Bear Quest 5 "The Bird Stand"

[buckeye_hunter]

I thought I would stop hi-jacking Larry's thread and start one of my own. This was a great hunt and I was lucky to be a part of it! The stand I hunted was named "The Bird" because of a bird that led the way when Tom was scouting for bait/stand sites.


Day one:

We arrived at camp and I set up my bunk. After that, I began to prepare everything for an evening hunt. Barry, Tom and number of the guys told me to hold off shooting a bear on the first night if possible. That way I would have a chance to get a feel for things on stand. It turned out to be excellent advice by the end of the hunt. Barry was also VERY clear that should a sow come in with cubs, DO NOT let a cub get up above you in your tree. The obvious reason is that it puts you directly between mommy bear and the baby. With our stands set low this would not be a good situation for the hunter. Barry’s advice would also prove pertinent and interesting later……

After a bit, I followed Tom out to my stand called “The Bird”. He baited it while I climbed in my stand and got the Thermacell burning. The black flies and mosquitoes are naasty up there. At first I sat and watched the squirrels play with not much else going on around me. A sow came into the bait with about an hour left of hunting light. She saw me and came over to check out what was in the tree. It was me of course, but she was more curious than anything and soon became disinterested. After just a minute or two she went over to the bait and began eating some treats. It appeared that both she and the red squirrels liked the chocolate best.

I immediately began flip-flopping on whether or not to shoot her. This was likely a once in a lifetime hunt and I thought I should make the most of it. I had a hard time deciding whether shooting this bear or waiting to see more bears was making the best of the situation. Eventually, I went with taking a few pictures and trying to get to full draw for practice. I was able to do both; get the pictures and then get my bow to full draw. After I let the bow back down I just watched her for awhile eating snacks. I quietly whispered that if she came back to the bait again, I would not let her go a second time. She was absolutely gorgeous!

This particular sow offered me a perfect shot more than once, but I had decided not to take it on the first day. Eventually it started getting dark and I ran her off the bait and went back to camp for dinner.  Overall, this was an excellent start to the hunt. I had no idea what was in store for me two days later, but I am VERY glad I decided not to shoot a bear on the first night…..


Here are a few pics of her just in front of and under my stand. The stand was about 6 1/2 feet up.

   


   

A picture from camp of the lake.

   

The Real Bowdoc's 60 egg omlet

   

[buckeye_hunter]

Day 2

We were rained out, but still went to bait stands. Many of the baits had been cleaned out. This was a good sign for day 3 of the hunt, providing the weather held out! As luck would have it, the third day was beautiful and the stage was set for a great evening of hunting.

[Pierre Lucas]

Another story...    

God Bless,  Pierre

[buckeye_hunter]

Day 3

I was planning on packing a pile of food and going out hunting first thing in the morning, but there was a bit of confusion.  I wound up running baits on the water with Bill Langer, Bow Doc and Kenny. Going to the stands near the water is a pretty cool experience and I am glad I was able to hit those sites. After we got back, I found out that when the other guys went in to bait my stand, bears were in there fighting! The guys had to leave without baiting the site. I was wondering what I would have seen if I had been able to get in that stand early….

 After baiting the other stands with Bill Langer, Bow Doc and Kenny we had some lunch. With another good meal in the books I headed out to my stand. I was in the stand for about an hour before any bear activity started. While I was waiting, the red squirrels entertained me. A number of times they perched in a branch not 8 feet from my head. They are fearless little guys. One squirrel even got cornered in the bucket by a bear on the first night and the bear left it alone!

I digress, so I will get back to the bears now. I heard the squirrels alarm call and heard a branch snap. I KNEW a bear was coming into the bait. Then I saw a large patch of black fur walk past up on the hill in the brush. This bear is a good one and I need to get ready. I pick up my bow and watch the hill as it walks back the other direction. This time I see three small fur balls in tow! I set my bow in the crook of my arm and man the camera for some pictures of the babies! They walked back and forth up on the hill 4 or 5 times before mom and cubs came into the stand site. Even though sows with cubs and the cubs are legal to shoot, I had zero intention of shooting any of them. Pictures would suffice on this one!

Here is a pic of one of the little buggers.

 

And another

 

The cubs start to work on the baits without much concern, but mom continues to pace the bait site and didn’t get comfortable. After a few minutes of pacing around, mom decides she doesn’t like something. It could have been another bear or me. I still don’t know what had her spooked. At any rate, she woofs and the cubs head for the nearest tree. One of them goes up a tree out in front of me and another goes up a tree off to my right somewhere in the brush. Bear cub number three has a different idea. He came up my tree as fast as he could go. I had a camera in one hand and my bow occupied the other arm. All I had left was a leg, so I tried to kick him on the shoulder to keep him out of my tree. I missed his shoulder and kicked him in the butt! This made him climb even faster so I hit him with my camera, which did nothing to help. Now the bear cub was getting above my head and I took one last swat. I don’t remember if I got him or not, but he was now firmly in the top of my tree. This is the EXACT thing Barry Wensel had warned me not to let happen when he was giving me tips on bear hunting during the ride to camp.

So here I am with a bear cub up over my head and a ticked off mother bear just below me and ten yards away. She was huffing, popping her teeth and bluff charging my tree.

Here is a pic of the sow and 2 of the cubs just before she gets VERY ticked at me.....

 

This is a pic of her headed toward my stand, just a half second before the cub gets above me. Sorry it is blurry, but things were happening quickly.

 

To sum up the situation; I have a cub over my head and an upset mother bear at about 10 yards. I have to figure out what to do because she wants her baby and is letting me know very clearly she aims to have that cub back! Decision time.....

[GRS]

0K, talk about edge of my seat!!! I can't wait to hear the rest of this story.

