Bear Quest III >>---> Start Your Engines

[d. ward]

Thats a good looker there Doc...bd

[meathead]

That is a beauty.

[PV]

Think your getting the hang of this bladesmithing thing doc!            
Beautiful work!

[fatman]

Hey, Jay, good to see you made it home same

Here's a few more random pics from around camp:

Big Bill gettin' his morning workout.  His Silvertip is 90#@31".  AD Hammerheads weigh 940gr.  Bowdoc is trying to figure out how to fletch up a garden spade for Bill to use next year...



Kip Manuel "the Ragin' Cajun"...I'll never look at a Hamburger flipper or a Moose the same again



Kip and Bobby...."Gone Fishin'"



Allen and Lloyd....."Master Baiters"



Weighin' a Bear





LLoyd and Larry "Caddo" Dix



I really hope Larry posts soon, as he has some truly great stories to tell.  He hunted the Resurrection all week, and the bears were NOT the big news.....  

[d. ward]

This story started sometime ago for me.This is my 5th trip to Que'bec and my 3rd BQ.I truly have enjoied the time I've spent in the Canadian bush with my good friend Tom Phillips chasing bears.We've had some great hunts together and many more to come.
This year I wanted to use all 50 year old archery tackle from bow to broadhead.
So I was planning to use my 1959 Bear Kodiak on its 50th birthday 1959 quiver 1957-1959 Bear Razorhead and a 1950's Bill Sweetland forgewood arrow.
My restored 1959 Kodiak is 64" 51# with a bit of custom grip shelf and arrow rest.The broadhead would be a 1957-1959 Bear Razorhead with bleeder blade installed and mounted with a head shriker.
The arrow was a Bill Sweetland forgewood tapperd 9/32 X 5/16 weighing 625 grains.bd

[Barry Wensel]

I too have been anxiously awaiting to hear Larry's stories since he sat "my" Resurrection stand. Larry.. if you come back next year... I call dibs! :^) BW

[d. ward]

come on Larry I know you don't want to do it but its all part of BQ.You gotta come clean here.
This is the 50 year old Bear Kodiak that would join me in Que'bec for BQ-3.bd  

[d. ward]

actually Larry has quite a tail to tell of the action on the resurrection stand U.B.Larry where the hell are ya ????? bd

[d. ward]

1957-1959 file sharpend and then serrated towards the tip with the file Bear Razorhead and whats left of my forgewood.bd  

[d. ward]

.bd  

[meathead]

Down in a blaze of glory.  The best way to end a good arrow.

[Kip]

Very nice bowdoc.Deadly and not carbon or Alum.I killed mine also with a bear razorhead from the 70's when I first started bowhunting.Kip

[Novaln1975]

BowDoc

Did you modify the bleeder blade?

Simon

[d. ward]

No Simon I did not.They were designed to snap off.bd

[4runr]

Doc (Tippit) that knife is plum gorgeous!!


Bowdoc, you da MAN!!

[bill langer]

Great looking knife Doc!!
AWESOME PICS AND STORIES, KEEP THEM COMING GUYS..

[Randy R]

Hey,  I just want to thank you guys from the first week of Bear Quest III.  Paul V for picking us up and dropping us off in Boston.  Steve for the ride up and back.  Jeff, Lloyd, Tom, Matt, Bill L., Bill S. , Kevin, Jon, Dick, Rob, Nate,  Myron Grant and The REAL Bow Doc for making us feel like family.  Thanks'  Barry for so generously insisting that Thomas and I (my 13 yr old son)  hunt your stand Thursday evening where he was successful in killing his first bear.
 The entire camp was great.  A sincere, intense, talented, diverse group of  traditional bowhunters who shared a memorable week of hunting, fishing, relaxing and a bunch of story telling.  What a great hunt.  What a great "first real hunt" for Thomas.

[Bill Kissner]

Randy, It was great seeing Thomas get his bear. I am sure he will remember this hunt for the rest of his life. You have an exceptional son as you probably already know. It is a pleasure to see a kid that is molded in a "traditional" way rather than the way some are growing up running the streets. Congratulations to you and him!

