2024 documenting hunts/somewhat live

[BenP]

No deer were harmed in the making of these photos, no deer seen but I knew it was a risk because the dog hunters had been all through the area all morning. The spot I wanted to go they ran through hard and jumped up 7 deer from there.

Did see a bunch of swans flying south towards lake Mattamuskeet I'm sure and one house cat.

 

[WildWill]

My friend came to get us which scared off the bear and we climbed down and went back to the camp to discuss a plan. I decided to leave work early as my son is homeschooled so no issue getting him to come back out for a Tuesday afternoon hunt.

One of the things I noticed when that bear had come in is that my son was not scared or shaking or really having any reaction other than thinking it was cool to see one for the first time. When we got back in the stand the next day around 1500 he asked "was that bear really right there at the peanuts?"

"Yes."

Then he realized wow that was really close ... 7 yards close.

So we sat and waited for the squirrel show to begin and figured it be awhile for a bear to come in.

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We had the guns propped up in front of us on the shooting rail and bundled up as it was much colder and windier than Monday. I was fighting dozing off after sitting an hour and began to yawn, which made my jaw lock open and a muscle cramp in the neck. I get that straightened out and I'm massaging the muscle when I feel like I see a shadow move by a tree to of front left at 1605.

I stare for a few seconds and see the shadow again. It didn't look like the tree shadows that are blurry and broken up, it looked "smooth". So I leaned forward to adjust the view around the trees and see the brown of his face coming at us at around 50 yards.

Oh snap the guns aren't ready and he is warily coming straight at us. So I grab the guns and slowly start to move them up and rotate them. Luckily he moved past a tree so I could get mine up and then focused on G's. By the time he is at 20 yards I have his gun almost to his shoulder and under the shooting rail. At 15 yards he is swinging in front going to our right.

Oh no don't go that way, that's downwind. He stops and looks up at us and starts sniffing the air. The next 8 yard took him just as long as it did to move the 35 towards us as he cautiously came closer.

Once he got where G could get a good line up I told him to lift the gun off my knee and get ready to shoot. I felt the gun come up and then go down as he starts to breathe hard. I tell him it's okay stay calm and you can get it up on his head.

He finally gets it up and the bear is facing broadside. I tell him aim for the base of the head and shoot when he feels comfortable.



BOOM!



And the bear drops right there and rolls towards us.

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Then the real adrenaline shakes started for both of us as I joyfully congratulated him on killing his first bear at 11 years old. I'm 30 and haven't killed one but this is my first time hunting them as well. We sit for a few minutes to make sure he stays down and then I go down to drag him to the edge of the woods to get some pictures.

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He is all smiles and amazed at the teeth and claws and just how pretty the bear is. I let my friend know and he said he can come get us or we can sit and see if another comes in for me since it was still early. We decided to stay but nothing else came so we were picked up and my friend cleaned the bear for me since he has done a bunch and is quick at it. Weighed the bear and came in at a 125 lb male.

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A bunch of congratulations and poking since some of the guys had been hunting for a few days straight and hadn't killed one yet. But he is a happy kid and hasn't decided what he wants yet from the bear. Inverted caped it so can do a shoulder mount or soft tan or what ever he wants.

I will try to get back out in the second season as this one ends Sunday and I'm busy the rest of the week.

Missed this until today. Really cool hunt congratulations to both of you.

 

[WNC2500]

Congrats @BenP
Enjoying following along

 

[BenP]

I came, I saw, I conquered.



Was able to get out during the second season in a different spot than where my son killed his. So many squirrels were making a ton of racket from the time I got there at 1545 until I shot the bear at 1651. One squirrel had white ears and the another was a red phase, was cool to watch them and even had a cover of 8 quail come by which is rare now days since the coyotes came and the wind rows have been cut down in the area.

She slipped in just as noisily as the squirrels from my left and I watched her for several minutes as I didn't know the sex at the time and wanted to make sure no cubs were near. After staring down the barrel for quite some time and her not acting like anything else was coming I pulled the trigger and the 20 gauge buckshot dropped her right there. Not as exciting as my sons but enjoyed seeing the wildlife and being able to tag my first bear that has a beautiful coat that will get tanned out. Weighed her at 150lbs. Wish I had more pics but my phone died and didn't have a charger.

 

[Pahoundsman]

I came, I saw, I conquered.

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Was able to get out during the second season in a different spot than where my son killed his. So many squirrels were making a ton of racket from the time I got there at 1545 until I shot the bear at 1651. One squirrel had white ears and the another was a red phase, was cool to watch them and even had a cover of 8 quail come by which is rare now days since the coyotes came and the wind rows have been cut down in the area.

She slipped in just as noisily as the squirrels from my left and I watched her for several minutes as I didn't know the sex at the time and wanted to make sure no cubs were near. After staring down the barrel for quite some time and her not acting like anything else was coming I pulled the trigger and the 20 gauge buckshot dropped her right there. Not as exciting as my sons but enjoyed seeing the wildlife and being able to tag my first bear that has a beautiful coat that will get tanned out. Weighed her at 150lbs. Wish I had more pics but my phone died and didn't have a charger.

That’s a beautiful bear and the perfect size. Be careful you don’t catch the bear bug cause rugs and mounts get expensive. Congrats to you and your boy on your first bears.

 

[BenP]

That’s a beautiful bear and the perfect size. Be careful you don’t catch the bear bug cause rugs and mounts get expensive. Congrats to you and your boy on your first bears.

The mounts are crazy expensive, I have a friend that will give me a discount but still is more than I'm willing to pay to have a mount. The tanning isn't bad but for a rug is over $2000, even for a bear this size.

