Hello all who are following,
First off, I would like to thank everyone who game me the advice on my previous thread. It looks like it worked out very well. I shot my very first black bear 2 days ago, and I am excited to say it was quite the ordeal. now onto the story...
I have been baiting for about 2 weeks prior to now, and have bought a new trail cam that I setup on at the bait barrel. During these 2 weeks, either myself or my wife have gone out to bait in the morning and remove the feed (minus a few tidbits and my scent bucket which is hung in the tree about 6 1/2' high. To begin with, I let the trail cam run at night, and turn it off during the day because I didn't know how long the batteries would last (heads up.... they can last running a trail cam non-stop of quite a few days). Each time we baited in the morning, we would take the card and look at what was coming. I had a Mom and a 2 year old cub coming. This is the same one I seen last year with her cub little new cub. he has grown. Also, I was getting at least one large boar. As I seen the bait was being taken in the day, I left the cam run to get my timings. Each time, I was getting the bears come in. This was a very rewarding thing to see. They did not seem spooked or anything. The evening 2 days before the hunt, I went out, tried to be as quiet as I could and walked the 5 minutes from the truck to the stand. When I got there, I had seen they were there. It was not until I went back that night that I seen exactly who was coming in. The last picture I had was a blurry little black smudge that seemed to be booking it out of there (the baby cub) only 4 1/2 minutes before I arrived. Of course, I did not have my gun. I know, I know.... but I was still waiting for my PAL to arrive in the mail. Scary to think I was that close to stumbling in on Mom and baby. My wife went out the next morning... the morning before the hunt.... and put the bait out, also, without a gun as she doesn't have a PAL yet. A boar arrived 6 minutes after she left. She was just as scared to see that as I was when I seen how close I was. Now it has come to the day I could find the time to go out for the afternoon.
I left work, stopped by the house for a quick pee, and left for the stand getting there about 3:15. There was a strong wind, and trees were blowing all around. I reset the barrel and 6 1/2 high bait bucket, changed the card in the trail cam, set it to video to capture what I hoped would be a kill, and sat up in the tree blind. I found I was drifting in and out due to the rocking of the trees. after a few hours, I caught my second wind. Scanning the trees, looking where I seen them come in last year and looking on my barrel. By 6:30, I was thinking when will they come. By 7, I was convincing myself that I have until dark to see something. At 7:15, I turned behind my to make sure nothing was coming in. When I turned around, and looked at my baiting area, I seen a black mound of fur that was not there before about 75' away.
For those of you who have not hunted black bear, a squirrel makes as much noise as an elephant. A ruffled grouse can wait the dead with all the noise they make. A large bear makes not a sound walking through the woods with a floor covered in dry leaves.
So, as I seen him come in, I braced the stock of my 7mm Remington Mag on the horizontal beam in front of me and took aim. I had no clean shot so I waited.... and waited.... and waited. All this time, my nerves were getting the better of me and I refrained from looking down the scope to prevent eye fatigue. I watched him lie down and eat with his shoulder behind a tree. He took a piece of food and walked off. I knew he would be back so I watched the patch of black move through the woods and turn around and come back 5 minutes later. All this time aiming in case I got a shot. He did come back, as suspected as he never went to the barrel or bucket yet. He lay down back where he was before only a little farther ahead. I still did not like my shot, so I waited more. After 30 minutes of crouching, and nerves going haywire, he had moved ahead enough for me to see where the bottom of his ribcage would be. I was really hoping to wait for him to get to the barrel so I could see it on the trail cam, but I could not miss my opportunity. He was lying down, laws out front, eating what would soon by his last meal, when I took my aim around the shoulder. This was after 30 minutes of aiming.
BAM!!!!
He jumped up and ran like the wind right towards my tree blind. I said "OH Sh#T, RELAOD" out loud and went to unload and load. The casing got stuck coming out. I managed to dislodge it from the ejection port and get another one in. He had turned at this point, about 15 feet from the stand, and run over about 20 feet and move back towards the bush. At this point since I didn't get another clear shot, I was cursing myself for missing. I was blaming my stupid rifle, and hoping that I actually got him. Unlike last year when I dogged my bear deep into the woods, I sat in the stand and waited to see if he would bleed out like you should do. I was going to wait 30 minutes, but by this time it was 7:50 and the sun would be setting in about 1 hour. I waited for what seemed the longest 15 minutes of my life. After the 15 minutes, I said I would just climb down the ladder and see if I could see where he would run to. When I got to the bottom, I seen what was either a really dark black log off in the distance or my bear. it was not moving. I called my wife to see if she could get a guy I know to come out with his side by side to help get the bear, but I told her to wait 10 minutes to make sure it was really the bear and it was dead. After creeping up on this black mound, I seen it was the bear. I threw a few branches at it to make sure he was not playing possum with me. He was down. It is a really eerie feeling when you are walking up on a predator that you have just seen run so fast (a lot faster then I could dream of running), and also take a 7mm shot and still move.
My wife showed up with my neighbour to help me get it out in a wheelbarrow, and the guy with the side by side was gone on a fishing trip. It worked, but I was beat after he was out.
The next day I brought it to the butcher and with the guts out, he weighed in at 150lbs. I figure he was about 200lbs when he was still moving around and eating all my bait. The shot was a perfect double lung shot, so when he ran away, it was pure adrenalin. I am very content and will have a nice rug on my floor, a freezer full of meat to try for the first time, and a memory that will last for a lifetime.
That is my story. Thank you everyone for letting me share and I hope this encourages other to experience something similar.
If I find a way to add pictures I will share.
