2020 DIY Spring Bear - Biggest Bear to date
Got home a couple days ago from this year's DIY bear hunt trip. An all traditional bow camp this year. Although I didn't take a bear myself, this was the best hunt week I've had yet. I passed on 9 different bears in 4 sits. The guys in camp were fantastic. It was a clean, organized, and tidy camp. I enjoyed hunting a different spot every single afternoon and had a casual mindset of 'shoot something big, or save my tag for fall'.
This year we'd decided to extend an invite to 2 friends to join our group. With that, we were initially expecting 5 of us in total. But as circumstances changed as this crazy year progressed, it actually ended up being just myself and the 2 new fellas. My friend Terry who I've known for over 10 years, and Max who I've become friends with over the past 2.
While everyone else seemed to be responsibly cancelling their spring bear hunt plans due to covid restrictions, I very stubbornly pushed ahead and insisted that we bait our spots and take our chances with the camping ban. We decided to push our hunt week back to June 2nd. Lucky for us, the fireban ended in mid May, and crown land camping opened on June 1st. Absolutely perfect timing.
We'd baited 6 sites for the 3 of us, spread across 20km. 10 55gal drums total. My buddy Terry and I took my little hatchback stuffed to the headliner with bait and setup 3 sites on May 16th. The 8hrs round trip wasn't so bad with the current gas prices.
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Then we returned May 24th to re-bait and bait the remaining 3 sites. The 3 sites we had baited on the 16th were empty and I was shocked to see the site we baited with double steel drums that each only have ONE 1.5" hole, were completely cleaned out within 5 days after being found. I think I need to make holes even smaller for popcorn bait. I'll be fabricating some more patches for next season. Trail cams showed a few nice bears on those 3 sites.
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Terry and I took my truck and camper trailer up after work the evening of June 2nd. Max would meet us at camp the next day. No bear hunt trip is complete without a blown trailer tire on the 400 highway and this trip would be no different. Made it to camp by 1am. Backed the trailer in, left it hooked up and called it a night.
As it turns out, a weak camper trailer battery will starve your truck battery if you leave it plugged in all night. How bout that. With the truck dead, our morning plans to rebait sites were delayed until Max arrived with jumper cables that afternoon. We rushed to add a small amount of bait to each site and checked cameras.
That night, my first sit was at the best producing spot we have. A spot I scouted a couple years ago and has been a winner since we first set a bait there. I bumped a bear off the bait while walking in and he soon returned and stayed infront of me all night. A 2nd smaller bear lingered around the area. Looked like a sow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bTV...ature=youtu.be
At last light a bigger bear huffed and charged in to claim the bait. I should have shot. I really should have. But I felt that a bear on another spot that no one was hunting was bigger. And with it being the first night, I passed. You can't see much of anything in the video, but the sounds are pretty neat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jqa05OuYLs&feature=youtu.be
Second sit I sat at another site that hadn't been hunted yet. Had a nice bear work around my area for hours before finally coming in at last light. Never really presented a shot before legal light ended.
3rd night I sat a site that hadn't seen any bear action in a couple days. Fortunately it picked up that night and I got a chance to hear a couple bears scrapping. It was an entertaining afternoon with a boar repeatedly chasing a second year cub up several trees. When shooting light ran out that bully boar was still at the bait. I pulled out my slingshot and smacked him right in the hind end with a small rock. Hehe. He ran a few strides, stopped and looked around confused. I sent a second rock straight at the barrel and that sound was enough for him to scamper out of there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPVI1ski3xU&feature=youtu.be
Max sat my favourite spot that night and ended up killing a nice 200# bore with a longbow he'd built himself. Shot was pretty far forward but the blood trail was easy to follow and only about 50 yards long. We met up after our hunts and retrieved the bear without issue.
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For the 4th & final evening of our trip I sat another new spot that hadn't been hunted. Packed in my sticks & stand and did a hang and hunt. Ended up having a pretty nice bear on the bait for the majority of the afternoon and a single older cub later on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg3TPjvJE8M&feature=youtu.be
Terry was on his last sit as well. We had agreed that we wouldn't shoot anything that night unless it was BIG since we planned to head home first thing in the morning. The bear I had infront of me all afternoon was a pretty tempting one, but I passed. In the last half hour, I get the text that Terry had just sent an arrow. A sow had come into his bait and love was in the air. The big boar couldn't help himself and had to join her for a dinner date.
We meet up a short while later and only manage to find 2 smears of blood about 20 yards from the location of the shot. We pack it in after a couple hours and decide that with temps dropping to single digits that night, we'd come back in the morning. A short 4 hours of sleep and we continue the blood trailing. It doesn't look good. In a desperation grid search we find 1 more spot of blood that gives us hope, and then, another 60-80 yards further, I stumble upon him. We got him back to camp and hoisted up on a strong branch. 310lbs gutted! I couldn't be happier for my buddy on this one. He's hunted hard the last 2 years in another area without having a single bear in front of him. I had to twist his arm a bit to come join us this year, and then this happens! HA! I love bear hunting!
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