Well I just got back from my abbreviated hunt, I had originally planned to hunt for one day, fly home to honor some family commitments I had and then back for four consecutive days to hunt. Only ended up hunting 2 days in total, as unforseen family commitments forced me home. Still had a great time we flew up in a cesna 185 for a quick one day hunt on Thursday:
It only took us 2 hrs to get up there, it would have been shorter but we were bucking a head wind. Had a good nite on stand, saw 6 different bears one of which was real interested in mine and Bob's tree:
We had up to 4 bears at our bait at once, they were snarling, fighting and running each other off for the better part of 4 hrs. It made for great watching, Bob had never sat on a bait before so I think all of this action spoiled him. We got out of the stand a touch early as Bob was cramped up from 5 hrs of sitting still ( I could get up and move around in my stand). He got down first and I followed, when I hit the ground I saw him staring into the bush pointing his rifle at a big black bear. The bear was about 20yards from the bait and must have been waiting for dark to come in, either of us could have shot him but we have both shot "black" black bears before so we passed. The bear never did leave and as we walked out he came to the bait. We stayed overnite in a hotel and flew home Friday morning. The flight up had been smooth as glass the flight home was anything but, I almost "refunded" my breakfast a couple of times. We made great time though as a big tailwind pushed us home in 1hr and 20mins. Definately was an adventure. Sunday morning we drove back up and rebaited and hunted that nite. The action was a little slow at my bait, one small black bear right when I climbed into the tree and then nothing until 20mins before dark. 4 different bears came in then and I dropped the hammer on a colored boar:
300gr sst, 2-777 pellets outta my T/C Omega.
While not the biggest he sure had great color and personality, he ran other black bears off the bait that were twice his size. I've seen 2 other colored black bears up there, passed on them hoping they would return the next year growing bigger only to never see them again. Maybe I was a little trigger happy in shooting him but he'll make a wonderful full mount. Meanwhile, while I was dragging my bear away from the bait for pics my buddy Kevin was tracking the black boar he shot with his bow. He tracked him 40 yards from the bait, found the arrow covered in blood and could hear him deep in the "thick stuff", wisely he backed away and we recovered him the next morning. It was his first bow killed bear and was a good bear too
you'd think he wasn't happy but trust me he was)
Here's some other pics of the bears:
We're already making plans for next year hopefully it will include more time on stand and more bears!
It only took us 2 hrs to get up there, it would have been shorter but we were bucking a head wind. Had a good nite on stand, saw 6 different bears one of which was real interested in mine and Bob's tree:
We had up to 4 bears at our bait at once, they were snarling, fighting and running each other off for the better part of 4 hrs. It made for great watching, Bob had never sat on a bait before so I think all of this action spoiled him. We got out of the stand a touch early as Bob was cramped up from 5 hrs of sitting still ( I could get up and move around in my stand). He got down first and I followed, when I hit the ground I saw him staring into the bush pointing his rifle at a big black bear. The bear was about 20yards from the bait and must have been waiting for dark to come in, either of us could have shot him but we have both shot "black" black bears before so we passed. The bear never did leave and as we walked out he came to the bait. We stayed overnite in a hotel and flew home Friday morning. The flight up had been smooth as glass the flight home was anything but, I almost "refunded" my breakfast a couple of times. We made great time though as a big tailwind pushed us home in 1hr and 20mins. Definately was an adventure. Sunday morning we drove back up and rebaited and hunted that nite. The action was a little slow at my bait, one small black bear right when I climbed into the tree and then nothing until 20mins before dark. 4 different bears came in then and I dropped the hammer on a colored boar:
300gr sst, 2-777 pellets outta my T/C Omega.
While not the biggest he sure had great color and personality, he ran other black bears off the bait that were twice his size. I've seen 2 other colored black bears up there, passed on them hoping they would return the next year growing bigger only to never see them again. Maybe I was a little trigger happy in shooting him but he'll make a wonderful full mount. Meanwhile, while I was dragging my bear away from the bait for pics my buddy Kevin was tracking the black boar he shot with his bow. He tracked him 40 yards from the bait, found the arrow covered in blood and could hear him deep in the "thick stuff", wisely he backed away and we recovered him the next morning. It was his first bow killed bear and was a good bear too
you'd think he wasn't happy but trust me he was)
Here's some other pics of the bears:
We're already making plans for next year hopefully it will include more time on stand and more bears!
