Close encounters bear hunting ???
Bears
The thread about the person taking a selfie with bear got me to thinking . I have been on a dozen plus black bear hunts . Even went twice and stayed over two weeks running baits , helping carry bears out etc. Really enjoyed "" playing guide" " .
I have never had an aggressive bear. Two baits that I baited had bear camping out at baits . They would stay in the bush and run off when I got close. The outfitter we use always makes noisy going to baits and told me to do same . Took several hunters to walleye fish a river . Had a young bear come to the banks and actually walked around us . Finally he left.
Anyone been in a tight situation going into or coming out of a bait , after a hunt ? Last year my wife dropped me off and sat alone at a bait. She said a bear about 150 to 200 lb bear came to bait . Ate and then came to base of the tree she sat in , looked up and then laid down . She said bear laid there over an hour and finally left . Since she had to get me at dark and it was nearing time to have her bow in the case she left . Would have loved to had her on video coming out . She didn't waste any time , I am sure .
I’m on my phone so I won’t type out the long story until later. Short story is I had a sow and 2 yearling cubs at a bait. Big boar walks in and a cub runs up my tree and perches 6 feet above my head. Sow sees me in the tree with the cub and all hell breaks loose. I ended up with a cut ear, torn pants and dirty underwear. Also the cub passed all over me. Cracked her across the nose a few times with my bow and she went back down the tree. After I settled down I climbed down the ladder stand and she calmed down and backed off as I got away from the cub. I high tailed it out of there.
Lesson learned is you can prepare all you want, I had mace with me, but when it happens fast it happens FAST! Faster than most can react in my situation anyways.
Got a nice boar the next night.
Lineman-similar, cub runs up tree next to me 6 feet away. Mom sees me & bluff charges twice, cub crawls down & they leave. Another is I have a Bear half circle my stand behind me twice. Another, had a Bear walk in front of me as I am walking back to truck from baiting. Bear never noticed me as I froze 10 feet away as he passed. Walking out from hunt & have a Bear pop his jaws at me in the dark. I froze & yelled at my buddies on the dirt road to shine the truck lights toward me. I backed up slow & made a huge circle from my out trail. People seem to think a dangerous bear is a charging bear-not always the case. Pic is the one half circling me. Never came to the bait.
I had this guy milling around my stand for 10 minutes and playing with my haul line. Also, when I came in to stand bear on bait took off and as I was getting ready to climb up he came back in at 20 yards away staring at me.
I just thought about this one I forgot to mention in my op. Had bears catching hunters in stand . So I put a stand in a tree along the trails that the bears were using coming to the bait . This one bear snuck in on me and was up "" my" " tree before I knew what happened . I stood up . Bear had a front paw on my stand, so instinct took over . I put on foot on his paw and let off . He went down tree . As he walked away he stopped and looked back up at me . I put a Muzzy thru his lungs .
I have had a few bad bears over the years. Most of them young males 2-4 year olds . This one I surprised with my lab baiting one night. He charged in to 6 steps . To close with lab in between us . Glad I had the rifle . Hunt
Well before NJ had a bow season for bears the numbers were crazy. I have had a few different times when a bear would follow me out of the woods at night but stay 25 to 30 yards away obviously, being fed by a neighbor within the area( in the day light sometimes you need to thump one's like that with a rubber blunt to send them packing). On a different hunt, I had a young sow come up the tree and start to put her paw on the treestand ( that's when I jabbed her in the nose with a broadhead). My worst encounter was having a cub getting caught in one of my coyote snares. After intimidating the sow with two other cubs and chasing her off I was able to chase the snared cub around a big Russian olive bush to a point where he was tangled up pretty good. I cut the snare off his neck and he exploded out of the area. It took about 30 minutes for my heart rate to resume to normal.
