2013 New Brunswick Bruin Living in a state with hands down one of the best Black Bear populations in the country I never really hunted them. I have several friends and family that have and have been successful. But for some reason I always have those darn whitetails on my mind. Last summer a friend of mine and I were shooting our PRIMES in the backyard and the discussion came up about black bear hunting with a bow. Of course we all know where this is going…..less than a year later I am packing for my first ever Black Bear hunt. Only it’s in New Brunswick not Pennsylvania. So the story begins…… So I never had been on a black bear hunt. Where do I start? Iin regards to gear? I called a few friends of mine who have been on a hunt like this and got some pointers. I did find out that my set-up is very similar to my whitetail set-up, as a matter of fact I used the same equipment for this hunt as if I were heading to a deer stand here in Pa. I took a PRIME Impact RH set at 60lb 27.5”, carbon express maxima blue streak 250, G5 100gr Stryker, Limbdriver hunter rest, and a stokerized SS! Stabilizer. With all our gear packed we head to New Brunswick bright and early, 5 AM to be exact. As we settle in for the 13 hour drive from Harrisburg, Pa to New Brunswick, CA we discuss all the things we may encounter during our 5 day hunt. Of course we talk about what size of a bear we would “like” to shoot, but in reality we both have a minimum of what we would like. The area we are hunting has 300plus lb spring bear and we would both love to hit that bench mark but we both know the reality of the situation is that we may both go home eating our tag sandwiches all the way. After we cross the border and head to camp we call Korey Leslie of True North Outfitters to let him know we are close. Korey meets us on the hard road and we follow him back the long lane to the camp. As we pull up it is pretty much what I envisioned. It’s on a water inlet that happens to be loaded with Small mouth bass. We meet Korey and begin to unload our stuff, we are the first hunters to show up for that week. After getting halfway settled we sit with Korey in the living room of the cabin, which is littered with various mounts, and he begins to tell us the strategy for our hunts this week. The plan was to sit in the stand for at least three days. Once we give the stand that effort we would discuss additional plans if needed. Day 1-3 left me with no bear sightings. Day 4 Korey moves me to another stand location. As ever sit in a new stand I was ramped up with anticipation. I hoist my bow up and get settled in. I double check all my equipment I make sure everything is ready for those potentially crucial seconds when an animal appears. After inspecting my gear I settle on for the evening hunt. The night starts off with raccoon's……I never wanted to shoot a raccoon so bad in my life. Why? You ask, because for the next hour they took every piece of fish /salmon off my bait site. I wanted to yell but I knew that was bad….So I sat quietly hoping that the goodies in the bait bucket were enough to entice any bears in the area to still come in. The first bear I see is a small bear and a very skiddish one at that. After sitting for 3 days and not seeing a bear I was excited to finally get some action. But my excitement turned to dis-belief in seconds for as fast as that bear came in he was gone. Now I am wondering if it is something I am doing. So of course my mind is racing wondering what I need to do to see a black bear for more than 10 seconds. Questions come up. Do I smell, did I move when he was coming in therefore he hung up and never came in? I had no clue. SO I sit and I continue to sit as still as I can. Within the next hour two more bears come in, both smaller. Then I hear commotion just out of sight. Growling and snarling to be exact. I catch motion of a black figure charging right to left. I notice a bear is chasing another bear away. I am pretty excited at this point. Then the bear responsible for the chaos comes to the bait. At that point I decide I am going to attempt to shoot this bear. SO I hit the record button on my I-phone, I am using the jackknife by S4 gear to hold my phone so I can video the hunt. The bear comes in and then leaves. I then see it come back through the tall pines. I draw the bow as it closes the distance. The bucket is 23 yards so I know when it gets to there and presents a shot it Is go time. The bear comes in and reaches for the bucket, at that point the top pin is exactly where it is supposed to be. I release the shot. WHACK!!! And a growl it tears off. I wait and listen fighting the wind to hear the infamous “death moan” . Within seconds I hear it. FINALLY after a long week of sticking it out and almost 30 hours in a stand I have my first Black Bear. What an emotional moment. I pull myself together and text Korey (owner / guide of True North Outfitters). He asked if it is down and I tell him yes. Within 20 Minutes (seemed like hours) he arrives with the carrier he uses to haul the bears out. He goes over and inspects my arrow, which has a glowing nocturnal nock, and turns to me with a big grin and a thumbs up and signals for me to get down. We take up the trail after a brief discussion of what went down. After a short 60 yard track job the bear lay dead on the forest floor. The 100 Grain Stryker did its job and quickly put the Bear down. What an end to such a great week. So back to camp only to find out two more bears were taken. So total for the week we were 5 for 6 with one hunter (who has been there multiple times and passed up several good bears) not harvesting a bear, SO props to Korey and Darren from True North Outfitters.
Awesome, story Frank. Funny I, too, have only hunted bear here in PA only a handful of times, and I live in a county that consistently is in the top 3 in the state for bear harvests.