[Pierre Lucas]

.........  

[joe ashton]

out standing

[buckeye_hunter]

She charges the tree, but stops about 5 yards short. Then she startes working back and forth popping her teeth, huffing and bluff charging from time to time out at about 10 yards. I stand there trying to think what to do. I was remembering a movie where the main character said, “Most people that wind up dead in bad situations are dead because they didn’t stop to think.”

OK…here were my choices the way I saw it.

Option 1. Stay in the tree and have the confrontation with the mother bear right here. I would have to hope for a good shot before it gets any worse. I don’t like this choice because it would leave the babies without a mom. Also, if there is no shot I could get knocked off the stand. That would likely be bad for me on a personal level.

Option 2. Stay here, make noise and see if she goes away. This is not really going to happen. She wants her cub back! I tried this option anyway with the whistle I packed and using a loud deep voice. She backed up a few yards, but she wasn’t leaving.

Option 3. Wait until dark when someone else comes in to get me.  They might scare her away or walk into a nightmare. Doubt it, this option is not functional… Things will get interesting before that point anyway. Besides all that, it could get someone blindsided in the dark.

Option 4. Make as much noise as possible to back her up. Get down from the stand with my knife ready and see if I can get out of there walking sideways down the trail. I like this option because I might get away and mom hopefully doesn’t have to get shot with an arrow. I figure if I stay in the tree, the stand is low enough that she will come to remove me sooner or later. I had to find a way out from between the two of them. This looks like the best option.

I did go with option 4.

I started blowing on my whistle and using a loud deep voice. The angry sow backs up to about 15-18 yards. She definitely isn't leaving the locatation, but at least I have some breathing room. Next, I have to lower my bow before I can climb down. The hoist rope is attached to the platform so I reach for it. All the while, mom is continuing to get more and more agitated with the huffing and popping of her teeth getting more frequent. I tie up my bow and lower it to the ground 6 1/2 feet below me. It drops over sideways and is lying on the ground useless to me until I have it back in hand. I grab my day pack and put it over my shoulders before I descend to the ground and the waiting mother bear. The biggest thing that made me uneasy was that I had to turn my back to her in order to climb down the screw in steps. Only 7 or eight steps, but all with my back to the mother bear. I put my knife in my teeth and turn to climb down…

[Bel007]

[razorsharptokill]

Similar scenario happened in Pa. Last year with a hunter being mauled pretty bad by a momma bear.

[Pierre Lucas]

[wbyrd]

Can't wait to hear the rest of this one!

[pitbull]

You're here to tell the story so I guess this one turns out for the good.  

[leatherneck]

C'Mon Charlie.........

[birddog75]

Charlie, what is wrong with you? You don't stop telling a story in a situation like this.  Well done, looking forward to the rest of it. Congrats to all the hunters that made BQ 5 and look forward to your stories as well.

[JohnnyWayne]

:eek:        :eek:

[Bernie B.]

I really need to go and mow the lawn before the rain comes back, but you have me so glued to the screen that I'm afraid I'll miss the ending of this story.  Please finish it so I can get my work done!

Bernie Bjorklund

NC Iowa/SW Wisconsin

[bendbig]

[buckeye_hunter]

I was fully aware of the gravity of the situation. I could possibly be mauled by the sow. If I did go down by some chance they wouldn’t find much of me left with that many bears in the area. The trail cam had more than 1,800 pictures in a week on that site. Not all bears in the pictures, but many of them were bears. This wasn’t a joke, but it was a situation that left me with no options. Go into it with my head up or sit and wait for bad things to happen. I wasn’t sitting and waiting.


I muttered, “Let’s do this.” through the knife in my teeth and I started down the steps.  I couldn’t make much noise with the knife in my teeth. I don’t even know how hard I tried to make noise because it was all autopilot now. At this point I honestly didn’t know what the sow was doing.  I couldn’t see her and everything seemed to be mute with the wonder of what would happen next and the pounding of my heart in my ears. I was hoping she wouldn’t charge with my back to her. I should have been soiling myself, but somehow all I saw was a battle and a need to get out in one piece. My foot hit the ground and I quickly turned to see where she was while taking the knife in my hand. I raised my voice and hit the whistle again. She had only advanced maybe 3 or 4 yards when I had my back turned. She was right there at about 12-13 yards huffing and popping her teeth, but she backed up that same distance when I hit the whistle and yelled, “Go away bear!”

 I reached for my bow and the Thermacell that dropped in the confusion. I got the Thermacell and put it in my pocket(still turned on), but the bow was tangled in the hoist rope on the ground. It took me a few seconds to undo it and get an arrow knocked. I didn’t like having to bend over to do it, but it was just a little bit important to have a decent way to defend myself. I continued with the “Get outta here bear!” yells while I was untying the bow. Finally with arrow knocked and the knife still in hand I started slowly walking sideways to the trail. During this time the mother bear stayed at about 15 yards and made one last small bluff charge. She did let me get to the trail, and I could still hear huffing when I felt I was at a safe distance. I went back to the truck, got in, and took a big breath. I felt something oddly hot on my leg and remembered the Thermacell. Just a word to the wise, Thermacells get hot in your pocket! I went ahead back to camp and relayed the story to Tom who runs the bear camp.

What does Tom say to my story? “So you got some action eh? Going back out later?”

I told him I thought it was better to let the stand cool off until the next day.

I did go back out that next day. The story of that bear, the shot and the recovery of the bear are a very special one for me. Also, I was able to get that hunt on video courtesy of Larry Surtees. I will post the video of that hunt when I have the opportunity. Heading to a softball game now. Hunting can have an odd way of providing clarity in life and reminding us of what is important.

[OBXarcher]

awesome !

thanks for sharing