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

[RRock]

This is Tues. already, where's the rest of the week 2 guys. Kip, Black Dog ????????

[fatman]

Sunday morning dawned with an overcast sky and definite humidity in the air.  After some coffee to clear the head and a muffin to fill the belly, we crawled in to our bait clothes and headed off to check the last night's activity...

Gatekeeper, Kip, and myself piled in to Allen's truck, with sweets and meats strapped in to the bed and a couple of bottles of Miracle Spray.  Tom and I were in the back seat as Allen sped over gravel roads, down snowmobile trails, and up two-tracks.  You could tell that Allen's years of coming to La Tuque meant that he knew the area like the back of his hand, and he drives like he means it.  If you held a gun to my head, I couldn't tell you how to get where we went.....

Beaver Dam, Cardiac, Moose Path, Bird, and the Point....these were some of the stands that we tended as the rain began to fall.  One stand that really caught my eye was the Bowl.  The Bowl is built on a sidehill, which brings the bait barrels up rather close to treestand level.  In addition, the woods around the Bowl are fairly open, and there is a large hillside to the left which would reveal a bear on his approach.  I filed this information, and the Bowl would figure in to my hunt later.

After baiting, we went back to camp, peeled off damp clothes, and tore into another of Bowdoc's meals....I believe this morning was the first of the 60-egg omelets, complete with baby asparagus chopped on the top.  After brunch, it was time to shoot a few arrows, trade a few stories, look at some gamecam pics, and finally prepare for the afternoon hunt.

The water baits had not been tended that morning, so after gearing up I grabbed a bucket of sweets and a bucket of meat and loaded everything into the boat for the ride out.  Things went smoothly, and within a half hour I had baited and climbed into the treestand overlooking the Cove.

The next few hours were spent pleasantly viewing the red squirrels and chipmunks around the bait.  There was also a buzzard soaring overhead, an interesting hawk of some kind, and a black jay.  Along about 7:00, I noticed that my right butt cheek was going numb, and I shifted slightly to restart the circulation.  There was an immediate and harried reaction behind as a startled bear went crashing off to my left;  I mumbled a curse at my inattention and misfortune.  However, I presently could hear the bear working through woods in a wide loop.  After a short while,I spied the smallish bear from the previous day moving slowly toward me down the same trail that he had retreated on last night.  The bear moved right up to the edge of the bait area, still partially obscured by spruce branches and downed logs.  He gently tasted the air and cast sidelong glances up the tree where I perched, bow in hand.

When he had decided it was worth the risk, he shuffled quickly over to the meat bucket, grabbed a chunk, then slunk back to his hiding place behind the spruce, where he laid down and started to munch on the pork.  When he finished that piece, he again moved to the bait, looking at me from the corner of his eyes.  Another pork chop was carried to the safe zone and devoured.  In all, the bear remained for about 20 minutes, eating from the pork barrel and keeping an eye on the intruder at his diner.  When he finished, he slowly walked off from whence he came, without a sound.

I sat back and spent the next hour or so watching as the squirrels renewed their game of tag, and the light slowly drained from the woods.  The boat ride back to camp was refreshing and invigorating, and my mind was anticipating the news that the other hunters might bring to camp.....

[beachbowhunter]

Anybody have a pic of Rob's (BlueMonday's)bear?

[Gatekeeper]

Kevin’s doing a great job of telling you about our trip and some of this will be a repeat but I’ll post it anyway.

While I am not able to claim the success as many of the other hunters have I’m proud to say I met and shared a camp with some really great guys and look forward to doing it again next year.

The beginning of my adventure started at 03:30 on Friday and we as a group arrived in LaTuque sometime within the 07:00 hour on Saturday. I traveled with Allen and found him to be a great traveling companion. The trip from KC to the Phillip’s residence and then to LaTuque is a blur to me now. All I know is Allen doesn’t require sleep or food…he just keeps moving forward.

After meeting up with the week one hunters and hearing their stories we headed to our new home for the next week. The camp had everything a hunter requires… shelter, a place to lay my head, food and a Bow Doc.

Bow Doc (I luv ya man) is the camp entertainer, cook, neck breaker and vocabulary enhancer.  One on one conversations with Bow Doc revealed a person that has a true love for traditional archery, a wealth of historical information stored within in him and a deep respect for those that have come to share the camp with him. But…there are two Bow Docs and the side that is mostly revealed is the camp entertainer! He is non stop! As I said one on one conversation reveal his gentle and deeper side but as soon as three or more people have entered the room, look out because everyone and everything is fair game to be made fun of! Doc kept us laughing the whole time we were awake. Thanks brother for keeping things fun.

