My First Bear Hunt

[luckydog25]

I usually sit back and enjoy reading all of your stories, but I have been waiting 3 years to get drawn for bear and can't help but share the story I have after finally getting drawn. First off, I have been helping hang stands and bait since 2001, obsorbing ever bit of info I possibly could along the way. I just never had the time to hunt bear with all the other hunting and fishing I do. 3 years ago I gave up bow hunting deer to hopefully hunt bear, and did't get drawn the first 2 years Well this year I finally did! We hung stands and started baiting the first legal day, but didn't have anything hit for 7 days. After that all 3 of our baits were hit every day until opener, so naturally I showed up to camp opening morning excited as heck running on very little sleep due to the anticipation. I get into my stand just before 3pm and it is very warm. My walk in is a long one, so I was nervous about sweating so I wore shorts and a tee shirt until I was at my stand. That helped, but I was still a bit sweaty when I finally sat down. Well, 7pm rolls around and I have seen or heard nothing. I am now convinced I stink!! I spend the next hour thinking I torched this bait with my smelly hinder... Well at 8:07 (I know because I looked at my watch to make sure I could shoot)the black ghost shows up at the bait without so much at twig snap. There was no wind, I can't believe how quiet they are!! Well it's like you all say...it is hard to judge the size. The bear sits down with it's back to me so I can get my shaking and quaking gun up and put my scope on it, still not sure if it's a shooter. The bear suddenly stands up and looks like it is goona take off, so I put the cross hairs right where I had practiced so many times and sqeezed off a shot. It was like slow motion!! The bear takes off crashing through the woods in almost a half moon pattern and stops about 30 yards behind the bait. I hear heavy breathing and then almost a curdle type noise. No death moan. Then the nerves hit!! I am shaking like I never have!! I wait for my hunting partners to come in so I can point where I think the bear is. In the mean time it is raining cats and dogs...so I am getting very anxious. They come to the bait to look for blood and no blood?? Now I am getting nervous... I climb down and show them the route I thought the bear went. We spend about 30 mins, and again no blood. Now I am freaking out (in my head). We decide to start looking where I heard the bear last. 3 of us spend about 2 hours and find nothing...I am mortified. We talk and decide that maybe we should wait until the morning and come back...it is so dark and raining. Now I am so sick to my stomach I could vomit. Well my uncle can see this, so he says walk up our walking trail in and stop where I think it crossed and shine the light in where I heard it last. 2 mins later he says Nate come here for a second...I run through the woods like a bear that had just been shot to see my bear piled up under some thick brush!!! It was so thick in there we walked past her several times. I have shot plenty of deer, but nothing was like this as far as being excited!!!Goes to show, listen to your gut. I knew I made a good shot, and about where it was. When we found her, she had about 5 inches of fat coming out of the exit wound....plugged it right up. Thats why there was not blood trail. Valuable lesson learned!! I couldn't be happier with my first bear!!

Hope I wasn't to long winded!! Also can't figure out how to post a pic...

[TooTallTom]

Congratulations Nate!

Also: Pics, or it didn't happen.

[luckydog25]

I have pics If someone can tell me how I would love to post them!! I have one the night of on my phone, and the rest on my computer the next morning. I can put the one on my phone on my computer though...

[TooTallTom]

When you reply to this post, look above the text box for the icon with a reddish, patchy, square symbol and a blue arrow pointing up. Click on that, and you'll get a "browse" option in the window that opens up. Navigate to the file you want to upload and select it.

There are dimension limitations, but I don't remember offhand what they are. Also, you're limited to 3MB. You can change both of these things using MS Paint. Just look around in the drop down menus (File, Edit, etc...) for something like "image size" or "resize image".

[luckydog25]

[luckydog25]

Thanks Too Tall!! Kind of a pain in the rear to shrink them....I feel boars pain.... The night of pic is on my evo 4g and this computer cant find the driver to transfer pics. I suck with computers....

[TooTallTom]

No sweat, nice work. To get the pic from your phone, email the pic to yourself (either through sharing options looking at the pic in the photo album or as an attachment) and then download it from your email on your computer.

I don't know much about judging bears just by looking, how much did yours weigh? The first one is a trophy regardless, but I'm curious.

[certified jumbo]

Sweet, congrats man!!! Awesome story as well, thanks for sharing......by the way that looks like a pretty big bear too??

[DRH1175]

Very nice bear congrats! Where did you hunt?

[luckydog25]

Thanks guys!! Not sure on the weight, opening night was really warm so we go her back and hung to cool her down. We brought her to the taxidermist right away in the morning to get the hide off after the pics. It took 3 of us (2 guys much bigger than me) everything we had to get it to where we could use a wheeler. A 14 foot 2x4 will be with us from now on when anyone sits that stand. We had to carry it about 200 yds through heavy heavy cover. We hunt north of hibbing.

[luckydog25]

Thanks again Too Tall!! The young man in the photo next to me is one of my best pals and god son Jacob.

[Sorgy]

Awsome bear! Congrats.... Way to go!!! Tracking bears is always tough. Good job marking where you last heard it.

Steve

[Boar]

WOW!! that is just excatly wat dreams are made of. Outstanding first bear! CONGRATULATIONS! hooked for life arnt you. Loved the story. Very nice head, get that buger beetled an scored, i bet its 0ver 19. Very impresive. Good for you, boar

[jerkbait]

Congrats! Love the story!

[mrklean]

nice job great lookin bear

[slimngrizzly]

Great job! nice to have the boy involved!

[luckydog25]

Thanks guys!! The little man has been in the duck blinds, deer stands, grouse hunting, and now bear stands for 2 years. He will be 11 on xmas...and he can't get enough hunting and fishing. Great to see, his dad has done a great job. I do what I can when I get north to keep him in the woods or on the water, but his dad is the one that keeps him intersted. That little stinker had nicer guns than I do

[paceman]

Awesome story and pictures!

[Outdoor Authority]

Great read. Thanks for sharing your bear hunt with us. I have been hunting for three days now and still havent seen one but then again I did chose to hunt a big bear. Congrats on a fine bear and great story.