Update: Bear Hunt Spring 2021

Set out two bear baits nearly 10 days ago.




Been checking them every three days and finally both barrels got hit.

This little one came in once two days ago for about 2 hours. Didn't eat much but tore down my sign and flipped over my ground blind. Hasn't come back again.



This bear came in at 3:30 this morning and dug around getting all the goodies on the ground, but never went after the goodies in the barrel. Decided to take a nap in front of the barrel.



Unfortunately, I bumped him off the bait (notice ears back) I was coming in behind him and was on site less than a couple minutes later as the camera is set to take pictures every five minutes and it didn't get me.



This bear appeared to be a bit bigger than the other and had only come in this once. I hope because he camped out he liked it. I am not sure why he never looked in the barrel. Do you think he will come back?

He'll be back !!

Nice bears

First site went dead. I wonder if when he was messing with my blind it collapsed and scared him.

Second site bear came back within 8 hours of me bumping him off the bait. He hung around through the night and then came back again late the next evening.



I went in early afternoon on May 28th to refill bait and check SD cards. I saw the barrel empty and new something had come around. As I was going through the card I noticed this monster showed up in the night and cleaned up the bait.




He stayed until a little after 11am.



After seeing near constant action at the site I decided to stay and hunt for a few hours.
More coming soon!

I hadn't even sat down in the stand yet when I heard a stick break. I turned around and I could see black in the brush. I quickly sat down and got my camera out.



For the next twenty minutes I watched him. He kept looking back in the direction he had come from so I thought maybe there was another. I really couldn't tell if this was the big bear or not.




Finally, I decided when it gave me a broadside shot I was going to take it. I had my Winchester Mod 94 30-30 handed down to me by my dad handed down to him by his dad. I had never shot anything with it. My dad took his first and only bear with it and so I was wanting to use it on a hunt as well. Soon enough he stood up from gnawing on a beaver bone and offered a quartering away shot. I took it and was soon was hearing a death moan about 50 yards from the bait.



The closer I got the dumber I felt for not pulling the trigger at the first opportune time! He was huge and the longer I looked the bigger he got! I am not a good judge on weight, but I would guess him over 350lbs. I was super excited!



He has a melon head! The one downside (you can see it a little in the last picture in the post above) is that his rear was very badly rubbed and his fur was on the thin side. The meat was good and there was still some fat to add to it. I wouldn't have changed anything about the hunt!

Nice!!!!!!! Thanks for sharing your joy.

Awesome that's one big headed bear

Very nice bear! Hard work pays off.

Looks like a dandy.

Nice one!

Moosetrot

Congrats!! Have you taped his head yet? Looks to be a big melon there

What about the brown one?

Very nice bear, congratulations. love the part about handed down rifle! Love to hear that you had that experience and opportunity!!!!!

good bear, you are going to have a lot of good eating.

Nice noggin on that one!

Rough Green Score: 20 1/8" Boone & Crockett

Why isn’t the brown one in this story?

Oh wow! Fabulous job. I bet that was quite the experience

WTG thanks for sharing

That’s a whopper
Congratulations

Good job and the 30-30 will never go out of style for that short and mid range work that needs done right!

After a couple day break from taking care of the first bear, I went out again to refill the bait and check cameras. At that time there was a mated pair chocolate boar and black sow (see "Bear ID Help" post for more information on that) along with a young very small loner. I wasn't in a rush to put another bear down and really only wanted to take boars. A day later I took a friend along and after refilling the bait, we sat for a while. I went up the tree and he stayed on the ground. My intent was to try to positively identify the bears' genders. Sure enough they came in less than an hour later. After milling around the bait they came one step too close to my buddy at the base of my tree and he racked a shell in the chamber and warned them off.

I got the whole thing on camera and was too busy enjoying the bears to take any shots. This is the bears right before they took off. We left right after.



The day before that happened I spent three hours in the stand and watched this little fellow the entire evening. This picture is taken a couple days later.



Two days later I went out again refilling the bait once again. This time I sat and saw nothing, but I thought I could hear them though the wind was not the greatest.
Same thing the next day with slightly better wind, I once again settled into my stand. However, what I didn't know was that there was a transition of power during the night. The chocolate who had been with the black sow this entire time had been replaced by a similar sized black male. There was also a single bear (besides the really little one) starting to come in. (These are merely my best guestimates based off the photos I have and time stamps keeping in mind exits and entrances and estimated sizes.)








After sitting for 2 1/2 hours the first bear to show up out of the five possible bears was the chocolate. The one I wanted! He appeared out of nowhere at about 20 yards in front of me and to the right.



He boldly made his way to the bait and started eating.



I nearly messed up trying to film the ordeal. I noticed my camera battery was dying so I reached in my bag for the extra and he made me! He started off and not wanting to lose the opportunity I took the shot at about 60 yards with the 30-30 and he dropped.





He has a beautiful pelt and I am extremely happy with this spring bear season!

Lots of nice sized bears there.
You could make some good coin if you're a good skinner and have a hide buyer lined up.

Congratulations
Enjoying this Bear thread