Post by Greg Krause on Jun 18, 2013 1:36:09 GMT -5
Well, it was my first trip to Bear Quest and it will not be my last. It was an amazing trip.
The first night I drew "The Deli" stand. Mike brought me out to the bait and walked me in on a his way to "resurrection". The bait had not been touched but I climbed in as he walked off and we wished each other luck. I was so tired, as I had been up since 9am the previous day. It made for a sit where I could barely keep my eyes open.
At camp that night Tom said I might want to try "Cardiac" the next afternoon, because it was available and had been hit. I climbed in to the stand around 3:30. At 7:15 I hear some crashing and saw a flash of black running behind me. And I mean running, like a damn horse. I head some more crashing and caught some more black. My first thoughts were, this bear is like something from the Matrix because it seems to be in 2 places at once. The second thought was, I hope I didn't spook it. All was quiet then until just before 9:00. I heard more branches being broken and all kinds of bear vocalizations. I realized that I had 2 bears behind me standing off with each other. One of them was shaking the spruce tree we had leaned against my stand to give me cover. I was perched just 7 feet directly above this pissed off bear. It was great.
one of them started to come into the bait and I was standing at 3/4 draw waiting for him to turn broadside. Just as he started to turn at 7 yards, the other rushed in and pushed him off. This one was bigger and offering me a steep quartering away shot almost straight down at 5 yards. I picked a spot just to the left of his spine, hoping to come down and catch at least 1 lung and the heart. If I was off I would hit the spine. He turned a little as I released, but I hit right where I was aiming. To my shock and horror, the arrow got very little penetration. He ran off pulling line from my string tracker. The line stopped and then a few more feet pulled out with a crash of branches and growling. I was hoping the broad head had done more damage than I thought.
I waited a little while and climbed down. As I got the the ground and headed for the trail out to the road, the other boar came crashing in and stopped just a few yards short of me. He was huffing and popping his jaws. It was intense.
I was not happy about the shot, but everyone at camp tried to stay optimistic. In the morning Zack, Ed, Kent and myself headed out on the trail. we followed the string tracker for about 100 yards through heavy brush before the bear had run circles around a few trees and broke the line. we managed to follow pin pricks of blood every few yards for over 500 yards, no good blood and no sign of the bear bedding, before we lost all blood and had to call it quits. I was upset but we did an amazing job.
Later that day I helped butcher another bear and while taking the backstraps out, realized the vertebrae are different from deer. They have much heavier bone sticking out on either side of the spinal column. That must have been what I hit. It took some of the guilt away, knowing that the bear was probably not dead out there somewhere.
Over the next few days I got some pictures of bears in the mornings and tried a few morning sits with no luck. I sat every other morning and the bear came in on opposite mornings. I should have hunted all of them but I was beat!
One afternoon I heard crashing and saw a HUGE black thing coming down the hill towards me. I about had a heart attack, until I realized it was a yearling bull moose and his mother! What a cool sight!
Since I wasn't having bears come in during shooting hours, on Thursday I switched to "Blowdown", a water bait. Around 7:00, I saw a good size bear appear before me at 35yards. I got excited until I saw 2 tiny cubs with her. At that point I pulled out my camera phone, but she turned and left with her cubs in tow. 30 minutes later, they came back to the same spot and the cubs started in. She called them back and they all circled the bait at 50 yards. She was huffing and popping the whole time. When they made almost a complete circle the cubs shot up a tree and she started to come in. She was still huffing and popping as she would get closer and then walk away. She did this over and over, getting closer each time. She finally committed to come in and would get some food and back off to 15 yards to eat it. At times she was right under my stand. I took some pictures and video and even drew a few times to see what i could get away with.
Just before dark, she walked away a little bit and called her cubs from the tree. Not wanting to get caught next to her and her cubs in the dark, I quickly climbed down. As I hit the ground she noticed me and came down the hill like a freight train. She was really making noise now and hit the brakes and less than 20 yards. I slowly backed away toward the water with an arrow nocked. She kindly "escorted" me all the way to the lake and then stayed about 20 yards in the woods, pacing back and forth until the boat came to get me.
I sat cardiac in the morning again on friday and long trail in the afternoon but didn't see another bear.
