Wes' Bear

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:05:00 PM

I thought I'd share a quick hunt I just finished up with my friend Wes in New Brunswick.

I left from my Upstate NY home on Thursday morning at 2:30 AM and arrived at Wes' at around noon. He then took me to his buddy Jason's cabin where I'd be staying. It was a great little cabin and I unpacked and got ready to hit the stand.

The stand is a sturdy wooden stand and as you can tell it isn't exactly far from the bait. I shoot a longbow and the rails were a bit in the way so I stood on the seat the entire time I hunted.

This is a very nice bear that I'm pretty sure I encountered later in the hunt.

vintage-bears · June 29, 2014, 09:07:00 PM

He's big!

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:11:00 PM

Wes said to bring some waders and I grabbed a pair before I left. I should've checked them... We have to cross a fairly big stream to get to the stand and I quickly found out my boots were about as water tight as a spaghetti strainer! Well, I squished my way on to the bait site and it had been hit hard and pretty much cleaned out.

It was about 3 PM when I climbed up into the stand and it was raining pretty steady. I've always heard the bears don't move in the rain. Well, there were at least 3 that didn't read that book. At around 5 PM the first bear showed up. It was this nice young bear.

He was very skittish and circled around me twice and was on the third time around before he finally decided to come in and grab a bite. He came in and ate pretty restlessly. It seems he had experienced some trouble before on the bait. I took some pictures and even texted one to Jeff H. and asked him his thoughts on the bear. He was a nice bear, but seemed a little young to me. Jeff said not to shoot him, which was my assessment as well.

Here's another picture of the young guy up next to the barrel. He'll be a good one in a couple years.

finkm1 · June 29, 2014, 09:11:00 PM

Nice Bear. Looks like fun!!!!

dhermon85 · June 29, 2014, 09:11:00 PM

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:15:00 PM

The young boar was eating and suddenly jerked his head up and ran off. I didn't move or make any noise, so it had to be something else and I found out what just a few minutes later. It was the fattest and shortest legged sow I'd ever seen.

She was not a nice girl and she was not shy about eating and stayed and ate for a long time. Finally, she took a little break and started sniffing around. She came to the base of the ladder stand and started to climb up. She made it to the first step and then turned and went back to get another bagel. After she finished the bagel she came back to the ladder stand and started up again. This time she made it to the second rung and was coming on up. I told her to go get another donut and she scrambled back down and woofed at me. She left for a minute and then came back and grabbed a bite of popcorn and then started up the ladder stand again. This time she made it far enough up that I reached down with my longbow and smacked her on the head. She didn't like that much and scurried down and ran off. I was rather pleased she left, because I really didn't want to shoot her.

He she is right before she came up the third time.

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:16:00 PM

It wasn't much longer and a tall long legged young boar began to circle around. He was really skittish and never got comfortable at the stand at all. He'd run in and grab a bite of something and then run back off. I never did get a good picture of him. Here he is in the distance.

It was then getting dark and after the young guy left I saw another bear pacing around in the distance. I'm not sure if it was the belly dragging witch or a different bear. It was a fatty though, but never came in past the brush.

That was it for the first evening's hunt

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:22:00 PM

After a short night's rest we were planning to go into the bait bright and early at around 5:30 AM and if there were any bears on the bait, I would try to stalk up on them. There was a bear, but I think it was the tall skittish youngster. He was very fidgety and I didn't get within 40 yards and he ran off. We then walked on in to the stand and heard another bear run off in the distance.

I then crawled up into the stand and didn't see another bear until about 9:25 AM. In fact, I had texted my buddy Wes to come on in and get me whenever he was ready, but no rush. It wasn't one minute later and I saw movement in the brush. It was a big bodied bear and he was coming right in. He walked right up to me at about 3 yards and I had tension on the string just hoping he would turn and give me a shot. I knew he was a big bodied bear, but when he looked up at me at three yards, it was one of the bears with a big crease in the head that makes your decision to shoot pretty easy. I thought he was going to walk right under the stand and not give me a shot. He stopped and looked up and didn't like something, but it sure didn't spook him. He simply turned and started walking away toward the bait. He reached the 4 yard mark and was quartering away. I was pulling back the bow and he stopped with his front leg back. Darn it! I kept pressure on the string and was looking hard at a little piece of white grass that was slightly forward of the "middle of the middle" and a bit higher due to the steep downward angle. He finally moved the leg forward and I reached anchor watched the arrow just miss the white grass. I was rather surprised that my Snuffer tipped arrow didn't punch all the way through with my 61# Stalker Coyote longbow. It was within an inch of the fletching and I saw a distinct spurt of blood when it hit. This indicated a chest cavity hit to me. I was worried that the shot didn't get an exit hole and I didn't want to spook the bear so I climbed down and walked out and waited for Wes to pick me up. We then went back and gathered some troops for a search and retrieval if needed. I wanted to give the bear a good two hours.

After we got back, I climbed up the tree and showed them right where he went. There was no blood immediately found as the bear ran in and then veered off. Wes found blood up on a branch and then the trail was pretty easy to follow. We went about five yard further and found this...

The arrow was a surprise to me as the last time I saw it, it was sticking out of the top half of the bear. I took it as a great sign as I believe what happened was that I hit the far leg and when he ran off it pulled the arrow through as he was running away. We had an exit hole and the blood was flowing pretty good now.

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:25:00 PM

Another few yards and we found a big pool of blood and I was feeling pretty good that we would find the bear.

We had now followed the trail about 150 yards and just past the pool and through the thickest brush around we found this...

cmh · June 29, 2014, 09:26:00 PM

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:27:00 PM

He is a very nice mature boar. He was thin as rail and beat up pretty bad. His ears were tattered and he had bite wounds all over him. His head and frame size indicate a 300# bear, but on a scale he was 257#s.

Here he is where he fell.

I think it is the same bear from the photo above as he was thin in the hips and all head.

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:30:00 PM

Even though he didn't run real far, he did run through the thickest stuff around. Here we are getting ready to drag him out on a ice fishing sled.

We were probably a 1/4 mile or more from the road and remember that creek we had to cross. We had to all grab a corner to keep him from sinking the sled. I know he was 257#s, but by the time we got him to the truck he weighed 500#s.

IndianaBowman · June 29, 2014, 09:34:00 PM

Here is a picture of Wes and I with the bear. It is more Wes' bear than mine as he did all the work. I was just the arrow delivery guy. Thanks Wes for a great hunt!

Here's a picture of the bears big old head!

I got the skull all boiled up and cleaned off and the green score was 18 12/16". I don't know how much they shrink, but I'm hoping he'll dry score enough for P&Y. Either way, he is a great old warrior that I'm very proud of.

dhermon85 · June 29, 2014, 09:50:00 PM

Congrats!

Cyclic-Rivers · June 29, 2014, 10:07:00 PM

Terry, I was happy to hear and see your Success!

Congrats again!

Gen273 · June 29, 2014, 10:30:00 PM

Congrats on a great bear!

June 29, 2014, 10:46:00 PM

Way to go!

Great bear!

Congrats,

Bisch

Herdbull · June 29, 2014, 11:13:00 PM

Well done Terry. Nice story. I couldn't be happier for you. Mike

glenbo · June 30, 2014, 05:07:00 AM

CongratulationsTerry. Great bear and story.

damascusdave · June 30, 2014, 07:06:00 AM

Not likely going to shrink more than a few sixteenths so he will make Pope and Young with room to spare...there are a number of great lessons for bear hunters in your account...you make shooting a record book bear seem simple which it is once the hard work and preparation is done

DDave