Bear Quest V "HILLBILLY"

[WhiteOaks]

As I sit at home unpacking from the trip and withdrawing from BowDoc's awesome coffee I decided I would share my Bear Quest V adventure.
I flew into Albany on the 10 and linked up with Kip. We rented a car and drove a couple of hours to Tom's place to link up with Chris, Ben, Tom, and Kevin. The trip was great and Kip was a nice travelling companion. Once we arrived at Tom's we all did some last minute shopping at the local Wally World and finalized the packing for the trip. We left for La Tuque around 730PM. Kip and I were selected to pull the coveted rotten meat bait traler with a full complement of flies and maggots. Lucky us. Be right back.

[WhiteOaks]

I'll cut through the trip through Mass, Vermont, and NH but I will say it was a pleasant trip with lots of nice scenery. At the Canadian Border I was asked by the officials about the trailer and it's contents. I told them rotten meat scraps and old fryer grease with full complement of flies and maggots. I offered up the trailer for their thorough inspection. Needless to say they rushed us through customs and turned their head as the trailer passed their window. Good thing I'm not a smuggler. Kip and I drove into canada leaving only the pleasant stench of bait buckets behind.

[WhiteOaks]

We linked up in La Tugue with Barry, Tippit, and Larry. We decided to have breakfast before heading up the mountain. We ate and made one final stop at the local sporting goods shop for ug juice. Off to camp. Once in camp, even though we had travelled all night, we we all eager to get the first hunt in. We quickly drew tags to assign stands and grabbed our gear for the first evening hunt. I drew "The Cove" which is a stand near the lake and must be accessed via boat. Several of the guys told me that "The Cove" was getting hit regularly. Bill Langer and I jumped in the boat and travelled to our stands. The boat ride to one of the water stands is a great kept secret. Until Now.

[WhiteOaks]

Bill dropped me off and we agreed to meet back up after dark. Dark comes in La Tuque around 915 PM. I found my stand and was really surprized at just how low the stands were set. Maybe 8 feet off the ground. The red squirrels provided the entertainment almost immediately. One little fella was clearly the HMFIC of the site and did everything he could to discourage anyone from visiting his donut barrel. On several occasions he would navigate the trees to get just above my head. Bold little sucker to say the least. I'm bear hunting and worried about getting attacked by a squirrel.

[WhiteOaks]

I also had several baby eagles come into my stand on the first evening hunt which was totally awesome. I struggled to stay alert and evjoys everything going on around me but the hunt ended with seeing any bears. Oh well. Super start to a promising week. Once back in camp almost everyone saw bear on their fisrt hunt. I was slowly getting discouraged with the stand I drew.
After a good night sleep Bill and I travelled to the water stands to bait and check for activity. The cove didn't look hit but Bill's stand had some activity. I decided to hunt "The Cove" once more without success. Two hunts with zero bear sightings or activities. I was happy when Larry shot his bear because I needed to reassure myself I knew what a bear was suppose to look like at this point.

[WhiteOaks]

At this point I was starting to get a little frustrated with my hunt. Everyone was seeing bear for the most part and it seemed as if everyone was just waiting on the larger bears. I just needed to see a bear. One sighting. One opportunity at a good bear.
Wapiti Mike had been having the same luck as me on his first stand, "HILLBILLY" He had decided to give up on it and hunted "The Moose Trail" Mon. evening. We rode together to our stands, so when the hunt was over Mike and I recovered his bear.
The next day Tom asked me to go with him to bait some other sites in an attmpt to find myself a new stand to hunt with activity. We baited Bucket Brigade, Grouper, Old Camp, and the bowl. Nothing was hit great but all the stands were open to hunt except the bowl. That was BowDoc's Special Place.

[WhiteOaks]

We travelled back to camp for lunch. On the ride back I was thinking about the stands and trying to decide where to hunt. It was getting to me because nothing I had seen was gving me any confidence that I was hunting in the best spot.
Once back at camp everyone started discussing their prior evening hunt and what activity they had seen during the baiting trip. Lary sat MM41 Mon evening and reported a nice bear visiting that stand. I was seriously thinking about hunting M 41 when Ben said he was gonna hunt MM 41. WapitiMike told him we would have to draw straws for that stand but I insisted Ben go ahead and hunt 41 since I had never seen it and he called it first. What to do. What to Do. Where do I hunt next. Will I ever see a bear this week?

