't begin to thank you enough, You've outdone yourself again!

If you're looking for a great hunt, this is it! You won't find one better!

LD

[Pine]

Yes it was a great time.
And the wife and I enjoyed the first meal from my bear.
Can't find that in a grocery store.
Thanks again Larry for helping me recover my bear from the deep valley he was in.

[jsweka]

C'mon Dale.  People need the story as to how that hunk of meat got on your plate.

[canopyboy]

This was my first time at Bear Quest, and to say I was a bit excited would have been an understatement. I drew the Resurrection stand to start my first bear hunt and Larry (Caddo) gave me a little advice, “Don’t shoot the first bear you see unless its ears are just tiny and the body is twice the size of the barrel. The first ones always look bigger than they are.” So for the first night, I didn’t. Not that there weren’t opportunities! On the way into the stand, I jumped a juvenile bear and sent him woofing up a tree.



Other than my little friend slowly working his way back down over the course of the next two hours, there wasn’t much. But then the parade started. Not long after he came down and approached the barrel, he was chased off by a bigger bear. And then bears just started coming and going, chasing each other off, trying to chase off the bigger ones while they sat there without a care in the world as to the little noise makers. Lots of broadside shots and it seemed I could get away with more movement and rustling noise than I expected. I took plenty of pictures and some video, trying to decide if that bear who seemed to be the length of the barrel was a decent size or not only to do the same on the next bear. It seemed they were all different in their own way, although a few may have been repeats. At one point a truly big bear paced back and forth out about 40 yards woofing and grunting before being the first not to come into the bait. My guess it was a boar looking for sows and not interested in donuts.

Just as darkness was starting to set in, the biggest bear to come all the way in so far started to dance around the site. By the time it calmed down and stood there broadside, it was really too dark to shoot. I could still see the silhouette, but I couldn’t tell if it had the nearside front leg forward or the farside one. Plus, I was doubting how well I could see where I hit if I let an arrow fly, so I just watched. But this was the first one who had shoulders above the barrel and had to stoop to get in, even with the front propped up several inches. Just as I was trying to decide how best to get out of there, an even bigger shadow walked in. The first bear never stopped eating. This was the first time one bear didn’t scare off another. The bigger bear just ate at the satellite piles while the medium bear kept at the barrel. Eventually I thought I would risk a cell phone flash picture, hoping it might send them off without making a scene as a human.



Didn’t work. So after a bit, I followed up using the light from my headlamp. In this one, the big bear is laying down, but you can see the size of the paws relative to the 5 gallon bucket.



Eventually, the flashlight beams in their eyes caused them to slowly move off and I got down and drove back. I had such a great evening hunting that I would have considered the trip a complete success even if I never saw another bear in Canada! Back on the road to camp I ran into 3 trucks heading out. Two to look for bears (Dale and Brian both connected) and one to look for me as I was so late coming back. Back at the cabin Tom had some amazing bear stroganoff waiting for dinner. A little sip of bourbon and soon enough the first truck was back with Brian’s bear. I didn’t manage to stay up for Dale’s return, but got to see his bear the next day.

At 530 the next morning I woke up to see John stirring as well. So we jumped in a boat and went to make sure that 2” of penetration didn’t happen to be a lucky 2”. The lake was still and beautiful, although we didn’t have any luck tracking his bear straight uphill for long.

[canopyboy]

I found out that the days pass quickly at camp; baiting sites, checking cameras, maybe an occasional nap, and at 1530 it was back in the truck towards Resurrection. The day had gotten rainy and my luck took a quick break when I reached the site to find out I had left my pack with my thermacell (among less important things like headlamp, orange vest, water) back at camp. The 14 mile trip took 45 minutes each way and it was almost 1800 by the time I walked into my stand. Things got back to exciting though when I saw a bear at the site as I walked in. I dropped down, strung my bow, nocked an arrow, and waited for it to move into the open only to find a juvenile. Maybe the same one from the night before? I didn’t have time for this, so I just stood up and walked in. He couldn’t care less. At about 15 yards we had a face off.



At about 7 he finally went up a tree and I finished up with my rebaiting and got situated in the stand. Note, these are all cell phone pics, limited zoom.



He came right over as soon as I was off the ground and picked out the best pieces before waddling off. A couple more bears came in, as did a couple heavy showers that didn’t seem so bad under the trees. About 2030 a nice bear came in after a break and caught me sitting there with my bow hanging off to the right and slurping down some Gatorade. I was trying to decide if he was big enough to be a shooter and how I was going to swap the Gatorade bottle for a bow, when he ran off and right behind him was a bear that didn’t need any contemplation. He was significantly taller and had a lope to his movement that just screamed “shooter” to me. It wasn’t the big bear from the night before, but might have been that medium one?

He seemed nervous, always looking around, backing up, circling around. Meanwhile I slowly shifted so that I could slip the bottle into my pack behind me, only managing to move a couple inches at a time before he looked all around again. Then back the other way to try to get my bow. This process seemed to last forever. Finally he put his head in the barrel for a moment and I pulled the bow back in front of me and started to shift for a sitting shot to my left. He came out of the barrel and circled around a couple trees before coming to stand broadside in front of the barrel. I had tension on the string, but he was looking all around again. Finally, he looked away almost like he was sticking his head around into the barrel while standing in front of it if that makes sense. I figured it was time to see if I could come back to full draw and as I did, he reached forward with his nearside leg. I remember verifying I was at full draw. I remember picking a spot. And I remember thinking back tension and pulling my scapula towards my spine. I don’t remember actually shooting. I do remember those chartreuse feathers going right where I was focused on the bear. And then the bear running away to my left. I visually marked where I saw him disappear and then heard some sticks breaking. I looked back to the barrel and saw my arrow sticking out of the ground and my heart jumped when I realized I had a pass through. Then three death moans. Less than 60 seconds had passed, if even 30 it seemed. Watch said 2054, shot must have been 2053.

I packed up my stuff and went to look at my arrow. All good there. So before last light left for the evening, I headed off over the rise to where I thought my bear was. I missed by about 15 yards, but he wasn’t hard to find. I took a few pictures, rolled him over to check my exit wound, and headed back to camp. It all seemed so surreal.

I didn’t want to be that overexcited new hunter, so when I got back and people asked me what I saw I told them about the little sucker I had a standoff with at first and how I saw 4 different bears that I didn't shoot. John yelled at me, “Why don’t you just shoot one already!?” And then I found out about the blue barrel as I ate dinner. Once finished, I caught people by surprise when I asked if anyone was up for a drive. I had 3 volunteers and I made my third trip back to Resurrection that evening to get my bear.



The next morning we weighed him in at 158#. He was kind of skinny, if very long legged. There was very little fat on him when we skinned him out compared to Dale and Brian’s bears. But he managed to hold on to the biggest bear title until the early hours of Saturday morning when Tom brought in a fat little sow 10# heavier (but I still contend mine was bigger in stature…)



I won’t drag out the story with the details of the rest of the week, I’ve already gone on and on. But suffice it to say the company was great, and Tom really goes out of his way to make sure everyone is well fed and has a chance to be successful. The week was truly memorable, and in the best kind of way!

[jsweka]

 

That's the way it's supposed to be done.

[shick]

canopyboy;  Well done, very good read and again, congratulations.
Shick