It was a beautiful saturday afternoon, a little on the warm side but we all had a really good feeling about the evening hunt we were about to take part in. After spraying down and gathering our gear, we jumped in the gator and off we went. The guide drove us up through a bunch of clover fields and dropped me off at what he thought would be a promising stand for an evening hunt. I might not shoot a big boy tonight but was guaranteed to see some action. So quietly sneaking down a trail and being very careful to be as quiet as possible, I slide into a great tree stand set up tucked just inside a thicket of timber overlooking a large clover field. Not even five minutes after climbing my tree I had a decent sized porcupine come up the tree right next to me and settle in for an afternoon nap, naturally making me nod off occassionally while watching him. About an hour before sunset I heard something coming through the brush just up the hill above me. I quietly and quickly grabbed my bow in anticipation of a big boy drifting through one of my shooting lanes. Beginning to see brush and leaves move I was ready. Then out popped what seemed to be the lergest black bear that I had ever seen. Not having too many close encounters with bear, I was naturally excited to watch this goliath pass by my stand. That was, of course, until he turned and starting walking right towards the ladder stand I was sitting in. Getting slightly nervous, I watched as the large bear walked around my tree sniffing and looking around. My excitement to see this seldom sight quickly faded as the bear stopped right at the base of my ladder and stood there staring right at me. Resisting the natural urge to soil my pants I quickly went through my options of getting this bear to leave. After standing as still as possible for what seemed like eternity (probably more like 2 minutes) I had an idea. If I lean out over the edge of my stand and look down at him and wave my arms around slowly at him he should take off, realizing it's a person in the tree. So, I leaned out over the edge of my stand and looked right down at him and into his eyes and waved my arms around. To my complete awe this not only didn't spook the bear off but seemed to peek his curiousity even more as he looked right into my eyes and gave two quick puffs. Realizing that my plan had not worked I could feel my body start to shake a little bit and focused as hard as possible to just stand as still as I could in my stand. After a few minutes of him looking at me he began to walk away and I quickly took in a deep breathe and sighed in relief thinking—that was a little bit closer than I like to be to a bear of that size. Beginning to calm down a bit, I watched as the giant began walking away. The bear probably walked about fifteen to twenty yards from my tree and next thing I know he stops dead in his tracks, swings around and heads right back to the tree that I'm in. He comes back, stands up and puts his front paws on the 4th or 5th rung of my ladder stand and at this point his nose is only like 4-5 ft. from my feet. I'm seemingly shakin' to death at this point and have my bow drawn and my pins settled in right on his face. All i can think of is that he's going to bounce or push the ladder and it's going to collapse, leaving me dangling from my safety harness like a big sausage right in front of him. After a second or two he hops back down and walks off, stopping every few yards to look back up at me for a second or two while walking away. So basically, I'm scared to death right now but extremely glad the bear decided to move on. It soon gets dark and I can't wait for my guide to come back and pick me up. Having no luck reaching him on the radio from where I was, I decided I would sit in the tree a little longer than normal. So I stay in my tree for 45 mins after getting dark and still no guide or answer on the radio. Finally I sneak down my ladder and start walking out the trail I came in on and I have my bow in one hand and my knife in the other hand sneakin' back through the woods. On the way out this thick weed-covered trail I see this big dark thing coming right at me about fifteen to twenty yards away and I freeze. I'm watching and watching and it ends up being the other guy I was hunting with coming to look for me. I got up to him and he started laughing saying that he saw me coming and was going to hide and jump out and scare me. Showing him the knife in my hand and my shaking hands I quickly told him that would not have been a good idea. After hiking down the trail and through a few fields, we finally met up our guide and quickly told him the evening's adventure. I've only made it through one week of archery season and am already filling up the camp journal with this season's exciting stories and sights. Goodluck to all bear hunting this season becuase there is a very nice pope and young black bear wandering the woods this year! – Lucky Hunter To Book a Bear hunt for 2008 Call: Email: tbarrzoutdoors@aol.com |
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