Dans 2016 bear hunt ( Bighunt too)

[James]

Congrats to the crew, what a memorable trip

[Ack]

Congratulations guys...looks like a good time!

[wickedbruiser]

Congrats on the bear hunt guys. Looks awesome

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[E72]

Congrats to all on the hard work paying off.

[Black Squirrel]

Soinds like a great hunt, you guys really know what you are doing! Congrats to all 4 of you!

[Dhurtubise]

Congratulations on some great hunts, write up and thread. Thanks for sharing.

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[Hodag Hunter]

Congrats to all on their successful hunt. 4 for 4 is a good hunt.

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[BigHunt]

Anticipation was high as the big bear hunt drew near! The excitement grew as we checked trail cams while we were baiting leading up to the hunt. Dan had a glimmer in his eye and said to me I think we will do just fine! Lol
I packed my truck the night before I left. I got up at 1 am and hit the road so I could arrive there early to get a good camping site!
I arrived in town at about 8 am. I gassed up and headed into the swamps!! I set up camp and got to work. Dan had me check the baits they were not hit from the week before I checked the first 2 baits and they had not been hit so I headed to the last spot.
When I checked the last spot "beaver pond", I noticed the one log was moved and some bait was gone. This was going on 2 weeks without a hit! I got back to camp and fired up the lap top. To my surprise a giant bore with a white V on his chest came in and checked it out!
He only showed 2 times for only a few minutes. At the time that spot didn’t really catch my eye because of the lack of activity. For the next two days I lived it up. I spent most of my time fishing a kayaking; I also made a new friend! A friendly fox at a gravel pit. At first I was a little hesitant as it walked near me. It came closer and closer and I got gutsy and he licked my finger! In aw I went and got some bread from my truck. The little fox came right to me and took the bread out of my hand like an old dog, very gently. The fox showed every time I went to the gravel pit.



Dan arrived on Sunday about mid-day. I helped him set up his stuff then we got to work! Steve showed that same day in the evening. Monday we baited all the baits and checked cams. We waited for john to arrive and studied trail cam pics. Waiting for john’s arrival Dan and I went out and started and new bait in a new area. We were driving down an old logging road waaaaaaay back in the swamp and we came across some bear tracks in the mud. Dan said that’s always a good sign! We set up the bait and within a day the bait was hit!!! While driving around re baiting spots, I backed into something and it crushed my back passenger break line. Thankfully Jim wallner pointed us in the right direction! Dropped it off the next morning and it was fixed in an hour! Needless to say I was super happy!!! One day was baiting a spot and I found a ground bee’s nest. The first time I was stung I knew exactly what it was without even looking at it. I instantly thought BEEEES!!!!!!!!! I slapped my leg and carried on! As I passed through the area gain to fetch more buckets, I stepped on it gain and got stung a second time!!!! Still not knowing where it was I headed back and got stung again!! This time I seen were the nest was. 3 stings later my leg was burning pretty good. We avoided the spot after that lol. About an hour later I noticed something was wrong. My lips were numb and my vison was slightly blurry. To be honest with you I was little worried because my mom is highly allergic to bees and I wasn’t sure if I was or not. As time went on I felt better but got all itchy! A few hours went by and I realized I had a case of hives and needed to get to town to get some Benadryl! Within an hour the hives were gone and I felt way better!!!

D DAY: it was hard just sitting around waiting for the hunt. Opening day finally came! I was pretty nervous all day. My hands were sweaty the whole time! I wasn’t sure what stand I was sitting until Dan told me and he said I lit right up and said OK!!!! LOL he asked me if I could handle shooting one of the 2 big bores at only 5 yards 2 sticks high!?!? I said YES SIR!!! Lol once I knew were I was hunting I got my gear together and readied m lone wolf! While baiting this spot we did not trim a spot out so I had to get in early and trim a tiny whole 2 sticks high 5 yards from the bait in an old dead pine tree!! I arrived at my parking spot at 1pm. I grabbed my gear and eased down the logging road. When I arrived at the pond the wind was perfect! I took 5 minutes and cleared my head. I started towards the bait along the edge of the beaver pond to the back side of the bait. One step at a time I eased closer and closer. I moved with the wind gusts. As I got to the tree I looked at the bait and it was almost all gone!


