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Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: Biggie Hoffman on April 01, 2008, 03:57:00 PM
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There have been alot of serious threads on here lately. Lets lighten up a little.
I don't want to do a poll on this but to get on the lighter side, when leaving a bear bait in the dark, do you look back when walking out?
Let's see how many liars we have here........
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Yep...walked backwards some and still checked my backtrail...or would that be my front trail? :confused: :biglaugh:
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is that what they call,,,the biggie moonwalk!!!:)watch ur six........cha cha cha.. :)
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I tend to walk and turn....walk and turn. My pace seems to quicken too.
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My only experience was hunting with a buddy in Canada. I was camera boy for 2 nights, never been in serious bear woods before- so he is razzing me the whole time on the trip up. One thing I did find out about this buddy- he's either smarter than me, or a chicken squat. Once we got out of the stands- he was quick stepping like I've never seen. Of course he has to make 2 steps to my one, so keeping up was no big deal for me. The "canadian quick step" was my moniker for it. I did make mention of him never turning around to check on me- just head down marching, "if you'd have fallen- I'd have heard you yelling at me to stop", also, I asked him who the idiot was that thought of putting the bait between the stand locations and the route to the cabin,,, doh, never thought of that he says.......
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My dad always said i am not scared just real concerned and i only got to run faster than you. TD.
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Actually not very often. I have more problems walking up on cow moose with a calf; and that will put some spring to your step.
I was once knocked down by a bear while walking out in the dark; but it was not really an attack; he thought I was a sow.
I actually would have preferred him biting me.
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I shot a bear in New Brunswick about 4 years ago. I got out of the stand and started crawling on my hands and knees following the blood (it was just a faint drip). I only made it about 20 yards when I heard what I now know is the death moan. I about crapped my pants, got up and hightailed it back to the pickup point and waited for the rest of the group to get there. Had to wait nearly 1 hour on high alert. I never clicked my flashlight off and on so many times, lol...Mike
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Only if I've got donuts in my pockets.....
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Not really, but I did get a bit antsy.. in broad daylight... as I was packing out some leftovers of an elk and wasn't carrying anything weapon like except my little pocket knife. This was in Colorado... not grizzly country, but there was very fresh bear sign throughout the drainage.
It is amazing what nerve you get when you have just a simple weapon to (try) to protect yourself with.
Darkness makes it worse.
ChuckC
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One that was not bear related.... but near got the same result as Moosemans adventure...
a long.. long time ago, I got up a tree very early on a cold fall morning. I was hunting in a small Osage, no place for a stand, so I sat on one branch, feet on one below me. Just before it started getting any light at all, one of those big green "apples" fell from above, hit the branch I was sitting on, fell to the ground and rolled down the hill... right thru all the dried leaves and twigs... oh, and did I tell you about the damned Robins that were roosted all over there that took flight too.
That flashlight went on and I am surprised a pilot didn't try to land his plane there with all my swirling and flashing lights.
I do believe that is where they got the idea for light saber fights in the Star Wars series...
And no.... I didn't shoot a deer. Tough to do that when you are holding on to the tree with both hands.
Man that was a tough morning.....
ChuckC
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Nope, don't look back when walkin' out. But several years ago I was deer hunting up in the U.P. Michigan when were have on and off run ins with local bears. One night I was walking back to camp and walked into a dip in the road were it was pitch, can't see your hand in front of your face, dark!! I was walking real slow, and by memory or the road, and very cautious because of the bear sightings that we had had and listening very intently. I got to the bottom of the dip and kicked a ruffed grouse up. Scared me to the point that I nearly passed out for sure. :scared: :scared: I actually sat down on the ground right there to catch me breath and then laugh a little.
Ok second bear story!!
