Big Brothers Bear - Bear Hunting - Bear Hunting

This is the story of my older brothers successful bear hunt. We both grew up hunting every year in November, but it was not until 5 years ago that we were both bit by the bug and picked up a bow. Our time spent hunting, preparing, working and thinking about hunting has increased by about 1000 percent ever since!

After learning most of our lessons the hard way throughout our first season with a stick and string he decided to pursue a bear with his bow the next fall. This was in 2008. The first two years he baited one station a year in two separate locations. He had one encounter with a nice sow accompanied with first year cubs during his second year. There were plenty of nice bears on camera but only that one encounter which he never regretted passing on. For him to be 25 yards from the action that one time reminded him why he was out there every weekend and Wednesday for a month before.

Last season seemed very tough for bear hunters across the map. He ran three stations in 2011 and two of them were not even hit until the very end of the season. The other, (where he had the encounter the year before) was being hit lightly once a week. Scotty stayed with it and watched and kept that bait pile fresh until the last day of the season without a hint of a bear. This was three seasons, five stations, one encounter and a lot of highway miles. No bear…

This year he switched down to two stations and baited them a little bit heavier. We have been fortunate to become good friends with Bob B throughout Scotty’s growth and education in the bear woods and picked up a few of his tricks along the way. Bob made the prediction that this was going to be a good year for bear and he was right. Both of Scotty’s stations were hit hard in the first week of baiting and there were some solid bears on camera. No pattern and mostly nighttime activity but they were in the area which was a large improvement from the previous year.

Through the next two weeks the stations seemed to take turns being hit and the activity slowed down a little bit…until Saturday night. Scott went into his favorite station, (can you guess which one?) and settled in for the night. Kooty and I were hanging out at Bob’s cabin watching deer while the hunters were in the woods hoping for some action. Both sets of hunters saw bears that night but Scott took another pass on a nice sow with four cubs. It was another encounter and got his blood pumping but he was not sure about the age of the cubs. He carries a camera with and was able to get some great footage on sat night. I know nothing about bears, Kooty knows a bit, Scott has learned a lot and Bob speaks their language. We learned how to differentiate between 1st and 2nd year cubs in two minutes with Bob and these were 2nd year cubs. Game On!

Sunday night played out the same as Saturday night but this time Scott was going to let an arrow fly. The most difficult part for Scott was to find a clean shot opportunity; he had waited 4 years already so the 45 seconds at full draw flew by. He made a nice hit but it was not a pass through and bears seem to bleed less than deer. He released the arrow just before 7:00, never heard the moan and did not want to bump or aggravate a wounded bear. After 30 minutes he climbed down to check for blood and found a nice trail right away. Daylight was fading fast and the blood was a bright shade of red so he pursued the track slowly until nightfall. He made it around 100-150 yards before he backed out to meet me in the field with better light and another set of eyes. We got to the last blood around 9:30 and this bear was bleeding pretty well…most of the time. The track job was slow and tough but we were able to stay on it for roughly ¾ of a mile. This is where we found the first bed, no blood leaving it and another bed within 20 yards. We searched and searched with no luck and finally found another bed within another 30 yards. She had quit bleeding and we could not find a trace of blood to follow. It was past 2:00 am and we were losing battery power on the lights but knew we were close. We marked the beds with ribbon, marked the trail and started the hike back to the ATV with our heads hung low and our feet dragging.

We both had obligations we could not skip in the morning in the city and were unsure if we could make it back during the day. We spoke with several of you guys on here and Bob B. told us if she laid down that many times she was not far from where we were. Scott found a way to head back up there a little after noon with our old man for some additional support and I was several hours behind them. Ever since his first text about this bear I have been blowing up his cell for this, that or the other thing. When I finally saw his number on the caller ID I knew what he was going to say! Bob was right, we had been within 20 yards of where the bear lay the night before and she was within 30 yards of her last bed. The shot seemed to glance off the back of the shoulder blade and redirect through her liver. She weighed in right at 200 lbs. field dressed and is a gorgeous creature.

Here is to you and your nice bear Scott you absolutely deserve and earned this success. Thank you to all who helped with advice, support or anything else. Congrats to those who have harvested already and best of luck to anyone still chasing bear. Now…let’s hear about some opening weekend success with whitetails!!!