Way to           go Yellowdog!!

The following morning finds us back in the boats tending to the baits. As it was yesterday, all baits showed activity with the exception of the Cove. Prior to the bait run Tom told me to pull my camera and I could hunt one of the vacant land baits if the Cove appeared not to be hit so the camera was in the boat on our return to camp. Once back I plugged the controller into the little Covert Ca3 and it said I had 30 pictures on the card.... Interesting    

You're doing well, Mike.  Keep it coming.
Denny

I plug my SD card into my little card reader to see what I have and it tells me I have no pictures    Back into the camera it go's and again it says 0 pictures            OK where's Larry Surtees? Larry brought his laptop just for checking these things out.

Into Larrys laptop it goes and as the card is downloading pictures start popping up. Then Larry says "there's a bear"! Sure enough it was a bear and the time stamp on the photo said 20:05. Larry looks at me and says 8:05, you were in that stand at 8:05. Yup I was and sound asleep at that!!! A few pic's of what I call "Sleeping Bear". I'm sure he was wondering what that was snoring 7 foot up in the tree as he came in and checked things out

           

Sunday evening finds me in the "Roller Coaster". Once you take a drive back into where it's located you'll see where it got it's name. Up and down all the way. Larry Surtees filmed the entire ride in a couple of days later. I take the short walk down the trail, bait the empty barrel, mount a camera and climb up to the stand. Looks good.

                       

The Roller Coaster

Michael - sleeping! Now that is something I would never do. Did you take my Hunter's Smart Hammock (ooops I mean seat) with you.

Some guys at Ray Hammond's place tried to accuse me of that on Memorial Day weekend. Good thing they didn't have a camera set up!

After a while of soaking in the silence of the Quebec wilderness the noise starts. Red squirrels chattering and jockeying for position at the bait site full of goodies. The little buggers seem to have a pecking order, and it doesn't take long to figure out which one is the "boss squirrel"

Then there it is, the sound of what I think is a bear. Nothing but an anxious nervous long exhale of breath coming from the thick vegetation behind the crib. I strain my eyes to try to find it's source and there it is. It's a bear       :eek:      

Jet black and pacing back and forth, wanting to come in for the treats but he's aware that there's a visitor in his woods and you can tell he's not sure what to do. He's hungry and whatever's in the tree near his dinner is keeping him from coming in. Finally he starts his cautious approach, he starts out slowly and darts the final few feet to grab a mouthfull and quickly retreats to the safety of his hiding spot behind the crib. After a few minutes he makes a second approach and retreat, then a third followed by his last visit where he decides it's safe and stays

     

     

Yup Gil, they tell me I was the first one in camp to ever admit sleeping in the tree. Hard to deny when you have pictures to prove it  

                     

My visitor came and left a total of fives times before I came down from my perch. Everytime he came in he looked a little bigger but it was early in the week and I kept my arrow on the SBD string of my 60" Toelke Curlew, 48@30.

   

   

   

   

   

   

I get back into camp Sunday night and show my pics to the rest of the gang. All agree it's a bear and a little on the smaller side. I'm ready for Monday.

Monday finds me back at the Roller Coaster and as I sneak my way into the stand I stop as a good bear is on the bait. At about the same time I see him he senses my presence and off he goes. As I reach the bait site the barrel is empty and rolled up against the tree the stand is hung in. They were busy last night. I reposition the barrel, fill it full of goodies and climb the tree for day three.

       

   

Great story so far!    

Well off to Church, to be continued when I return  

Hang on guys, this is a good one!!  I got home late last night.  Ill add my stories in a little while.  Im not able to post pics at this time, Ill get alittle help from Larry Surtees.

Day three starts as soon as I climb the tree and get hooked up in the stand. My little buddy from the previous day returns to take advantage of the fresh batch of goodies just dropped off. I spent the next two and a half hours watching his antics until he's joined by two more bears, a smaller sow and a second year cub. The sow never comes to the bait and patrols the area softly grunting while her little one feeds.

Sunset is around 8:50pm and darkness comes quickly to the woods after that. At around 9:05pm I decide I should probably chase the bears off the bait so I can get down and back to the truck. I softly clap my hands together to get the attention of the three bears in the area.

Immediately all three run into the thick bush behind the crib. Then comes more noise this time popping of teeth and huffing. The three bears run back past the crib and into the woods in the opposite direction. The popping continues from behind the crib. Out steps a bigger bear that I have not seen before in the darkness about eight yards behind the bait station looking in the direction the three bears had just ran off to.

I had only about ten seconds to make a decision, large body, not much legs and I couldn't see any ears. As the bear stood broadside I quickly came to full draw and the hot pink fletched 5575 Goldtip Traditional tipped with a 1963 Bear Razorhead was on it's way. In the failing light the hit appeared to be good, maybe a inch or two higher than I had intended but still in the right spot. The bear crashed through the thick brush opposite the stand and then there was silence. I checked the time and it was 9:10pm. I waited a few minutes, climbed down and went to the point of impact to retrieved my arrow that was stuck in the dirt. A clean pass thru with good blood, I was happy with the hit but you never know. I'd heard no death moan so I quietly snuck out back to the truck and headed for camp.

           

After a restless night the morning finds Larry Surtees, Bill Terry, Fred Gimble, Eric Port and myself on the trail. About ten yards into the thick vegetation Bill finds first blood and it goes quickly from there. Blood is sparse but just enough to keep us going in the right direction. After about 100 yards uphill the trail ends. My 2012 Bear Quest 6 bear.

Very nice bear!  Congrats!!

What a great camp, this was my third year in a row but it's going to take alot of work with my wife to make it for year four. After I arrowed my bear I was on the two track out of the bush and had a special treat. A bull moose that trotted down the road in front of me for 6/10th of a mile at about 20 miles an hour until he found a clearing he could bail out into. Can't wait for the rest of the stories. There will be some dandies coming for sure. Looking forward to Seans.