We were running very low on our meat scraps that we use for baiting so I decided to go to the place I get my goodies from and see if they had anything that would be cheap in price. Our meat scraps are free but the butcher shop that I get the stuff from has been really slow as of late so he had nothing saved up. I got some stuff that cost me .10 cents a pound. Tons of work later I got everything cut up in to small pieces with a chainsaw and put in to six 50 gallon barrels. 1700lbs worth of goodies. I was very excited to see how this stuff was going to work. The day before I was going to leave the g/f asked if she could come with for a couple days and sit in the stand with me. I was all for that and said you bet being she has never sat in a stand with me ever and has never saw a bear before. We left Monday morning at about 5:00 for the 4.5 hour trip. We each drove as she wasn't going to stay the whole week like I was. We got there and met up with my dad and ran the baits. I decided to hunt a bait that I shot my bear off of last year. It appeared to be a 170ish pound bear that hit this bait the morning we got there at 8:30. It was the 1st time this bear had been at this bait. 1st time hitters are always baits a person should jump on. So that's what we did. After finally getting her in the tree and strapped in 45 minutes later (she was scared, she didn't like the height we were up) I was finally able to get my stuff set up. After setting the camcorder up I could finally relax. It wasn't 30 minutes later when I looked to my left through a small opening and there stands a decent bear at 30 yards. I tell Jenny there's a bear and she turns and see's it. This bear was a major pain. He was in front of us for over 45 minutes and would never stand still long enough to offer me a good shot. He knew we were up there and was always staring at us. He was directly below our tree many times looking up at us. To my surprise Jenny held her cool very well. I on the other hand was shaking like a leaf. I couldn't believe how nervous I was!! Its been years since I've gotten that shook up and nervous. I really believe it was because I had Jenny with me. When I had Lydia with me opening day hunting with me I was on edge then too. Anyhow Jenny knew I was nervous. She could see my legs shaking when the bear was in front of us at the bait. We were sitting in the tree well after dark with the bear still at the bait eating away. I wasn't going to spook it out. I wanted this bear not to fear us in the tree. I figured soon my dad would be wondering whats up and probably come in to get us soon. 45 minutes after dark I see a flash light. He got with in 20 yards of the bait before the bear took off. I was shocked the bear let him get that close. The next day the wind was bad to hunt this bait so we let it be and jumped on another bait. This other bait was the same bait I sat on with my daughter. There was a sow and 2 cubs hitting this bait and 3 other adult bear so I figured one of the 4 adults might show up. Well nothing showed but 5 minutes before it got dark I hear the sow gluck twice calling to her cubs about 40 yards straight across the bait from me from behind the bait. I thought crap here we go again. Read part one if your wondering what I'm talking about here http://forums.bowhunting.com/bowhunting-talk/53040-2013-bear-hunt-part-1-very-long-read.html . I didn't say a word to Jenny while we were in the tree knowing she would freak if she knew what was going on. Instead of waiting another 5 minutes I decided were getting down now before the sow gets any closer. I didn't want to have to wait in the tree again or instead have another hair rising encounter like I did in part one of my hunt. I did hear one crack when I got out of the tree. I'm guessing she was 20 yards away in the same direction I heard her the 1st time. Out we went. I kept the light off as I didn't want to spook the sow. After getting in the truck I told Jenny what was going on. She dang near wet herself in the truck!! The next morning Jenny had to leave but at least she got to see a bear. Something not many people can say. It was an awesome experience for her and myself. She loved the experience and wants to do it again. Dad and I checked all the baits and I decided I was going back to the bait Jenny and I saw the bear on. What a hunt this was!!! I was in the tree by 4:00. 