Bear Quest V -- Stories for all Posts

[fatman]

About 8:00, I heard the breathing of a bear entering the bait area.  It was a small bear, and acted rather nervous, walking around the barrel, standing up and looking around, on the lookout for a more dominant bear.  It noticed me sitting in the stand, but only glanced in my direction.  After a short while, the bear walked to the barrel and stuck its head in.  Slowly, I brought the bow up, and drew the arrow back, feeling the muscles in my back come together.  As I reached my anchor, the bear reached its front leg forward, and I released.  The arrow zipped right behind the shoulder, angling sharply forward.  At impact, the bear wheeled and ran behind my stand, in a wide arc through the woods, making noise like it had whooping cough.  I watched as the patch of black raced throught he trees, and heard a crash, followed by two coughs....then all was still.

I sat for fifteen minutes, then slowly climbed down to look at the front half of my arrow, which lay in front of the barrel
 

[WhiteOaks]

Kip & Kevin,
Super Job.

     

[fatman]

I felt pretty confident that I'd made a fatal shot;  however, there was no drawn out death moan, like there had been with my first bear.  After the events of the morning, I wanted to be sure that this bear was dead before we followed up, so I elected to walk on out to the road for my pickup....

The next morning, I enlisted the Kansas City contingent of Ben, Chris, and Tom Porter to help me retrieve my bear.  I had marked the last sound with landmarks from the stand, and within minutes, we walked right to her....it's amazing how much a bear can shrink when left out overnight:
   

and a little trick photography, courtesy of Tippit:
 

[fatman]

Biggie Hoffman once wrote, "an animal taken with traditional gear is an accomplishment;  not necessarily a trophy."  I agree with that wholeheartedly.  A trophy should represent a pinnacle, a lofty goal, an outstanding animal.  I went to Canada to shoot a bear, and that's what I did.

Bill Langer's signature line says, "Traditional Bowhunting; it's not about inches or antlers."  We choose to hunt the way we do because it's pure, it's difficult, and it satifies a need within us to prove to ourselves that we may have a chance to survive if things get tough.

Uncle Barry told another Quester, "It's YOUR hunt; you're the only one that matters"  There were 12 bears taken by 15 hunters.  I didn't hear a single man in camp say they were disappointed with their hunt.  From Larry who killed the first night, to Bill Terry, who didn't SEE a bear until the last fifteen minutes of the week (after sitting through a thunderstorm without a raincoat) and then delivering a killing shot to his 301st big game animal as the clock ran down.  Even the three who chose NOT to take shots claimed to have had wonderful hunts.  This is what Bear Quest is all about.
I can't seem to make this camp an annual event, but I WILL return....to hunt, to kill a bear, and maybe someday take a trophy....
 

[fatman]

Bear Quest has often been the site of weaponry with a "theme"  Tippit tells me that the concept for the Trad Gang Bear Quest started after the year that the Little Delta Bow made the trip to La Tuque.  Selfbows, old bows, sentimental bows, all have been part of the equation at this camp.  For this year's hunt, I chose a Sky Archery Skyhawk Takedown, to commemorate Earl Hoyt, Jr's 100th birthday.  I got to meet Mr and Mrs Hoyt at their old factory on Natural Bridge Rd in Bridgeton, Mo back in the 90's, and bought my first "new" bow from them.  I have accumulated three sets of limbs for this bow, and now that I have "blooded" it, my son will receive it for his birthday:
   
The arrows were a gift from Gene "BodarkOkie" Eakins.  Gene lived in Oklahoma, but had spent years living in Missouri, and we spent a lot of time comparing notes about the country and people that we knew.  Gene passed away last fall, and I thought it was fitting to take these arrows on a special hunt:
 

[fatman]

quote:Originally posted by steadman:
Atta Boy Ben!! Congrats Bud!! I have a hard time believing that bear smelled anything besides you    

[BowPlinker]

Guess Ill have to post my story soon...  

[steadman]

Congrats Kevin! Nice bear bud!  

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Great thread congrats everybody    

Good job Ben and Kevin nice shooting!! Now we need to hear the rest of Chris's story    I bet Gatekeeper has some great pictures to share also.

Tracy  

[Matty]

[Missouri CK]

To quote Ben... "No one ever says I'm a great hunter or an especially good shot." "But I am one of the greatest open air farters of all time!"  
It's no wonder Ben was able to tag out early with the rotting meat and fish chowder stink baits, Ben was adding a new rancid odor of his own.