Same place the year before, a buddy that I was hunting with was sitting in a stand of hardwoods overlooking a large ravine. He had sat there for about an hour on an old stump motionless. It was a very calm quiet afternoon were you could hear the deer come crunching from a ways off. He felt warm breath on the back of his neck and when he slowly turned around there was a couple hundred pound blacky staring back at him. Freaked the crap out of him!! He did walk backward all the way out of that one and couldn't get him to hunt from the ground anymore either. :bigsmyl:
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AF
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Yes, to see what the bear Im dragging is hung up on. :bigsmyl:
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My brother and I were dragging a deer off of Admiralty Island. Admiralty Island is brown bear country, and guys have been attacked while dragging out deer.
Anyway, as we pulled the deer over a log, air was forced through the deer's vocal cords, making a low, bear-like growl. Talk about making your hair stand on end!
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Heck I have a hard time walking to my stand at oh dark thirty. One opening day, the bear struck...garbage, bird feeders. Walked out anyway. Half way, I heard something sounded like bone on bone. I stopped, it stopped. I started, the noise would come again....I almost ran to my stand. I figured if I got to it I would atleast be up with only one direction of possible threat. I never did see the bear, but while in my stand before it got light I got the strongest whiff of garbage...
On the way out I found 4"+ tracks. Now I just need to get an arrow into em...
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Yup ! Been hunting them for over 30 years and still flash my light all around as I'm walking out. But my biggest fear is being shot by some gun hunter as i step out onto the logging road from my trail! Thats why i usually wait 'til dark and step out waiving my flashlight up and down the road. Only been treed by a Bear once in all this time and i still cannot figure why that 120# bear rushed at me. The spruce boughs did more damage as i went up the tree than the bear!
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Only if I am walking behind my very large and slow running hunting partner!!!!
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The ones that get me are the ones that know the whole setup. I had a large one by the tracks he was leaving at the bait, sit out in the bush estimate about 80 to 100 yards by sound judging and snap and pop his teeth and groan / growl. This would go on the last hour or so each night I sat the stand. Get down in the dark with that going on when he knows you are there and not look behind you? Yeah right!
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About 20 years ago, I had a sow and a cub come in late........waited till I couldn't hear them or see them with my maglight and climbed down for my half mile walk to the truck. About 300 yards out from the stand, I heard a noise on the left side of the trail, then another noise from the right side. First thing I thought was that I was between a sow and her cub! I stuck the maglight in my mouth and nocked an arrow and cautiously made my way down the trail. The brush to my right moved and I spun and drew my bow at the same time to see......a big skunk!! Next thing I knew, I was in the truck. Never seen a skunk look so good! Mike
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Been bear hunting twice....absolutely!!
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Yep, I watch my backtrail. And not just when leaving a bear bait.
I have never had the opportunity to actually bait bears for myself, but have been successful doing it for friends who did draw tags.
Once, after sitting till dark with a video camera only, I was slipping out quietly. I did a quick look back, and caught the flash from my trail camera. I had been standing near the bait only seconds before, and I could hear the bear licking and slurping.
When I was at that bait site, the bear would only show up in total darkness. I`m certain he always knew when I was there.
Yep. I look back. I gave up trying not to. :D
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Are you kidding me? I look behind me when I'm squirrel hunting!
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only to see what the noise is all about and to find out where the bad smell's coming from
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Never have walked out front ways. Is that wrong, Biggie?
Biggie and I took a guy huntin to Maine with us for his first trip. His footprints on the way in were really short and close together, on the way out they were long, and I mean long strides!!!
Kicker is, he killed a bear and we didn't.
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These stories are hilarious! You should put a disclaimer in the title not to drink anything when reading this :biglaugh:
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Oh geeze, I'd best leave this one alone (in anything close to a direct response) or I'll get banned again! Rather, I'll paraphrase Doug Peacock -- that greatest of all grizzly gurus (if you've not read Doug's "The Grizzly Years," well, you owe it to yourself to get some)and a self-admitted post-traumatic Vietnam basketcase ... Peacock often has said with passion: "I never carry a piece in grizzly country. It's the bears' home and I venture there with respect, humility, and a willingness to accept the consequences of my own actions. But force me to go to New York City, Chicago, or any other great human jungle ... that is when I'll be packing!" Fear is relative, brothers, as is karma. Anon
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No, I just go hunting with someone I know I can outrun...