 
BowDoc

Saturday 6/20/09

After arriving in camp and unpacking we headed out for our first bait trip. We headed to a few of the many stands scattered throughout the wilderness. Stands with names like Black Label, The Bowl, Moose Path, Beaver Dam, The Long Trail, The Point and Bird to name a few.

 
Jay at The Long Trail

 
Bob at the Black Label

 
Allen in The Point stand

 
Beaver Dam

As described in past threads about this hunt, the stands were LOW and CLOSE! Sweets went into the 55 gal drum and rotting meat went into a 5 gal bucket and a guy can’t forget to disturb the bucket of rancid, rotting fish that was hanging in a near by tree. A warning from Allen was “whatever you do don’t get any of this stuff on you, not even a drop because it doesn’t come off.” I was told that these buckets had been sitting behind Tom’s shed at home fermenting with the lid on in the sun for a month before being hung in the tree. There are no words to describe this smell it is awful and it is a concoction that is to be respected. After baiting we headed back to camp to gear up to hunt.

At 4:30 on Saturday I was settled in my stand. The stand that I drew from the hat is called Beaver Dam and as it turns out it is the favorite stand of Lloyd (Bushy). Bushy is one of the crew that helps to keep things flowing smoothly in camp. Bushy tales me there is a big bear coming to the Beaver Dam and he proceeds to tell me where the bear will approach.

I set facing north in the treestand that was hanging 6’ above the crib and 10’ from the bait barrel waiting to see my first bear. 2 hours and 45 minutes later a bear came to a pile of bait that was place a little ways out of the crib to offer me a left handed shot. This bear was beautiful and using hindsight I should have shot but I had been hunting for less then 3 hours and I had six more days to go so I elected to let the bear pass. I estimated this bear to be 120/130# and I was hoping for a 150+ pound bear. I have video to share but I am having trouble getting it to load in Photobucket. Videos will be added later if things work out. Here is a picture from the video.

 

The bear was nervous. Every bear that I saw knew I was in the tree (they would look directly at my face) and they were very wary about approaching the crib area. The way this bear was looking around and his sudden departure made me think that someone bigger was in the area and on its way to the crib. Unfortunately the first day ended with no other sightings but I was on a high and excited for the next day to begin. At 12:00 AM I laid down to get my first real sleep after 44 hours of nonstop action and within seconds I was in dreamland!

[Gatekeeper]

Sunday 6/21/09

The second day started at 06:00 and I was greeted by my buddy BowDoc. The day was spent shooting in camp preparing baits and waiting for the evening hunt. While on stand that night I decided I was going to spend as much time as I could handle sitting in a treestand, because you can’t kill a bear sitting on the couch. The hunting time for this day, 4:00 until dark, was filled by only one bear sighting that lasted about 10 seconds. The bear only briefly revealed itself through the thick forest to my north however, the game camera was telling me a different story. It held pictures of a bear that would fill my expectations and then some.

To help put things in perspective, a 5 gallon bucket is 12” in diameter and a 55 gallon drum is 23” in diameter. Also, the bottom lip of the barrel in this picture is raised about 6”above the ground. This would put the top of the barrel somewhere in the range or 29” and the bear’s back is well past the 29” mark. This is a big bear and the motivation I needed to keep me in the bush!

 

 

 

[d. ward]

sweet treats rotting meat bears and more biting buggs then one man could ever count in his life time.Good friends and bows is there something else ? bd

[cacciatore]

Congrats doc,Felix

[Gatekeeper]

Monday 6/22/09

Treestand sitting time started at 07:00 first light was at 04:00. With fresh bait I sat for 3 hours and had no action. At 10:00 I climbed down and returned to camp, ate, helped bait other stands and at 2:00 BowDoc, Tom, Kevin and I went back to the Beaver Dam to perform a four men in three men out baiting setup. I climb into the tree and the guys perform the duties of baiting banging the bait bucket spraying scents into the trees, starting a honey burn and making noise as they receded from the forest leaving me quietly seated on my perch awaiting the allusive bruin.


There I sat from 2:00 until 7:15 letting the Red Squirrels and Chipmunks entertain me and pass the time. An interesting observation about the two is the Red Squirrels will not run over an area that has maggots squirming about. The Red Squirrels will go around these areas but a Chipmunk could careless and they will run through the middle of the mess of maggots.

At 7:15 a 100/110# bear came into view approaching from the north. Right off I knew I wasn’t going to shoot but I was glad to have a bear in the vicinity. I needed him there to help me acclimate to having this type of creature in such close proximity and to allow me to observe a bears body language and how they react to things.

