2022 Bear Hung Day 6 - Immature Valley

I woke up with an absolutely brutal headache, while the day was brightening to an amazing morning.  The best option is to power through - I think.  

So after a breakfast of egg bake, Carter and I went up to go after some pike.  We fished several bays trying lots of different tackle.  Nothing seemed to work great, but nothing was too bad either (except the buzz bait - I gave up on that quickly).  Most of the fish we brought in were small.  Carter did manage to land two pike bigger than 30 inches.  It often seems the guide brings in the biggest fish - either because there is a bit of skill in it or just luck.  Or both.  I did have one monster follow my spinnnerbait at one point which is almost as fun to see as landing a big fish.

Back in camp after the morning fishing we had a fish fry "shore lunch" to eat.  There was way too much food, but it did taste good.  Fishing with Carter had cured most of my headache, but between the residual that was left and food coma from eating so much, a nap was a requirement before heading out for the afternoon of hunting bears.

Vance took Gene and I downriver.  Gene got dropped off first and I sat at Big Valley (Happy Valley?  Grand Valley?).  The stand is a skinny single ladder stand without sides which is not terribly comfortable.  There was no place to put my bag either so I had to put my bag behind me on a part of the stand that sticks out only about an inch.  Most of the stands are double-ladder-stands so I guess I've gotten spoiled.

But falling into the rhythm of bear hunting meant it was actually relatively easy to stay comfortable(ish) once I got everything situated even if dozing was out of the question.  I was really glad I took that nap before going out for the afternoon.

I'm not sure if time passed quickly or slowly, but it passed.  The afternoon was way too hot to hunt bears, and there was little wind.  What little wind there was ended up being almost a relief.  Thankfully the mosquitoes weren't too bad until much later in the evening and the Thermacell did its job of keeping them away then - despite the fact that the pads I had were a little on the old side.

Around 7:00 I noticed a moving dark blob way off to the right of the stand.  Unquestionably it was a bear.  All the discomfort of sitting in a single stand disappeared and my heart started pushing huge volumes of blood (Matt also saw bears and his Fitbit sent him a message saying his heart rate had increased to over 120 BPM while remaining inactive - which is one of the funniest hunting things I've seen recently).  I set up my shooting stick while watching the bear slowly work in.  After a few minutes it came into the bait.  It wasn't a bad bear and it had a cool blaze on its chest, but guessed it was a sub-six-footer.  I second guessed and re-estimated a few times, but I knew it was not a big bear.

With the less-than-ideal hot hunting conditions and people in camp seeing few bears, I really did think about shooting.  Plus part of my brain was telling me I could fish for more pike if I shot this bear.  But it just wasn't a Day 3 bear - maybe a Day 5 bear (maybe I won't get a chance of Day 5 though?).

The bear hung around for between five and 10 minutes.  It even had the courtesy of walking half way towards be and taking a giant dump - proving that yes, a bear does shit in the woods.  It really did not go after the bait too aggressively and seemed more interested in the cabled "Jolly Rancher" thing Vance had strung up in a tree.  No doubt it was affected by the high temperatures since it was panting like a dog.

Then it walked towards me, at one point looking directly up at me before going directly under my stand and even scratching itself on the shaky ladder a little bit.  It sauntered off behind me and to the right - leaving me alone to second-guess my decision to let it walk.  I'm never very comfortable with the god-like power to decide whether an individual animal lives or dies.

The rest of the evening passed quietly.  The wind died down to absolutely nothing which made every movement feel like I was pounding on the trees and treestand.  I like the stillness and don't at the same time.  I'm also mesmerized by the different sounds of the woods in different places.  As it started to get dark, I swear I heard the sound of the predator behind me (the real one from 1987).

We picked up Gene, who hadn't seen anything and headed back to camp.  Dave (and Vance) both thought my bear had been just over six feet which nudges me a tiny bit into the regret direction.

Back in camp the other boats came in.  Several people had seen bears and had some good pictures but most of the bears seen were small.  Doug had seen five bears, but the (potentially) bigger ones were when it was too dark to shoot.  I suspect Vance and the guides are sweating a bit with the small bears seen and not-too-friendly weather conditions.  Likely it isn't too long until things pick up considerably, but we all only have until the end of the week.

Before dinner Vance had made an appetizer of Canadian lynx.  I've eaten lots of wild game, but lynx was a first for me.  Taste was mostly pork-like.  I think it may be the first time I've eaten feline of any kind?

There was lots of talk about the bears we all saw during steak dinner.  After dinner the northern lights did make a brief ethereal appearance.  They were pretty far to the north and looked more cloud-like.  I thought about staying out to see if they would get brighter, but I was really tired.  And as much as I would like to see the northern lights again, I'm here for bears and it was time to sleep.