45 minutes later or so I'm guessing I hear a red squirrel giving something heck. Red squirrels are big helpers when it comes to bear hunting. They always chew out bear when they see one. Heck they chew out everything. Not long after that I hear a good crack and then another smaller crack. I'm thinking holy crap this is a bear coming I bet!! I look through a very small opening and I see what appears to be a huge bear and another adult bear standing right beside it. My heart went nuts right there!! The one bear looked to be 2 feet taller then the other. On the camcorder went. They were about 25 yards away. I had my finger by the record button waiting for them to get closer before hitting the record button. All of a sudden there stands a cub to my left at 12 yards. I'm thinking crap I'm not ready. I pushed the record button and got myself ready. Just in time too I got ready. What I saw the 1st time was the sow and one of her cubs. This sow is big. I'm thinking she's close to 300lbs dressed. Her cubs were in great shape too. All of 60lbs easily. In Minnesota we can shoot a sow with cubs but I won't shoot a sow if her cubs are small but these cubs were in great shape so I was going to try and get her. This was the 1st time she has ever hit this bait. You could tell too as she was very very cautious at the bait. Always swinging her head looking around and winding. She looked up at me a few times but was never bothered by what she saw. I drew on her 3 different times but she just wouldn't sit still long enough for me to get a shot off. I shoot a traditional bow and you need more time to draw and shoot then when using a compound. The one time I drew on her she was standing on her back legs smelling the sack tree that we hand meat up in. That sack she's smelling is about 6.5 feet high at the bottom of the sack. She's close to a 7 foot sow. Anyhow I couldn't get a shot off. She came in twice but was just on the ball too much. After coming in the 2nd time and then walking out a few minutes later I could tell something was up. Just like that the cubs took off running and off she went too. I thought crap!!! I was hoping another bear was coming. The trail cam video is awesome and shows the size of this sow pretty good. The Camcorder footage wasn't good so I just posted the trail cam footage this time. Trail camera videos. Watch both of these as they are pretty good. [video=youtube_share;UTSkiA88TBE]http://youtu.be/UTSkiA88TBE[/video] [video=youtube_share;t8-Mypfq7dE]http://youtu.be/t8-Mypfq7dE[/video] I was right. What spooked these bear out was another bear. It was the bear that Jenny and I saw 2 days prior. This bear is really on the ball. He was tough to get drawed back on. The bear is perfectly broadside but where the angle of the camcorder is set up it don't look like it. [video=youtube_share;m9x8nL_ja_o]http://youtu.be/m9x8nL_ja_o[/video] Trail cam footage. You can see the angle of the bear much better from here. [video=youtube_share;fV9q3TXhjMs]http://youtu.be/fV9q3TXhjMs[/video] He dressed out at 185lbs. Hardly any fat on this bear. I got both lungs and the heart. The bear ran 18 yards and tipped over. Blood everywhere. 1st animal with my new Schafer Silvertip TakeDown Recurve. Bear number 12 for me. My brother was coming back up the coming Friday. I stayed to help with the baiting in hopes of getting dad a bear and scouting some new areas out. Saturday evening we got my brother set up on a hot bait. He drilled one good catching the bottom of the heart. His broad head ricocheted. He should've double lunged this bear but it deflected down (not as bad as mine did in part 1) and caught the bottom of the heart. He was shooting a Woodsman. Bear ran 30 yards and tipped over. 200lbs dressed. My brothers biggest bear.
So far my dad hasn't let an arrow fly yet. He's seen 2 bear. One was a P&Y bear. Had it underneath his tree and the bear looked up and didn't like what he saw and backed out slowly. This by far has been my best year in seeing bear. I saw 9 bear this year. There's years where you can go 3 to 5 years without even seeing a bear. I probably won't see a bear now for 10 years. :D Below is some trail cam pics of some bear that started hitting our baits a couple days before I left. They are monsters. Dad is trying to hunt the one but the wind has sucked so he hasn't been able to yet. Fricking huge eh????!!!! Another biggin
Very nice job. You and your brother look like you could be twins almost. I like the trad bow. My goal is to switch to traditional next year, starting with deer tho.
You Da Man! That bear in the last pics is a freakin' stud. I so hope that your Dad can kill it! That would be better than if you killed it yourself for sure.
Great stuff, Steve! Or felt like I was right there with you guys! I sure hope your Pops gets one of those slobs and congrats again!
