Son and Ihave returned from my week long Bear hunting trip at Gogama Lodge.
I was successfulon Night one of my hunt.
Arrived andsettled into our cabin at 2 15 Friday afternoon. We head to stands at 4 pm.They take you in, walk you to your stand, freshen the bait and leave you there
Was instand and ready by 445. At around 545, at 50 yards I see a bear lurking in thebush, it steps into an area that I can clearly see it and determine it to be acub. It stands there looking towards the bait for what seemed for ever, butnever made its way down, instead he turns around and walks back.
Son and I exchange a few texts thru the evening and at 7.30 I tell him to put phone down andget focused as it is what I like to call the witching hour,
[Wife sendsme a text at 659 and I tell her that sorry it was prime hour, ttyl. Likesetting her watch she texts me at 759 and asks well? Teel her no but next houris even better, tell her and son at 806 here comes a bear. He came exactly thesame spot the cub was and was sniffing the ground back and forth like a bloodhound, so I was 98% sure it was a bore.
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He hungaround that same area for a bit and then began he was to the bait when hedecided to turn to his right and cross thru about 20 yards north of bait. Hewalked 20 yards past the bait and headed south and stopped parallel to thebait, hiding in the bush. He stood there smelling the air ( he was upwind of meso no chance he was smelling me) I would assume the trail mix and chocolatepeanut reeces pieces he was smelling, at this point I was not sure how big hewas or if I would take him.
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He thendecided, without any hesitation to walk to the bait. He sat in front of thebait and I decided then I would take this bear. When he got to the bait he raisedhis right arm and pulled one log off, I lifted the cross bow up and put thescope on him, when he lifted his leg to pull the next log off, I squeezed thetrigger and sent the arrow right for under his right arm, watched the lightednock impact exactly where I wanted the arrow to go. The arrow connected, thebear Growled out loudly and at the same time did a 360 and turned to his leftshoulder, as the arrow went right thru the heart and lodged into his leftshoulder, . He ran right towards me in the stand and dropped 12 yards from thebait, nosed dived, tried to get up, let out 2 series of death moans and expiredright in front of me. When I watch him take his last breath he did seem toexpire very peacefully. He exhaled his last breath, laid his head down verygently and that was the end.
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The bear weighed in at 198 lbs, not a giant to anyones standards, but my biggest bearyet and I was extremely proud of the perfect shot made. The amount ofpractising certainly paid off.
My son wasnot able to harvest a bear, but his hunt may have been more exciting than mine,on two separate nights he was able to watch a sow and cub for 30 minutes and 40minutes at his bait sight, and as I told him that is experience you can neverread or watch on you tube.
The trip was fantastic. I can not say enough good things about Bob, Rory and Jane, theywere excellent. Food was fantastic and always lots of it., boats were alwaysgassed up and if you ever needed anything they were extremely quick to act.
We have already booked for next years, this was my second year and sons first year.
Can only hope deer season is as successful as bear season