 


 

I also thought that having a subordinate bear in the area may make a dominate bear feel comfortable enough to reveal itself or make it mad enough to defend its food supply. Whether this is accurate or not I can’t argue but it made sense to me at the time.

This bear was very nervous about being in the area and never did become comfortable enough to relax and feed for any length of time at the bait site. This bear spent about 20 minutes moving around the area and it would leave and then return again but not settle into the crib area. My hunt ended around 9:15 that night.

[meathead]

Kip Jay Start talking.

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by the real bowdoc:
sweet treats rotting meat bears and more biting buggs then one man could ever count in his life time.Good friends and bows is there something else ? bd

You forgot to mention Farrah….Remember?    Look at the little guys thumb for reference.

[d. ward]

Oh yeah I did not forget about Farrah she's been in my heart ever since that day you told me.bd

[fatman]

Saturday night had seen Bobby's bear brought in to the skinning shed, and Sunday had produced two shots and high anticipation...after the early search crews had gone out, there was plenty of activity around camp Monday morning.  I chose to stick around and help out in the skinning shed, which was a great education and a nice diversion from baiting.

I was coming to the conclusion that it may be time to mix my choice of stands up a little.  After the previous two nights, I felt relatively confident (I hoped not cocky) that the small bear would be at the Cove if the hunt came down to the wire.  However, I was ready to spend some time looking for a bigger bear (like a couple that had already come in to camp).  I was going to sit on the Bowl.

Now, the Bowl is Bowdoc's home turf, and a number of other Trad Gangers have taken their first bears from this stand.  Bowdoc gave me some good advice on where to anticipate action.  Allen and Lloyd were both encouraging as well, and I felt pretty good about my decision to try something different.

Allen was hunting the Point, and later that afternoon he and I loaded our gear into his truck and headed out.  He dropped me off, and with "good luck's" all around we agreed to meet back at the road around 9:30.  I slipped up the trail, climbed up the sticky spruce, and settled in to observe from the stand

the bait
     

to the right
     

to the left
     

Again, it was time to drift in to that primal state of the raptor, sitting on my perch, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce.  Patience does not come easily for me, but I find that as I age I am learning to enjoy my time on stand more, taking in the wonders of God's creation.  Never forgetting that I'm a hunter, and I have business that needs tending.

A thumping across the ground below snapped me to attention, and my neck tensed, resisting the urge to swivel around like a bobble-headed idiot.  My eyes turned downward in their sockets, trying to catch a glimpse of what I knew would be my first bear from this new stand.  Presently, my latest guest appeared:

     

I've got to admit to a bit of plagiarism here;  Jay (BlkDog) related a very similiar incident in last year's BQII thread.  But the reported story happened to yours truly as well.  I tell you, after listening to the tiny pitter patter of squirrels and chipmunks, the thunderous footfalls of a northern hare sounds like they must weigh well over a hundred pounds      :D      

So, back to the waiting.  After a time, a motion to my right caused me to look that direction, and I spied a black form moving through the understory.  At about 40 yards, I identified it as a small cub, striding up the hill with a definite purpose.  As he stepped behind a small hill, I began to scan the hillside for the sow which I knew would be accompanying the youngster.
However, I could not locate Mamma Bear, and for some reason that made me nervous.  As the cub topped the hill and made his way down to the bait, I froze in my stand, not wanting to do ANYTHING to cause him to alarm.

The little guy moved with determination, down the hill and directly to the doughnut barrel, where he stood up on his hind legs, hooked his front claws, and hoisted himself up into the candy store.  He sifted through the pile of sweets, found the largely-intact remains of a Honey Bun, and hopped out of the barrel to eat it.  When he was finished, he climbed back in, this time pulling out a whole cupcake.  The show was comical and entertaining, but my thoughts were still on the sow that I knew was lurking in the shadows, waiting to unleash her wrath to protect her cub.  Suddenly, the cub's head shot up, and in an instant he dropped the cupcake and was ten feet up a nearby tree.  No sounds of alarm, but he scanned his surroundings, and I froze like a statue.  Presently, the cub relaxed and slid down the tree, picked up the cupcake, and resumed eating.  Again, his head shot up, and he scrambled up the tree, just a little higher.  After a short scan, he slid back down and proceeded to eat the remainder of the cake.  At this point, the cub left the bait area, and walked up the hill to the base of a 40 foot spruce tree.  He then began to climb, on up, higher and higher, until he was nestled in the thinnest branches at the top of the tree.  As I sat and watched him climb, I noticed a grunting sound coming from the woods behind me...

