Most exciting bear hunt.

Whit90

Whit90

Senior Member
I am working and day dreaming about being in woods right now. I am still after my first bear, so my most exciting hunt was getting within 60 yards of a good bear on the ground. I didn't get a shot at it, but it sure got my blood pumping.

What about yall? what is the story of your most exciting bear hunt?
 
dtala

dtala

Senior Member
I've killed two bears. First was a chocolate boar I shot out of a tree. When it hit the ground one of the young dogs charged in and grabbed the not so dead yet bear. The owner of the dog then tried to grab the dog and fell. The bear, dog, and owner then rolled downhill till the bear got caught under a log. A quick shot to the head from 2" settled the bear down.
Second one was a stalk hunt. I hit a good black boar at 100 yards. It ran into a tangle. I went in after it and it charged from ten steps and I shot it three times with a Ruger #1...real fast...in the head.
I'd like to shoot one that just fell dead....
 
Whit90

Whit90

Senior Member
dtala said:
I've killed two bears. First was a chocolate boar I shot out of a tree. When it hit the ground one of the young dogs charged in and grabbed the not so dead yet bear. The owner of the dog then tried to grab the dog and fell. The bear, dog, and owner then rolled downhill till the bear got caught under a log. A quick shot to the head from 2" settled the bear down.
Second one was a stalk hunt. I hit a good black boar at 100 yards. It ran into a tangle. I went in after it and it charged from ten steps and I shot it three times with a Ruger #1...real fast...in the head.
I'd like to shoot one that just fell dead....
Click to expand...

Both of those situations will wake you up!! Thanks for sharing.
 
1eyefishing

1eyefishing

...just joking, seriously.
I have an archery loss, a firearm loss, and an archery loss through a dishonest taxidermist, so all my excitement is tempered with disappointment.
I got to say though, up close and personal with a bow in hand definitely outscored knocking one down with 308 and watching it disappear.
The 1st one definitely hooked me. I found a bear munching acorns in a white oak because that was just a little too much 'squirrel-like' activity over in that area to be just a squirrel.... I was able to sneak almost directly under it to get a good shot because it was making so much noise breaking limbs and chewing/dropping husks. When I was ready to fling an arrow, I realized I'd better back up a few yards because I didn't want that thing dropping down on the ground right in front of me. I put a good arrow right where I wanted about center silhouette as it was 25' or 30' out a leader on the tree. It shimmied backwards down the bough to the tree and stood there looking in the opposite direction for the source of its trouble. I put another arrow in it high center as it peered around to me and it shimmied the down the tree on the other side and was never seen again. After hours of looking for it a couple hour past the point of a blood trail, I'm ready, I recruited a guy with 2 dogs out of the Appalachian trail parking lot a few miles away. I told him I'd hand him a C-note if his dogs could take me to the bear from the giant puddle of blood under the tree. He was all in... however the dogs tried to pull out of their collars as soon as they got anywhere near that bear blood. Spent a total of about 6 hours that day and the next and the next weekend looking. Felt like my high school girlfriend cheated on me. ?
The next weekend I arrowed one feeding across a ridgetop. The arrow went through like hot butter and skittled up the ridge, causing the bear to run straight from it down the ridge straight at me. It passed me by full charge about 8' away. Then dropped into the laurel hillside just 20 yd from me and fell silent. I didn't move my feet for 10 minutes. I drug it off the mountain myself, recruited help to get on the tailgateand, and got home about 10 PM on Saturday night. The bear was iced on my tailgate with a dozen bags of ice, but I couldn't find a taxidermist open or answering the phone on Sunday morning and eventually made the wrong choice Sunday afternoon.
All in all, some of the most exciting and favorite hunting I've ever done. I gave it a good 8 or so break but I'm trying to get back at it now the past 2 or 3 seasons. My time is running out (physically), and I want another bear for a rug.
 
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D

ddd-shooter

Senior Member
Walked up on a few in the dark. That'll get your heart beating.
Walked up on one in a tree feeding, noticed she had cubs when I went in for the shot, so she got away.
Had a cub nearly climb in my tree a few different occasions.
Stalked a few from the ground, unsuccessfully and successfully.
I'm not a huge bear hunter, but being in the woods with active bears is always a blast. Seeing one always gets the heart rate up, and arrowing one is a major thrill. Arrowing one when you don't hear the death moan makes for about as exciting of a blood trail as possible here in Georgia, lol
 
jbogg

jbogg

Senior Member
I was hunting on the ground just below the crest of a ridge, and I was facing uphill towards a Red Oak with lots of fresh feeding sign under it. It had rained all night, but by mid afternoon the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. With the wet ground and the wind it was impossible to hear anything walking on the wet leaves. Within a hour of setting up I see one, then two, and finally three bears crest the hill only 30’ from me. They were all good sized cubs in the 70 - 80lb range. I was wondering where Mama was when I heard a stick crack to my left. I slowly turned my head and Big Mama was standing 12 - 15’ from me and staring a hole straight through me. After a short stand off she huffed loudly sending her cubs up the Red Oak I was hunting. I had the presence of mind to turn on the video on my phone and captured some cool footage. The still shot below came from the video, and the tree was only 20’ from me. She was a big ole girl, and definitely got my heart rate up.
0778E9BE-A1DD-4A69-B52B-A142DF6F90CB.png
 
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Whit90

Whit90

Senior Member
jbogg said:
I was hunting on the ground just below the crest of a ridge, and I was facing uphill towards a Red Oak with lots of fresh feeding sign under it. It had rained all night, but by mid afternoon the sun was shining and the wind was blowing. With the wet ground and the wind it was impossible to hear anything walking on the wet leaves. Within a hour of setting up I see one, then two, and finally three bears crest the hill only 30’ from me. They were all good sized cubs in the 70 - 80lb range. I was wondering where Mama was when I heard a stick crack to my left. I slowly turned my head a Big Mama was standing 12 - 15’ from me and staring a hole straight through me. After a short stand off she huffed loudly sending her cubs up the Red Oak I was hunting. I had the presence of mind to turn on the video on my phone and captured some cool footage. The still shot below came from the video, and the tree was only 20’ from me. She was a big ole girl, and definitely got my heart rate up.
View attachment 1137067
Click to expand...
Dang she looks like she had been eating great!! Very cool pic.
 
whitetailfreak

whitetailfreak

Senior Member
Whit90 said:
That’s close! It’s always really cool when you have an encounter with a critter that close. Did it know you where there before the shot?
Click to expand...

Nope, let him come as far up the mountain as I could before taking the shot. Made for an easier drag.
 
Professor

Professor

Senior Member
Two years ago I was creeping up a logging rd in a light rain. It was early and really cold. The day before I found an abundance of scat that looked like it had been deposited daily for a week, so I knew bear were active in the area. I had the wind and was hoping for my first bear. I hade covered a couple of miles and was approaching the area of interest. After a couple of min pause and hearing nothing I took five more steps. I was on the right side of the rd looking down the ridge. The last step took me about 6 inches past a big poplar. The bear I was hunting was standing behind the poplar. My foot landed about 3 inches from his. I completely surprised him and he scared the stuffing out of me. He was not big but was legal. I remember being amazed at how something so round could be faster than a rabbit. I never even raised my gun. I was so thankful he opted for running.
 
splatek

splatek

UAEC
I was hoping @jbogg was going to post that story. She's large marge!

First or second day of this past season I heard something about 60 yards away. It was a decent bear. Stalked up to about 15 yards before her cubs made themselves noticeable. So I backed out and kept scouting. That was exciting because it was an on the ground stalk and they never noticed me with my stick bow.
 
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