First Bear Hunt
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First Bear Hunt
Well this is my first post and first time bear hunting. I have read every post on bear hunting and want to thank all of you for the advice given here. I really enjoyed the stories and hunt follow alongs. This is what made me join this site. I thought I would share the story of my first bear hunt. Sorry if it is long winded.
My bear story begins when my wife and I invited our neighbors over for dinner. He told me he drew a bear tag this year and was excited. I thought bear would be fun to try. Somehow we convinced my wife going for a surplus tag was ok. What are the odds anyhow? MN tags sold out in less than 3 min this year!
August 5th - horror stories were what I heard from everyone about getting a surplus tag. I even talked with two guys who take a vacation day to wait in line and try to get a tag! They must be nuts or maybe there is something special about bears! Anyhow, I decided I would stop on my way home for lunch and try to get a tag. If someone was in line I would just leave. I got to the store at 11:50. No one in line. I know a couple of the guys who work here and they let me run the licensing machine. They had a guy who came in 4 straight year before getting a tag and didn't want me to blame them if I didn't get a tag. I familiarized myself with the licensing machine and at noon I refreshed and got a timer. Bear showed up, went through the process and BINGO! The tag was mine. The whole time I though I was going to get a popup saying "sorry, we have sold out". I paid, went to my truck and then it hit me. I was overwhelmed and underprepaired. Where would I hunt, what bait would I use. I knew nothing about bears, bear sign, bear behavior, habitat, etc.
My neighbor helped me out a lot. We went through the bait he had and was getting, where we could get more and tag teamed this. I stopped at lucky 7 bear bait and got a few things too. My neighbor has only hunted bear one other time so had some general info but it was a learning experience for us both. We found one spot I would try. He had one spot and a backup for himself. We set stands and got the baits out on August 14th. Looking back this spot was horrible. I was in a dry swamp, to close to human activity. However, my bait did get destroyed. After 7 days, one night 4 different bears showed up throughout the night! I thought this was going to be easy! After two days they all disappeared and never came back. Someone had setup two ladder stands fairly close to me. Someone had also shut my camera off and messed with my bait. Warden, curious hunter, or someone peeing on it I will never know. I was looking for a new spot though.
I have known a guy for a couple of years and was talking hunting with him. I told him about my misadventures. I didn't know that he had some land. Fortune smiled down on me! He allowed me to hunt here on one condition. I couldn't shot the big one on his property. No problem. I probably won't see him anyhow. August 23rd I meet up with him. Got a feel of where I could hunt and off I went. I setup in a wet cedar swamp. There was a beaver pond close by and a huge spruce swamp further in. Looking back with my knowledge now, going forther in could of helped. I was hunting bear more like deer. Looking for transitions. Ash to cedar swamp in this case. If I would of gone even 50 yards further into the cedar it may of helped the bears feel more comfortable. I was maybe 20 yards in the cedars. I cut some logs, put some bait out, trail camera in, and off I went. I put the camera covering my baiting approach. This ended up hurting me here. I thought the bears would use the trail I walked in on and I would get a picture. However, most of the bears came in on the other side of the bait from deeper in the cedar swamp. Lesson learned. I think I missed a lot of pics.
I went 9 fruitless days without a hit! I was about ready to say this spot sucks! Then on September 1st I finally got a hit. A decent bear about 185-200lbs. It was durring daylight too! September 4th would be my first hunt. It was a quiet night. Right at dark I heard something in the cedars. Squirls were going nuts. I believe this was the bear. He just wouldn't come out. I got down and never had a daylight picture of him again. I hunted twice more without hearing or seeing a thing.
On September 11th I missed a day of baiting and my bear was gone. I planned to hunt till September 19th and call it quits. Archery deer opener in MN was more important! So I stuck with this plan. Only one day passed without a hit. Then on the a smaller bear showed. 11:50 at night for three nights in a row. I thought if I skip a day he will be hungry and come in earlier. Should of learned from my first bear. This bear left too. 19th archery deer season is getting close. On the 16th a really nice bear showed up. My biggest yet on camera. About 250lbs or better. The next day a giant showed as well as the 250lb. The next day the giant and two new bears. This old bear new bear continued. There were 6 different bears over the next few days. Don't know why this site suddenly caught on fire. Food source dried up, someone else called it quits or missed a day of baiting, or smell finally penatrated far enough?
September 20th. My first bear encounter. Ohhh, I should be deer hunting. But come on 6 bears! I decided to go till my bait was gone which is today! I got to my stand and my bait was hit. It was already half gone. I have been baiting every morning before work. The whole night I could hear a bear behind me. It was like he would walk close enough to check the bait and leave again. He did this about every 30 min. Finally at dark I heard a bear comming from my right. Then nothing. Legal shooting light is done with so I decide to get down. Close but not quite, they outsmarted me again! I got half way down my tree and I hear a stick break. I look to my right and there is a bear 12 yards away. I froze and watched him do a small circle. Then I hear the bear that was behind me the whole night. He is coming in too. The first bear goes back into the cedar and all is quiet behind me. What to do? I decided to get down. I didn't want them playing with my bow! It was the scariest walk out of the woods I have ever had. My wife was freaked out. They could of ate you! You need to be more careful. I was in awe. Bears move so quietly and gracefully.
