Having grown up in Arkansas and hunted here most of my life I never really had an interest in hunting black bear here until about 4 years ago. An acquaintance owned some property he suspected there were bears on and invited me out to hang some trail cams. Ended up getting pics of several bears and a couple looked really big. That's when my bear fever started. He wouldn't allow any hunting on his property so I started looking for a place to bait and hunt. In Arkansas you can only bait on private property and I soon discovered that finding property and getting permission to hunt it was easier said than done. A year or so later I was lucky enough to get permission to hunt a small property of around 40 acres, really the huntable section was more like 20 acres. I baited and hunted it for 3 seasons, had a bear or two coming into the bait until the acorns fell, usually a week or two before the season opener. If they came back at all after that it was very sporadic.
After last season I decided it was time to find a bigger property and hopefully more bear to create some competition at the bait. I picked up an app that shows aerial photos, topo maps, property lines and names of landowners. I picked out a few properties in good bear country and started writing letters and making phone calls.
Eventually I got permission to hunt 275 acres about an hour and half from my house.
I drove over on a Saturday to meet the landowner back in July. His wife said he was out on the 4 wheeler checking his cattle. Then she told me he'd be turning 104 years old in a couple months. It was an honor and a real treat hearing some of his stories from way back in the good old days, he's lived his whole life on that same property. Guess that's what you call good country living.
After our visit I set out to scout the property. Ended up finding what I thought would be a great spot for a bait. It was on a north to south bench below a bluff line that had very few places to drop off to the bench. My bait site and stand would be directly below one of those openings.
In AR you can start baiting 30 days before the opener which this year was 9/24. Since there would be no 4 wheeler access to the site I decided to carry my empty barrel in a couple weeks before I could start baiting. I cabled it to a tree and hung a trail cam. Didn't really expect any bear pics before I put out bait but when I returned a couple weeks later I was surprised to have a few. Looked like the bench was actually a natural place for bear to pass through. Never hurts to have a bait in a spot where bear already want to be.
I could only bait once a week on Saturday or Sunday so I knew I would probably need to pretty much fill the 55 gallon drum on each trip. Was trying figure out the best way to pack in that much bait and happened to think of the back pack carry case for my Double Bull. I would stuff it full of donuts, bread, etc. and pack it in. Each bait trip usually required 3-4 trips to refill the barrel. Each time I returned the barrel would be totally empty and I had pics of multiple bears, several were boars, not a single sow with cubs. Had shooters coming in and a couple weeks before season a really big boar showed up.
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The rest of my journey to be continued tomorrow.
Good night all.
:campfire: :coffee:
Ready for the rest!
Bisch
Me too!
:thumbsup:
Season has been underway for 4 days. does this mean there's a dead bear or more hunting updates???? either way, I am tuned in....
Opening day finally arrived. I had pics of bears coming in as early as 1:30 in the afternoon so I climbed into my stand about noon and got settled in. My stand was in a tree slightly south and on the down slope side of the bench about 12 yards from the barrel. All was quiet until about 6:00 when a young boar showed up, maybe 125#. After watching him feed for half an hour or so his head popped up and he took off like a scalded dog. I looked up the hill toward the bluff line and saw why. Big boar headed into the bait.
I'm going with dead bear
This is on my list to do....stayin tuned...
It's amazing how quietly a bear can move through the woods. This bear I believe was a solid 300#. Not quite as tall as the barrel but really thick. I watched him slowly move down the hill to the bait and I hate to admit it but over the 15-20 minutes it took him to get there I had the worse case of buck or bear fever I'd ever had. This typically happens to me after the shot but not this time. I waited for him to turn broadside, took a deep breath, drew my bow and totally blew the shot. To say I was sick as I watched the bear run back up the hill would be an understatement. All that work and preparation and then I miss a shot on a huge broadside bear at 12 yards, absolutely disgusted with myself as I hiked back to the truck in the dark.
