On with the story...
After drawing stands, Tom shared some notes that Chris had left. "Large sow comes in from the left at 930, then moves across the hill above the bait." I was excited. However, I was uncertain about going out the first evening. After being up for nearly 36 hours, and 16+ hours of driving over the last two days, I was a little whooped. I soon found I would be the only one in camp if I stayed behind that first night, so I was going. I have never seen a bear my first evening out, but I believe there is some value introducing your scent in the area to let the bears adjust.
The Saturday sit was enjoyable, but did not produce any bear sightings. I simply got reacquainted with the snow shoe hares, chipmunks, and the red squirrel hierarchy on the bait site. The butter scotch chips Kip left behind for me were a big hit with the hares. I listened to them hares chomping away on the chips well into the evening.
There was no sign of bears during my sit. No sticks breaking, no sound of movement from the swamp behind me, and no bear vocalizations indicating anything was near. With a little difficulty keeping my eyes open, I climbed down about 915 early to get a head start on picking up Charles from Big Bear, and Brian from the Roller Coaster.
Charles evening was quite. After arriving at the Roller Coaster, Brian was no where to be found. It was 10:30 pm so with flash light in hand, off we went. I arrived at the bait to discover the satelite piles were gone. Brian still in the stand and he was beaming with excitement. No arrows were loosed but your first up close encounter with a bear is something special. Brian was excited. That really made my evening.