Like the others have said, this was a great group to hunt and "camp" with and the Bear Quest Team had done a great job of getting things ready for us. We all arrived as excited as we were tired from the all night drive. There was some socializing and gear readying and unpacking going on and pretty quick it was time to check the baits. Fred and I took off with Lloyd in the green boat and went to the Raptor and Blowdown stands. Both had been hit, but Raptor looked the best. We freshened the baits and returned to camp to finish unpacking and get some rest. As hunt time approached, most decided to stay in camp and rest up, but after waiting all these years, I couldn't not go. I figured I could at least get my stand set up with a hanger and video mount for the next day's hunt. Thomas "Hogdancer" Burns ran me out to the landing spot and I climbed up the hill to the Raptor stand, got things set up and settled in. It was tough to keep from nodding off until about 5:30 when I saw something black moving toward me thru the brush. All of a sudden, I was AWAKE! My first ever sit on a bear stand and I have a bear in already! He slipped in cautiously, grabbed a piece of meat and headed back up the hill with his prize. I can't tell you how alive I felt. He didn't seem big, but had a nice round head and a beautiful coat. I named him "Boo Boo". He returned a little while later for another grab and run, this time getting a big piece. Before long, I see another bear coming in. This one seemed bigger and went for the sweets. It laid there with it's head in the bucket for several minutes, when I see Boo Boo coming back down the hill again. The bigger bear got up from the barrel and started to leave before seeing Boo Boo up the hill. Both froze for a moment, then the bigger bear started woofing and chased poor Boo Boo crashing up the hill. I could hear them carrying on for a few minutes before it all quieted down again. Another bigger bear came down, but circled around to the west about 30 yards out and never came in. Some time later Boo Boo returned, this time slowly circling around behind me before finally coming in, right under the stand. He headed up to the bait, grabbed another hunk of the meat and left going up the hill. I sat a bit longer, but it was starting to get dark and after four plus hours, I figured I couldn't handle any more excitement without wetting my pants so I climbed down and quietly made my way back down to the lake and waited for Thomas to pick me up. It seemed late when I finally heard a boat getting closer, but it wasn't coming from camp. A quick flash from my light brought an answer from the boat and they headed my way. As it turned out, neither Thomas nor Grant could sit in camp either and had headed out to their chosen stands. We headed back in, very tired and very excited. I slept great that night.
I'll try to figure out how to get some video of Boo Boo and the chase posted up here. Rick
Topic: BEAR QUEST II Spring BEAR HUNT 2 Openings (Read 40499 times)