First off, I would like to thank everyone who game me the advice on my previous thread. It looks like it worked out very well. I shot my very first black bear 2 days ago, and I am excited to say it was quite the ordeal. now onto the story...
I have been baiting for about 2 weeks prior to now, and have bought a new trail cam that I setup on at the bait barrel. During these 2 weeks, either myself or my wife have gone out to bait in the morning and remove the feed (minus a few tidbits and my scent bucket which is hung in the tree about 6 1/2' high. To begin with, I let the trail cam run at night, and turn it off during the day because I didn't know how long the batteries would last (heads up.... they can last running a trail cam non-stop of quite a few days). Each time we baited in the morning, we would take the card and look at what was coming. I had a Mom and a 2 year old cub coming. This is the same one I seen last year with her cub little new cub. he has grown. Also, I was getting at least one large boar. As I seen the bait was being taken in the day, I left the cam run to get my timings. Each time, I was getting the bears come in. This was a very rewarding thing to see. They did not seem spooked or anything. The evening 2 days before the hunt, I went out, tried to be as quiet as I could and walked the 5 minutes from the truck to the stand. When I got there, I had seen they were there. It was not until I went back that night that I seen exactly who was coming in. The last picture I had was a blurry little black smudge that seemed to be booking it out of there (the baby cub) only 4 1/2 minutes before I arrived. Of course, I did not have my gun. I know, I know.... but I was still waiting for my PAL to arrive in the mail. Scary to think I was that close to stumbling in on Mom and baby. My wife went out the next morning... the morning before the hunt.... and put the bait out, also, without a gun as she doesn't have a PAL yet. A boar arrived 6 minutes after she left. She was just as scared to see that as I was when I seen how close I was. Now it has come to the day I could find the time to go out for the afternoon.
I left work, stopped by the house for a quick pee, and left for the stand getting there about 3:15. There was a strong wind, and trees were blowing all around. I reset the barrel and 6 1/2 high bait bucket, changed the card in the trail cam, set it to video to capture what I hoped would be a kill, and sat up in the tree blind. I found I was drifting in and out due to the rocking of the trees. after a few hours, I caught my second wind. Scanning the trees, looking where I seen them come in last year and looking on my barrel. By 6:30, I was thinking when will they come. By 7, I was convincing myself that I have until dark to see something. At 7:15, I turned behind my to make sure nothing was coming in. When I turned around, and looked at my baiting area, I seen a black mound of fur that was not there before about 75' away.
For those of you who have not hunted black bear, a squirrel makes as much noise as an elephant. A ruffled grouse can wait the dead with all the noise they make. A large bear makes not a sound walking through the woods with a floor covered in dry leaves.
So, as I seen him come in, I braced the stock of my 7mm Remington Mag on the horizontal beam in front of me and took aim. I had no clean shot so I waited.... and waited.... and waited. All this time, my nerves were getting the better of me and I refrained from looking down the scope to prevent eye fatigue. I watched him lie down and eat with his shoulder behind a tree. He took a piece of food and walked off. I knew he would be back so I watched the patch of black move through the woods and turn around and come back 5 minutes later. All this time aiming in case I got a shot. He did come back, as suspected as he never went to the barrel or bucket yet. He lay down back where he was before only a little farther ahead. I still did not like my shot, so I waited more. After 30 minutes of crouching, and nerves going haywire, he had moved ahead enough for me to see where the bottom of his ribcage would be. I was really hoping to wait for him to get to the barrel so I could see it on the trail cam, but I could not miss my opportunity. He was lying down, laws out front, eating what would soon by his last meal, when I took my aim around the shoulder. This was after 30 minutes of aiming.
BAM!!!!
He jumped up and ran like the wind right towards my tree blind. I said "OH Sh#T, RELAOD" out loud and went to unload and load. The casing got stuck coming out. I managed to dislodge it from the ejection port and get another one in. He had turned at this point, about 15 feet from the stand, and run over about 20 feet and move back towards the bush. At this point since I didn't get another clear shot, I was cursing myself for missing. I was blaming my stupid rifle, and hoping that I actually got him. Unlike last year when I dogged my bear deep into the woods, I sat in the stand and waited to see if he would bleed out like you should do. I was going to wait 30 minutes, but by this time it was 7:50 and the sun would be setting in about 1 hour. I waited for what seemed the longest 15 minutes of my life. After the 15 minutes, I said I would just climb down the ladder and see if I could see where he would run to. When I got to the bottom, I seen what was either a really dark black log off in the distance or my bear. it was not moving. I called my wife to see if she could get a guy I know to come out with his side by side to help get the bear, but I told her to wait 10 minutes to make sure it was really the bear and it was dead. After creeping up on this black mound, I seen it was the bear. I threw a few branches at it to make sure he was not playing possum with me. He was down. It is a really eerie feeling when you are walking up on a predator that you have just seen run so fast (a lot faster then I could dream of running), and also take a 7mm shot and still move.
My wife showed up with my neighbour to help me get it out in a wheelbarrow, and the guy with the side by side was gone on a fishing trip. It worked, but I was beat after he was out.
The next day I brought it to the butcher and with the guts out, he weighed in at 150lbs. I figure he was about 200lbs when he was still moving around and eating all my bait. The shot was a perfect double lung shot, so when he ran away, it was pure adrenalin. I am very content and will have a nice rug on my floor, a freezer full of meat to try for the first time, and a memory that will last for a lifetime.
That is my story. Thank you everyone for letting me share and I hope this encourages other to experience something similar.
If I find a way to add pictures I will share.