I was disappointed at myself for the shot I made on the bear, but the week was still amazing. I met some really great guys and had a blast. I will be back again with a score to settle for sure!
The first night I drew "The Deli" stand. Mike brought me out to the bait and walked me in on a his way to "resurrection". The bait had not been touched but I climbed in as he walked off and we wished each other luck. I was so tired, as I had been up since 9am the previous day. It made for a sit where I could barely keep my eyes open.
At camp that night Tom said I might want to try "Cardiac" the next afternoon, because it was available and had been hit. I climbed in to the stand around 3:30. At 7:15 I hear some crashing and saw a flash of black running behind me. And I mean running, like a damn horse. I head some more crashing and caught some more black. My first thoughts were, this bear is like something from the Matrix because it seems to be in 2 places at once. The second thought was, I hope I didn't spook it. All was quiet then until just before 9:00. I heard more branches being broken and all kinds of bear vocalizations. I realized that I had 2 bears behind me standing off with each other. One of them was shaking the spruce tree we had leaned against my stand to give me cover. I was perched just 7 feet directly above this pissed off bear. It was great.
one of them started to come into the bait and I was standing at 3/4 draw waiting for him to turn broadside. Just as he started to turn at 7 yards, the other rushed in and pushed him off. This one was bigger and offering me a steep quartering away shot almost straight down at 5 yards. I picked a spot just to the left of his spine, hoping to come down and catch at least 1 lung and the heart. If I was off I would hit the spine. He turned a little as I released, but I hit right where I was aiming. To my shock and horror, the arrow got very little penetration. He ran off pulling line from my string tracker. The line stopped and then a few more feet pulled out with a crash of branches and growling. I was hoping the broad head had done more damage than I thought.
I waited a little while and climbed down. As I got the the ground and headed for the trail out to the road, the other boar came crashing in and stopped just a few yards short of me. He was huffing and popping his jaws. It was intense.
I was not happy about the shot, but everyone at camp tried to stay optimistic. In the morning Zack, Ed, Kent and myself headed out on the trail. we followed the string tracker for about 100 yards through heavy brush before the bear had run circles around a few trees and broke the line. we managed to follow pin pricks of blood every few yards for over 500 yards, no good blood and no sign of the bear bedding, before we lost all blood and had to call it quits. I was upset but we did an amazing job.
Later that day I helped butcher another bear and while taking the backstraps out, realized the vertebrae are different from deer. They have much heavier bone sticking out on either side of the spinal column. That must have been what I hit. It took some of the guilt away, knowing that the bear was probably not dead out there somewhere.
Over the next few days I got some pictures of bears in the mornings and tried a few morning sits with no luck. I sat every other morning and the bear came in on opposite mornings. I should have hunted all of them but I was beat!
One afternoon I heard crashing and saw a HUGE black thing coming down the hill towards me. I about had a heart attack, until I realized it was a yearling bull moose and his mother! What a cool sight!
Since I wasn't having bears come in during shooting hours, on Thursday I switched to "Blowdown", a water bait. Around 7:00, I saw a good size bear appear before me at 35yards. I got excited until I saw 2 tiny cubs with her. At that point I pulled out my camera phone, but she turned and left with her cubs in tow. 30 minutes later, they came back to the same spot and the cubs started in. She called them back and they all circled the bait at 50 yards. She was huffing and popping the whole time. When they made almost a complete circle the cubs shot up a tree and she started to come in. She was still huffing and popping as she would get closer and then walk away. She did this over and over, getting closer each time. She finally committed to come in and would get some food and back off to 15 yards to eat it. At times she was right under my stand. I took some pictures and video and even drew a few times to see what i could get away with.
Just before dark, she walked away a little bit and called her cubs from the tree. Not wanting to get caught next to her and her cubs in the dark, I quickly climbed down. As I hit the ground she noticed me and came down the hill like a freight train. She was really making noise now and hit the brakes and less than 20 yards. I slowly backed away toward the water with an arrow nocked. She kindly "escorted" me all the way to the lake and then stayed about 20 yards in the woods, pacing back and forth until the boat came to get me.
I sat cardiac in the morning again on friday and long trail in the afternoon but didn't see another bear.
I was disappointed at myself for the shot I made on the bear, but the week was still amazing. I met some really great guys and had a blast. I will be back again with a score to settle for sure!
