I keep an eye on the real estate market at home roughly weekly. When I quickly did this in the AM, I saw that the 30 acres just around the corner from home had a price drop that puts it into the almost-realistic range. This sent my brain into overdrive and with time to kill in the morning I went for a walk. Is it worth it to work for a couple more years to have my own place to hunt deer? Does it make sense to spend that much money on what is probably (operative word) an OK investment if it also means not spending as much money on stuff like bear hunting in Canada? Ultimately my walk only led to deepening questions - no answers.
After breakfast, Derek took me up river to fish for pike after dropping a contractor off at Kendall. Weather was warm with considerable winds and they were forecast to increase even more. This made casting challenging in some directions, but fishing was quite good with several pike brought in and even one oddball walleye on a spinnerbait. The area around Kendall is usually dynamite for smalley, but I "only" brought in a few pike there.
On the way back to camp for lunch just after the rapids, Derek's boat decided to quit. Luckily Chris was right in the area. It turned out to be just a battery connection. Chris said, "I'll be sure to follow you in case anything happens on the way back to camp."
"Of course you'll follow me - I'm fast as shit," was Derek's response.
This, of course, set off a good-natured exchange that we were going to have to paddle back. But we made it back to camp just fine.
After lunch it was time for bears. Weather was hot, humid and exceedingly windy. Dave and Julia took me downriver and the chop in the water made for a painful boat ride to Moose Creek. Moose Creek was not hit at all so we went over to Slave Falls. The dam guard buoys were pushed into an atypical location from the heavy wind and it was difficult to get to the stand. Dave made it work with only a little bit of risk to the motor lower end. Slave Falls was barely hit, but Dave had kicked a big bear off of it recently when baiting.
The windy conditions made it possible to move a bit more with minimal worry about spooking the bears. The humidity and temperature made it uncomfortable since I had to wear my rain gear as the threat of heavy rain loomed late. Chad and Faith had sat on this stand the previous night and hadn't seen anything. Once settled, the totality of the situation made me have exceedingly low confidence for the evening, but I made the best of it.
Once settled, it was a nice stand even if the wind did made it sway - and at times significantly. The hydroelectric dam just a short distance away made a high-pitched hum that constantly sounded like a boat coming in. No doubt any animals in the area are used to this by now.
The afternoon passed relatively quickly. At some point I looked at my phone and noticed the weather had deteriorated to a severe thunderstorm watch. My connection was extremely spotty, so getting a radar image took a long time. I did have the time though...
Given that I was the only person down river, it seemed like it took forever to get picked up. And it was Carter who came and got me. And in a different boat.
Screws fall out all the time. The world's an imperfect place. - Bender from The Movie Breakfast Club
"There were some issues," Carter said.
Apparently the plug in the downriver boat had worked its way out - almost sinking it in the middle of the river. Dalton had gone with Dave to get me, so they had worked their way to the shore. The fix wasn't hard, but it was late so the boat needed to be bailed out. Making it worse, the motor had gotten wet enough that it no longer worked.
By the time we got to them, the boat was floating again. Everyone climbed into Carter's boat and we towed the downriver boat back to the launch site. Dave was embarrassed, but these things happen and no one got hurt. We made our way back to camp.
The rest of the boat ride back was slow going. Lightning lit the sky to the west giving an ominous feeling while once again the moon cast its eerie glow from the east.
Once in camp, Faith had taken a nice bear leaving three of us without bears. While waiting for a very late dinner, we all laughed about the evening's situation. Several people had seen it unfold from different views which made it even more humorous.
With only a few days of hunting left and bears not being terribly cooperative, Rebecca and I made plans to hunt in the morning the following day. This isn't usually as productive, but when Plan A isn't working, it makes sense to move on to Plan B.
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