2024 Bear Hunt Day 7 - One Little Guy

Overnight rain meant finding any blood trail from the wolf went from unlikely to nearly-impossible.  Carter and I talked in the morning and decided not to look for the wolf, but they would look next time that stand is baited.  Given the overall picture, the chance of a hit was quite unlikely.

So that meant another morning of fishing after breakfast.  Carter took me out fishing a few bays.  Numbers of pike were pretty decent through the morning, but size remained stubbornly small.  It was still fun and the weather was near perfect with cool temperatures an just a light breeze.

After lunch, we headed to the road stands for the afternoon.  We were both on stands near Rice Lake with me being put at Duck Pond.  It was a single ladder stand, nicely tucked into some trees.  It was surprisingly easy to get comfortable even being a single since there was a hook for my bag and it creeked a bit less than some of the taller stands.  It felt like I was very close to the bait.

Not long after I had been in the stand, I heard something pounding away from me that sounded a lot like a bear running.  I couldn't help but wonder if a bear had snuck up behind me.  About 15 minutes later, just after 4:00, I caught a glimpse of a bear on the ridge beyond the bait.  A small bear had likely circled around, intent on eating popcorn.

It took its time coming in.  It was a very small bear.  I may be getting desperate at this point, but not four feet desperate.

But it was encouraging to see the bear so early.  It was quite nervous and only stayed for a short time before running away.  

The afternoon was glorious bear hunting conditions.  Temperatures were cool but not cold.  Much of the time there was breathlessly no wind.  The only negative to these conditions was that every movement felt like banging gongs.

Around 6:00 I saw movement again.  The same bear came into the stand; it was easily identified by a thin blaze on its chest.  It again came in for a few bites before running away.  I saw it again near 7:00; this time it did not come into the bait.

Sadly, that was the only bear that I saw that evening.  Darkness came with Carter and Lockler coming in to get me.

Dave had picked up Chris.  He had seen a sow with cubs and another bear that he couldn't get a shot at.  

We were both down to the witching hour.  As we ate our late dinner, we made plans with Dave for a morning hunt.