Due to family obligations I couldn't hunt again until Monday. After lots of time in the back yard proving to myself that I could indeed still hit what I'm shooting at I headed back to the stand. The bait had been hammered and I had lots of pics. Climbed in the stand about 1:30 and settled in. Didn't have to wait long when about 3:15 a beautiful chocolate phase boar showed up at the bait. He was a fairly young boar, probably around 150#, but had an awesome coat. I watched him for close to an hour going back and forth on whether to take him or not. Arkansas zone 1 has a bear quota and it had been a great weekend for bear hunting. I knew that by the end of the day the quota could be filled. Also knew there was a great chance if I waited one of the bigger bears would return. I finally decided that I'd be thrilled with this boar and when he turned broadside I picked a spot, drew my bow and watched the arrow pass through that exact spot. The boar bailed off the slope and I heard him crash in the brush below me, just out of site, no death moan but total silence.
After about a 1/2 hour I climbed down and walked toward the place I heard him crash.
Here's my first Arkansas bear and I couldn't be happier.
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Love chocolate colored bear. Thenks for taking me along. I've been hunting bear here in New Mexico off and on for the last month. We can't bait here which makes it a tough hunt. I've seen blonde and chocolate/blonde bear on my cam but haven't been able to spot any nor call any in. Thanks again!
Great story Kent. Thanks for sharing.
Great story and congrats on the bear! Gotta ask how did the new bow perform?
Nick
Been there and done that with the miss! Ha! Way to re-group and get back at it.
Congratulations!
Congrats, beautiful bear. Gotta love chocolates!
Congrats!!
Thanks everybody!
Buckeye the new bow performed well once the shooter got his act together, full pass through with the 175 grain Werewolf tipped Axis.
Nice job Kent, that is a beautiful bear! Congrats!
David
:thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Way to go Kent
Outstanding!!!
Awesome! Co grate on your bear!
Bisch
Sweet, Congrats!
LD
congrats
Congrats on the beautiful color phase.
Congrats!
Congrats, again, Kent!!! I can't believe how happy I am for you getting your bear at home! Saturday will be the opener here in OK, and I intend to be out there with my trusty Smoke. I'm hunting public land, so there's no "baiting" however, the definition of "bait" leaves a little loophole for certain foods that are perfectly legal to set out. So I will try to bring my advantage up in a couple of spots, and hope for the best. Last I heard, the acorns haven't been dropping here either, so it could work.
Congratulations again, sir!
Congrats on a beautiful Bear.
Thanks everybody!
Good luck Tony!
Congratulations ridgerunner!!!!!Beautiful bear and awesome story and pictures...thanks gib
Nice work Sir. Payed off. Congrats!
Kent,
Cool Bear. Nice going.
Congrats Kent!!
:thumbsup: :notworthy: Well done...
Congrats! Great story and pics!
Very cool! I'm happy for you! A little jealous but still happy!!
Cool, congrats! :thumbsup:
Outstanding Sir. Great story. RC
Great story, really happy for you.
Kent, congrats on your Arkansas bear..It's been a long time coming and well deserved.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Congrats on the bear!
This is going to get good.
Congrats Kent! Sometimes it's just time to shoot something and get that monkey off the back. You did great and ended up with a beautiful bear. Very happy for you!!
Thanks Ryan! You are correct, sometimes it's just time to get the monkey off your back. I couldn't be more proud of my bear and had a blast scouting and baiting the new spot. Makes it a lot more fun having multiple bears on the boat. Looking forward to chasing this one next year. He's built kind of like an angus bull. Got to be well over 400#.
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Going the extra mile offers the condition for the possibility.
A most excellent and fulfilling harvest...
Thank you for sharing.
Congrats Kent...
Just saw your story and congratulations on a fine bear. Good to hear there's still folks out there that will let a hunter hunt their land. Those folks are fewer and fewer.
Kent I saw lots of bears south of St. Paul last weekend, Had a sow and 2 large cubs maybe 2 years old come right up to the bottom of my tree I was in and looked up at me and took off at warp speed and then came back, of course I let them go. Saw a large boar the day earlier come cruising thru but to far away. Nice big boar you got there..
Too cool! Congrats!
Some people think we may consider opening a season here in MO before long.
Thanks for sharing!
Congrats sir!
Congrats. Thanks for sharing the story.
Dan in KS
Congrats on a pretty bear! You are right, that last pic post, he is a monster!
Great job Kent!!
A lot of hard work paid off on that one! Congratulations on a beauty of a bear!
-Jay
Thanks everybody!
Yep Missouri Bowhunter I feel very fortunate to have found a landowner to let me hunt his property. Gonna make sure I get him something to let him know how much he's appreciated. Hope to hunt that spot again next year. Already hauled everything out so you'd never even know I was there.