I'm thinking if I get more bears in the future I can sew the hides together to make a bigger throw/blanket.

 

[BenP]

So there is a new possible twist to my hunting season this year. My brother is going to Montana in January to see my cousin and to talk with some farmers and ranchers about maybe moving out there. On a whim I talked my wife into letting me go to and my brother wants to go coyote hunting so I just might shoot a western yote this year.

 

[BenP]

Haven't had time to really put together the Montana trip yet, in short no animals were harmed except a Hungarian partridge that zigged when he should have zagged and smoked the truck. I'll get to posting about the trip soon but it's been a wild time after getting home with snow, frozen pipes, sickness and catching things up.

Will post this picture as a pre-curser to the story.

 

[Dave N]

Looks cold for a NC guy!

 

[BenP]

Looks cold for a NC guy!

It did get down to -14 which is the first I've experienced. Wasn't bad but definitely felt different on the exposed face.

 

[BenP]

So the start of the Montana trip is a delayed flight from some check light on in the flight deck. Took the mechanic 40 mins to get out there and then 10 to fix it. So that messed us up on our connecting flight from Denver to Great Falls. A 1.25 hour layover turned into a 7 hour layover and would have us getting to Great Falls at 2130 instead of 1330.

Looking out over the Rockies from the airport. Would love to come back to explore the place someday.


So with getting to Great Falls in the dark we decided to stay in a hotel and drive out the next day. First thing first and that is to visit Scheels for the first time, sent the 2nd picture to my wife and she responded with "we should have discussed budgets and purchase limits."





Got some new thick thermals as I didn't have any thick ones and 2 elk calls. The next stop was a boot store to pick up some my cousin dropped off to get re-soled then to Lewistown we went.... slowly. Good thing we didn't try driving in the night because we wouldn't have made it. Roads were a little icy and with the wind became a little squirrelly but we did make it in about double the time if it was not iced over.

 

[BenP]

Ate lunch with the cousin and stopped at the sporting goods store there and got some more things that I needed to stay warm. Then we helped two people get unstuck off a side road.

"Welcome to Montana was said multiple times"

Got some groceries and then followed my cousin to his place. Saw a ton of deer along the way with only 2 being very small bucks.




Helped feed cows and horses, cleaned up the bale processor, and fixed one of the farm trucks. Not what most people would call a vacation and it was not to be one, if I was coming here on vacation it wouldn't have been this time of year, I came to hang out with my cousin and brother.

 

[BenP]

So the mornings of the trip were spent helping around the farm/ranch. Feeding cows, breaking water, fixing garage doors that break when someone opens them too rough, and clearing snow... often.

Didn't do as much exploring as I'd like due to safety mostly, but also with my cousin still working there was only so much time for him to take us around. My brother went with the ranch owner one day and did see a bighorn at 25 yards. I didn't see any bighorns but that's alright, just being out there was great enough.



Here are some more wildlife from different times of the trip.







We went down to the Missouri breaks one afternoon and saw some of the APR land. Didn't do any exploring there but did stop on some BLM and walked out on a ridge and spotted some mule deer. Standing on top was chilly with the wind but went down a small finger out of the wind and was quite warm.

 

[BenP]

Will add some photos here of various moments.

 

[BenP]

We did go out for a couple hours looking for coyotes and some shots were fired by my brother and cousin. The coyotes won those battles.

Was hoping to meet up with some hunttalkers but weather conditions had other plans. Snow and winds blocked up the roads pretty good where we were at towards the end of the trip which prevented me going south to meet up with @Little Big Man MT Chris but hope to make it out there again one day.

Did have to help pull a guy out in front of the house. Not sure what he was doing down that road as there is nothing around but there he was in the Subaru bottomed out in a drift.

Also was fun experiencing the cold negative temps and didn't really bother me but would have to add some things to the wardrobe if I were to live out there or visit again during winter. Looks like my brother may move out there later this year, just all depends on how current employment keeps treating him.

Something that we both noticed is that the sky does seem bigger out there. I don't know if it's the landscaped or how the clouds just seem extremely high or what but it did play tricks on the brain somehow.

This post seems like ADHD kicked in with no set story to it just bounced around but to conclude,

 

[BenP]

Add a few more photos.











Here is one my brother accidentally took but is actually kind of a cool in the moment photo.

 

[BenP]

Forgot to add that we did see a decent buck on the way back from exploring the BLM. It was after sunset so lighting made for poor pictures but a small 3x3 and a 4x4. Need to really invest into a good camera one day.





Also, I don't drink but couldn't resist buying this since it is my last name and coming from Montana makes it better than just buying it here locally.

 

[Benfromalbuquerque]

Hey Ben! Ben here and thank you for taking us along on that terrific NC season. Though MT didn’t put elk in the freezer, it sure looked like a good time. What I do for that wicked mountain wind chill is vaseline on exposed skin. They also make beeswax products that you may find in the wife’s makeup or purse (just trust me, you got to tell her you took it). If I don’t have anything else, chapstick works too.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Hey Ben! Ben here and thank you for taking us along on that terrific NC season. Though MT didn’t put elk in the freezer, it sure looked like a good time. What I do for that wicked mountain wind chill is vaseline on exposed skin. They also make beeswax products that you may find in the wife’s makeup or purse (just trust me, you got to tell her you took it). If I don’t have anything else, chapstick works too.

Hey Ben and Ben. Ben here. Just chiming in to make sure we are all present and accounted for.

 

[BenP]

@Benfromalbuquerque , I will have to keep that in mind for any cold day now.

Well Ben and @TheBenHoyle I hope you have been as good as any Ben has ever been. Might have to have a get together of all the Ben's one day, @Ben Lamb and @Ben Long might need to check in too.