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You betcha. We have a lot of brown bears here and they cause major hassles when baiting. Last spring a friend shot a black bear off my bait. A small brownie kept circling us while we skinned & quartered it, kept having to shoosh him off, sometimes as close as 15 yards but not charging. We kept our eyes open on the hike out.
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Though South Carolina is not known for bear, we do have a huntable black bear population in the three northwest mountain counties. A buddy and I were scouting Chestnut Ridge Heritage Preserve back in August of 2006 when we spotted what we thought was a hog on the S. Pacolet River. Well, the "hog" raised it's head and we both encountered our first bear in our 24 years of life. Although we were at least 60 yards out, I was scared having never been around bears. We backed out for about 40 yards and when the bear put it's head back down, I took off. I knew I was faster than David so no, I never looked back. I have hunted the property for two years now and have had no more bear encounters and while I'm in the woods, I don't think about it too much. I do check my back trail though.
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Nope. I have more to worry about, driving in my truck to my hunting spot, than I have to when it comes to black bears.
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Last year I was out way past dark with two friends trailing a (wounded) bear as it was due to rain and we thought we best find that bear then and not wait until morning. I confess it occured to me to try to stay in the middle between Llyod and Allen, figuring the bear would get one of those guys first but it didn't work out that way and I kept finding myself in the back, yep, peeking back behind me! Hey! Wait a minute! Maybe I kept ending up in the back or the front as they were thinking the same thing! :biglaugh:
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Not my story but I will tell it anyway.
An acquaintance was bear hunting in northern Minnesota on the ground over bait. Said he felt like he was being watched. Stood up and saw three wolves checking him out.
Next two are mine.
I was out baiting with some friends and the guy up front stepped in it if you no what I mean and it was very fresh. We were looking around pretty good after that.
The worst that happened to me was out in Montana. I was walking on an island trying to cut over a river and something brown shot out of the grass that was just short of waist high and brushed my leg as it went by. I can't tell you what it was for sure it happened so fast.... I think is was some sort of cat. I was over by Quake Lake were at the time there were known Mt. Lions. I just stood there for sake of life.
I look back you bet.
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well geesh. I have bear hunted for 30 years; grew up with non-hunting parents who used to like going to a dump in the UP of Michigan where people would park and watch the bears walk around the cars and feed in the headlights in the dump.
I live in bear country- and I run into them all the time. I have even run into grizzlies.
No sense in getting all riled up; if they want you; your in for a tussle; been there done that!
I am chuckling because I have had as many as 19 bears circling my bait when I was in my treestand.
Try walking out in the dark after that :biglaugh:
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depends on whether I am hiking with someone who I can out-run or not....
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But SteveMcD, have you ever hunted bears over bait?
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Good point, Curt. Sorry I went back to Biggie's post. Didn't realize this was a Hunting over Bait discussion.
So my answer is No. I have not. But I will say, I have hunted Allegany State Park in western New York, where there are lot's of bears, and they are protected in the park. These bears are accustomed to humans, and a few of them have very little fear of people whatsoever. I would agree... I made sure my daypack and food was double wrapped, and was more conscientious about any smells of food I would have on me. It is a more cautious mindset.
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I have been nose to nose with a black bear in the boundary Waters in Minnesota, the Bears paws were only inches away from my face, it was an event I would never want to go through again, that's really when " to close was to close enough "
I always look around as I'm going down the trail
Even in the daytime now !
I deer hunt and a no quota bear County, population is high with Bears.
