BEAR QUEST II Spring BEAR HUNT 2 Openings

[bbassi]

Bowdoc, you're up early for a west coast guy. Having trouble sleeping without the snoring quartet?

[bbassi]

Ken, that's a great looking bear. What was the weight on it?

[d. ward]

Brent I have to get up early everyday to keep an eye on the tradgang....I'am affriad I may miss some new topic...got a ton of work to get caught up on too...and wishing I was still up a tree in La Tuque.....bowdoc

[tippit]

Barring any medical conditions as in scratched cornea, there will be a new addition to Team Tippit next year.  Tilly to be added to the tracking team!  After we got back from La Tuque, she was guarding JC's pack that had some bear blood on it and wouldn't leave it...Doc

 

[fatman]

JC, I'm on my THIRD cup....and I'm on Central Time!!!      

[JC]

HA! Work intervenes...looks like others are moving it along nicely. I'll have my installment shortly.

[JC]

Sat Morning 6/14: We coasted into the only open gas station north of the border at 2am, missing an exit somewhere along the way that was supposedly easy to find. We rolled into La Tuque about 5am, 4 ½ hours early to meet Tom and the first week hunters. Needless to say, the snoring from our cars as we camped out in front of the sporting goods store sounded like a freight train…we were just a bit whooped. Despite numerous hard looks from the locals as they came in for work, no one called the police.

We dragged our road weary tails into the diner portion of the restaurant to get a hot meal. Good food, although my translation for the guys at my table was a bit rusty considering my middle school French. Somehow, Kip got his food first…and it looked better than ours…sneaky Cajuns and their French smooth talk!

Meeting up with the first group was a great reunion as well as a chance to put a face to a name that you knew well from Tradgang. Sadly, it was far too short (next time we’ll come straight into camp and wake dem jokers up for some parlay). We caught up on the stories, the laughs and sifted through the tales for any information about stand activity. It sounded like everyone had opportunities and the twinkle in each man’s eye foretold of the excitement we had in store.

From La Tuque north to our camp would be on a dirt road. If you’ve never driven on a Candian gravel “highway”, it’s an experience you should sample at least once in your life. If you can’t make it to Canada, you can get a rough idea of what it’s like by pouring a ton of ¼” ball bearings on the road in front of your house, dust your car with flour until you can barely see out the windshield and play chicken with the garbage truck while it barrels down on you at 75 mph. Of course, you still will only take out your neighbor’s mailbox if you slide off the road instead of plummeting to your inevitable doom on the shoulder of a Canadian “highway” so it’s not quite the same…but you get the general idea. 20 Ton log trucks do NOT stop to give you the right of way on a one lane bridge, nor do the locals fear a little paint trading as they slide past you sideways to the next corner.  These Canucks make Bo and Luke Duke look like amateurs. I suggest some enterprising Canadian businessman start up a NASCAR team and begin his search for a winning driver somewhere along a Quebec backroad.

Camp was fantastic, even better than last year. The communal building would make things much closer than our 2 cabins from QQI…course, that can be a bad thing with beans and snoring.

 

The view was spectacular, just as I remembered.

 

[JC]

The frantic flurry of activity that followed produced an eruption of gear rarely seen by those outside a space shuttle mission. It took 15 seconds to admire our accommodations and sort out sleeping arrangements, then another hour and a half unloading all manner of coolers, cases, bags, and duffels.

Soon the bows were broken out and we proceeded to ventilate the bear targets from both the ground and the dizzying height of 6 feet. The stand was a point of interest as the team looked on wide eyed when Lloyd explained proper procedure should a bear set it’s chin on your platform to sniff your boots. “Awwww, they’re just curious is all.” The symphonic “GULP” as adam’s apples moved in unison ended the lecture.

Stands were chosen from a hat with Tom drawing each hunter’s name. Most I knew from last year, some had been added while some old ones repositioned. Names that will ring in the ears of many for years to come: The Deli, The Bowl, The Glove, Black Label, Moose Path, Moose Tower, Bird…names both as descriptive and obscure as hunters are apt to create. Tom chose me for Mile Marker 42…a stand I had hunted last year. He offered to redraw but considering one stand was as good as any in this bear-rich area, and I particularly liked that stand last year, I opted to stick with it. Besides, I got a good feeling when he called out the stand…go with your gut.

We divided up to run baits and headed out with an eager spring in our steps.

Wait a minute…wait a minute, I can’t leave it as simple as that. Intermission….

Have you ever run a bear bait before? In this case, we were peddlin doughnuts, pastries, twinkie-type treats, rancid meat trimmings and the most vile, foul, putrid concoction of rotten walleye carcases and water…which when sealed in 5 gallon buckets and steeped in the sun for weeks created an emulsion that could only be found in a bear camp or the bowels of Hades. All topped by a squirt of quaint little vintage brewed by the light of the moon that smelled vaguely of bacon, licorice, and old socks. It was common practice to see guys fight bouts of nausea and reflexive gagging during a bait run…many hung their baiting clothes downwind of camp only to burn them right before we left. In short, we had all the stuff needed to get a bear’s attention and keep it.

Now…where was I…

[d. ward]

Wow now thats a sight........

[d. ward]

Tom and Lloyd better quit screwing around during the picture taken sessions or they may find themselves doing dishing next year... ...Hey Whipcord Joe I forgot to ask you if this was a single bevel or double bevel broadhead ??????? oh yeah never mind I think I figured it out........bowdoc

[bbassi]

whatever bevel it is it needs more wrapping next time. He's lucky he didn't loose it. Speaking of which, did Eric ever find the tippit head from his bear?

[tippit]

Eric said he was going to take a metal detector back up next year...but I know the maker and can probably find him a new one a lot easier    Doc

[d. ward]

Doc that would be super,Eric was a little sad about loseing it....You da man......bowdoc

[tippit]

Just got back from shooting some 3d targets with Steve "Curveman" AKA Chile Magnate.  We smoked the Bear targets    He even bought me a beer...course I had to open the with the Beer Blade.  It was fun catching up on group I & II escapades...Doc

[Whip]

I don't think it really needed more wrapping Brent, jut a better hafting job.  I received the point from Woody just days before leaving on the trip, so I tried to haft it onto an arrow that I already had made up.  The one I used was already tapered at the tip and, cutting off the taper would have made it too short.  After cutting the slot to mount the point the wood holding it on was pretty thin, so I used some extra sinew and hoped for the best.  Lesson learned.

The arrow had full penetration through the chest cavity, and I think that the shaft broke as it hit an off side rib or leg bone.  Luckily for me, the sinew was strong enough to hold the point fast to the shaft.  

Using the stone point was a real highlight of the trip, and given a better hafting job, I won't hesitate to use one again.  This one however is being retired to a place of honor on my wall.  

[BigRonHuntAlot]

Originally posted by Whip:
 This one is however is being retired to a place of honor on my wall.    

As it should be!  

[Guru]

absolutely!

[tippit]

Whip, That's an incredible feeling to harvest your intended prey with a stone point...not just any stone point but a Woody knapped point!!  I know cause mine from last year is on my wall never to be used again...Doc

[Whip]

Doc, What were the numbers on the Woody killed bears?  Something like 3 or 4 bears taken with his points and ALL of them off the Deli bait?  I think that bait has earned a new name!

[bbassi]

Whip, no offense intended by my comment. Just an observation based on the pictures. I do know what you mean about the satisfaction of taking game with stone though. I keep my first stone head from a kill in my day pack for extra mojo!