Out of bait, and one neat encounter. Lots of work and time put into this. It was worth it. Ok they got me. I don't give up that easily! I went to Wal-Mart and bought enough bait for one more week. Wednesday the 23rd would be my next hunt. I think the bear behind me was the giant. He never showed up on camera again after that night I walked out. I did have lots of other bears on camera though. I didn't want the temptation to shot this bear anyway. A mad landowner is never a good friend.
September 23rd. I didn't get to bait in the morning. I was a little worried about carrying bait out with hunting gear on, but I had no choice. I left my bow at the edge of the field. Made some noise as the bucket hit sapling. Dumped the bait and didn't cover it up or anything. Walked out and left the bucket at the edge of the field. Grabbed my bow and headed in. It had rained on and off all day so my approach was quiet. I climbed my tree, put my safety harness on, hauled up my bow, knocked an arrow, and put my release on. I sat down with my bow on my lap and thought why didn't I leave it on the hanger? A bear won't come in till dark. I zoned out thinking to myself. I wasn't in the tree for 3 min when all of the sudden a bear is 6 yards from my bait. Holy crap he looks huge! At first I think he is the giant. I had to stop and look at my bait and the logs to judge that he wasn't the giant. However, he is the number 2 bear I have on camera. He is eating I start to draw and stop myself. I am shaking to much and it isn't a great shot. He lays down. One bite and a doughnut is gone. Two bites and a hunk of beef fat goes down. Then he stands and is looking directly away from me. Maybe another bear is coming in. I will never know because an arrow is on its way. He grunts and snaps where the arrow stung him. He runs right under my stand. I usually watch where they run to but I am frozen. I didn't want to scare him. The shot looked good but I have never shot a bear. I hear a stumble and turn around just in time to see him stagger out of site and hit the floor. 5 death moans I know it is over. He didn't make it 30 yards. I still gave him 15 min before climbing down.
Hope the pictures post.
Bears are smart animals. I will befenetly match wits with them again. I learned a lot this year and had a great time baiting and checking cameras. Best of all I got permission to hunt this property anytime I get a tag.
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My bear story begins when my wife and I invited our neighbors over for dinner. He told me he drew a bear tag this year and was excited. I thought bear would be fun to try. Somehow we convinced my wife going for a surplus tag was ok. What are the odds anyhow? MN tags sold out in less than 3 min this year!
August 5th - horror stories were what I heard from everyone about getting a surplus tag. I even talked with two guys who take a vacation day to wait in line and try to get a tag! They must be nuts or maybe there is something special about bears! Anyhow, I decided I would stop on my way home for lunch and try to get a tag. If someone was in line I would just leave. I got to the store at 11:50. No one in line. I know a couple of the guys who work here and they let me run the licensing machine. They had a guy who came in 4 straight year before getting a tag and didn't want me to blame them if I didn't get a tag. I familiarized myself with the licensing machine and at noon I refreshed and got a timer. Bear showed up, went through the process and BINGO! The tag was mine. The whole time I though I was going to get a popup saying "sorry, we have sold out". I paid, went to my truck and then it hit me. I was overwhelmed and underprepaired. Where would I hunt, what bait would I use. I knew nothing about bears, bear sign, bear behavior, habitat, etc.
My neighbor helped me out a lot. We went through the bait he had and was getting, where we could get more and tag teamed this. I stopped at lucky 7 bear bait and got a few things too. My neighbor has only hunted bear one other time so had some general info but it was a learning experience for us both. We found one spot I would try. He had one spot and a backup for himself. We set stands and got the baits out on August 14th. Looking back this spot was horrible. I was in a dry swamp, to close to human activity. However, my bait did get destroyed. After 7 days, one night 4 different bears showed up throughout the night! I thought this was going to be easy! After two days they all disappeared and never came back. Someone had setup two ladder stands fairly close to me. Someone had also shut my camera off and messed with my bait. Warden, curious hunter, or someone peeing on it I will never know. I was looking for a new spot though.
I have known a guy for a couple of years and was talking hunting with him. I told him about my misadventures. I didn't know that he had some land. Fortune smiled down on me! He allowed me to hunt here on one condition. I couldn't shot the big one on his property. No problem. I probably won't see him anyhow. August 23rd I meet up with him. Got a feel of where I could hunt and off I went. I setup in a wet cedar swamp. There was a beaver pond close by and a huge spruce swamp further in. Looking back with my knowledge now, going forther in could of helped. I was hunting bear more like deer. Looking for transitions. Ash to cedar swamp in this case. If I would of gone even 50 yards further into the cedar it may of helped the bears feel more comfortable. I was maybe 20 yards in the cedars. I cut some logs, put some bait out, trail camera in, and off I went. I put the camera covering my baiting approach. This ended up hurting me here. I thought the bears would use the trail I walked in on and I would get a picture. However, most of the bears came in on the other side of the bait from deeper in the cedar swamp. Lesson learned. I think I missed a lot of pics.