Two days prior Dan and I put 8 buckets of bait down! I knew this was going to be good and I was excepting company! I slowly set down my lone wolf and started to unpack it. I grabbed two sticks and weaved them between the dead braches and eased my way up the tree. I had to cut a few limbs to make room for my stand and for me to at least sit and shoot. After about an hour of slowly cutting a setting the stand I was set and ready for my first Minnesota black bear hunt.

This was it, the time I’ve been waiting for! Years of thinking and preparation and now I’m sitting in a tree with a bow with a nonresident tag in my pocket!!! The feeling was overwhelming! Took me a little bit too finally calm down from the excitement. Once I was relaxed everything came to life! The pine squirrels were running around. Then the grey jays flew into the bait a fed on the nuts! After about 2 1/2 hours of this I was lost in the moment around 524 pm and suddenly I heard a stick snap! That got my attention right away. I sat up and my ears worked back and forth like a whitetail...lol suddenly I heard a swoosh noise like a branch with leaves followed by another stick snap! I knew right then and there that this was it! I eased my hand up and turned on the camera, hit REC then grabbed my bow! I stared to the left were the noises came from. Like a ninja out of the darkness the black bear stepped out! There was a big chunk of cookie down. The bear decide he was going to lie down and eat the chuck of cookie dough. For about 2 minutes I sat and watched this awesome animal only 5 yards from me and started to get shack! I said it’s only a bear calm down. If you watch my arrow in the video, the tip is rock steady and I appear not to be shacking. But to be honest with you I was a wreck inside doing everything I could to focus and not screw this up! The adrenaline was flowing! I had total tunnel vison; everything else around me was a blur but the bear! The bear got up and walked into the bait quarrying hard to me. I sat motionless as possible. The bear looked around and sniffed the air. I slowly reached for some milkweed to check the wind and it was perfect. He faced me for a few seconds then started to turn. I waited until it looked like I had a clear shot at his vital area. The bear looked away and exposed his lungs. I slowly drew my bow. He heard the noise of the arrow and looked right at me but it was too late! I settled the pin and squeezed off.



The arrow entered the bear’s body and was into the ground before he even knew what happened! The bear let out a loud growl and jolted off into the thick swamp. The bear j hooked back to where it came from about 30 yards. It laid down and watched his back trail as I sat in stand I could hear him groaning and growling. After a few brief seconds I heard a bunch of sticks braking then silence! Just like that it was all over! I sat back into the tree and took in the moment! I was more alive than I ever was. The feeling was something you can’t explain. I gathered my thoughts and focused on the arrow. Since it was my first bear kill I was a little nervous and excited. I got down and looked at my arrow. It was covered in bright red blood. I switched memory cards and headed back to the truck. I was a little concerned that there was no death moan so I was unsure if I should track or not so I decide to wait at my truck for Dan as planned. I replayed the shot in my head over and over waiting for dan. At dark I could hear the faint sound of a vehicle approaching me. Dan rounded the corner and before I could even say anything he already had the camera on me! I told him what happened, showed him my arrow and we went back to camp to meet the guys. We got back and were greeted by the game warden! He checked us out and everything was all good. The guys got back and no one else pulled the trigger. We gathered our tracking gear and headed back to the beaver pond. we parked our trucks got out, looked up and seen the start of the northern lights! We picked up first blood about 10 yards from impact. It was so thick in that area that we were on knees weaving through tunnels of grass. Dan stumbled upon his bed. He bedded to watch his back trail. I noticed were the grass was moved and looked like he ran through it. I parted the grass and there he lay in the creek! BEAR DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The feelings were awesome! My first of many bears down! Looks like Dan made a life time bear hunter out of me. We gutted the bear and hauled him out! This is for sure a hunt I will never forget!
DAY 2
Since I got my bear, I was hoping to relax an earning or two. At around 430 pm I was sitting in my tent organizing just about ready to head out kayaking and all of a sudden I heard a truck pull in very fast! I looked up and it’s Steve!
He comes flying out and looked very excited! I assumed he shoots a bear and I was right! Looks like no relaxation after all! I gathered a few things and off we went to get his bear! He told me every detail as we drove to his spot. He was after a nice cinnamon bear but a different bear with a HUGE white V on it his chest stole his heart right away! The bears circled cautiously then finally came in. Steve made a great shot, a heart shot and the bear ran about 15 yards and died!! He said it death moaned like 9 times very loud! Unfortunately Dan and I think Steve double punched the REC bottom. A mistake we have all made a time or two filing our own hunts! Steve and I were able to haul his bear out with no problem! We had him back to camp and skinned before Dan and john got back from there hunt! While Steve and I celebrated his success, Dan was having the time of his life on his hunt that same night! When Dan got back to camp he told us what happened, I knew things would be interesting the next morning!
DAY3
Well after a long track job a no bear we all headed back to the trucks. Getting tired and hot we all were a little grumpy trying to find our way back. I was able to get a few bars of service in that area and was able to use google maps. I was citron that we were going in the right direction until I looked at the blue dot on the map. Where ever that blue dot is, that’s were we are. After a small time I realized that we were going in the wrong direction! I told everyone to sit tight wile I checked locations. I was able to get us going in the right direction! As we near the trucks Dan kept sayings “let’s cut in here and go get my stand". I kept saying "why don’t we just follow this road it leads right to the trucks!?!?!?!?!" after slight hesitation Dan followed, I decided to let Dan walk ahead of me! 10 yards later he yells MOOSE SHED MOOSE SHED!!!!!!!!!!! And just like that he found his first moose shed!