Now I had spent the last year in anticipation of Bear Quest.  I had read the stories, seen the pictures, and watched the videos.  I had tried to prepare myself for being in the presence of wild bears, and the only situation that really had me nervous was getting between a sow and her cubs.  It was now 8:00, an hour and a half before dark, and I had a cub in the top of the tree, and what I was convinced was a sow calling to him down by the road.  Intellectually, I knew that the sound of Allen's truck would probably drive the sow away and save my life;  however, I checked my Thermacell for extra cartridge and pads in case I needed to spend the night in my tree.  Death by mosquito just might be worse than death by bear....            

For an hour, I sat in the stand, waiting for the grunting sound behind me to move in closer.  Suddenly, I heard a noise from the cub's spruce tree, and then the scraping sound of claws descending.  Presently, the cub was on the ground, and headed back down the hill towards me.  He headed straight to the barrel, climbed up, and grabbed a doughnut, which he carried to the base of a tree and devoured.  He then looked around, hitched up his britches, and strolled off down the hill....

The grunting sound behind me continued, but suddenly I knew that it was something other than a bear.  Shooting light had left, so I gathered my belongings, shinnied down the tree, and hiked down the trail to the road.  I followed the noise down to the edge of a beaver pond, and realized that the grunting that had me on edge the last 90 minutes were frogs.  Hmmm.  Didn't know they had bullfrogs this far north.  Finally, the lights of Allen's truck topped the hill, and I climbed in to the security of the cab....

This was to be the scariest day of the whole trip, and it was brought about by the smallest bear I would see.......

[d. ward]

look at these smiles now those are for real right there...bd

[d. ward]

if the shooter of this bear don't start talking pretty soon I'am going to tell it myself.This is one heck of great tail to be told along with many others.Kip Jay boy's better start talking....bd  

[Gatekeeper]

Originally posted by the real bowdoc:
Oh yeah I did not forget about Farrah she's been in my heart ever since that day you told me.bd

:eek:    

[Gatekeeper]

Tuesday 6/23/09

This day started at 7:00 after breakfast I practiced shooting in camp and then Bill, Kevin, Larry and I went out to fill bait sights. After the bait run we returned to gear up and head out to hunt.

From this point on I was hunting at the stand that Tom shot his 245# bear from. The stand is called The Bird and it has a reputation of providing shots at large bears.

At 4:00 the hunt was on. The bait was full and my anticipations were high. As I set a new group of Red Squirrels and Chipmunk’s entertained me with their antics  and to add to the mix there was grouse that would walk into the crib every now and then for a quick bite.

In the 7:00 o’clock hour a 180#+ sow became visible. She first became visible to the south of me (my left) at about 30 yards. Many times throughout this trip I would think that a bear was standing or sitting motionless in the distant forest but these items always turned out to be a stump, or shadow. When a black bear is visible in the forest it becomes apparent immediately. Their coats are so dark that they seem to absorb every bit of light around them…it is a sight to be seen and one that I am unable to describe.

The sow kept her distance for some time and out of my sight for about a half hour but I knew she was in the area because I could hear her moving through the forest, breaking stick and making a low ummfff noise.

A short time later two yearling cubs appeared to my left less then 10 yards away. Wow! What a sight! They looked like they might have weighed 10# each. Short little leg, wiry hair that stuck straight out and big Mickey Mouse ears.

The sow paced to my left going east to west and back again while the cubs meandered around exploring their environment. Of course this sow is safe from my desire to shoot and I cherish the time I had watching the trio.

The cubs on three occasion scrabbled up the two trees to my left. In a flash they were 20’ over my head and then after some time they would slowly decent to the pine needle forest floor to continue their exploration. At one point one of the cubs made its way into the crib area and eventually into the barrel for a snack. It was fun to see how clumsy they can be while they move about.

This show lasted for about 30 minutes and then the sow lead her cubs to the west where they quickly were swallowed up by the forest. I remained in the stand until dark with only one other brief sighting of a bear 40 yards away.

[d. ward]

hell yeah...bd  

[Matty]

Sorry For My delay on Photos Guys Just tryin' to catch up on reality.. Just got back sunday Back to work YADDA YADDA YADDA.,... Got some nice ones I just downloaded to my computer.. I'll get them posted soon I promise...Cant wait to read all this news too...

[Bill Kissner]

I got my kill on video and would post it iffn some of you computer guru's would coach me a little. I don't even know how to put it on my computer, let alone do the rest.

[PV]

Likely story........