here is a picture of my bear taken on the last nite. I shot it with a recurve that I made the week before the hunt, my first one, the finish was still wet on it when I packed it, but it worked great.

brent don't even think about apologizing ! no problem at all !

Great stories and pics. Thanks for sharing.. I do love to bear hunt.


John III

I arrived at Bob's house Friday the 6th around 7:30 AM and we packed my gear in his 4runner and were off. We fueled up and drove to Albany to pick up Hillboy from the airport, then we were on our way to Tom's. At Tom's introductions were in order, a handshake and a cup of coffee. A few stories were told and the ride to the border was about to happen.  We crossed the border without incident although Border Bob was fidgeting a bit with a grin on his face.

We arrived in Latuque mid morning and finished up licensing requirements and ate breakfast. It had been a long trip but everyone was excited and anxious to get the ball rolling.

 After about 45 minutes of riding up a dirt road dodging logging trucks and canuck traffic we turned onto the road to our camp.  As little did I know I was about to meet some of the FINEST gents I have ever had the opportunity to hunt with.  Eric, Tom, Lloyd, Allen and Bowdoc really had set the stage for an awesome hunt and all around great time.      more later

AW! Come on Ron don't Charlie Lamb us! Give us a story.      

A few guys went out that evening to hunt but several decided to get things unpacked and get rested up after a LONG trip up.
Sunday morning arrived in a blink of an eye and it was time to check stand sites and get a game plan. Things were looking GOOD. My stand was called the Grouper and I parked about 200 yards from my stand and slowly walked up the road looking at fresh moose and bear tracks.  As I entered the bush I slowly crept up the trail towards my tree and there was a bear already at the crib.  :eek:   She noticed something wasnt right but wasnt sure what I was. Here I am squatting down with an arrow nocked wondering how this is going to go down. After about 5 minutes I decided I may be able to take a few pictures. I was getting eat alive by mosquitoes and black flies as I had not turned my thermacell on yet and wasnt comfortable trying to do so now.  

Nice pics Tom.

Good start to what I know is going to be a good bunch of readin for awhile, Ron. I was fortunate to have met a bunch of those same folks last year at ETAR, camping with Doc and the gang. Quality folks for sure!

These pics were taken while my feet were on the ground and the bear was about twenty yards from me.


 

As I was taking pics and relaxing a bit I heard something behind me. Slowly turning my head and fearing the worst I see a grouse. LOL HHMMMM  Eyes back on the bear Boy!!  

I am taking a few more pictures of her and watching her through the view screen of my camera when again I hear a noise and look up from the camera to see a cub about 6 yards from me...

Uh-oh!  
Did you live?  :confused:

Talk about pucker factor!!!!  Glad I wasnt eating Curvemans chili at the time. I must have jumped a bit in shock at the site of the cub and I still havent figured out which of us was the most surprised., the little fella let out a woof and hauled it back towards momma and out of site they went.  Wiping sweat beads off my brow and swatting mosquitoes now I could get in my stand.

I climb up and sit down and get the Thermacell going. WHEW  That was a close one. My stand is only about 5 and half feet off the ground and I am begining to re-think this., wondering if I will make it home. LOL

I just knew NOT to open this thread before WORK! Get stuff guys I'l be back for 2nds tonight.<><

Hey guys-just hit the office. Good to see you all made it home safe,Brent,Thomas, and Ron. I'll get my pictures downloaded and the tale started soon. For everyone who wasn't there, this was an experience too great to tell hastily. Absolutely the best group of hunters and the most ideal surroundings anyone could hope for. Fletcher, Hogdancer, and I hunted the water stands most of the week and it was almost like living a dream. Not a man here I wouldn'y hunt anything with anytime or anywhere. I'll catch up with this as soon as I catch up on my livlihood.                            Grant

Gee Thomas...that looks an awful lot like a Swamprooter limb.........

Biggie, it's a Swamprooter knock off  :confused:

I'm going to market that chili Ron as "a hidden bear spray that no one will know you have!"        

I passed on a couple of average to above size bears after I spotted two large bears with pumpkin heads on the Long Trail stand and become determined to take a big kahuna this time. After two more nights of smaller bears that didn't linger, I decide to switch locations.

I thought my Long Trail stand from last year was close to the bait and low. Tommy informed me however that there is: "the closet stand in camp!" available that Bowdoc saw a honker on. He says it is no more than 3 yards away from the shot. ("Man, I saw that set up when we were baiting and you can reach out and stir the bait from that stand!" was one comment, *#!@! that!" was another).         Just to make sure I'd have a heart attack he circled around and stood up twice to look DOWN on my stand!!!                        I confess that for a moment I truly did not want him to come in but when I came to I pushed back that thought and decided to wait for him to come closer and turn for a shot.

So I have a bear to the left of me just feet away and Godzilla to my right at 10 yards. "Junior" and Godzilla dance around each other a bit before Junior gives a wide birth then Godzilla looks right at me while standing one more time and goes over the hill from which he came then who knows where. After another 15-20 minutes or so I decide to take Junior who is now back in front of me and hopefully get out of there but as I am drawing I confess I had to look over my shoulder (sorry, couldn't help it)! Junior, now even more nervous undoubtedly about being chomped on himself, decides to vacate the premises and goes up a steep hill. I wait until dark and slip out on a bear trail being somehow mindful that I have no idea where Godzilla is. I wait in the dark to get picked up. FUN!!! Next and last night I go back and nothing comes in!

I have to add though that the best part of the whole experience for me was sharing a truly enjoyable camp with a great bunch of guys that I thought I knew already from the Tradgang community! It was quite a pleasure to meet them all in person and get to know them even better!

Hey Steve, that sounds like a song....

Bear to the left of me
Godzilla to my right
here I am
stuck in the middle with food....

 

 It was great hunting with you Brent!

I have an idea !  let's do it again next year !

Hey Tom! Let's all sign up now!