Bear killed by a firefly!

[bohuntr]

Hi folks! Just got back from my 1st bear hunt this Sunday. I have been busy catching up at work but I finally found a few minutes to fill you folks in on the hunt. My two buddies John and Leon and I were hunting with Smoothstone Lake Lodge which is run by Lyndon and Carolyn Gliege. Lyndon and Carolyn are really awesome folks with a beautiful lodge!!! If you stay with them you are guaranteed to gain weight because Carolyn is a phenomenal cook.  The picture below is a picture of the lodge. My buddy Leon is talking to Carolyn in the picture.
 

    The next picture is a group picture. Seated from left to right are myself, Carolyn, Lyndon, Hunter (the Gliege's son) Leon and John.
 

  Below is a picture of Smoothstone Lake. We bought three day fishing licenses and caught some nice northerns that thanks to Carolyn were excellent table fare.  I guess I should have taken some pictures of the fish but I was too busy getting ready to catch the next one.
 
     This is an old trappers cabin I saw when I was out stump shooting with my bow in the woods adjacent to the lake.
 

   I have to head out for an appointment but I will try to finish this up as soon as I get back. I promise I am not going to "Lamb" this thread out. Sorry Charlie, couldn't resist the reference!  

[**DONOTDELETE**]

That cabin looks like it would make a great blind. Great pix so far... Can't wait to hear the rest of the story.

[magnus]

Looks beautiful. Can't wait to see the rest of the pictures and hear your story.
Magnus

[Tim Fishell]

Awesome!!  Can't wait for the rest of the story.

[coaster500]

Bear killed by a firefly! Great title    Can't wait for the story !!

Bad bug !!

 

[Mudd]

   

[wollybear]

you have my attition!!  what a great start to a story

[wollybear]

you have my attition!!  what a great start to a story  :cool:    

[ron w]

I can wait for more....  

[bohuntr]

My bow for this trip was my recently purchased Firefly takedown longbow. Jim Jones had promised me the bow in 4 months but luckily had finished it a month early so I could bring it along on my hunt. I only had the bow about two and a half weeks prior to leaving but there was no question in my mind that it was going to be my go to bow for this hunt and for the forseeable future. I have posted pictures of this beauty previously but for those who may have missed them I will post them here again. The limb veneers are Waterfall Bubinga, the riser is Cocobolo and Yellowheart and the limb tips and caps are Cocobolo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The hunt was scheduled for 5 days. The 1st 3 days saw multiple bear sightings by everyone in camp but me. Steve, a real nice guy from Alabama shot a nice cinnamon bear with his bow the very 1st night. It weighed 175lbs and had a 16+" skull. The outfitter figured it was probably a 4 or 5 year old bear.

     In the meantime I was seeing no bears at all. The 1st three days all I saw was grey jays, squirells and several pine martins. I am going to try and post a short video clip of the 1st martin I saw.
 

[JEJ]

Great pics there. Hope you got some time to look around that old trapper's cabin. That lodge sure looks like a great place to rest up and eat while in between hunts and fishing! Looking forward to the story, and I like the "bear killing firefly" lure you tossed out to us.
 

[bohuntr]

On the 4th day my buddy Leon shot a really nice bear that will make Pope and Young easy. The skull was 18 and 9/16th's" and it weighed 205lbs. His bear had been crippled and came in hobbling on three legs. Leon got the shot on video and boy did that bear get over hobbling when the arrow hit!!! I would like to post a picture but all the pictures show his compound bow in it and I beleive that is a violation of this site's rules. I finally saw bears but not of the shooting variety. I had a pair of yearling (siblings?) come in and scrap over possession of the contents of the bait barrel. Entertaining but no opportunities to shoot a mature bear. With about 2 hours left of the last night of my hunt a mature color phase bear showed up. The bear was very cautious coming in and it circled and sniffed for at least 45 minutes prior to approaching the barrel. I made up my mind not to move an inch until the bear had knocked down the barrel and gotten comfortable feeding. When the bear first knocked down the barel it ran full speed back out of range and really checked things out again before coming back in to feed. I let the bear feed for about 5 minutes and slowly stood up and turned on my video camera. I bet I drew my bow and let off maybe 6 or 7 times as every time I was just about to shoot the bear would move or change angles on me. Finally it looked like I was going to get a broadside shot so I decided to focus the video camera in tighter so I would be able to see the arrow hit. When I looked up at the camera I noticed that the camera was no longer recording. When I tried to turn the camera back on a voice came from the camera saying "Your memory card is full". In a panic I flipped the camera shut and looked back to see if the bear had heard the sound.

          Sorry folks ... more later. I have client to see. I promise to get back to this right after we are done.

[DHR]

talk about suspense, good story so far.

[Terry Green]

[coaster500]

Keep it coming  

[Jmgcurve]

   

[Keith Zimmerman]

Waiting....waiting....waiting....

[4runr]

"I promise to not Lamb it up"

YEAH RIGHT!!!  LOL

[bohuntr]

When I looked back thankfully the bear was relaxed and totally engrossed in trying to eat all of the contents of the barrel. It took a short time to compose myself to the point that I would be able to make a good shot if the opportunity arose. Finally, the bear moved into a position slightly quartering away from me at about 20 yards. My bow came up, I reached full draw and while focusing slightly high (to compensate for the downward shot) and slightly back I released the arrow. The arrow hit right where I was looking but did not pass through. I could see the yellow fletching sticking out of the bear as it ran into the bush. I could hear the bear crashing through the bush for 4 or 5 seconds and then nothing.  I felt like the shot was perfect but was a little concerned that I had not heard the infamous death moan I had been told to expect. I waited about 10 or 15 minutes and tried to radio Lyndon but he was out of radio range. I decided to get down and take a look to see if I could see any blood close to the barrel. I found bright red lung blood right away. I knew that Lyndon did not want me to follow up the bear until he got there so I got the radio out and this time I got a hold of Lyndon. Lyndon showed up with Bruce who is a guide for Lyndons operation. After a few questions to me from Lyndon regarding the placement of the shot Lyndon loaded the shotgun and we set off tracking. After a short distance Bruce pointed out a big smear of blood on a tree. While he was looking for more blood I looked up ahead and saw my bear laying there very dead. The bear went less than 50 yards total and I doubt he lived much over 5 seconds after the shot. It was no surprise to me that the bear was pretty badly rubbed as I could see that when the bear was at the bait. I was happy to have made a good shot on a nice, mature bear on my 1st hunt. Being that there was only a couple hours left I definitely did not do any second guessing about shooting this bear. Our camp ended up going 4 for 5 on bears that week with John being the only one not to fill although he had shot opportunities. My bear ended up being the heaviest that week at 230 lbs and its skull was 17 & 1/4". Lyndon figured my bear to be 10 or 11 years old. The shot ended up being a double lunger with the broadhead burying in the offside shoulder. This is a picture of my first bear. Who knew a bear could be killed by a firefly?      

 

[Guru]

What a beaut...congrats bud!