[BMN]

Great job guys!! Congrats to all.  

[ksbowman]

Gosh, guys thanks for all the kudus. It's great to know that I'm good at something!

[pitbull]

     Congrats to all, on some awesome memories of the hunt.

[tippit]

Monday the rain partially cleared by early afternoon, Barry & I headed for our stands that were probably 1 1/2 miles apart as the crow flies.  I had decided to shoot my regular hunting bow with the possibility of more rain.  I settled in around 3pm. The afternoon's entertainment consisted of red squirrels and Canadian Jays stealing sweets from the bait buckets.  Around 8pm I started to think nothing was going to show for the night.  As I slowly stood to stretch, I got the feeling in the hair  of my neck that I wasn't the only one around the Deli!  Slowly turning I caught the shape of a large black object in the brush behind me.  I thought he was a big bear maybe the pumpkin head one on the trail camera.  For the next 45 minutes I'd see parts of him circling the bait.  Now it was starting to get dark and I didn't know if he would come in or not.  At 8:45 I got to see him.  He wasn't the Big bear on the trail camera...but?

This was my 10th season on Quebec Bears.  I'd been lucky enough to harvest one each year, win the Big Bear Pool 3 times, and get two 300# plus bears over the last two years.  You would think I would have a good chance to gauge bear size?  Mistake #2

As he came in I got my camcorder running.  I had him @ 4-5 yards right in front of me reaching for with his leg on my side thus opening up his chest.  I couldn't take the past hour's suspense any longer and decided he was the One.  The arrow was a complete pass through but seemed to angle posteriorly...possibly hitting a rib or maybe he turned slightly quartering to me.  I didn't hear a death moan but that isn't unusual for my limited hearing.  I felt it was a good shot...but waited til dark to slip out.  Tilly & the Boys would be trackin' in the mornin'.

I'll have to finish this later.  My surgery schedule the past two days has been hectic to say the least.  Need a little sleep for another busy surgery day tomorrow...Doc

[buckeye_hunter]

I never heard your story Jeff....  

[Missouri CK]

I'm going to back up a little bit and start at the begining.  I put a game camera out on every stand I hunted.  This was the best bear I saw all week. All the big bears on my sites seemed to be nocturnal.

 

 

[Missouri CK]

I had two more evenings where I saw bear right at dusk. They always looked huge from a distance but only one came in close to the crib. His sized decreased significally when he got up close and I was content to let him pass.  Plus, it was getting late so that his black coat against the dark floor of the woods created little contrast to pick a spot.  Several times he would run off whoofing only to return back to the crib.  Finally I decided it was time to go.  As I eased out of the stand he whoofed at me several times while I was on the ground which was pretty cool but a little unnerving.
After the 4th day stands started opening up.  I helped Charlie recover his bear and while I was in there I checked out the Bird stand.  I had been there on a baiting trip earlier in the week and heard two smaller bears fighting on the crib as we got close.  We backed out and enjoyed the vocalizations. They were going at it pretty good. Ben Saye told me later he thought it was a person yelling.  I agreed it almost sounded like words rather than just growling. At that point I decided to switch stands from the Long trail to the Bird stand.
I came into the bait at the Bird Stand on my fifth day with lots of excitement.  This stand had been hit every night and Charlie had seen action early in the evenings.  Up to this point the only bears I had seen had been at dusk and so I couldn’t really make them out very well. I was looking forward to seeing a bear in the tight quarters that “The Bird” provided.  The stand felt good and I set up the honey burn when I got in around 4 o’clock.  About 45 minutes later the bear on video that I posted earlier came in.  My trail camera was also set up looking at the bait so I caught these pictures of him as well.
 


He was another small bear. I was so surprised to see him that early that I didn’t really think about shooting until he had been there a while.  He had some loose hair on his back so his coat wasn’t perfect.  Given that and his size I decided to just watch him.  Plus, I was having too much fun to quit this early in the evening. Something told me that this stand would offer more as the witching hour approached.

[Missouri CK]

Here is a look around the Bird site's crib.  It was a tight spot with little warning of an animal as they came in to the crib.

[Missouri CK]

Charlie what was the deal with that sow that you have pictures of at the Bird? Is her front leg screwed up or does it just look that way on the pictures?  Definitely not the same sow that I had in on me the night I was there. Mine only had one cub and she was not rubbed at all.