The basic routine from the first day was the same except instead of raining it snowed. It was cold and windy all day but no worse than a Midwestern deer hunt. Once again everyone got on their various stands from 4:00-5:30 depending on how far they had to go. I was sitting alone so I got my camera set up and then sat and tried not to get too cold.
About an hour into the sit a bear appeared silently to my right. Immediately my heart started pounding like I was looking through a peep sight for the first time. He was clearly nervous, but I wasn’t experienced enough to know that it wasn’t me he was worried about. After a few minutes he wandered off without ever coming into the bait. 30 minutes later he was back. This time he slowly made his way to the bait. He was still wary but as he got closer to the bait he seemed less concerned. Like most rookie bear hunters I’d already decided to shoot him even though I had no idea how big he was. Actually he turned out to be the smallest bear I’d see all week, but he looked like a shooter to me at the time. The good news is that in Alberta you get to kill two bears… Anyway, I managed to get it on video (fast forward to 5:15, it’s tough to video yourself):
As the bear spun and ran I saw pressurized blood squirt out the exit hole. Good sign. He went down 20 yards from the bait. I didn’t get down since I knew where the bear was and I willing to tag out on the second day if another bear came in before sunset. I didn’t see another bear that night but when the boat arrived to pick me up it had a couple of bears in it already, plus another hunter had stuck two that we were going to look for in the morning. Suddenly everyone was seeing bears.
The next morning we found one of the two bears stuck last night… I might make a post on that whole incident at a later date, but it’s a story too long to tell now. Just a hint: 25 year old compounds, big slow dull broadheads, bent aluminum arrows, and bears don’t mix. Anyway, we took pictures of the bears we had, skinned them out, and got ready for the third hunt of the trip. The weather was warmer and everyone was in high spirits.
I’d decided to hold out for a bear that would at least make Pope and Young with my second tag. By now I’d seen several bears alive and dead and I was getting a better feel for what to hold out for. Actually, I think this is really the only skill on a baited bear hunt.
I didn’t see any bears on the third day but everyone else did. When the boat showed up there was already a large black boar in it. Rick had missed a bear after his cam hit the stand, and The Old Man had made what he thought was a good hit on a “big bear”. He had lost the scant blood trail in the dark and was concerned. As best I can tell bears almost never bleed much. We all agreed that the shot looked good on the video but he still didn’t sleep much that night. The next morning we’d be off to see what we could find…
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