[Caddo]

Ya know some of us had to go back to a"real Job", and I'm still trying to get my head above water!
As already stated, I drew the Ressurection stand. After Uncle Barry had it the week before, I knew it had quite a reputation already. It surely did live up to it. I saw 2-3 bears every night, up until wednesday night the 5th day of hunting, they were all different bears. Since Doc Springer went and set the bar so high, then Bobby and Tom followed with really good bears, I knew I had my work cut out for me just to hang with those guys. All total I saw 11 different bears, with all of the real big ones being rubbed real bad.
Simon, from Montreal, had joined us for the first 3 days, and had mentioned that it was supposed to rain pretty good thursday. Combine that with the way my luck usually runs, I knew I was pushing it by not taking a bear yet. So Wednesday night, the third bear of the night came in and was a pretty good looking boar. I guessed about 130-140 lbs and not rubbed too bad. There was a 4 wheeler running up and down the road all night and had happened to go by once already while he was on the bait. Every time a wheeler or vehicle went down the road, every bear that was on the bait at the time would stop and watch until it had passed. This guy did the same the second time it went by and gave me my opportunity, broadside at 7 yards. Just as I released, the bear didn't like something with the wheeler and took a lunge forward. I knew I'd hit him back a little further than I would have liked, but he only ran a short distance and started walking, up over the ridge directly in front of me. I could tell by the way he walked, that he was a pretty sick boy. I waited about 30 min without hearing anything. Since I knew the shot was back more than I intended, I grabbed my stuff and eased out as quiet as I could, figuring to go back the next morning and track him.
 When we went back the next morning we found him pretty easily. He'd only gone about 60 yards and layed down. That's were he stayed.
As soon as I can get my Photobucket password figured out I'll post some pictures.
 But the night that made the whole hunt was Tuesday night. I'd had a small bear come in about 5:00 that night. He was a pretty bear, but smaller than what I was looking for at the time. He fiddled around for a little while, and as unobtrusively as possible, I convinced him he may want to come back someother time. I'd just looked at my watch, it was 6:55. As I was scanning the brush around me, I heard something walking through the brush, in front and to the right of the tree stand. I've never heard a bear make that much noise, and it was larger than the squirrels. I looked up the trail that was directly in front of me, that ran up the little ridge on that side, and saw something that looked kind of grey. Now I'd already seen the biggest ground hog I've ever seen in my life on this bait, but this was much bigger. As the forms materialized, the little patch of grey turned into grey, white and tan. Two wolves came down the trail and stopped on the edge of the bait site! Oh my goodness, were they magnificent! One of them stayed back in the brush while the other walked out to the crib around the bait. I've seen wolves before, in Alaska, but they were always at a distance of 200-300 yards. This guy was 15 yards away, and without a doubt, the biggest canine I've ever seen. He was huge! He grabbed a bone, that was laying on the ground and headed back to his partner.
I saw this as a chance to get my camera up. All of a sudden he came back out of the brush. Then his partner came out, right on his heels. They were both facing me and I'm slowly trying to get my camera up for a shot. One of them caught just the slightest of movement. We locked eyes, both of them starring at me. They had me cold. Like a flash, they were back in the brush and gone. I heard them circling around to the left of me and heading out towards the road. All of a sudden the brush, behind me aways, just erupted. I heard a bawl and here comes this little black bear, just as fast as he can. He races across the bait site and goes behind the crib, where he stops. He crawls up on the crib and looks back, in the direction that he just came. He, obviously, didn't appreciate the wolves as much as I did. He turns and wanders off into the brush and everything goes quiet again. About 15 minutes later I can hear water being lapped up, like a dog drinking. It dawns on me that I have to cross a little bit of water on my trail back out and start thinking that the walk out tonight could get real interesting. 9:15 rolled around and I made my walk back to the road. Arrow on the string, a little quicker than usual, but without incident.
  This was, without a doubt, one of the best hunts I've ever been on. A great big thanks to Tom, Lloyd, Allen and Bowdoc for all of their hard work. There's no doubt in my mind, I'll be back next year. With or without a bear, this was one for the books.

LD

[fatman]

Man, that's a great tale, Larry.  That had to be just a real exciting night