Well, we got back yesterday and as always, it was a very enjoyable trip.
We all had fun, but no bears were brought back to the states.
Our trip started out with missing luggage and a liesurely stay a local hotel while we waited for it to arrive.
The following day we trekked to Wally's place near Fredricton NB. After purchasing our license's, we shook out the gear and went to the woods.
Baits were all being hit, but a lot of early feeders. I have never spent so much time in a bear stand. We would arive about 10:am and sit until 10:pm.
Not norm for Bear hunting, but we were routinely seeing bears around noon - 3pm.
For some reason, Barbara never got to see a bear. I had one encounter early on while sitting on a ground stand I set up using my bush in the bag poncho but the bear was not as big as my last so I let him walk.
On the last day, I had two bears at the bait when I walked in at 10:am and then one bear came back at 2: and then returned every hour for the next 4. He acted very nervous and never stayed long, besides he too was too small so I passed.
About 6:, the biggest living bear I had ever seen showed up and he was a Whopper! I understand that most everyone over estimates the size of bears, but this big boy looked like a fall bear with a BigJim sized head and belly. he stood well over the top of the 55gal drum and made it look rather small. My official guess of weight would be over 450 lbs.
He came in and sat down on the back side of the barrel(maybe 12 yards away). As I waited for things to develop, his nose went up in the air and he was gone.
Unfortunatly, the wind had been circling that day. I had been hoping that the bears would not be able to discern the difference between my scent and that of the guide doing the baiting. No such luck and that was the end of my bear encounters.
Parker (the son of a friend that joined us)had been fortunate to see bears (as many as 4) every evening. A couple were nice, but to his credit, he was holding out for a jaw dropper. That is not something you see from many hunters and even less from youth hunters.
On his last evening in stand, he was encountering bears as usual, but it was not until late that his turn came up.
I believe the big bear that had visited my stand meandered to his.
Parker told me that this bear was so much larger than anything he had seen that he had gotten immediately excited and new he would shoot given the opportunity. The bear layed down in front of the barrel and reached in with his paw and head, but was too big to go much further in.
At about 20 yards, Parker sent a broadhead deep into the bear.
We looked for the bear a little the evening of the hunt, but for lack of blood (common even on the best shot placements on bears), we had to plan a daylight search.
By the time we started searching in the morning, it had been raining for several hours, but we had a crew of people to help and I was feeling good. At about 50 yards, we found the fmj arrow on the ground with the broadhead absent. No doubt the pt was stuck in a bone as the shaft was broken and missing the head.
We searched for several hours using grid search and compass but were unable to recover the big bear. Unfortunatley we couldn't stay and look another day due to our airline itinerary.
I know Parker had to be devastated as I know that I would have been. He handled it like a champ and we worked out plans on what we would do different for the next bear hunt.
All in all, it was an enjoyable experience and it has left us all with a heated desire for the next bear hunt.
Back at work, BigJim
Topic: BigJim/ back from the Bear visit ! (Read 2007 times)