Carl
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Yep, with a high caliber pistol at the ready! Also as mentioned about, I am usually more worried about running into moose than anything else. It has happened; its not fun!
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Yep,gives me the he be jee bees, but last year when I hunted in Montana for elk in grizz country,Well let's just say I know how the rabbit feels...Gib
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Quite frankly, getting mauled by a bear sounds preferable compared to my workplace lately.
However, I do recall walking out of the deer woods once in the evening and hearing something following me. This is a property where the landowner swears she's seen mountain lions. So I keep stopping and checking my backtrail in the dark but seeing nothing. But every time I start up again I hear. Finally I quick turn around and the glare of my mini-mag catches the reflection of two bright eyes right behind me! Make that, Bright Eyes, the reflective tacks I used to mark the entrance to the trail, placed about knee high. For about 1.2 seconds I thought I had a mountain lion ready to pounce.
The noise? My safety belt had partially come out of my back pocket and was dragging in the leaves...
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Well, I have'nt had the chance to hunt over bait for bears, but I do get out after bears once in a while here....I have to watch my backtrail every time I leave the house to make sure the wife ain't throwing stuff at me for going hunting again! Scary stuff!
One of my favorite reads is Saxton Pope's "Hunting with the Bow and Arrow", and I love the account of him and Art going after their first grizzlies in Yellowstone. The exact quote escapes me now, but Pope goes on about his fears and apprehensions, like we all have as well, and then adds something to the effect that Art was so La-de-dah about it, he was probably just thinking about flapjacks back at camp.
Biggie probably could relate somehow...
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Never hunted over bait Biggie,although hunted near bait growing up in Michigan.
My first bear experiance in the wild was when I was seven years youg, my brother was eleven and he wanted to make smoke. knowing mom and dad would make a bear sound inviting if they found out. He asked me to take a walk with him. We climbed this trail for 10 minits or so climbing over big blowdowns going up. We got to a bench and I looked up to see my brother frozen like a statue. Past him was I believe a big brown standing on hind legs looking down at us. Ron turned to me and yelled rrrrun he didn't have to tell me because my shoes made more smoke than he could ever make with that cigaret. We got to the bottom of the trail and there happened to be a park ranger laughing his guts out. This bear was in trouble yellow stone was on a mission to ship all trouble bears back into big country if the visitors kept feeding then. I never understood that one. This was not his first affence But to answer your question did I look back its "no". At seven I could still out run big bro and if the bear got him I figured he would have deserved it.Bear encounter #1 Got some more maybe I will get a chance to share soon.
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Never hunted over bait but come to think of it I spend alot of time down here in these Ga swamps and rumor has it that there is a creature of legend called the swamp thang that has reportedly been seen. The last reported sighting was of an big albino one that will slip up behind you and GRAB YOU if you are toting Krispey Kremes.
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ask Leroy (goldenhawk) his bear story..... hes got a doozy....hes lucky to still be making strings!
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Biggie, say what you will but, I always watch my backtrail even when bobcats and coyotes are on the prowl. Walking out after sitting on a bear bait is as the teenagers say, sketchy(nut) :bigsmyl: :D :D :bigsmyl:
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No, I figure when I get down, they're gone anyways. When I go to a bait I do stalk it however because you never know.
It is far, and I mean far more interesting coming out alone in the dark say, 1 mile or more down a salmon stream loaded with bears in Alaska than any bait could possibly be.
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yes.
Much scarier moment, though, was when I was walking through Fort Stewart GA and while in full stride motoring to a spot where I could shoot a pig I stepped off into a little cave, got swallowed up about 10 feet below ground, and a thousand bats flew out past me!!
Had to change the shorts on that one.