I went 9 fruitless days without a hit! I was about ready to say this spot sucks! Then on September 1st I finally got a hit. A decent bear about 185-200lbs. It was durring daylight too! September 4th would be my first hunt. It was a quiet night. Right at dark I heard something in the cedars. Squirls were going nuts. I believe this was the bear. He just wouldn't come out. I got down and never had a daylight picture of him again. I hunted twice more without hearing or seeing a thing.
On September 11th I missed a day of baiting and my bear was gone. I planned to hunt till September 19th and call it quits. Archery deer opener in MN was more important! So I stuck with this plan. Only one day passed without a hit. Then on the a smaller bear showed. 11:50 at night for three nights in a row. I thought if I skip a day he will be hungry and come in earlier. Should of learned from my first bear. This bear left too. 19th archery deer season is getting close. On the 16th a really nice bear showed up. My biggest yet on camera. About 250lbs or better. The next day a giant showed as well as the 250lb. The next day the giant and two new bears. This old bear new bear continued. There were 6 different bears over the next few days. Don't know why this site suddenly caught on fire. Food source dried up, someone else called it quits or missed a day of baiting, or smell finally penatrated far enough?
September 20th. My first bear encounter. Ohhh, I should be deer hunting. But come on 6 bears! I decided to go till my bait was gone which is today! I got to my stand and my bait was hit. It was already half gone. I have been baiting every morning before work. The whole night I could hear a bear behind me. It was like he would walk close enough to check the bait and leave again. He did this about every 30 min. Finally at dark I heard a bear comming from my right. Then nothing. Legal shooting light is done with so I decide to get down. Close but not quite, they outsmarted me again! I got half way down my tree and I hear a stick break. I look to my right and there is a bear 12 yards away. I froze and watched him do a small circle. Then I hear the bear that was behind me the whole night. He is coming in too. The first bear goes back into the cedar and all is quiet behind me. What to do? I decided to get down. I didn't want them playing with my bow! It was the scariest walk out of the woods I have ever had. My wife was freaked out. They could of ate you! You need to be more careful. I was in awe. Bears move so quietly and gracefully.
Out of bait, and one neat encounter. Lots of work and time put into this. It was worth it. Ok they got me. I don't give up that easily! I went to Wal-Mart and bought enough bait for one more week. Wednesday the 23rd would be my next hunt. I think the bear behind me was the giant. He never showed up on camera again after that night I walked out. I did have lots of other bears on camera though. I didn't want the temptation to shot this bear anyway. A mad landowner is never a good friend.
September 23rd. I didn't get to bait in the morning. I was a little worried about carrying bait out with hunting gear on, but I had no choice. I left my bow at the edge of the field. Made some noise as the bucket hit sapling. Dumped the bait and didn't cover it up or anything. Walked out and left the bucket at the edge of the field. Grabbed my bow and headed in. It had rained on and off all day so my approach was quiet. I climbed my tree, put my safety harness on, hauled up my bow, knocked an arrow, and put my release on. I sat down with my bow on my lap and thought why didn't I leave it on the hanger? A bear won't come in till dark. I zoned out thinking to myself. I wasn't in the tree for 3 min when all of the sudden a bear is 6 yards from my bait. Holy crap he looks huge! At first I think he is the giant. I had to stop and look at my bait and the logs to judge that he wasn't the giant. However, he is the number 2 bear I have on camera. He is eating I start to draw and stop myself. I am shaking to much and it isn't a great shot. He lays down. One bite and a doughnut is gone. Two bites and a hunk of beef fat goes down. Then he stands and is looking directly away from me. Maybe another bear is coming in. I will never know because an arrow is on its way. He grunts and snaps where the arrow stung him. He runs right under my stand. I usually watch where they run to but I am frozen. I didn't want to scare him. The shot looked good but I have never shot a bear. I hear a stumble and turn around just in time to see him stagger out of site and hit the floor. 5 death moans I know it is over. He didn't make it 30 yards. I still gave him 15 min before climbing down.
Hope the pictures post.
Bears are smart animals. I will befenetly match wits with them again. I learned a lot this year and had a great time baiting and checking cameras. Best of all I got permission to hunt this property anytime I get a tag.
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Re: First Bear Hunt
That is outstanding! !
Way to get it done!
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Way to get it done!
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Congrats!
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Great job on a nice bear. You certainly earned that one.
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Congrats!! nice job!! great story!
Cancer can take away all of my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart, and it cannot touch my soul.
Don't give up. Don't ever give up.
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Don't give up. Don't ever give up.
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Congrats. Great first bear.
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Longbow with a pointy stick
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Fantastic Story....Congrats on a great bear. Most hunters would have given up.
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Re: First Bear Hunt
nice job
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Re: First Bear Hunt
welcome to the Beast! Good story, congrats!
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Thanks everyone. It was a great time. The kids really enjoyed helping mix up bait. Put some of this in. Now more of this, lol. They also liked running baits on weekends and seeing the pictures. I felt like I could include them more than with deer hunting.
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Awesome story, way to stick with it. Nice bear too
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Re: First Bear Hunt
Heck of a story right there!! A big congratulations to you!!!!
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