Bear Quest III >>---> Start Your Engines

[robtattoo]

   

Way to seal the deal Jeff! Man, that's an AWESOME bar, right thar! Congratulations man  

[Whip]

Now that's what I'm talking about!!!!!
What a bear!      

[Jack Denbow]

Congradulations Jeff. I hope to see you at Denton Hill.
Jack

[Ted Fry]

Great bear Jeff ! Great story as well.
Congratulations

[rabbitman]

Jeff...you the man  

[Shaun]

Jeff gave me a forged Team Tippet head and after seeing what he harvested I am pumped to get it set up for future hunts. Here is a pic of Jeff's monster bear with the forged Damascus head he used.

 

[Shaun]

Photo op and limelight for Jeff and his porter Tom Phillips.

 

[vermonster13]

That is awesome my friend!

[PV]

       

[Shaun]

The Hunt - 3rd evening

I had forgotten my Gorilla Pod camera tripod in the tree at "The Glove" and decided to bait, then hunt that stand and retrieve my camera gear. Tom and crew does a great job of setting up these baits with a brush crib to funnel the bears into shooting position. There is a barrel for doughnuts and a bucket for meat scraps at each one. Keep in mind there are over 20 of these set ups and each one takes a bunch of work to set up and maintain. Here is my view at "The Glove" and even though the camera makes it look far, one could jump from the stand to the barrel - maybe 4 yards away. The extra bucket is the one I used to bring in the evening bait.

 

As the heat of the day faded and shadows lengthened, I saw a large bear circling the site. The size and pointed muzzle made me think this was the sow with this year's cubs from the first night. I did not see the cubs, but I still believed this was her. She proceeded to do the bear thing around the bait site, huffing, tooth popping, stalking around with stops and sudden rushing around. I was beginning to get used to this kind of activity. During this routine the bears often offered shots at the 15-25 yard range but I was still waiting for that slam dunk for my first arrow at a bear. Here she has just passed through my "over the crib" shooting lane. I had been eying this lane for later in the week if no bear cooperated with the script.

 

[Shaun]

3rd evening cont'd

Mama bear spent about 45 minutes trying to run me off but gave up and faded away. A few minutes later I saw her and her two cubs headed down towards the nearby stream. There is no law or even much peer pressure about shooting sows or cubs. But, the cubs of the year will not survive the loss of their mom and the little ones are way too cute to shoot. I was glad I let her pass.

I'm no bear expert, but I kept my ears open in camp and learned some bear biology. The sows cycle in heat every two years. The cubs stick with mom for the first year, then she drives them off the next spring. Sometimes the cubs are lost to predators - one of the main threats being mature boars that kill the cubs to force a new heat cycle in the sow. Yearling cubs are considered "adult" by the check in statistics collected after one harvests a bear.

After the sow left for the evening I expected no more action. It was getting dusk and she had made a lot of noise. The other bear I'd seen at this bait had been afraid of her the first night and it seemed unlikely he would appear. But, not long after she left I heard the now familiar bear woofing and tooth popping from down wind behind my stand.

[Shaun]

3rd evening fin

The new activity lasted for some time but never moved or came around where I could get a look. I finally check the cinch on my harness and leaned way out to look behind the tree. There she was sitting on the path, a cute little yearling bear making all the sounds of the big ones. This bear eventually came on down the path and approached the bait. Here was the smallest bear - except the two teddy bear cubs - that I had seen so far. She eventually came under the stand and went to the doughnuts. The more I watched the more I thought this was the bear for me. She was presenting the point blank shot and she looked fat, well furred and very tasty.

I took up my self bow - a reproduction of a Nels Grumley Brush Bow - and drew back the old Sweetland Forgewood shaft. The file sharp '56 Bear Razorhead went right where I was looking and the bear ran off with a rush of busting brush. The noise of the bear crashing through bushes and the arrow hitting on branches circled out about 30 yards and came back around to where she had first been sitting on the trail behind me. I leaned out in time to see her scrabble up a large pine and hang in the branches about 15 feet up.

I gathered my gear and lowered it then climbed down and went to the tree. The bear was nearly gone but still clinging to the branches. Not wanting her to linger or to leave her overnight, I put another Forgewood into the heart from below. She dropped immediately and I watched her eyes glaze and the lights go out from a few feet away. Doc Jeff had told us of a video he made on a previous hunt where he filmed the death moan and he said this came after the bear was dead. I found this hard to imagine, but was able to witness it myself as this bear gave two quiet moans after the spirit departed.

I was able to carry my gear and drag out the bear in one trip to the truck. I had guessed this bear to be 45-50 lbs from the stand but she weighed in at 68 back at camp. This was the smallest bear taken in week one, but I was very pleased with my first bear harvest. No trophy photos of this one as Lloyd and I skinned and iced the meat from this one in short order that night.

I noticed that evening that the Big Dipper is high in the sky and the North Star is nearly straight up from northern Quebec. So, how about another pic of Doc Springer and his Ursula Major.

 

[PV]

1st night

 On my way out to pick up Rob and Kevin I met Steve and Matty On the road to camp. Matty had some action and when he gets through lying on the beach this week I'm sure he'll add his story.
Met Rob(aka sleeping beauty) Shultz as he was coming out of the woods with a big smile on his face. "Cool night" he said. Apparently as soon as I drove away after showing him the stand two bears came in and stayed for most of the night. Nice introduction to bear hunting.

Kevin was the next to be picked up and he was beaming from ear to ear......

[shick]

Doc, only one word: "Fantastic"
Shaun, keep posting..................Shick

[Shaun]

Remember my ambitious plan to tag out and spend time fishing and visiting? Even though it felt like a long time since arriving, I realized my bear was in the freezer and it was only Monday of a week long hunt. Yeah Haw! There was a boat freed up by Tippet's success and I have a thing for walleyes. A three day fishing tag and some leeches were available from the camp store and I was soon searching for the spot. Walleyes are a school fish and once found can be taken in numbers. Its the finding that is the first challenge. I tried some spots suggested by Megellan the proprietor of the camp and a area where bd said they caught some last year - no joy. So I rigged a Lindy trolling set up and cruised. Not far from last year's hot spot I found them and proceeded to spend some time each day working on a mess for Friday.

 

Several other hunters joined these forays as they tagged out and we managed to give the Bow Doc something to work with for the last night in camp. Mmmmm good.

[bbassi]

Man Doc, What a pig! Congrats!    :eek:    

[Ted Fry]

Keep it coming boys , Congratulations to you as well Shaun

[Shaun]

There was a Tippet knife as a prize for the largest bear taken on the hunt. I had read about this from previous years and thought I might add something to the prize table. I made a sweet sister billet self bow with blood wood underlay handle and tips. It has a double shelf in case the winner was a lefty. I thought about a criteria for winning on the long drive up and decided on the shortest blood trail. Biggest is a good measure and I felt a well placed arrow should be acknowledged too.

There was one fellow in camp who had great form and was a candidate for making such a shot. Here he is at the practice range.

 

Check it out

 

[Shaun]

Sure enough, practice makes perfect and Dandy Don (asleep on the couch) Schultz put a perfect hit on his bear and only had to take 23 steps to fetch the bruin he had watched fall. Nice shooting Don!

 

[Missouri CK]

Shaun,

Great story!  I was hanging on every word!  

Doc, great to see your bear!  Patience does pay off both for you and us as the readers   .

I love the time of year when these type of threads come up.  Gives me something to look forward to every morning and evening when I get on the computer.

Chris