WHO'S BAITS ARE BEING HIT????

[jk3006]

Good luck!  Hope ya score.

That bear was on its was in, but interestingly, he didn't touch the bait.  Perhaps the flash got to him.  Don't understand these critters sometimes. 

[bearfat]

Don't understand these critters sometimes. 

You and me both. I don't know what I did wrong it was looking so promising the week before the opener.

I drove up on the motorcycle with the 30-06 NEF single shot broke down and lashed down on the "wartbike". It was a cold 40 degree something ride but dry. Never had a cup of coffee from McDonalds taste so good as when I reached the top of the hill over Duluth. Here's the "wartbike" at a rest stop loaded down with the 30-06, camera, rain gear, etcetera.



Fifty miles later I was heading in on the very wet logging roads to the shack. It made for an interesting ride loaded down giving the bike just enough gas to get through the slop holes but not enough to lose it. If I did get a bear the wife was coming up with the truck with coolers and ice.

The leaves had changed quite a bit in 3 weeks. It was quite beautiful as fall is up there. Wished I had more than the 24 hours I planned.



The bait was cleaned up totally. I threw some marshmallow out and poured two bottles of chocolate syrup on the trees, dumped a couple cans of pink salmon out, and started the bacon cooker with a mix of water and chocolate syrup. Two pine martins came in at sundown. It was too dark for a good picture though. They enjoyed the fish and marshmallow.



I thought I could hear something circling behind me at sundown. The adrenaline was pumping something furious. I think it was deer. When it left it ran off like a deer.

I found out my buddy had shot a bear Sept 7th and never even emailed or phoned me. I suppose he figured I would have been irked and I would have since he hardly put any effort into maintaining his bait station.

Him and my brother are unbelievable with luck. They put minimal time in tree stands hunting, baiting whatever and magically shoot bear and 10 point bucks. In 25 years of hunting the same woods I have NEVER gotten a 10 point buck out of it. My brother scores twice in three years and he's only been hunting with me 3 years out of my cabin.

Slight possibility I might try it one last time October 1st and 2nd but I think the bear season is over for me.

[jk3006]

Right now I'm feeling like I have the worst luck.  The one bait that I had in a "dry" swamp isn't really accessible anymore 'cause it's now a WET swamp due to all the rain we've had.  And it's gonna keep raining this whole week, it looks like.  I know we need the rain, but come on, why does it all have to fall at once DURING BEAR SEASON?!

My other bait was doing okay for a week or so.  I even had a real good bear come in during shooting hours on Tuesday night, but of course, I wasn't their to ambush it.  I've been out the last two nights, and they've been coming in WAY late. 

Bottom line is my hope is dwindling.  Next year I've gotta try somewhere else.  There's always next year.  Ok, enough of my ranting and raving.   

[jk3006]

What kind of gas mileage do you get on that "wartbike"?   

[bearfat]

It's pretty consistent at 50 mpg unless I'm flying at 80 mph and bucking wind, it can drop down to 40 mpg then.

It's the cheapest thing out there for around $5300.00 for a 2008. There's a cult following with them. Just google the words "KLR 650" and you will get about 5000 hits.
I'll definitely buy another when the times comes, but probably used because guys get them and don't like them. They sit very high off ground. I'm 6'0" and feet barely touch the ground.

 Got 15K miles on this 2002 model. It is very good on the highway/street and takes me in on some nasty stuff if I want. Too much power for serious dirt biking though, it's 650cc and a single cylinder so it's a juggling act taking off, you gotta give it gas. I did buy a domain name for it and am working on a page attached to my regular web site...http://buckmountainchateau.com/wartbike

The page should show up under just   www.wartbike.com    but for some reason I have to show both links above. They both go to the same "wartbike" page.

[jk3006]

That's a neat bike.  How does a lack of a windshield affect your ride?

[bearfat]

It came with a standard 4" windshield but I removed it due to it hittting my two piece fishing pole I would tie off on the mirrors. When you cornered tight it would rub on them a little. Last thing I wanted was to find at my fav fishing hole was an eye crushed and or dangling on the pole.

They do make a taller windshield too but not many guys like it I guess.

The thing only weighs about 337 pounds so you can man handle it if you need. I've laid 500 pounds bikes down and had all I could do to get them back up.

The KLR is definitely a world touring bike. You can buy three of them compared to the price of some of the BMW's out there. The bike and engine have not been modified since 1987. Apparently next years bike (2008) is slightly geared for more street riding, bigger rear rack and a tad lower to the ground.