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Ray - I was riding a mule in the daylight; and the earth gave way; and we BOTH went down out of sight! He jumped out; and then I just hung on to the saddle for a while as he ran and thought about it... LOL :archer:
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Too many folks worrying too much about the wrong things. After hundreds and hundreds of encounters with both black and grizzly bears, I treat them with respect, but not undue concern. The cars on the road -- and the people driving them -- are a lot more dangerous than the bears. Don
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Originally posted by Brian Krebs:
I was once knocked down by a bear while walking out in the dark; but it was not really an attack; he thought I was a sow.
I actually would have preferred him biting me.
Hey Brian, did he at least send you flowers? :biglaugh:
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Thank you, Mr. Thomas. That was my point exactly.
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I was elk hunting with some friends in Montana's Gallatin Mountains just outside of Yellowstone Park many years ago. I found a spot in the timber not far from where we were camped where there were several elk trails leading to a large nearby park. I built a little ground blind among the trails hoping I could ambush an elk when they came down to feed in the park one evening. The thermals were carrying my scent down the mountain in the opposite direction I expected the elk to come from. It was almost dark and time to start thinking about heading back to camp when I heard a loud "WOOF" come from a hundred yards or so downwind of my position. I pretty much took that as my clue it was time to go. I drew my handgun from my holster and casually hotfooted it towards camp which was a half a mile or so away. I think the bear wanted to make sure I made it back to camp because he followed me all the way woofing his displeasure of sharing his hunting grounds with another predator. To answer Biggie's question, I distinctly remember looking over my shoulder a couple of times on my flight back to camp to see if the bear was gaining any ground on me. The light was fading fast when I reached the tents. The other fellows were sitting around the campfire and I yelled out to them as I ran by to skin that one and I'll be back with another.
The bear must of decided he had had enough fun because he gave up the chase and we could hear his woofs fade away into the darkness. I never did get to see if my friends knew how to skin griz.
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I look for cars at intersections too but must admit to checking my backtrail on more than one occasion. It's silly I know but when you get that creepy back-of-the-neck feeling, you just gotta check :-)
We hunted Maine a few years abck with a young fella. His strides going into the stand were regular and short but his strides coming out were looooooong!
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No baiting here so no concerns there. Bears are hunted here and they know it. If they get a whiff of you they head over the mountain. Watched a woman chase a 350# one from her birdfeeders last year banging a couple of pans together. Now in NJ where they aren't hunted I may be more concerned.
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Two years ago there was a bear walking along the highway, next to the fense and behind Menards (contruction box store). This was in the middle of the day. What a mess that guy caused on the highway. People stopped all over the place.
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Don, I believe you... but you are the one with all that experience, not me. I'm still a sissy...
ChuckC
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I dont care who ya are...hundreds of pounds worth of any predator is cause for concern and respect...especially when they dont show fear. Better to be safe than sorry.
I agree other people and cars are dangerous also...thats why there are things called seat belts...air bags, etc. Nothing wrong with being "safe" in either situation.
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Sometimes the shadow people follow me out of the woods!!!!
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No not really but I did have some problems with one at work.. We had a sow with cubs that kept getting in the dumpster.. My issue was for some reason when I would go outside she always thought I was her waiter.. I work 2nd shift and when I would go out at night she would popup and head right towards me.. So I definitely got in the habit of looking around as I went to my car..I have some funny pics of when they bear proofed the dumpster.. She came up realized she couldn't open the lid so she climbed up and in all of a few seconds slid in between the doors.
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Was it good for you too, Brian?
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Brian isn't talking about that. Sore subject. Well, something was sore anyway.
:bigsmyl:
ChuckC
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After surviving one Grizzly attack in Montana back in '85, I was out again in '89 with the same guide and YES...I was always throwing glances over my shoulder ESPECIALLY
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After surviving one Grizzly attack in Montana back in '85, I was out again in '89 with the same outfitter and YES...I was always throwing glances over my shoulder ESPECIALLY when we were heading off the Mountains at dark.... :scared:
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Grizzly attack that sucks!! U must be 1 tuff cat, great story to tell ur grandkids, i would like to hear it too. Did u kill him?? I had to ask.