[WhiteOaks]

Still undecided and not knowing how the hunt would end up I started looking over every possible stand and discussed past results of each stand. I was also reviewing prior bear sightings of each stand since everyone was keeping track of sightings. Time for bed.

[WhiteOaks]

Tues morning rolled around and as we were enjoying some awesome coffee WapitiMike was clearly planning to assist me with my bear hunt sice he was tagged out. We discuss the recovery of his bear and we were pretty certain another bear was on that stand. After coffee we all split up to bait all the stands. Upon return Bill Langer reported that "HillBilly" had been hit and suggested I hunt that stand. WapitiMike had hunted that stand hard and recomended I stay away from that stand. With no confidence in the other stands "HillBilly" appealed to me for several reasons. First off I'm from Southwest VA and if you have ever heard my accent you would know why a stand named "HILBILY would appeal to me. Second off it was a water stand. Now bumpy rides on the road. I decided to hunt the HillBilly Tues evening. I would travel via boat with BowPlinkr.

[WhiteOaks]

The boat ride was awesome on the way to "HILLBILLY" and the weather was hot and buggy.
BowPlinkr dropped me off at the back below "HillBILLY". We wished each other Good Luck and agreed to stay until last light.
I travelled up the hill to the "HillBilly" stand. When I arrived I could not find the stand. I was scanning the arear about 10 feet off the ground. I was worried that Wapiti Mike had moved the stand to "Moose Trail". I then realixed that Mike likes to hunt high so I adjusted my scan pattern. Success. I located the stand just off to the right of the barrel but it was 35 feet in the air. First off, I don't like to hunt that high and second, I didn't have a safety harness. I did not like the set up and if I had had a boat I might have ended the hunt right there. Since I was stuck, I decided to give it a shot. I climbed the stand and after about 15 minutes of suffering from altitude sickness and nose bleeds I decided that I need to move the stand. At this point I didn't care if I ruined the hunt or not. I just wanted to return to mother earth in one piece. In a rush I decided to drop my pack straight off the stand. I later found out that my camera took the brunt of the impact. I quickly dropped my gear and bow, climbed down several rails and positioned the stand about 8 feet off the ground. Once the stand was secure, I dropped down to check my shooting lanes. After trimming several branches out of my way I sat on the stand and it just felt right. I could just imagine a perfect quartering away shot on a nice bear. Pulled all my stuff up on the stand and settled in for an evening hunt.

[WhiteOaks]

Around 7 oclock I could hear popping sounds around the hill top. Uncle Barry said a Bear's nose will pop when he is smelling around so I got excited. After a little time I could hear something walking way of to my left in the woods. I continued to scan the area of the sound and prepared myself for any opportunity. The sound continued around my left in a counter clockwise direction until it was directly upwind of the stand site. Moment of truth. Is it a bear? Will he smell me? Did I use enough cover scent? Is he looking for food or sows? Will he commit to the stand. My body was on a huge adrenaline rush as I anticipated the next few moments and what would unfold. After a few seconds which seemed like several minutes, the noise continued and the ole boar finally appeard off to my left. He belined for the site and presented himself for the shot. As I looked at the bear and recalled how most of the hunters had cameras spent lots of time on stand filming the bears and letting them roam around the site I remembered five things. First, I was not seeing a lot of good bears. Second, This was the first opportunity to take a bear. Third, When and if would I get another opportunity. Fourth, Bear Tag soup probably tastes a little worse than Deer Tag Soup even though its more expensive. Finally, Kip kept saying in his Southern Gentleman Louisiana accent, " If you wanna be a Bear Hunter you gotta kill a bear".
Mind was made and hat was clear to go for the shot.

[WhiteOaks]

I drew the old SA II Widow I had owed for many years. Thoughts of the time I had spent practicing, making the arrows, the string, the silencers, sharping the wensel woodsmen just right and bevelling the tips to prevent curling zipped though my head as I drew the bow. I cleared my thoughts and tried to pick a spot.
This is easier said than done on a bear but I thought I was on it. As I was about 3/4 drawn, the bear sat down covering the front of his body with his front legs and looked straight at me.
If I let down he'll spook. I find my anchor and tried to find the right spot for a lethal shot. One I zeroed in and decided to shoot my mind had already released the Wensel Tipped 250 CE. As I watched the arrow travel toward the boar in what seemed like slow motion. One minute I saw my fletching on the side of the boar and the next it was gone. Did I miss? Was it a complete pass through? What's next?

