Continued from page 55 The whole scenario of my close encounter lasted about 15 minutes from the time I spotted the bear until it blew out of sight. That was the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me while hunting. The coyote I shot in Utah will always remain very high on my list and the pig I shot a couple of weeks ago was definitely a hard earned hunt that I will always look back on with pride, but standing face to face with a wild bear at four yards just took the covenanted position as my number one all time most exciting hunting encounter! The only thing that can top it is a dead bear of my choosing by the end of this hunt.
I sat in my stand replaying the encounter over and over in my head. I was glowing with the excitement of being able to tell people about the experience I just had. The people back home will think I’ve lost my mind. If only they knew what they are missing.
The wind was fickle that evening. It blew from every direction, this maybe a good thing when I start the honey burn. The fish chowder was exceptionally rank because the rain had agitated the liquid enough to break the film of dead flies that float on top. So once again there I sat with rotting fish wafting into my nose and to add to the glory a cloud of bugs swarmed outside the protective bubble that the Thermacell provides with an occasional Kamikaze darting in just to piss me off. Yeah…if only the people back home knew what they were missing. If bugs are the key to bear activity, tonight should be the night for an explosion of bear sightings.
From the time I settle in the tree until 7:00 o’clock I saw nothing although the ground squirrels were more active. They still wouldn’t come into the crib but there were four of the little rascals making their presents known at the bait piles scattered outside of the crib. At 7:00 I decided it was time to start the honey burn hoping the Sterno fuel would last until at least 8:30.
It didn’t take long for the goo in the can to start bubbling and popping and then a steady stream of white smoke churned from the can’s top. The smoke drifted with the sporadic wind currents in every direction. As the day grew later the wind began to settle on a constant direction and the smoke primarily drifted to the east. A full hour and fifteen minutes had passed when a black head finally peered over the plateau to the NNE about 50 yards away. Finally a bear!
This bear was very leery about coming to the bait. It looked to be about the same size as the bear I stood in front of a few hours earlier. Slowly and cautiously it inched into one of the bait piles that was the furthest out, looking up at me several times before it snagged a bite to eat and then slinking away. After finishing that morsel it returned for another bite and repeated its exit strategy once again except this time it didn’t go as far. The third time in must have been the charm. The bear continued to glance up at me on occasion, but its level of boldness must have jumped a notch or two, because this time the bear stayed and felt comfortable enough to lie down and eat.
Like a glutton the bear laid in front of the pile of donuts raking the food into its mouth and licking the forest floor until the pile was depleted. Not having its fill yet, the bear, which was feeling a lot more comfortable with its surroundings, moved to the next pile of food and began to feed.
Perfect this is exactly want I was wanting. Now all I needed was to wait for a quartering away shot opportunity.
After consuming about half of the second pile the bear turned to begin its exit stage right. I was amped up but I felt confident. I estimated the bear to be 12 yards away. I had my bow up and my fingers on the string and ready to bring my hand to anchor. Right before it turned to leave the bear gave me one last hard look
and then swung its body to the left. When it made the full 180 degree turn its left front leg (the leg nearest to me) was back.
As soon as it moved that leg forward I planned to shoot. S-W-I-N-G batter. As the left leg stretched out I drew and when it was planted on the ground I relaxed my string hand.
With the thud of the bow I instantly knew I blew the shot. **** I didn’t pick a spot! My only chance to shoot and blew it by looking at the whole bear rather then concentrating on where I wanted the arrow to strike. Someone was either looking out for that bear or looking out for me. Either way, that bear was not meant for me.
Topic: TradGang Bear Quest # 4 2010' Unpacking & Wheels are Turnin for BQ # 5 JUNE 2011' (Read 55713 times)
