I had a fantastic Do-It-Yourself bear hunt yesterday, with the weather and wind lining up perfectly for one of my bear stands I had in place. The stand consists of an easterly facing peninsula that juts out into a series of beaver ponds. My stand was located near the north east corner of the peninsula, with my bait lying directly south of the stand. The wind direction was out of the south east at five to fifteen miles per hour. This wind direction would allow a bear to walk along the northern edge of the peninsula and take in all scents from across the entire point of land. With the wind quartering into their face, I felt they would feel quite safe approaching the bait- and in fact this is exactly how the bear I took approached the stand. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself…
The afternoon hunt began with my stand entry and getting all of my gear in place. This included a camera arm and HD Video camera to film the hunt. I had been settled in for less than a half hour when I heard a noise from behind my stand. I slowly turned and was surprised to see a large bear crossing the ponds and approaching the bait. He was definitely a target animal and I estimated his live weight to be right around four-hundred (400) pounds. He was very nervous and hit the bait with a small tree blocking his vitals. When he finally stepped forward I drew my bow. It was very quiet but a slight noise of the arrow being pulled back was detected by the bear and he took off running. He approached one more time and faced my tree while checking the bait- it would have been an easy bear to take with a gun. He finally departed by walking right down the middle of the peninsula. To say I was disappointed was an understatement.
A half-hour of time passed and the weather and wind remained quite stable. I glanced to the west along the northern edge of the peninsula and saw another bear approaching. This was the approach I had anticipated with the wind direction for the day. Once again I got my video camera up and running for the encounter. The bear looked pretty good and I also readied my bow. Once the bear came into full view I estimated the weight to be right at the three-hundred (300) pound mark. I ran a lot of video recording waiting for the bear to get into the right position. Finally the bear stepped into a position that gave me a good angle on vitals. I released an arrow and was ecstatic that it completely penetrated the bear and exited the other side.
The bear responded by charging past the base of my tree and stopping right behind my stand. I heard a lot of crashing and sticks being broken for the next several minutes. The cover was so thick I could not see the bear despite my estimation that he was no further than twenty yards from my tree. Finally the bear growled a couple of times at high volume. This was not the moaning that is sometimes heard, but an actual “growling” noise like a dog would make. I figured the bear was through and glanced at my watch to note the time. I waited a full half hour before descending from my stand and taking up the trail, with the video camera rolling.
I found the bear in an unusual position, upside down and under a blown-down tree. I noted two beautiful white marks on the chest. On closer inspection, I was in awe of the exit hole the arrow created on the bear. Both sides of the bear had large holes from the arrow’s entrance and exit and I was very pleased with the performance of my equipment. Speaking of equipment I had used several items that many of you would be familiar with. While on stand I leaned against a “Bark Silencer” from Stealth outdoors that kept me quiet any time I shifted my weight. The combination of my new Forge Ventilator bow and Muzzy one-hundred (100) grain three blade broad heads was lethal and I once again looked in awe at the entrance and exit wounds on the bear. My custom camera arm from Dan Infalt and the Hunting Beast website made videotaping my hunt as easy as I could possibly hope for.
The bear weighed in today at the local meat locker right at two hundred forty-seven (247) pounds dressed. I couldn’t be more pleased. In reflecting on the hunt, I am not too disappointed that the larger bear got away. Dragging him out by myself most certainly would have required me to cut him up, something I would really rather not do.
I absolutely love bow hunting for black bear!
The pressure is on now for the other beasts with bear tags.