Well, after reading Whip and centaurs stories, it looks like muffing a shot on a bear was pretty common this year! I swear that tree was not there when I let go!!!!!!
Here is my story of one of the most exciting days I have ever had afield! I'll tell the story of the whole hunt, but you have to wait till I get to day five for the really good stuff!
I went on a 6 day bear hunt in Alberta. We were in a camp about 2 1/2 hrs NW of Edmonton. The camp was fantastic and very satisfying. I was the only trad shooter in camp, so I had to break in the main tent on the first day!
On day one I sat a stand called Silly Knot. I had 5 bear sightings of 3 different bears that evening. The only one that would give me a good shot was just a bit small so I gave him a First Day Pass. Day two found me again in Silly Knot and not a bear was seen that day. This is a picture of the view from Silly Knot, and the bear that got the First Day Pass:
On day 3, I was moved to a stand called Pinky's. About an hour after I got on stand I caught some movement to the left. It was 2 yearling cubs that came running into the bait. A couple minutes behind them was a very nice sow. She came in and was never really comfortable. She paced back and fourth in front of the bait like she was on guard duty. After about 20 minutes she finally left, taking one of the little ones with her. After another 5 minutes or so, the 2nd little one looked up with a very surprised look on his face. It was like he was totally consumed in the bait and never noticed the other two leave. He then sauntered off in the same direction that the first two had left.
I was sitting in my treestand telling myself how cool it was to be seeing the bears and thinking about my possible prospects to come when all of a sudden I heard branches breaking to my left. It was quite noisy and only took a second or two for the cause to be revealed. The two yearlings had scurried up a tree, the whole 50' to 60' to the top. Now I was wondering "why did she make them go up the tree?".
About 2 minutes later, all heck broke loose a bit farther to my left. There were branches breaking, and bears growling, and more crashing and cracking. I could just catch glimpses of black through all the trees as this was going on. Then a minute later all was quiet again. Immediately, I caught movement to the left, on a trail coming into the bait. I assumed it was the sow coming back in.
When he walked out, he took my breath away! This bear was massive. He walked out in front of the bait barrel, and it disappeared behind him. He had every characteristic of a big bear that I was told to look for:
1. Stands taller than the barrel - Check
2. Big round head with little ears that were out to the side - Check
3. Wobbled when he walked, and was pigeon toed - Check
4. No neck - Check
This was for sure a bonafide big bear. He walked right in front of the bait and stopped a little quarted away. He was about 18yds. I began to draw and as my string hand was nearing my face, he decided to stand up on his hind legs and look around. I had to let down. I thought to myself "No problem! He will get down in a minute and I will shoot him then.". Just about then, the sow came charging in from the left. The big bear came down and immediately walked off to the right just far enough that I could not shoot. He paced around a bit and even came right to the base of my tree. He then acted like he was going to go back to the bait, but the sow was acting contanquerous. As he turned to walk off, I thought I could hear him thinking "I don't want to mess with you (the sow) today!". He lumbered off into the woods to my right, and I think I may have shed a tear or two. The cranky sow stayed around for another 30 minutes before finally calling the little ones down out of the tree and leaving the area. This is the view from Pinky's stand. I never had time to try to get a pic of the bruiser!
Got to go now, but will add more, including the exciting part in a while.
Bisch
Topic: I could not believe I missed.......but it turned out OK! (Read 3327 times)