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After the third night in a row that he attacked me; he said " you ain't up here for the hunting are you boy?".
:biglaugh:
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:biglaugh: :biglaugh:
No sir
ChuckC
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joe skipp, your grizzly attack wouldn't have been the one with Billy Hill out of the Trout Creek area, would it? Just curious.
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Yes...that was it.
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I love this thread!
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Joe, you're lucky to be alive, but you already know that! I hunted elk with him not long after your experience. Same area -- and you bet, he checked his backtrail, even though we weren't bear hunting. Ran into several blackies, but no grizzlies. :readit:
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I know...I arrowed that Grizzly at 4ft....thats too close for me... :scared:
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Aw man, you guys are just trying to scare newbies so that you would have all the game! Great stories. Quinn
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Joe. this story may have been told before... but would you mind repeating ? Especially if there is some sort of teaching / warning for the rest of us ?
ChuckC
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When in the woods period Huntin or not I always check my 6,Marine thing I guess.
Here in CA when hunting Blacktail you always check your 6, they have a habit of laying low and trying to sneak away behind you....
As a teenager I had an incounter with a bear, I was sniffed from one end to the other and nudged with nose a few times....
Heck I check my 6 walking down the street....
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I dont worry about it at all....I know with no doubt on demand I can scream like a b...h loud enough to shatter any bear's nerve. And glass.
And run. I can run. A panther screamed once, right over my head up on a bluff about ten feet high, and I missed everything else till I was totally out of the woods. Ran that fast.
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While hunting Oregon and Washington, I always check my backtrail. I know the chance of a bear or cougar being nearby is pretty good and the hair on the back of my neck stands up from time to time, but I think I am just freaking myself out most of the time.
When in Ohio last October, I didn't get that at all, because there are not suppose to be cougars in that area and I felt very comfortable heading to my stand an hour before daylight.
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I'm always looking over my shoulder, mostly because I've played so many pranks on my buddies I just know one of them is trying sneak up on me.
The thought of the Florida Skunk Ape getting me has absolutely nothing to do with it!!
I remember as a kid hunting near a graveyard with dad. I kept running into him 'cause I couldn't see him-it was that dark. But I could see a large tombstone in the graveyard about 50 yards away. And I'm certain if I had gotten any closer the Skunk Ape was going to jump out from behind that marker and drag me off.
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I worry more about Don's skunk apes than the bears. I KNOW what bears are like. Don
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Them skunk apes are sneakier than a bear. You have to walk with the wind to your back to smell them coming. If you must walk into the wind, first zig then zag.
Ol skunk ape makes a griz look like a hamster :scared:
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Not enough room here Chuck to cover the attack,the trial and aftermath.
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I looked behind myself once and this is what I saw
(http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa277/DUCK_TRAP/Ageoldquestion.jpg)
Maybe they dont do it in the woods.
Trap
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understood.
ChuckC
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Don, this is Ray Hammond on Bob Walkers computer-
Intellectually I know you're right...but every time I'm out there I think about Bart.
That means I turn around, regardless of what my head says.
I'm one of those guys in the Gary Larsen cartoon who are both in wheelchairs, sitting in a depression, and there are three people in the background, one on a ladder with a rake up getting leaves off the roof, another standing on a hill swinging a golf club, and the last one is in a cherry picker over a truck working on overhead power lines- over the whole scene is a black cloud overhead- both the guys are looking as they wheel up to each other and one says " Hey, YOU were struck by lightning once too?" Over their heads, coming right at them down in that depression, is a monster lightning bolt.
I'm that guy.
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Heck, I look over my shoulder every time I go in the yard. Black bears pass through frequently. They took down my bird feeders three weeks ago and my son's [he lives a couple of mile away] a month ago. When I'm in the woods, I am continuously looking -- you never know! I always carry bear spray with me and have it readily available in house in case I need it in the yard.