9-4-14 Thr

9-4-14 Thr. myself, bear hunting Moose Junction 4-7PM
Weather: 70°, calm, humid
Where: About one mile in on Fall road
Bagged: 229 male black bear

Comments:

I could not decide where to hunt tonight, but I did finally settle on Fall road. The wind was out of the right direction or there was no wind most of the time. I was also afraid there would be more human activity in the vicinity to this bait tomorrow, so both of these factors were the overriding reason I hunted this spot tonight.
I was in the tree and ready to hunt shortly after 4PM. About 6:10PM I heard a bear behind me and saw it several minutes later. The bear was very nervous and came to the back side of the tree that I was perched in. It laid right below me for about a minute while trying to catch a scent of the intruder in the tree. The bear got up shortly after lying down and circled around to the front side of the bait and hung up about ten yards from the bait.
The bear finally got within a few feet of the bait, but still would not commit. It would sit down and then stand up. This happened several time, with it continuously trying to either catch a warning or an assurance scent.
Finally around 6:30PM the bear came to the bait and started eating. It took another few minutes for the bear to relax and give me the opportunity for a lethal shot. I was about twenty yards away and about fifteen feet up in a tree from the bear. I shot the bear perfectly in the chest as he was extending out his closest front leg to paw at the bait . The arrow passed completely through and I could actually see blood, fat and air escape through the two wounds.
The bear bolted off and I could hear it stop about fifteen yards away. I heard labored breathing and gurgling for about fifteen seconds. Then came the death moans, or I should say they were more like death wails. There was probably close to ten series of these wails. It was really quite sad. I was both elated and sad. Elated because I knew the bear was no longer alive and the recovery would be simple. But it was also quite sad to listen to this beautiful, majestic animal announce to all living things within hearing distance that its life was over!
Jeremy's son Eon also got his bear tonight. He got it behind the barn around 7PM and it weighed an impressive 269 lbs.

Observations:

The area is quite saturated with all the recent rains. The path back to the cabin is quite rutted and wet. All five of the baits have been getting cleaned out daily. I believe baiting for the past four consecutive days before the opening of the season really made a difference.