Stick Slinger
Member
I want to start off by saying thank you to my personal guide Mr. Mike D. and therefore this story is dedicated to him.
I had hunted several stands and hadn't seen a bear as the hunt was half over and the weather was not the best for bear hunting. On Wednesday Jerry stated that Mr. Mike had spotted a really nice big bear at the stand we call Lefty, and that Mr. Mike had an issue when he went to stand up and draw his bow on the bear as the seat had a spot of pine resin on it and it managed to stick to his pants as he attempted to stand and the sound of separation was like pulling velcrow apart. Needless to say we all know what happened next the big bear didn't stick around. [Eek!] Well here's where I steped in, Jerry told me about the sighting and what had transpired and that he was willing to haul me over to Lefty which happened to be about an 1hour drive from camp on some of the roughest roads that the reserve have to offer. Mr. John had tagged out the night before and wanted to spend another evening on stand so I asked if he'd like to tag along and shoot some video and take some pics. We arrived on stand around 430 pm with about 5 hours til sunset. We both managed to sit totally silent for the first couple of hours and then I hear this gurgling sound coming from Mr. John and then he let out a cough that was like sending out a fire alarm bell. About 15 minutes had passed and he let out another and reached down in his bag and pulled out some cough drops well when he grabbed his bag he managed to bump his thermo cell against the stand and at that moment I was sure my hunt at Lefty was done. [knothead] As I rolled my eyes to give him one of those looks he bumped me on the should and held up three fingers and pointed down the trail in front of him. There were three 75 lb cubs headed our way to have there way with the bait site....Well the Cubs came in and we watched them for about 15 minutes when Mr. John noticed a bear out front of him at the same time I noticed one to my left and they both seem to make eye contact with each other and started towards one another and off to our left they went at the same time there was another bear on the hill side to my left rear that let out a growl and the cubs turned themselfs inside out to get out of the bait site, two of them ran towards the thicket and the other started up the tree beside ours. Things were really getting exciting as the bear to our left rear started popping it's teeth and if you've never heard that sound it can be a little unnerving. While the bear continued to pop its teeth another bear showed up out in front of us at about 75 yards across the creek. Appeared to be a good boar but he wanted no part of the popping teeth so he moved down stream and onto the road bed but still had the bait site on his mind and cam our way up the road to the same trail that the cubs had came in on as he came our way we noticed he had rubbed his entire back in completely raw, he entered the trail and the teeth popping seem to get louder at that moment he turned and went back in to the road and crossed to the other side and out of site, as he was leaving the cubs had came back into the bait and started feeding again. This time they were followed by a very very large jet black sow that was as pretty as they get and as big as any sow I have ever seen. So I figured that this must have been the bear that Mr. Mike D. had seen, as the sow came in to the bait from out front and to our left, she made her way to the bait but didn't want to fully commit so she turned and Mr. John said there's your shot but from where I was standing there was a small bush in front of her vitals. She walked back off to our left but she did something I never expected, she walked behind a very large cedar and came back out right under our tree and put her nose to the stick ladder took a good whif and walked right over to the bait stood broadsided at less than 5 yards as she did this I was standing with my BlackWidow PLV at the ready at this point I leaned over ever so slightly and asked Mr. John "is she big enough" I thought he was going to scream in an instant I had drawn, anchored, picked my point and released the Zwickey tipped Gold Tip just behind the shoulder. [archer2] The big ol sow took a giant leap and ran straight out in front of us with my string tracker playing out like a fishing reel with a great white on the end as she reached the top of the hill she let out what is called a death moan but the string tracker line was still bailing out as she turned left at the top of the hill and bailed back down through the thick stuf to our left and again another very loud death moan but this time the string tracker had stopped. At this point my knees began to buckle and my hands began to shake. I had to take my seat oh yes the one that had the pine sap on it except I had placed my face mask over it as we had entered the stand. As dark had fallen we set in silence awaiting the arrival of the white f150 that Mr. Jerry would be picking us up in. Soon we could see the head lights coming down the dirt road. Once he arrived we began the tracking job there was some blood but not what is was expecting and thank goodness for Mr. Jerry, Bear the bear tracking dog and the string tracker as it lead us approximately 200 yes to my bear, the arrow was still in her as it had entered exactly wher I was aiming but had caught the off side shoulder and pushed it back up with string tracker still in tow. And what a bear she is. so Mr. Mike D. Thank You!!! This makes two very nice trophies out of the same stand as I was very fortunate to take a very nice boar from the Lefty stand last year that Mr. John had to pass on as he had shot a sow the day before. With this I'll try and post some photos of all of us and the bear.
