My unforgettable bear hunt

[passinthru]

I posted this on the other board but some guys have never read it so ill repost it.
October of 2009 me and 3 friends went to my buddy's camp in Ontario for a bow hunt for bears. Now i should say 3 of us brought bows and my buddy brought his rifle. We still say he was scared but wont admitt it.
The trip there went off without really any issues to speak of. We get through customs and off to the bush we head. Arriving at my buddy's place we are greeted by John getting the boats ready for our trip to the outpost. This trip consist of a 20 minute ride to the lake then unload the truck into the boats. From the dock the boat ride consist of a 45 minute ride through 3 different lakes and some spots they call narrows. Believe me i know why!
We finally make it out to the outpost cabin and start to get settled in for the next 7 days. After some refreshing drinks and a ton of laughs we finally made it to bed around 1am. Now understand we have to be up and ready by 5:30am. Oh yeah we were just a little tired the first morning.
We grab everything one would need for an all day sit and head off in the boats for our stands for the day. First to be dropped off is me. We are already running late so daylight has made its way upon us. I grab my backpack,bow, and climber and me and John head off down the edge of this small creek and soon enter a baited site with tons of sign all around. John refreshes the bait while i get my climber in place ready to climb. As im heading up the tree John comes over before leavin to make sure im all set. Im anxious to get this hunt started so im kinda pushin John to get the heck out of there. But before he left he said one las thing to me.... "If a bear comes in and see's you in that tree he may come over there because he thinks your a bear." Well i was like whatever dude get out of here so i can kill a bear.
So the hunt begins as he walks off kinda giggling. So i settle in my climber hang my bow and grab a cup of coffee and wait. After about 2 hours i spot some movement. As it closes in on the bait station i am able to see its a smaller bear around 200-250lbs and i quickly decide its not what i want to shoot. I watch him come in and eat for about 15 min then look right up at me. After about a 30sec staredown it gets up and starts walking towards me reaching about 10ft from my stand it stands on both back feet and sniffs the air while trying to figure out what i am. At this point i have my bow in hand and im trying to decide do i shoot this thing or wait. At this point im getting really nervous and those last words John said to me are ringing in my head. After about 45 seconds it decided it didnt like what is was smelling or seeing and walked off. So now im checking my shorts to see how bad that scared me. lol
After some more time passes it is now around lunch time so i decide to eat something and have a gatorade. After lunch i review some of the video i took of the first bear and read a little out of a magazine i have with me. So maybe an hour goes bye and i spot movement again from the same direction the last bear left. I see what i think was the same bear from earlier. This bear comes into the bait and takes a couple of bites and looks at me. Im thinking its the same bear and im not really thinking he will do the same thing so im realxed but still on edge. Well the bear does the same thing only this time it decided to climb my tree to check me out. Only thing was i never had an opportunity to shoot it. So now i have a pissed off bear sniffing my boots and snapping his teeth and huffing at me. My heart is pounding and my mind is racing on what to do. I start yelling at the bear stomping on the bottom of the stand trying anything i can to get him to leave. I picked up my gatorade and throw it at him to no avail. Next i grab my steel thermos and proceed to hit him in the ear just as hard as i could. Well that worked as he dropped out of the tree and took off running. Now i am really freaked out and just have a million thoughts in my head. Trying to settle down and figure out what just happened i look down to see my camcorder had fallen and hit the ground during the incident. So now i have soiled shorts a broken camcorder and 2 hours till it gets dark and i get picked up.
Tommorow i will post the rest of the adventure.

[allhunter]

haha man thats an experience cant wait to here the other part!!

[passinthru]

So after all the exitement of my run in with that bear i had enough hunting fo rthe day. Off in the distance i can hear John in the boat so i call him on the radio and tell him to come pick me up.
As he arrives im picking up my mess from the previous event he walks up to the stand looks at the ground and see's my camcorder and gatorade and a few other items that fell out of my pack and says what happened? Well in the same breathe he says nevrmind i know and just falls on the ground laughing his butt off. I didnt think it was that funny myself. After a few minutes of "i told you so" we collect up my items and head back to the boat. Its just now starting to get dark so we head over to pick up the rest of the guys. Again after evryone gets picked up i get some more ribbing and lots of why didnt you do this or this? Im like i just had a bear try to kill me( or so i thought). So that night me and John were talking and decided it would be in my best interest to carry a gun with me. So i took what he refers to as the Dirty Dog. This is a mossberg 500 with a pistol grip and a slug barrel. Talk about a wrist breaker. So for the next 4 days i continue to sit the same stand and just kept seeing smaller bears nothing worth shooting. In the mean time my buddy tagged a 350lb boar on the third day. So after some discussion i decide to forgo the bow and arrow and switch stands and weapons. So the first day in the new spot im sitting on the ground enjoying the warm sun that was shining that afternoon feeling a little drowsy i started to nod off when something caught my eye. I start watching the big rock out in front of me and i start seeing a big black blob coming down towards the water where the bait is set up. As this bear slowly makes its way down i start to prepare to take the shot. 15 minutes goes bye and my eyes are fixed on this bear and nothing else. this bear comes down near the edge of the water at about 130 yds and starts scratching his back on a small pine. Pretty neat to watch actually. So a few more minutes and i finally am able to get a clear shot. I center the crosshairs on his vitals and slowly release 180 grains of fury on him. He spins around and runs back up the rock he came down and just as he's getting out of sight i hear a big noise to my right and as i look over i see another bear i never knew was there was running right at me. I never heard or saw the bear as i was fixed on the one i was shooting at. So now i have a decision to make and fast. This second bear is at 40 yards and closing fast. My decision was easy to make in my opinion after my previous experience and i spun around to my right and let loose another 180 grains of fury. This bear was at 25 yards when i let him have it. He dropped right there and i let out a huge sigh of relief. So now im sitting there trying to regain my composure and figure out what just happened. About ten minutes later after i settle back down a little bit i try to call John to let him know there is at least one bear down maybe two. Well no luck as im to far from camp for the radio to work. So i sit and enjoy the rest of my afternoon just taking it all in. So dark approaches and i hear the boat coming as i pack up my things and get near the edge of the water to get in the boat john throws me a roll of toilet paper and ask if i need that to clean up myself. So i tell them the story of the afternoons events we go to retrieve the second bear deciding to wait till morning to look for the first one. After we find the first bear and get it loaded into the boat we head back to the camp. So after a night of gutting,skinning, and processing we head out to look for the first bear. So we get near where i took the shot and see blood and hair all over. After making our way to the top of the big rock i could smell the bear. Another 30 yds through some of the thickest stuff ive ever seen there he layed. More hard work and an hour later we get it loaded up and back to camp. So now we have 3 bears and 4 hunters so we party tag the bear and do some celebrating. So my hunt went totally different than anyone could have expected but in the end it will be one ill never forget.
Oh and thats the last time i went bear hunting not that i wouldnt do it again but ill be more prepared the next time. Oh and after it was all said and done John told me the first spot he put me in he knew there was an aggresive bear there because he had gotten run off that bait twice by a bear. Thanks for the heads up buddy!!!!!

[allhunter]

Haha thats hilarious how big where the 2 you got?

[passinthru]

One was 330lbs and the other was 250lbs. I dont really need another heart attack so next time i will always carry a gun even if im using my bow.

[allhunter]

Them r some good bears