twincedargap
Senior Member
Had the privilege to take this sow on Friday afternoon, 6pm. Hunted a saddle that had white and red oaks, some hickory. Found three piles crusted old scat, one rain melted pile I assumed to be pretty fresh.
Surprisingly found another hunters vacant lock on stand in my intended spot, so set up 30 yds away since it didn’t appear he had been there recently.
It also was my first tree saddle hunt so took about 45 mins to get settled, and then ten mins later Baloo ghosts thru a thicket. Made it extra cool to take my first big bear with some new cool lite weight gadgetry thanks to Jbogg’s intro to this new lite weight run and gun setup.
Hardest thing I ever have done packing wise. The head and hide attached had to be close to 100 lbs with all the fat.
The first 100 yds off the mountain was easy, the remaining 1100’ descent through laurel hades was an absolute suckfest that would challenge my commitment to bear hunting. Well at least until three hikes in and out, 15 hours later, enjoying the 1st celebratory beer! Now I’m ready to roll again.
Postscript, I checked my scouting notes, I’ve logged over 75 miles of hiking and scouting nearby WMA’s and NF In the last three months. I made it a pledge to expand my knowledge and learn additional areas to hunt. This bear was the fruit of those efforts to find new ground. In fact this was the first time I’d ever hunted the spot after noting it earlier this season. To me, boots on the ground is the only way.
Here’s a quick bear roll video:
Surprisingly found another hunters vacant lock on stand in my intended spot, so set up 30 yds away since it didn’t appear he had been there recently.
It also was my first tree saddle hunt so took about 45 mins to get settled, and then ten mins later Baloo ghosts thru a thicket. Made it extra cool to take my first big bear with some new cool lite weight gadgetry thanks to Jbogg’s intro to this new lite weight run and gun setup.
Hardest thing I ever have done packing wise. The head and hide attached had to be close to 100 lbs with all the fat.
The first 100 yds off the mountain was easy, the remaining 1100’ descent through laurel hades was an absolute suckfest that would challenge my commitment to bear hunting. Well at least until three hikes in and out, 15 hours later, enjoying the 1st celebratory beer! Now I’m ready to roll again.
Postscript, I checked my scouting notes, I’ve logged over 75 miles of hiking and scouting nearby WMA’s and NF In the last three months. I made it a pledge to expand my knowledge and learn additional areas to hunt. This bear was the fruit of those efforts to find new ground. In fact this was the first time I’d ever hunted the spot after noting it earlier this season. To me, boots on the ground is the only way.
Here’s a quick bear roll video:
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