[WhiteOaks]

The bear bolted bolted off to the left and ran over the hill. I was hoping it was a good hit and the trail would not be long. The Bear ran about 30 yards and stopped. He immediately started the death moan and that was a sound I'll never forget. four moans and all was quiet. Uncle Barry had told us of the death moans and we had discussed this several times over camp. Long story short. Death Moans are a good thing when you bear hunt. I climbed down the stand and started looking for signs of a good hit.

[WhiteOaks]

I could not find any blood at the point of impact. This bothered me a little but after helping to trail several bears, I knew that the fur soaks up a lot of blood. About 5 feet from the shot I found my arrow. Still intact and glistening with clean fhesh blood. Definately a good sign. I looked around be never saw another drop of blood until I saw the bear. He was down less than 30 feet away.

[WhiteOaks]

Since it was only 730, I had over 2 hours to kill. I marked my bear and headed for the pickup point on the lake shore. Once I carried all my gear I got a wild idea that maybe I could move the bear to the lake myself. I travelled back up HillBilly and after rolling around with that bear trying to pull it and trying to roll it up on my shoulders for several minutes I decided I would have to wait until someone came to pick me up. If there had been a camera around when I was wrestling around with that bear someone would have won $10 K on America's Funniest Videos.
I went back to the lake shore and thanks to my Bug Tamer Suit I was able to take an awesome 2 hour nap lying across 3 logs while being sung to sleep by the many loons that call La Tuque home.

[WhiteOaks]

BowPlinkr showed up a little after 9. He asked if I had seen anything and I said no. I was going to surprize everyone the next morning. He shared that he had taken a bear and already had it back in camp. I congratulated him and said since he was successful we might as well recover mine tonight. He was happy for my success as well. We ran back to camp to get some help. Bill Langer, Wapiti Mike, Ken and myself headed back across the lake and Up HillBILLY to recover my bear. We enjoyed the boat ride and the recovery was easy. Mike thinks I'm the luckiest hunter in camp because there were no bears spotted on HillBilly before I hunted and there was no activity on HillBilly after I hunted. Sometimes you just gotta go with your GUT. I needed one opportunity and HILLBILLY provided me that.
 

[WhiteOaks]

An even more awesome story that evolved this day was that KSBowman (The guy that decided to hunt MM 41) was also successful. Three bears. Ben, Ken, and myself. I look forward to reading Ken and Ben's story.
 

[WhiteOaks]

Bear Quest V was an awesome week where I had a chance to meet some great guys who share many interests. We got to talk Trad Archery 24 hours, seven days a week and the world was perfect. I met guys that I have read their books and watched their videos and who I have come to admire, and envy from a distance.

Tom - Thanks for a great week
BowDoc - You are the Man, The Myth, The Legend. Thanks for the awesome coffee and great meals.
Uncle Barry - Loved the stories and appreciate the advice and knowledge
Tip - Awesome guy and a talented Knife maker
Kip - Congrats on the Bear and thanks for everything.
Kenny - Enjoyed hunting with you and truly amazed by your leather work.
Mike - You may be a lost brother. Thanks for everything. Super guy.
Chris, Tom, Ben and Kevin - We always seemed to be baiting differently sites and hunting opposite locations but I enjoyed every moment we had a chance to talk. I looked forward to future hunts with you guys.
Charlie - You were a nice addition to the camp and I hope to see you again at another camp.
Bill Langer and Bill Terry - Both class acts and a true pleasure to meet and share a bear camp with.

I learned a great deal about bear and different hunting styles from each and every one of you. My greatest take away is that I really need  to start documenting some of my hunts with camera. I think I'm really missing out on some great opportunities and hunts I can document and share for a lifetime.

Thanks Again and look forward to everyone's story.

PS - This would have been a one post story if I was not still pinging from BowDocs awesome Coffee.

[WhiteOaks]

Forgive me for missing credit acknowledgements for this great week.

Larry Surtees - Buddy, you are a class act. You had the most RBIs this week. You contributed to many successful hunts this week. I'll share a camp with you anyday. Thanks also for the pics.

Tilley - It was nice having a dog in camp. Keep up the tracking work but remember when you go flying through the woods on a trail that the guy on the other end of the leash is a little taller than you. Tip. Watch out for the low hanging branches or start wearing a crash helmet on your next tracking mission.

[4runr]

Awesome story and Bear. Congrats.