day 140 9-5-09 Sat

9-5-09 Sat
Day 140-225 to go
5:00PM – 11:00PM

Weather: SSE5, 72°,Sunny, 30.18 falling

Bagged: Shot an adult bear with my bow, but have not yet recovered.

Partners: Tom Weber, Jeremy Pank- they saw no bears

Location: Northeast Minnesota: State line Stand.

Comments: Tonight I was hunting a bait station that had yet to be hunted. I had established this location just a few nights earlier and last night was the first time it had gotten any bear attention.
I hung my stand and settled in for what I thought would be a boring evening. This stand is pretty close to cabins and a major ATV route, which took away from the peace and solitude of the north woods setting. It did not take me too long to get annoyed with the ATV’s burning up and down the roads, or the nuisance barking of a dog and the voices of the north woods partiers. My expectations were not at an all time high.
After about an hour of listening to the human made noises I heard a branch snap about one-hundred yards to my left. This put me on alert; I thought to myself perhaps a bear is circling the bait. About a half hour passed with no more showing itself and no other clues that perhaps a bear was in the area. Then in the not to far off distance I heard a dead tree hit the ground. This got me really excited, for the other night I had heard the same thing and not to long afterwards a bear appeared at the bait. About twenty minutes passed and I started hearing brush cracking and snapping on the back side of the bait. Now I knew I was going to be in business. All of the sudden there it was: a mature bear standing beside the bait. Without much delay or thought I drew back, aimed and released my arrow. The bear bolted and crashed through the thick underbrush from the direction it had come. As I listened for the death moan and it did not come, I played the shot back in my mind. I was disappointed, the shot was high and far back, and I did not have much confidence in my shot.
I came back about two hours later with Jeremy, Tom and Fritz. I put Fritz on the track and he was immediately turned on. He literally dragged me through the underbrush in pursuit of the bear. This was slightly nerve wracking, as it was pitch dark, very thick and I was unarmed. Every once in awhile I would stop him to verify he was still on the track, and sure enough there, would be a speck of blood or a piece of fat. I was just hoping Fritz was not going to drag me into the lap of one angry hurting bear. We followed the trail for approximately three hundred yards when I thought I heard the bear run off. At that point it was decided to leave the bear expire overnight and pick up where we left off in the morning.