OK, Here's the story..... 9/22/05
Fourth day into the hunt. I had been sitting on stand around 5 hours a day. When I say sitting, I mean STILL. The stands I was in were close to the baits (<30yards), I had heard about how wary bears are,and how good thier noses and ears were; so being a first time,overeager bear hunter,I was getting on stand early and sitting stiller then I ever have in my life. Anyway, the baits are getting hit regularly . The stand I'm on now is a beautiful setup. Its on about a 10 yard wide ridge. to the right is a river, to the left, a swamp and right down the middle,( and right under my stand) is a bear trail that is literally wore down into the dirt. The bait logs are about 30 yards in front of me and alittle to the right of the trail. The logs are stacked neatly on the bait and -new tonight- the guide added a burlap bag filled with whoknowswhat and slowly dripping molasses about 6 feet above the bait. I can see at least 4 piles of bear scat along the 40 yards of trail that are visible to me.
I settle in on the stand (wich is about 14feet high) to wait. The setup is too perfect not to work, unless I blow it. I sit down and lean forward with my elbows resting on my knees and my rifle accross my lap. Around 6 o'clock I realize the wind is dead calm, the first time all week. Now I really gotta be still. Time passes and I'm playing little mind games with myself so I don't think about all the muscles that haven't moved for the last few hours. Slowly I become aware that I really did hear the sound I just heard. Its a footstep, not a branch snap or a leaf crunch, but a footstep! I know iths a footstep and there is another and another, but your not supposed to be able to hear bears coming. I raise just my eyes to watch the first little opening down the trail that I can see. step, step, HOLY BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP, the opening turned black! And there he is , a beutiful, wide jet black bear with a coat looking like somebody just combed it walking right down the trail. Right down the trail, right past the bait without even pausing, right towards me! Don't move, Mikey, Don't move, Quit breathing so loud. My god, he's right under the stand looking up at me. I'm literally staring down and the coolest thing I've ever seen in the woods, between my feet. Quit breathing so loud, oh heck, quit breathing. He's gonna hear my heart beat I know it, he's gonna run ! And then he does the greatest thing, He gives me one last sniff, turns and walks dircetly to the bait. Sit up and raise the rifle real slowly, stop! he's lookin back. Ok he's turned back. He's standing up grabbing the hanging bait with his mouth, but now I'm wacthing thru the scope of my rifle, how did that happen? He's standing a little sideways with the bag in his mouth a looking me right in the eye. he drops down a starts to walk away with the bag. One step, bring that leg forward a little more...BOOM. He's down! Now he's moving; once more to be sure,BOOM. O my God, I've killed my first black bear! I'm breathing again! I'm having a heart attack. I'm actually laughing out loud! I took me a full 10 minutes before I had control of myself enough to climb down out of the stand. I make sure he's dead and tag him and the feeliing hits me again. I have to just sit down and admire him for a couple minutes. i drag him to a level spot, start to gut him and then remember to radio the guide and let him know. I check my watch, only 6:45 . A whole lifetime seems to have passed in the last 45 minutes. By far the greatest hunt of my life. Thank You Steve Rock! And Most importantly, Thank You DAD for teaching me all I know and for going with me. It wouldn't be the same without you.