--------------------
William Hamrick
MSG USArmy Retired
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/IMG_0182_zpsj1hzh1sn.png
I had hunted several stands and hadn't seen a bear as the hunt was half over and the weather was not the best for bear hunting. On Wednesday Jerry stated that Mr. Mike had spotted a really nice big bear at the stand we call Lefty, and that Mr. Mike had an issue when he went to stand up and draw his bow on the bear as the seat had a spot of pine resin on it and it managed to stick to his pants as he attempted to stand and the sound of separation was like pulling velcrow apart. Needless to say we all know what happened next the big bear didn't stick around. [Eek!] Well here's where I steped in, Jerry told me about the sighting and what had transpired and that he was willing to haul me over to Lefty which happened to be about an 1hour drive from camp on some of the roughest roads that the reserve have to offer. Mr. John had tagged out the night before and wanted to spend another evening on stand so I asked if he'd like to tag along and shoot some video and take some pics. We arrived on stand around 430 pm with about 5 hours til sunset. We both managed to sit totally silent for the first couple of hours and then I hear this gurgling sound coming from Mr. John and then he let out a cough that was like sending out a fire alarm bell. About 15 minutes had passed and he let out another and reached down in his bag and pulled out some cough drops well when he grabbed his bag he managed to bump his thermo cell against the stand and at that moment I was sure my hunt at Lefty was done. [knothead] As I rolled my eyes to give him one of those looks he bumped me on the should and held up three fingers and pointed down the trail in front of him. There were three 75 lb cubs headed our way to have there way with the bait site....Well the Cubs came in and we watched them for about 15 minutes when Mr. John noticed a bear out front of him at the same time I noticed one to my left and they both seem to make eye contact with each other and started towards one another and off to our left they went at the same time there was another bear on the hill side to my left rear that let out a growl and the cubs turned themselfs inside out to get out of the bait site, two of them ran towards the thicket and the other started up the tree beside ours. Things were really getting exciting as the bear to our left rear started popping it's teeth and if you've never heard that sound it can be a little unnerving. While the bear continued to pop its teeth another bear showed up out in front of us at about 75 yards across the creek. Appeared to be a good boar but he wanted no part of the popping teeth so he moved down stream and onto the road bed but still had the bait site on his mind and cam our way up the road to the same trail that the cubs had came in on as he came our way we noticed he had rubbed his entire back in completely raw, he entered the trail and the teeth popping seem to get louder at that moment he turned and went back in to the road and crossed to the other side and out of site, as he was leaving the cubs had came back into the bait and started feeding again. This time they were followed by a very very large jet black sow that was as pretty as they get and as big as any sow I have ever seen. So I figured that this must have been the bear that Mr. Mike D. had seen, as the sow came in to the bait from out front and to our left, she made her way to the bait but didn't want to fully commit so she turned and Mr. John said there's your shot but from where I was standing there was a small bush in front of her vitals. She walked back off to our left but she did something I never expected, she walked behind a very large cedar and came back out right under our tree and put her nose to the stick ladder took a good whif and walked right over to the bait stood broadsided at less than 5 yards as she did this I was standing with my BlackWidow PLV at the ready at this point I leaned over ever so slightly and asked Mr. John "is she big enough" I thought he was going to scream in an instant I had drawn, anchored, picked my point and released the Zwickey tipped Gold Tip just behind the shoulder. [archer2] The big ol sow took a giant leap and ran straight out in front of us with my string tracker playing out like a fishing reel with a great white on the end as she reached the top of the hill she let out what is called a death moan but the string tracker line was still bailing out as she turned left at the top of the hill and bailed back down through the thick stuf to our left and again another very loud death moan but this time the string tracker had stopped. At this point my knees began to buckle and my hands began to shake. I had to take my seat oh yes the one that had the pine sap on it except I had placed my face mask over it as we had entered the stand. As dark had fallen we set in silence awaiting the arrival of the white f150 that Mr. Jerry would be picking us up in. Soon we could see the head lights coming down the dirt road. Once he arrived we began the tracking job there was some blood but not what is was expecting and thank goodness for Mr. Jerry, Bear the bear tracking dog and the string tracker as it lead us approximately 200 yes to my bear, the arrow was still in her as it had entered exactly wher I was aiming but had caught the off side shoulder and pushed it back up with string tracker still in tow. And what a bear she is. so Mr. Mike D. Thank You!!! This makes two very nice trophies out of the same stand as I was very fortunate to take a very nice boar from the Lefty stand last year that Mr. John had to pass on as he had shot a sow the day before. With this I'll try and post some photos of all of us and the bear.
--------------------
William Hamrick
MSG USArmy Retired
http://i1265.photobucket.com/albums/jj501/jerryrussell1/IMG_0182_zpsj1hzh1sn.png
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Sure was a pleasure meeting and sharing camp with you. BTW, I started working on an arm guard like yours this morning.
