I was close enough to the road that I could just hear the morning power-company traffic on the road. It reminded me of the church stand when I've hunting hogs in South Carolina, or maybe even the skinny property I hunted right along the road when I first started hunting deer so many years ago. A lot has changed since then - A LOT!
Once settled in I enjoyed the morning. Temperatures were cool and there was initially little breeze. It was so quiet and still that I could hear the collective hum of thousands of insects in the woods - I don't think I've ever experienced that before. Beautiful.
The wind started to pick up early and it also got warm and muggy. At one point I figured it had to be near noon, but looking at my watch it was only around 10:00. At least the stand was quite comfortable (especially for a single ladder stand).
Noon rolled around and I heard a slight whistle as Vance came and got me. Nothing was moving and I was girding my psyche to go home without a bear. I was fine with being skunked; it has been a great week regardless.
After lunch with Mark and Tammy, they left for home and Kevin took me down river to hunt at Slave Falls again. It was Hot. And Windy. And Hot. And Really Hot. It was brutally hot. This was not Canada. But again, no use to complain. I could feel myself slipping into go-home mode, but I put that out of my brain as I settled in to the stand.
The stand had been hit since it was baited and popcorn was scattered all over. This did give me just a twinge of hope.
Once settled in it wasn't too bad tucked back into the woods. It was between uncomfortable and unpleasant - the sort of sticky heat that usually only happens once in a while in the dog days of summer. I wasn't sure any bear would want to wander in this heat.
Shortly after 7:00 I heard the distinctive cracking of twigs in the distance to the left of the bait barrel. A huge bear came in followed almost immediately by three smaller ones. A sow and cubs. I sat back to watch the show. Even if I didn't get a bear, this was not a bad way to end the week.
The bears were in the area for just under an hour. It was fun watching the bears eat popcorn. They would fight with each other and scream once in a while - basically being unruly teenagers. Once mom became comfortable she hung around as well.
The situation did get a bit tense for a bit. Something scared the cubs and they ran over near me. One of them climbed a tree right next to me. Then all the bears split up in a way I would not anticipate cubs would. It looked like the sow was trying corral the cubs, but they were all off in their own area so the sow just sat down and kept eating. I won't say I was nervous, but I didn't like the situation since there was little doubt the sow knew I was there.
Eventually the last cub walked off. No doubt nature has a way of making things work and they all regrouped at some point. I settled back to finish out my week ... until about a half hour later when I heard more twigs cracking.
Looking down right next to the stand I saw a bear walking right by me. Initially I thought it was a small bear and had decided I was not going to shoot a small one just to use my tag. When it walked up the barrel - I knew this was a shooter since it easily looked over the barrel. I also was 100% sure it wasn't the sow with the cubs since it looked distinctly different (I was worried that this could happen). It was quartering away from me and I didn't waste time. Squeezing the trigger, it dropped instantly at the shot.
I texted Vance and a few minutes later I heard the boat coming in. At the late hour I assumed the guides were waiting to pick me up. Derek and Kevin came in shortly. The bear was a huge old sow which Derek described as an "absolute unit." They commented on the lack of a need to track it.
We struggled to get it into the sled and then moved down the trail to get some pictures. The pics in the brush are always the best. It took lots of work to figure out how to get her into the boat, up the walk to the truck, etc. Soon enough we rolled into camp. Given how much time was put into this bear, everyone left in camp was very congratulatory. We all had a great time while the guides get her skinned and into small bags to hopefully freeze. She had lost many of her teeth and what was left estimated her age as well above 25 years old. I always have a bit of cognitive dissonance at shooting a grand animal, but shooting a mature sow who is probably unlikely to ever reproduce again lessens this some. Nature has given us so many gifts; it is not irresponsible to use them.
I didn't really want the week to end, but after a late night, I had quite the trip home to get ready for after an amazing end to a great week.
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