Alright, I have some pics to prove that I can actually kill a bear.
First I will give you a little back ground. This is the bait I sat over for 4 days. Talk about getting up close. I snapped this pic with my boot in view, so you can get an idea of how tight things were. The base of my tree was only about 4 or 5 yards from the barrel (apparently they know what kind of shot I am). All of the bears that visited the barrel could have easily been jumped on from my stand. I thought it would be pretty good video, but not sure if I would have survived to see it.
This is a view to the north from my stand. Although I did not walk over to the sandy area, I could see loads of bear track. I also had a grouse that visited the sandlot several times for a good dusting.
Here is another view from the stand looking east. Awesome country.
Another view from the stand. This shot was taken about 15 minutes after I killed my bear. The wind was howling and it started spitting, then it became instantly calm, almost spooky calm. Right after that, my bear came to bait.
OK, dead bear shots.
As you can see from the arrow placement, I was at quite an angle to the bear. I am sure I would have had a pass-through, but he was nearly laying down when I took the shot, therefore the ground stopped the arrow. I got good video of the shot and saw that the fletch went into the hide, but obviously worked out when he ran off.
The bear spent about 4 minutes at the barrel before I got the shot I was looking for. After about three strides I could see that he was history, although he did make it about 30 yards before he cashed in his chips. The bear was dead in less than 10 second from the time he was hit, maybe even 5 seconds.
Now, the rest of the story. Monday, no bears. Tuesday, what I thought was a decent black-faced bear came to the bait. He didn't make me fall out of my stand, so I thought that he was just an average bear. After about 5-10 minutes at the barrel with me video taping, he looks up and away from me, then takes off. Alright, here comes the big boy. No go, it is a smaller brown-nosed bear, so definitely no shooting, but another 20 minutes of video fun.
That night when I showed the tape to Dustin and the fellas, they were shaking their heads. I just passed on a good bear and a very good bear. Oh well, I figure they will be back.
Wednesday. No bears, but I can hear one busting the shit out of trees just out of site.
Thursday. Now I am getting ansy. Did I blow it on Tuesday? Finally at 1912 I see a bear in the shadows. I am hoping for the big blackface, but it is the smaller of the two. I don't care, I will not blow this opportunity and know that I will throw an arow if he comes in.
The rest is history. Good video, good shot, dead bear. I still had nearly four hours to sit in the stand which gave me a good opportunity to take it all in and be very thankful for the opportunities I have been able to enjoy.
Oh yeah, thankfully the big blackface didn't show. Guess I made the right choice.
This bear squared 6'1" and skull is 18".
First I will give you a little back ground. This is the bait I sat over for 4 days. Talk about getting up close. I snapped this pic with my boot in view, so you can get an idea of how tight things were. The base of my tree was only about 4 or 5 yards from the barrel (apparently they know what kind of shot I am). All of the bears that visited the barrel could have easily been jumped on from my stand. I thought it would be pretty good video, but not sure if I would have survived to see it.
This is a view to the north from my stand. Although I did not walk over to the sandy area, I could see loads of bear track. I also had a grouse that visited the sandlot several times for a good dusting.
Here is another view from the stand looking east. Awesome country.
Another view from the stand. This shot was taken about 15 minutes after I killed my bear. The wind was howling and it started spitting, then it became instantly calm, almost spooky calm. Right after that, my bear came to bait.
OK, dead bear shots.
As you can see from the arrow placement, I was at quite an angle to the bear. I am sure I would have had a pass-through, but he was nearly laying down when I took the shot, therefore the ground stopped the arrow. I got good video of the shot and saw that the fletch went into the hide, but obviously worked out when he ran off.
The bear spent about 4 minutes at the barrel before I got the shot I was looking for. After about three strides I could see that he was history, although he did make it about 30 yards before he cashed in his chips. The bear was dead in less than 10 second from the time he was hit, maybe even 5 seconds.
Now, the rest of the story. Monday, no bears. Tuesday, what I thought was a decent black-faced bear came to the bait. He didn't make me fall out of my stand, so I thought that he was just an average bear. After about 5-10 minutes at the barrel with me video taping, he looks up and away from me, then takes off. Alright, here comes the big boy. No go, it is a smaller brown-nosed bear, so definitely no shooting, but another 20 minutes of video fun.
That night when I showed the tape to Dustin and the fellas, they were shaking their heads. I just passed on a good bear and a very good bear. Oh well, I figure they will be back.
Wednesday. No bears, but I can hear one busting the shit out of trees just out of site.
Thursday. Now I am getting ansy. Did I blow it on Tuesday? Finally at 1912 I see a bear in the shadows. I am hoping for the big blackface, but it is the smaller of the two. I don't care, I will not blow this opportunity and know that I will throw an arow if he comes in.
The rest is history. Good video, good shot, dead bear. I still had nearly four hours to sit in the stand which gave me a good opportunity to take it all in and be very thankful for the opportunities I have been able to enjoy.
Oh yeah, thankfully the big blackface didn't show. Guess I made the right choice.
This bear squared 6'1" and skull is 18".
