After a breakfast of French toast, Carter and I headed out to fish again. We started at the same bay where we ended the previous day since it was quite productive. I'm not sure what was up with the fish, but if they were still in that bay, they were not very cooperative. We hooked into a few, but it was literally a few.
We tried a few more bays and did find another fish or two, but just about nothing was biting - and certainly nothing of any size.
Near one bay, Carter pointed out some old structure remnants which he said was guides Chris and Mark's family cabin. Apparently when the park was formed the area was littered with small cabins like this. People had the option of keeping the cabins for a fee, or letting them go. A few kept them and are the cabins that now sparsely dot the area. Most let them go, including Mark and Chris' family. I wanted to see it so Carter and I participated in "contemporary archeology." It was barely two walls and some rotten remnants. But it did provide a diversion to slow fishing. It's hard not to stand in these kinds of structures and feel a sense of history and loss.
The morning was warm and the day got hot. Very hot. Way to hot for Manitoba in September. Way to hot for bears. The boat ride back to the lodge was nice, but more summer nice than fall.
After a lunch of giant moose burgers, which were excellent, we headed out for bears. My normal warm weather hunting clothes would have been too hot so I sorted through what I had and found the coolest camo I had; I was sweating just standing at the dock while waiting to leave. I couldn't even wear my hunting boots and opted for my water shoes instead. I have never worn water shoes while hunting before...
Mark took Gene and I out, dropping me off at the back of blind bay first. I'm not sure if it was the stand or me, but I was able to get relatively comfortable fairly quickly. The previous day I had pulled something in the back of my knee to the point it was painful to walk and I was even limping a bit. I don't know how it is possible to do this while in a treestand (in it, not getting in/out), but staying comfortable was definitely more challenging.
Thankfully, it was breezy enough that the heat wasn't too miserable. The sun was behind me and it did start to cloud up a bit. While it was terrible for bears, the time passed tolerably. I did have a pine martin come in which was fun to see as I hadn't seen one of those in a while.
It even did start to cool down a bit as it got dark - but cool down relative to the Death Valley heat earlier. This is, of course, an exaggeration, as the low in Furnace Creek was near the Manitoba high. Superlatives still seem applicable when it is hotter in Manitoba than Savannah, Georgia.
But fur covered bears stayed buried wherever they could to stay cool and a short time after dark, Vance came and got me. We headed back to camp enjoying the temperate breeze in the boat.
Doug was the only person who saw any bears, missing what he said was a huge bear right at dark. Shoot lower next time Doug!
I'm starting to feel a little bit nervous about getting going home with empty coolers and feeling like passing on that Day 3 bear may have been a mistake. But there are still two more days - a full 1/3 of my hunting time and the forecast is for much cooler temperatures.
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