Here's one last picture of it really loaded down good with bear bait in August.



And the logging road into the rat shack with it I have to take. The last half mile when wet can get many a 4x4 pickup truck stuck.

[jk3006]

[quote author=bearfat link=topic=124717.msg1098457239#msg1098457239 date=1191096798

"And the logging road into the rat shack with it I have to take. The last half mile when wet can get many a 4x4 pickup truck stuck."]



So I take it that it will do quite well on the off-road despite not having really aggressive tires.  Must be because it's so lightweight.

[jk3006]

I forgot to tell a little story which had to do with my hunt Thursday night.  I didn't see any bears on the bait, but after I got back to my car and was unloading my gun I heard a terrific crack of a big 'ol branch being snapped off.  This was close to me, maybe 100-150 yards.  And this was in the general direction of the way I exited the woods.  I thought to myself, "I think only a bear could make cause a noise that loud."  But I quickly forgot about it and went on with my duties.  Soon enough I heard twigs being snapped and crunched upon and this "noise" was getting closer to me, perhaps only 75 yards out.  Then I didn't hear anything for awhile, but then it started up again, and it was definitely getting closer and closer.  Finally, it sounded like it was only 25 or so yards out in very dense woods (my car was parked within ten feet  of the wood line) and still working my way, so I freaked and jumped in the car (sissy, I know).  I rolled the window down aways so I could hear what was going on, but there was no more noise.  So, after a few minutes I got back out and finished doing what I needed to do so I could leave.  I got out of there, but thought about what had happened.  I know it was a bear.  No question about it.  But why in the world was it making its way towards me?  I was making some noise (not excessive), so I would've thought that the bruin would walk away.  The wind was blowing from it to me, so it couldn't smell me, but still that's just so weird to not have it turn away.  Here I spent all that time on stand, and I almost got my chance to meet Mr. Bear at my vehicle.  At the point that I got back out of my car to finish things up before leaving it was probably just sitting there 25 yards in the brush listening/waiting for me to get out of there.  Needless to say, I was quite irritated/annerved by the whole event.

Considering the fact that I've only shot two bears in my life, I've sure had quite a few unpleasant encounters with them.  Two times previously I got growled at:  once when walking a trail while deer hunting and once on stand for bear.

Anyone have a similar story to tell?
   

[bearfat]

I  I know it was a bear.  No question about it.  But why in the world was it making its way towards me?     

HUNGRY!!!!

Haaaaaaa....that's a good one. I think they are curious creatures. I've seen them come in and snoop on different occasions. The strangest one was when we tore the old shingle roof off the cabin one July and burned the shingles in a big hole we dug. That night the bear was actually in the hole with the shingles still stinking and smoldering. We could clearly see the prints the next morning.

I also dug open a natural spring one time looking at the feasibility of dropping an oak barrel into it and that night a bear smelled the fresh dirt and walked all around the spring leaving fresh prints in the mud.

Yaaaa....I'd be peeved too, sitting all day and having it follow me out.

I finally got the story out of my buddies girlfriend about his bear. Quote, "Yes, he got the one we saw the Sunday (night) before Labor Day, then again the next Saturday evening. I headed back at 5:00 on Sunday and John called me at 7:10 to say he'd gone out a bit after 6:00 to sit the evening 'til dusk, scared the bear off on his way to dump some bait, gone back to rinse the bucket, and scared it off the bait on his way to sit in the the Bird House. It came back within 15 minutes, he took video of it eating, then shot it. A nice fat old sow, somewhere around 250 - 300 pounds."

So he goes up to his trailer on weekends and his baiting consists of a bucket he throws scraps into you would normally put in a garbage disposal. He not only has an active bait station but sees two different bears which he, his girlfriend his son and his son's wife are constantly seeing and chasing off the meager scraps 2 sometimes 3 times a day.

D'ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

A buddy turned me on to specialty forum for bear hunting I'm checking out: http://bearseast.proboards34.com/index.cgi
I thought I knew something about bear hunting but not anymore. I tried all my tricks and I just don't understand what went wrong. I've got lots of questions and no answers.

[jk3006]

A buddy turned me on to specialty forum for bear hunting I'm checking out: http://bearseast.proboards34.com/index.cg

I found that website a few weeks back.  It's a good one.  Another good one is:  http://www.huntingfootage.com/

I watched all the bear kills.