Without making this a sales pitch, this hunt continues to be an outstanding example of what traditonal bowhunting is all about. Tom Phillips and his crew do an absolute outstanding job year after year. I know there are guys who have this hunt on their bucket list and seem to put off going for one reason or another, but you really should go for it as nothing is forever. I'm afraid there will be guys in the future who will look back and kick themselves for letting a golden opportunity slip through their fingers. It's not just the excellent hunting but the colorful "character" of the entire camp. This was my fifth year in a row and every hunt was unique and something I'll never forget. There's literally centuries of wisdom sitting around each and every campfire.
Every single hunter in camp had opportunities with close range encounters. Some, including myself, chose not to shoot for one reason or another. But that's what bowhunting is all about. I had at least one bear under me each and every day I hunted. My last day is a good example so I'll elaborate on Friday so as not to make this too long. Please remember we are very remote with no cell service so it's not like everyone can keep you folks updated daily. Friday I climbed into my stand about 11:30 AM. The first bear arrived at 1:00 and the next at 4 PM. It was sunny and cool and I got some great video footage. About 6 PM a front moved in and it started to rain shortly thereafter. I put a plastic bag over the camcorder and pulled my raincoat on. No problem until about 6:30 when the lightning started. It began cracking all around me. Sitting in a metal treestand in a lightning storm it's real smart so I left everything there and slid out for the safety of the truck until 7PM. At 7:10 here came a nice boar that I'd already passed up on Wednesday waiting for an even bigger one. He was recognizable since he had two puncture wounds on his snout from an obviously recent encounter. He circled and finally walked right in. When I rebait I normally put about a third of the bait in the barrel which was 13 yds. right in front of me. Then I place another third in a small pile on the ground about ten yards quartering off to my right and another third in a pile about ten yards off to my left. These "satellite" baits allow more than one bear to feed at the same time. With just the single bait barrel you often have one bear dominate the barrel whereas the smaller piles are far enough apart to allow multiple bears to feed at once. Additionally, if a single bear comes in he often will walk between the piles offering more shot angles, etc. Anyway, this nice boar walked right in and laid down at the satellite pile to my left. He knew I was in the tree and constantly kept his eyes on me but only offering the frontal angle. Twice as he maneuvered around I got about two inches from full draw when he shifted a little and I let down. If someone would have bet me he would lay there for fifty minutes and never offer me anything but a frontal angle I would have lost the bet. At one point a snowshoe hare came right under my stand and walked literally 6 or 7 feet from the bear. He stood on all fours and took a wide stance with his front legs. As the rabbit hopped just in front of him he swung his head to his left. It was really tempting to sink a three-blade just to the left of his sternal notch knowing I'd likely get either the carotid artery and/or jugular but I knew better. I knew I'd also not likely get an exit hole and it was still drizzling rain. Always practice what you preach. After fifty minutes, at about 8 PM he stood and swapped ends. When I draw the bow it takes probably two seconds to draw and settle in for the shot. In that two seconds he went from frontal to the butt angle and slowly walked straight away. Since I still had a solid hour of light remaining I figured he'd be back knowing there was still plenty of bait left. The bad news is his short departure gave two more bears the opportunity to slide in from my right. The one I wanted stayed back in the brush about fifty yards huffing and popping at each other. One of the newcomers was a very decent boar that I'd seen every day I hunted. I'd already passed him up a dozen times. The third bear had a great pelt but was a teenager. The bigger one laid right in front of me offering all kinds of shots. He had a bum back right leg. It looked like it had been caught in a snare years previous. He wouldn't bear weight (no pun intended) on the leg and you could see the right hindquarter was atrophied from lack of use. He adapted by sitting mostly on his opposite hip and therefore rubbed most of the hair from it. Sorry guys, I gotta go... be back shortly. BW
Topic: Bear Quest V -- Stories for all Posts (Read 27203 times)
