OK, I'm back!
Here is where we get to the gooooooood part!
I got dropped off and settled in the stand at 5:50pm. I took a pick of the bait, realized I did not have phone service, and figured out how I needed to be positioned to get a good shot toward the bait.
At 6:20pm I caught movement to the right and in strolls a very nice sow and two yearlings. These bears threw all caution to the wind and went straight for the bait. Here is a pic of the sow and yearlings:
Not 20 minutes later, I catch more movement off the the right. It is another bear coming in. Now, this witchybitchy (as Mike labeled her above) sow immediately decided he had no rights there and began to make the eerie bear sound and clack her teeth together. As soon as he got close, she would charge him and run him off.
This went on for quite some time. He would move in, and she would make that eerie bear noise and clack her teeth, and then run him off.
Well, he started making wider circles around the area. He made a circle that was leading him right for my tree. I was watching him pretty close as he came right to my tree........and got up on his hind legs with his front paws on the trunk! He looked up at me then went back to the ground and walked away from my tree. Whew, I was relieved!
I'm now watching these 4 bears, and cussing the sow under my breath. Remember, the sow at Pinky's stand is what made the giant bear leave. I was not ready to see that happen again. Anyway, as I was watching, I again catch movement to the right, and circling in is another bear. This one circles down the hill and tries to come in from straight behind the bait. As he approached, I noticed that he had a really cool "Y" shaped white blaze on his chest and immediately decided I would shoot him if given the chance.
For the next 20 minutes or so it was a circus! Both of these bears wanted to get at the bait, and every time one would get close, Ole Witchybitchy would run them off.
Then the sow and both little ones moved off by another tree about 10yds to the left of the bait. The bear with the blaze saw this as an opportunity and came straight in to the bait from the opposite side. For some unknown reason, the sow just stood there this time and made no aggressive move toward him. All I remember thinking is "This is it!".
I raised my bow and had tension on the string waiting for him to get "right". After just a moment , it was time. I drew back to my face. I have no clue what happened next. I felt a very big double clutch and the arrow was gone from my control.
I was thinking "Oh, no!!!!!!!" as the arrow slammed into a tree just on my side of the bear.
POW!!!!! It sounded like a rifle going off in that ravine. All 3 big bears jumped back, startled. They were all looking at one another trying to figure out who done that! I was cussing myself under my breath and fumbling with my quiver trying to get another arrow out.
The bear I had missed circled out about 12-15yds and came right back into the bait. This time the sow just could not stand it and run him off again. He did not leave, but moved out about 40yds from the bait, and down the hill a bit.
With him backed away, my focus now turned to the other bear. He would go for the bait, but get chased off by the sow every time. He again made his way over by my tree, where he decided to lay down on the ground right next to my tree. I was watching him from above.
Now this stand had a bow rope tied to it. When I climbed up into the stand, I pulled up my bow, and then put the rope back hanging down. I did not want anything to look out of place to the bears. Well, as he laid there, I could see him looking around. I will swear on a Bible that what I saw next is true. That bear turned his head in the direction of the rope and got this surprised look on his face. It was almost like when he saw it there he thought "Oh, look at the bear play toy!". He commenced to grabbing the rope with his paws and his mouth and playing tug-o-war with it. Haha, this was kind of cute. UNTIL HE STARTED PULLING HARD ENOUGH TO MOVE THE TREESTAND!
This rope play continued for about 5 minutes or more. I was scared enough that I actually said a prayer asking that he not pull the stand out of the tree. It was just a bit unnerving.
So he finally gets done scaring the crap out of me and gets up and starts to walk towards the bait again. As soon as he got within 10yds or so, the sow charged him. He took off running and there was all kinds of racket. In a split second, this bear was up in my tree. We stared each other down as he went past me. He stopped with his hind claws dug in the tree dead nuts even with my head. The safety was off the bear spray. I just thought I had been scared when he was on the ground pulling on the rope.
He stayed put for about 1 minute and then started down the tree. As he passed we again stared each other down.
He got back down on the ground and I did a quick check to see if I had soiled my pants. I was in the clear and actually kind of proud of that! The bear spray can did not fair so well. I think there are several dents in the side of it now, as hard as I was clenching it!
Once back on the ground, he made a beeline for the bait. For whatever reason again, the sow never made a sound or aggressive move at him. He moved into the EXACT spot where the first bear had been. I drew back, got to a good solid anchor this time, and let her fly. The arrow hit just a tad forward from where I was looking, but he reared back, growled, and tried to bite the arrow. He spun and ran to the right and down the hill at an angle. There was a very large blood splat on the big log propped up against the barrel that had been right behind him. I followed him through the trees and, at a bout 75yds, saw him tumble over. I could see him laying there dead from the stand! YES! I finally had my first bear. It was 7:58pm when I shot him, and there was still 2 1/2hrs of daylight left!
The sow and yearlings stayed there for another 1hr and 45minutes, finally leaving about 9:45pm. I had one other bear come in, but the sow run him off before he even got a chance to get close.
The guide showed up a bit after dark, and we finally got our hands on him. He was not nearly the bear that I had seen at Pinky's stand, but I could not have been happier. My bear was only about 150 pounds, but he had a nice coat and will make a nice rug!
Here are the pics!
Well, I had one more day after that. I decided to go back to Pinky's stand with one more hope of seeing the big bear. I did not see any bears, but I did have a wolf sighting. He came through, and I actually thought I might get a shot at him for a minute. But it was not meant to be, and the sun set on my last night in bear camp!
I had an absolute blast on this hunt. The camp was great, the stands were well placed, and there were plenty of bears in the woods! There were 5 hunters in camp (I was the only trad hunter). All together, there were 7 bears and 1 wolf killed. 2 of the bears were color phase and 3 will qualify for Pope & Young.
Bisch
Topic: I could not believe I missed.......but it turned out OK! (Read 3334 times)
