Bear Quest 7, Start Your Engines!!!!

[Sean B]

I've been waiting for this Mike, its been a long week for me!!!!!!

[Barry Wensel]

Me too. I'm anxious to hear what Ol' Yeller saw on the resurrection stand I sat for so many years. UB

[Sean B]

I know Fred Gimble saw a good one there last year, and he remained unscaved after week 2.  I can't wait to hear.

[Pierre Lucas]

  Mike????      Glad you had a safe trip..long drive for you.  

I'll never forget my last years Father's day..

God Bless,   Pierre

[VictoryHunter]

Good luck and good hunting! Hope you shoot a biggun'    

[Yellow Dog]

Saturday morning finds us in La Tuque at Motel 9 for the meeting of the hunters that drove in separately to La Tuque and those that drove or flew in from across the country and rode up in the overnight caravan from Massachusetts with Tom. Time to see old friends and meet new ones. After a hearty breakfast complete with pork and beans on the side, must be a French Canadian thing, we were on our way for the final 45 mile drive north on the gravel wilderness trail to camp.

[Sean B]

   

[Yellow Dog]

Once in camp the unpacking and stowing of gear begins. My bunk mates were Kevin Symes from Kansas, Greg Krause from New York and Kent Roberts from Arkansas. I might add Kent is a very talented Bowyer and had a few examples of his work from TimberGhost Archery in camp, beautifully crafted bows.

               

[Yellow Dog]

Once everyone was settled in we gathered together to go over the do's and don'ts for camp with Tom and drew for stands. I was the last to draw and drew the "Bird" stand. Tom told me the Bird was set up for a lefty but we could move it for a righty if I wanted to hunt it. Greg Kirkland, who's a lefty, said "I'll trade you". Greg had drawn the "Cardiac". I'm here to tell you it's called Cardiac for a reason and if I remember right Tippit named it. I baited it once a couple of years ago and vowed I would avoid that climb again unless it was to help someone roll a bear down the side of the mountain. Since I was the last to draw there wasn't a problem with me drawing again. So I gave the Bird to Greg and had to choose one more time from the six remaining stands, three on water and three on land. I drew "Resurrection".  

         

[Yellow Dog]

Resurrection. There's something about that stand that has some mystery about it. Not that any stand is better than the other, good bears have come from all at one time or the other. In the seven years of Bear Quest, week one and week two, I think the largest bear has never came from the same stand. Like a moth to a flame, Resurrection.

                         

[Yellow Dog]

Uncle Barry has spent untold hours there. I think he posted he'd seen one of the largest Black Bears he's ever seen there. Fred Gimble spent every minute of every hour of light there last year because he'd seen "the bear". The Resurrection.

[tippit]

I tried to find an old picture of Uncle Barry & I baiting Cardiac.  I think we each had a Quart Ziplock bag a Donuts  

[Yellow Dog]

I made the 14 mile drive from camp to Resurrection for the first nights hunt. Visions of being covered in multiple bears raced through my head. Armed with a bag of treats, a bottle of bear spray and my 58" Super Shrew with a Great Northern Quiver stuffed with 150 gr Stinger tipped 5575 Gold Tip Trads, I quietly slipped into the baitsite to ready for the nights hunt. Upon arrival it was cleaned out, not a morsel left. A good omen, hungry bears with me sitting eight foot over them awaiting their return. I rebaited the site, mounted a little Covert CA4 camera, and settled in for the first nights hunt.

[Yellow Dog]

The Resurrection.

[Yellow Dog]

Well to make a long story short after about an hour on stand I was awakened by the dull thud of my bow hitting the ground as it tumbled from my lap. A victim of 36 hours with no sleep on the first night again    

[Yellow Dog]

My daily routine was to head out in the morning and stop at the "Deli" to bait it and finish up at the Resurrection to bait and pull my camera card to see what visitors we had. On Sunday morning the bait appeared untouched but when I pulled my card from the trailcam it showed a jumbo bear had cruised thru at 7:00pm the previous night after I'd left. No doubt he was checking the area for girlfriends and had no interest in stopping for something to eat. He had other things on his mind and food wasn't one of them. I'd post that pic but I erased the entire card by mistake trying to clean it up with the hundreds of pictures of rabbits and ravens on it.

         

[Sean B]

Getting good Mike!!!!

[Yellow Dog]

Sean, missed you big time!!!!!

[Sean B]

Thaks, I was thinking of you guys every day around 4:00!!  How'd Bill Terry make out??

[Yellow Dog]

Hard to believe but I wound up sitting at the Resurrection for four days and never saw a bear, with nothing on the trailcam while I wasn't there. Just got a few pictures of this little guy on Wednesday morning. Time for a move.