So this year was the year I was finally going to shoot a bear. I had a good spot picked out with the help of friends Intel from the season before and some trail cam pics he had while out elk hunting in the fall.
So we gathered bait in the form of
Sweet feed
Beaver carcasses (thanks HunterDave)
Fryer grease from my neighbor’s food truck (chicken Shawarma flavor)
And 20 pounds of popping corn (which is a huge PITA to pop)
So we loaded up my buddy’s truck and headed for the area.
Things started getting discouraging when we got to the lease road we planned for access to find that the gate was locked
Undeterred, we hopped on the next road that led into the area and unloaded the quad and began the hunt for a couple of good bait sites.
After slogging through flooded cutline and seismic lines for a few hours we decided we needed to be closer the access point as there was no way we would be able to keep making these trips on my buddy’s little quad.
But we ended up setting on a couple decent spots close to where we saw bears tracks and called it good.
3 days later we go back for 2 days of hunting and find both baits have been hit!!! Didn’t have trail cams so we didn’t have an idea of when the bears were active but it was good enough for a couple of rookies.
First afternoon I am in the stand by 11:30am and waiting, and waiting, and waiting.
Finally, shortly after 5:00pm I hear my buddies 12 gauge! BANG, BANG, BANG. I figure he hit something, anyone else I would have figured he missed, but Billy loves to keep blasting until the animal is out of sight!
So knowing we had a bear down took the pressure off a little and it was a boring sit until the sunset and I tip toed out of there.
Meeting up with Billy I could see the joy in his eyes I knew the bear was down and that he had already found it. We hauled it back to camp and began skinning it.
We decided to head back home to get it on ice and be sure it would spoil on us.
Next morning we head back out to the spot and check the 1st bait and it had been hit again during the night. While walking into my bait I see the quick flash of a bear scamp into the woods. I quickly tuck into my stand and hope he comes back for a second taste of the bait. About 45 minutes later I am screwing around with my Thermacell and when I look up there he is on the trail looking at the bait. It’s a tricky shot where he is so I hold off for him to approach the bait. 2 steps forward and 2 steps back, he starts to leave the bait site uneasy about the surroundings. I have a small window to make a shot between to small poplars and let the 30-06 rip. The bullet spanks him hard and he jumps and rolls down the hill and thrashes around for a few seconds. I have only heard a death moan on Wild TV before, but it was unmistakable even for a newbie bear hunter. I cool down and text a few people knowing that they won’t send until I get back to the truck. After a solid 10 minutes ( I know I couldn’t help myself) I get down and there is my bear.
While I was waiting I decided to skin my bear and take the meat that I wanted and clean up around the bait.
Also wanted to try out my new frame pack the wife got me for Christmas and loaded it up.
screwed around until 4pm or so then started to walk out. Once I got the straps adjusted on the pack it was acutally a nice little jaunt back to the truck.
So we harvested a couple small bears but the experience was totally what we were looking for. aside from getting some pointers on where to go, we procured bait, found locations, setup the bait sites, and had the patience to wait out a couple bears who were too hungry to wait until dark for a snack.
I love it when a plan comes together.