day 141 9-6-09 Sun

9-6-09 Sun
Day 141-224 to go
8:30AM - 5:00 PM

Weather: Calm, 76°, Sunny,

Bagged: Adult sow black bear 161.5 lbs

Partners: Tom Weber, Jeremy Pank

Location: Northeast Minnesota: State line Stand.

Comments: We started back on the track about eight-thirty this morning. Fritz was not the machine he was just a few hours earlier. He had a very hard time picking up the track from where we left off the night before. We split up and began our search looking for the whereabouts of my bear. Tom gave us our first break with the finding of a series of beds that had blood in them. Jeremy then got us going in the right direction with his great tracking skills. He was able to spot a little blood and some wet spots on saplings that the bear had rubbed up against during its escape. I did not take long and the clues again vanished. I decided to let Fritz loose and see what he could come up with. I was not long and he had disappeared and would not respond to my commands. Figuring something was up I remotely beeped him and headed his direction.
When I did find him he was acting hesitant and looking towards a thick clump of brush. Looking in the direction he was looking I saw my bear, elation took over. But, it soon disappeared for as I scrutinized the situation I noticed something was amiss. The bear was still alive and a mere ten feet from where I stood and staring back at me. I immediately called to Tom and told him to get over here with the only gun we had brought along. Too late, the bear again crashed off through the underbrush. We were dealing with one tough bruin; fifteen hours after being arrowed it was still alive! We decided to leave the area and give it some more time to expire...
We came back four hours later, and this time we were all armed. Disappointment overwhelmed me, we were unable to pick up any new blood and Fritzy was just too exhausted to be effective at tracking. In the next hour I had searched and given up several times, but each time I would give up I decided to look just a little more. As a last ditch effort I told Jeremy that we should go back to where we had last seen the bear and see if we could determine the direction it had fled. Doing so enabled us to follow the trail for approximately fifty yards and get a general sense of the direction the bear had taken.
With no more blood being found and Fritz not able to scent the track I was ready to admit defeat. As a last ditch effort I decided to circle a small swamp and Jeremy would walk through the center. Fritz and I got about half way around the swamp when his actions indicated he had some time of scent. Looking in the general direction he was sniffing I spotted my bear. Seeing the swarms of flies around the black animal I knew the chase had finally ended.
I called to Jeremy that I had the bear. His response was "you’re kidding". Tom had a similar response of "I cannot believe it".
So approximately twenty hours after I had made my poor hit, we had recovered the bruin. It took us approximately another four hours to get it out of the woods. All told it took twenty four hours from the time I arrowed the animal to the time I got it in a cooler.

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.

day 139 9-4-09 Fri

9-4-09 Fri
Day 139-226 to go
5:00PM – 8:10PM

Weather: Sunny, calm 67°, 30.14 steady

Bagged: Nothing (bear hunting with bow)

Partners: Tom Weber, Jeremy Pank

Location: Northeast Minnesota: Old Ladder Stand.

Comments: The bear gods were and were not smiling on me tonight! I did have a rather large bear come into the bait at 7:50 pm. This bear was as long as the bear estimator stick Tom had placed beside the bait. That is to say he measured four feet from the front of its shoulders to the end of its rump. The only obstacle to me harvesting this bear was its relative position in relation to me. You see, he came straight into the bait and laid down. I had a perfect going away laying down shot, but this should not even be considered when using a bow. I had made up my mind that the only shot I would take on this trip was a perfect broadside or slightly quartering away shot.
This bear was quite comfortable in its eating position and did not appear to be moving anytime soon. He was so close I could hear him eating the bait. With darkness fast approaching, I decided if it was not going to give me a shot I might just as well film it. Well this bruin was so close that it heard the motor of the camera turning the film! It then got nervous and walked off the bait. It quickly decided it wanted more food and came back. At this point I put down the camera and picked up the bow. It did make it back to the bait, but within seconds it knew something was amiss and it crashed off through the brush.
Tom and Jeremy did not see any bears tonight.

day 138 9-3-09 Thr

9-3-09 Thr
Day 138-227 to go
5:00PM – 8:11PM

Weather: Sunny, calm 72°, 30.15 steady

Bagged: Nothing (bear hunting with bow)

Partners: Tom Weber

Location: Northeast Minnesota: Antler Stand.

Comments: Tonight was a very quiet night, about all I saw was a very inquisitive flying squirrel at dark. A pack of coyotes gave away their location before darkness cloaked the landscape.
My nose had a sensory smorgasbord throughout the evening. The first scent I detected coming from the bait was the offensive odor of a rotting catfish head. Next I smelled the sweet aroma of the grape concentrate pellets we had mixed with water. And finally it was all topped off with the pungent smell of the old restaurant fryer grease intermingling with the liquid smoke concentrate. What bear in its right mind could pass on this feast!

All baits were hit tonight except the Old Pine Tree and Belden road. I abandoned the Old Pine Tree bait station today.

day 137 9-2-09 Wed

9-2-09 Wed
Day 137-228 to go
5:00PM – 8:13PM

Weather: Sunny, calm 75°, (estimated)

Bagged: Nothing (bear hunting with bow)

Partners: None

Location: Northeast Minnesota: Old Ladder Stand.

Comments: There was no bear and not much else for that matter this evening. I did have a north woods mirage: very late in the evening I imagined seeing a rather small bear standing under a pine studying the bait. It was getting quit dark and late and both my mind and eyes were playing tricks on me. When I got out of the stand I verified it was nothing with one quick swipe of the light.
All bait stations were hit last night, with the exception of the dead pine.

day 136 9-1-09 Tue

9-1-09 Tue
Day 136-229 to go
5:00PM – 8:15PM

Weather: Sunny, calm 75°, (estimated)

Bagged: Nothing (bear hunting with bow)

Partners: None

Location: Northeast Minnesota: Antler Stand.

Comments: Today was the first day of the Minnesota Bear Hunting season. I had a smallish bear come in at 7:30PM, and I passed on shooting at it. I did manage to film it for about thirty minutes though; that was way cool!
The weather was nice and comfortable, and the mosquitoes were not bothersome until about the last thirty minutes of daylight. All six baits had been hit today, with the exception of the dead pine tree.

day 135 8-31-09 Mon

8-31-2009 Mon
Day 135-230 to go
6:55 AM - 7:25 AM

Weather: Foggy

Water conditions: Clear

Fish caught

1. Bluegill 6" 7:00 AM, Jig and crawler
2. Bluegill 6" 7:01 AM, Jig and crawler
3. Bluegill 4" 7:12 AM, Jig and crawler
4. LMB 4” 7:14 AM, Jig and crawler
5. LMB 10” 7:33 AM, Jig and crawler

Area fished

Lytles

Fishing Partners

None

Comments

Not much time for fishing, I am getting ready for bear hunting tomorrow!