Mile Marker 42 was in a familiar spot…it sat on the same creek as last year, only on the other side of the water. A ridge flowed down a hill to a small saddle-like area on the creek, with bear trails crossing the ridge and saddle like the hiking paths in a suburban park. The timber was thick and dark, with a small opening where the bait and my stand sat.
As luck would have it, the stand was the Cadillac of the Quebec woods. Eric had outfitted it with one of the API sling type seats that sat more like a recliner than anything. Maybe that’s why I kept sitting there?....or was it something else?
Anyway, first evening was uneventful for bear, not a single black hair was sighted. However, it sure was good to be in the woods…and the cool temps were a far cry from mid 90’s I had just been in a few days ago. I did watch numerous red squirrels fight and jockey for position in and out of the bait barrel, a snowshoe came in to check out what was going on, all accompanied by the constant, unnerving hum of a healthy mosquito and black fly population. I hope the guy who invented the thermacell is sipping some exotic concoction on a South Pacific island right now.
Back at camp I heard of all the nights activities, mainly that Jeff had already tagged out with his mojo combo. Others had sightings or opportunities…it was already shaping up to be a very active hunt. Don’t remember what we had for dinner that night but I know I shoveled it down with a cold barely pop and I was already asleep by the time my head hit the pillow.
Sun 6/15: Daylight comes early that far North and East so we began stirring around 5:30am. Bear hunting is what my Grandfather would have referred to as “a gentlemanly pursuit,” meaning, you didn’t have to be up and on the stand an hour before daylight. We milled around camp, talking and getting to know one another, prepping for the day with coffee and cereal.
Most of the day was focused around prepping, traveling and cleaning up for bait runs. I’d like to take a minute to thank Tom, Allan, Eric, and Lloyd for all their work on the initial baiting runs and preparing and having the bait ready. This is a monumental task for this many stands for 2 weeks of hunting. Incredible effort that was rewarded by a full meat locker and many happy smiles.
A few bull sessions, some arrows flung and we found ourselves in late afternoon…gearing up for the night’s hunt. As I climbed into my stand for the evening (I could have jumped up there but I was on vacation) I felt myself slowing down from the pace of normal life back home. It was a wonderful respite to simply sit and observe God’s glory…with no more responsibility than to sit still and enjoy breathing. It’s after a few hours like this in the woods that you really realize how un-natural our daily habits are as modern man…and how rejuvenating the return is to our more primal state.
Happy to just be alive and not shackled to a computer or cell phone, relaxed and overjoyed to simply be there, comfortable and enjoying the view of the woods and the beautiful Shawnee that lay across my lap…it just doesn’t get any better. Wait a minute! It just did….a small bear’s head appeared behind and to the left of the bait crib. It never ceases to amaze me how bears just appear out of thin air in places you had scanned just moments before. Their ability to walk in absolute silence is unparalelled in any animal I have hunted. It may be partly because this arborial region was mostly covered in thick most and soft loam but the bear’s feet are a remarkable adaptation. I’ve heard all sorts of critters move through the woods/fields in my hunting career, and even big cats had nothing on these bears. If they truly wanted to eat you there would be nothing you could do about it…they’d be breathing on your neck before you had any idea one was in the county.
The small bear tested the wind with it’s nose, timidly picking it’s way around the crib, watching the bait…bobbing and weaving it’s head at the barrel like an old doe does when she thinks she sees something and is trying to get a better viewing angle. Apparently, it didn’t like the look of the barrel…turned and vanished as quickly as it appeared. It all happened so fast my heart rate did not climb until after it was gone.
I knew I had not been the cause of the departure, I hadn’t blinked more than once or twice. Ten or more anxious minutes later, a black form reappeared on the ridge behind the crib. A few blinks more to insure it was not a mirage, I made out the form had two sets of legs. Were they BIG legs or did just not realize what part of the bear I was looking at? Surely that’s not the same…..WHOA NELLY! The bear stepped from behind the shrub that had obscured the other half of it’s ample frame.
Topic: BEAR QUEST II Spring BEAR HUNT 2 Openings (Read 40454 times)