we got back to the trucks a little while later. John hadn’t seen much action the first two days and was getting a little worried. He was having truck problems and his hunting days was drawing to an end. I really wanted to hunt sow bait but the wind was off to me on map. So we decided to hunt a different spot were a bear was coming in every day. John and I arrived at the location and set up. We checked the camera and looked like the bear was coming in on a pattern around 630 -730 every day. Time went on and about 530 all was calm Something caught my eye, I looked down and there stood the bear at 10 yards!! I tapped john on the shoulder and then turned on my cam. The wind must have swirled because the bear got some scent and jolted off into the trees but didn’t run. The bear then walked down wind of us about 60 yards out and smelled the air hard. He then despaired and reapired right next to us again. The bear sat just staring at the bait trying to decide if he was coming in or not. The bear then got up and headed back down wind again. I looked behind us and sure enough the bear was on the trail at about 20 yards trying to figure us out. The bear circled back around and finally came in. john drew his bow and settled the pin. The hit was a little high but we got the job one!. 3 bear down! One to go! After a short track job we gutted and hauled his bear out. We decided to head to the gravel pit to register his bear. As we drove back to camp it looked like it was going to be a good sun set so we quickly drove to the pier to get pics!

As were sitting there enjoying the moment suddenly I heard the distanced sound of Dan’s truck rattling and squeaking down the road. I looked at John and said he comes Dan and sure enough Dan pulls in. we drove to the site and awaited his story! Just by the look on his face I could tell Dan got one and it was a good bear! We gathered our tracking gear and headed out. From the way Dan describe his hunt I knew we would have a short tracking job. We arrived at the bait and Dan showed us the scene of the crime. Blood was everywhere!! It looked like a fire hose was spraying the blood. After about 10 steps Dan says “there it is!". Dan, john and I slowly walked up to it and stared in aww. Another bear down and another successful trip! 4 FOR 4 on bears!!!!

There a somethings you just don’t forget in life and this hunt will be one of them. I was very fortunate to be able to learn and hunt with Dan on this trip. If it wasn’t for him I would not be the hunter I am today! I’m really looking forward to hunting Minnesota in the future!

[Jackson Marsh]

Great write-up BigHunt!

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[hunter_mike]

Awesome bighunt

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[Dewey]

Well done BigHunt. Nothing like your first bear kill. Exciting for sure.

Congrats to everyone that tagged a bear.

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[john1984]

Great write-up BigHunt!

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X2

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[9pt]

Great story and Congrats. Great photos too!

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[vtbuck]

Congrats and awesome write up.

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[dan]

Great right up bighunt... Post those hippie pic's.