2016' Trad-Gang Bear Quest "A Successful GREAT TIME" with plenty of BEAR ACtion

[JPF71]

Happy Birthday, Tom.

[Kip]

Enjoy your birthday they will start to come too soon.              

[TwoArrows22]

After 24hr of travel we made camp. We drew stands from a hat and before I knew it we were headed across a resivor in a little boat. First night on the stand I was messing around with my thermocell and just fidgeting around, excited to be bear hunting the first time. Right before dark a young bear circles in from behind me and sniffed the air. He never came into the bait. I assume it smelled me and I left the stand excited and ready to hear what everyone else saw. The second night was the same thing. I had no action till right before dark. But this time it was a sow and three cubs. The sow caught wind of me and the Cubs went up a tree about 20 yards from my stand. She circled me doing mock charges and letting me know she didn't want me there. By this time I could hear the boat come in to get me,but I wasn't about to get down because she was on the opposite side of me from her cubs. The light faded and I sat there thinking what should I do. I turned on my head lamp and looked to see if I could see her eyes. I keen the Cubs were still up the tree because I could hear the occasional piece of bark hitting branches as it fell from the top of the tree. Finally I heard her growl from the side that the Cubs were on I couldn't see her with head lamp so I decided to make a break for the boat. As I rode back in the boat I wondered why I wasn't more intimidated by the situation. The third night I was sitting in the stand with my rain gear waiting for the storm clouds I could see over my shoulder to come in and cool me off. I looked to the right and and saw a bear about 20 yards off where I had first seen the sow the previous night the bear seemed hesitant and didn't want to come in. He circled behind me and I realized that he was probably the bear from the first night. As I turned to see if he would pop out on the other side of me I caught a glimpse of another bear coming down a trail in front of me. The instant I saw him I knew he was a shooter. He poked his head in the barrel walked past it to check for the other bear then went in to eat. As soon as he got his head in the barrel I let one rip. I saw the nocturnal disappear into the black of his coat and he took off like a freight train, smashing everything in his path. As I sat trying to calm my nerves I could see the bright red blood on my bright white D&M custom arrows and I new the deed was done. The low guttural sound of the death moan came quickly after but I already knew. The rain began to fall and I head down to wait for the boat. I will never forget that night and sitting there watching the Lightning streak across the sky knowing I had just made my first trad kill.

[jsweka]

Good stuff Paul, and again - Congratulations    

Now carry on with the rest of the story!!!!!!

[KAZ]

Awesome Paul!  

[ron w]

     It's an amazing feeling!!

[Tom Phillips]

Thanks for the Birthday wishes guy.Remember "The Older we get the Better we were"  !!!

[23feetupandhappy]

Congrats Paul  

[TwoArrows22]

[TwoArrows22]

Sorry for the blank post. The bear green score was over 20" so it will defiantly make P&Y!

[Yellow Dog]

Congrats on that one! Need some pics of the bruiser    

[TwoArrows22]

I don't have many picture of it myself but I bet some of my new friends from camp could post some.....

[JPF71]

I have some pictures, Paul.  I'll post them as soon as I figure out how.

[23feetupandhappy]

Here ya go Pual      


    n

Congrats again!!!!

[KAZ]

Way to go Paul, Congratulations!    There are more pics of this beautiful bear folks. Let's see them!  

[Matty]

 
Awesome! Just had a thought. I wonder if Paul fell asleep in his stand. Started snoring and this bruiser saw it as a threat. So he came in to kill Paul. But the opposite happened. Hmmm bear calls...??

[goingoldskool]

That's a dandy! Congrats!

God Bless,

Rodd

[jsweka]

Matty's right.  Paul can definitely snore.  He might even rival Gary.

Here's a few more pics of Paul's bear I took.

This is the successful tracking crew upon return.  That little boat was riding pretty low in the water.
 


Now this is the look of a happy bear hunter.
 

Another hero pic.
 

Focusing on the D&M arrow that brought down the bruin (i.e. a little free advertising for Gary).
 

We made Paul haul that beast from the scale to the skinning table himself.  He struggled a bit, but who wouldn't.
 

There's not much I need to say about this pic other than BowDoc said it was the biggest he'd ever seen.
 

[BlkDog]

Congratulations on a great bear!  Even better is it's your first trad kill and P&Y to boot!

I like the pic of the boat with the front riding awfully low in the water...that is always a good sign.  

[TwoArrows22]

I'm pretty sure I was awake the whole time matty because I kept knocking my arrow off my bow and having to get down and retrieve it. By the fourth time it fell I told myself I would absolutely not get down to get it so I nocked a different arrow but it was eating away at me that it was sitting there under me. I devised a plan and got out my spare tow rope and tried to lasooe it but I couldn't get it to tighten without sliding over the fletchings and off the arrow. I got the lassoe back on the arrow and was able to let the tow rope wrap around the corner of the climbing sticks this made a L shape in the rope and allowed me to tighten the rope by pulling to the side instead of up.  I guess the reason for telling this story is to point out that I have no dreams that I am a great hunter I just happened to be blessed that day. I didn't put in more time than anyone else or sit stiller than anyone else or even pass up smaller bears. I just happened to have a P&Y class bear be the first one to my bait bucket.  Yes it was kinda like winning the lotto but the real prize I brought home was the experience of the trip. The  time spent getting to know some new people and getting to know myself better. I hope everyone had as good of a time as I did because I would trade my bear for the experience any day.