This time the bear walked out to about three or four yards in front of me. Then for no apparent reason spun around and ran out again. He was silent as a ghost coming in and sounded like a freight train every time he left. The bear came in and ran out two more times. Each time he was right under the stand. Then he came in, looked at the barrell and then just walked back out of sight. I thought he was gone for good that time.
Then about 20 minutes later, a small bear came in. As that bear was approaching the barrell, the big bear came running in popping his jaws. The little bear put it in high gear and the big boy was right on his butt. Both bears went out of sight but the big guy came right back in. The little guy came back as well but stayed on the outside edge of the bait site.
Then a squirrel took off running and the big bear stood on his hind legs to see what it was. He was about ten yards away and it looked like his head was just about as high as the stand I was in. Then he walked to the barrell and layed down so he could get his head in it. I did not concern myself with the small bear. I figured he was keeping an eye on the big bear and I had too much going on to worry about him anyway. I came to full draw. Just as I reached full draw, the bear backed out of the barrell, sat on his rear end and looked right at me. There I was, stuck at full draw with no shot.
The bear sat there and looked at me for several seconds, then decided he did not like me. He started to walk away, but he chose a route that took him between me and the barrell. This put the shot at about five yards at a pretty steep angle. I had been at full draw for about ten seconds or so, but the arrow was on the way. It was so fast that I really couldnt tell for sure where the bear was hit. It looked below midline through the shoulder. The arrow was still stuck in the dirt where the bear had been.
Both bears were gone in an instant at the shot. The small bear came back about a minute later but did not stay. The woods seemed very quiet for the first time since I had been in them on this evening. I sat there in silence for about 15 minutes replaying the shot over and over in my head. Then I heard it. You know what it was. One very loud long moan, followed by several short ones. The bear was mine. I got out of the stand and went to my arrow. I could see blood that started about a yard from where I shot the bear. I followed just far enough to see that the bear had turned to the dirction that I had heard the moan from then stopped. I stuck an arrow in the ground in that spot. Then I walked to the old moose tower for which the stand is named and sat and waited for the ride. It had started raining pretty good so I was a little concerned but when I got back to camp, Zach and Tom were sure the bear was dead and that we would be able to find it.
The following morning Zach, Tom and I were out early, I showed them where the blood was and where I had put the arrow. The rain had washed some blood away but it was still pretty easy to follow, with only a couple difficult sections in the moss. We found the bear, and I could not have been happier or more relieved. More photos to follow.
Topic: Bear Quest 8, READY TO RUMBLE!! (Read 3137 times)
