Most exciting bear hunt.

[kayaksteve]

I have two stories and both of these ended with no dead bear. After high school i worked for a couple chicken farmers and one told me I was welcome to deer hunt after work in the evenings. I finished up about an hour before dark one day and ran out a ridge a hundred yards or so behind the house and sat down. A few mins later here come about a 150lb bear working my way munching acorns. The farmer hadn’t mentioned anything about bears so I was just watching. He kept coming directly at me never lifting his head up away from the acorns and got within about 10 feet before I asked him to stop. He looked me dead in the eye for about 3 seconds and then headed out of town wide open. Turned out the farmer was disappointed I let him go but I hadn’t even thought about asking about bears.

 

[kayaksteve]

My second one was on a small piece of property a friends mom let me hunt one year. I was sitting on a ridge just below a dense Ivey thicket. I kept hearing movement just above me in the thick stuff and finally saw a large black “bear” slowly working around through the Ivey. I was fired up and watched for quiet a while waiting on it to come out in the clear. It was gonna be a chip shot and it looked huge. Then out stepped a large black cow. I went from shaking with excitement to unbelievable disappointment in about half a second.

 

[chrislibby88]

https://youtube.com/shorts/glqS4N_6aDQ?feature=share I had this little sow get mad at me last season.

My first bear was a similar experience. My brother and I lugged our climbers to the top of a tall steep ridge where it chokes down to a very thin ridge spine, rocky bluffs on one side, grassy meadow full of huckleberries and oaks on the top edge. It’s full of bear trails, and fresh sign. I setup about 30 yards from the bluff, watching some shredded white oaks, and a several trails that weave along the bluff edge. Sat uneventfully most of the evening, watching a distant storm and thunder creep closer. About 45 minutes until dark we decided to climb down and try to beat the storm down the hill. As I was at the bottom of my tree, gun unloaded, packaging my climber, a bear starts huffing and teeth clacking on the edge of the bluff, on the trails. Couldn’t see it, so I grabbed my gun and reloaded a shell as quietly as I could, huffing back and teeth clacking as best I could. It worked, a small bear started peaking up over the edge and as soon as its chest cleared I let one fly. It immediately bolted, and went crashing down the rocks. I stand silently and about 30 seconds later I hear two death moans. Text my brother, and he starts making his way to me from several hundred yards down the ridge in his spot. I know it’s gonna be a rough recovery with the bear down on the rocks, but I can see it from the edge. My brother gets there at the same time as the rain, we tie up a paracord line, suit up in rain gear, and slide down the slick rocks. The bear landed on a dirt bank, where the earth slid off the rocks and piled up on the lip of a sheer drop. A 3ft earth berm stopped the bear from tumbling down the bluffs into a probably unrecoverable position. So we cut the bear up on a wet muddy V notch between the rock face and the dirt berm. It was pretty miserable conditions, and we had a very difficult time keeping the meat clean with everything wet, sticky and muddy, spiders and bugs crawling everywhere, and the cramped space we had to work in. Somehow got the quarters and cape back up the rocks, packed up, and made the mile hike back out in the wet dark, then we had to go back up the next morning and retrieve our stands.

 

[ddd-shooter]

https://youtube.com/shorts/glqS4N_6aDQ?feature=share I had this little sow get mad at me last season.

Definitely a young one. Had a big one come down a tree like that once, as soon as she hit the ground, she ran the other way full tilt…Great job keeping your calm.

 

[WOODIE13]

Mine was my first I took with an xbow. Was walking up a logging road carrying my pop up blind and heard a log being moved to my left, looked over and there was a big bear @ 30 yards feeding around the hill. I let it turn more broadside and squeezed the trigger. Heard a thump and the bear turned, bit at its side and took off around the hill wide open, then it turned and went up the hill, but slowed down to a slow walk, lost sight of it when it topped over another logging road. I called my cousin's son and he came up to help, but it was getting dark. Gave it 30 minutes, found the bolt, good blood, but no trail at all. I went to the last spot I saw it, walked slowly back and forth looking for blood, nothing. Decided to follow the same logging road down where I last saw him, nothing. My cousin's son finally made it up to where I left my blind, he said he heard a moan up on the hill, but it had already got too dark to see. Went back in the morning, did my grid search for two hours, nothing.

Got back to the last spot I had seen him, looked up on the hill at two big root balls with greenbriers all around it, had checked it from above with my binos, but it was a little foggy that morning. Crawled over some logs and there he laid, 20 yards from where I had walked by him 4 different times the evening before on the logging road where I last seen him. Did have my 1911 with me, but can't help but think he watched me go by, especially when my cousin's son heard the death moan as I was walking back to him.

Got one lung and liver, he was quartering to me more than I thought. Dressed he was 290, liked to kill me getting him to where I could get an ATV to.

 

[Whit90]

Mine was my first I took with an xbow. Was walking up a logging road carrying my pop up blind and heard a log being moved to my left, looked over and there was a big bear @ 30 yards feeding around the hill. I let it turn more broadside and squeezed the trigger. Heard a thump and the bear turned, bit at its side and took off around the hill wide open, then it turned and went up the hill, but slowed down to a slow walk, lost sight of it when it topped over another logging road. I called my cousin's son and he came up to help, but it was getting dark. Gave it 30 minutes, found the bolt, good blood, but no trail at all. I went to the last spot I saw it, walked slowly back and forth looking for blood, nothing. Decided to follow the same logging road down where I last saw him, nothing. My cousin's son finally made it up to where I left my blind, he said he heard a moan up on the hill, but it had already got too dark to see. Went back in the morning, did my grid search for two hours, nothing.

Got back to the last spot I had seen him, looked up on the hill at two big root balls with greenbriers all around it, had checked it from above with my binos, but it was a little foggy that morning. Crawled over some logs and there he laid, 20 yards from where I had walked by him 4 different times the evening before on the logging road where I last seen him. Did have my 1911 with me, but can't help but think he watched me go by, especially when my cousin's son heard the death moan as I was walking back to him.

Got one lung and liver, he was quartering to me more than I thought. Dressed he was 290, liked to kill me getting him to where I could get an ATV to. View attachment 1141216

Thats a big bear!!

 

[WOODIE13]

I will take 200 to 100 pounds all day long after that one, way better table fare, plus way easier to get out too unless I have buddies or can get a vehicle to it.

Got this one this past year, 2nd day of buck firearms season. Feet were freezing, had my boot and sock off warming up my foot over the heater when I heard him running down the next ridge, let out a bawl and stopped him.

 

[WOODIE13]

This was before we had a bear season, mid 80s...was still hunting up a deer trail, acorns all over the place. Look up the trail, see this big black thing, think to myself who's German Shepherd is running around in the middle of the woods? Wasn't a dog, but a bear, a BIG bear, bigger than the one I got with the xbow, looked like a 55 gallondrum with legs. He turns and walks right towards me eating acorns like a vacuum. He gets to 10 ft, wind swirls, he looks up, see a faint white stripe on the center of his muzzle, stands up, trots 20 yards and goes right back to eating like he didn't have a care in the world.

First bear I ever saw in the woods. Scared, excited, it was all that and more.

 

[Joe Brandon]

Day I shot my first bear was one of the best days of my life. I dreamt about bears often and this was a goal of mine for many years. The saying is true, if you see a black woman in year dreams the night prior to a bear hunt dont tell anyone, you just might get a bear!