While walking in to the bait site with my guide Jim Brennan and a buddy, my target bear was spotted by my guide. I was able to approach within about 7 yards as the bear was distracted by my guide's presence. Uphill from my position, once the bear noticed me he bluff charged to within 3 yards snapping off the two trees that were protecting his vitals in the process. I backed up a few steps and the bear walked backward up the hill to his original position where he continued to pop his teeth, salivate and pant while sitting facing my position. I slid back up to 7 yards. He started to get up again and I took a half step back. The bear sat back down and we had a 5 minute stare down. Tired of the game he turned to his left presenting me with a short 7 yard broadside shot allowing me to zip a Wensel Woodsman Elite head through his chest. Squared 7' 3" with a 19 12/16" noggin.
Had a buddy who got penned in a tree by a sow with cubs. Couldn't get out of the tree and when guide showed up and started yelling and throwing sticks, she still wouldn't leave. Guide ended up having to shoot her to get the client out of the tree. Said it was the first time (20 yr guide) that he ever had to do that.
Was moving on a bedded bull midday two years ago. I sat down about 100 yards from his position and waited for him to bugle from his bed once more.
Heard a squirrel chirping it's brains out, so I watched to see if an elk was walking out. Then see a small cub haul up a tree between me and the bull. Then another two cubs went up another tree.
Beautiful Cinnamon sow comes running out of the tree line at me. She got real close, but I backed up behind a bush and bugled with my diapraghm. Then didn't see her until I had another close encounter with her on the last day of the hunt calling a bull down a week later. He hit the bushes she happened to be in walking down. They spooked each other out. She stopped and stared at me for a few minutes then opted to bail this time.
Been bluff charged a number of times. Once with my longbow on a 5.5 foot bear I prob would have shot but I was just too slow. Bear came fast from about 6 yards had been circling me. At about 1.5 yards I just screamed and he wiped my legs as he went by. Then followed me all the way to the truck.
In the rut had a boar chase another boar above my friend and his son sitting in a double ladder stand. It then got scared and pissed on my buddy lol. I had to get down and chase the other boar away.
If you bear hunt much those types of things will happen
Only once, calling. Saw the ears and eyes of a bear peak over the ridge at 13 yards and it charged in when she saw my top cam roll over when drew. I shot her in the chest at a dead run at 8 yards - as fast as I could possibly aim and shoot with a recurve. But it was with a compound. Kept the underwear, but that was fairly intense.
climbed up tree and was standing on the platform before attaching the safety connector to my vest. I do it each time I hunt bear from a tree stand for anything. It is the most dangerous part of every hunt and we do it each time. Gravity it dangerous and it is always there and always a risk. Be careful when you leave the ground as every time could be a life changing trip into the woods.
I've been lucky enough to have hunted bears many times and just about every trip, I've had a curious juvenile scurry up my tree or bluff me. Had a decent cinnamon kind of stroll toward me and my guide as we approached a bait once. He wasn't aggressive, though, just not giving ground and letting us know it.
Closest to an "aggressive scenario" was tracking a bear I killed on my first baited bear hunt. I waited until after dark to blood track and returned to the little clearing where the bait was staged. I was shining my light down looking for blood when, not more than 5 yards away, I heard another bear popping his jaws just inside the brush line. I froze and so did he. Just popping. That was too close for comfort particularly with not being able to read the body language.
Had a young cinnamon bear walk in on me while bowhunting Spring Gobbler many years ago. I was sitting on a stool behind a blow down when it came in to 30y. I snapped some pics with my cell phone and when It got to 20y, I got up thinking when it saw me it would take off. Evidently that just peaked it's curiosity, because it came closer. I then took my facemask off and tried to "shoo" it away using a stern, loud voice. That's when it bluff charged me several times and stopped just out of arms reach, popping it's jaw and raking a small sapling with it's claws. I had drawn my pistol when the bear got within 10y of me, so I kept it aimed at the bear as I slowly backed out of there. I watched it until I got about 80y away and that bear just stood it's ground. Had absolutely no fear of humans. Found out later that it was all over facebook and that locals in the nearby private community were feeding it and it's twin and the mother. That's usually how bears in our area become "problem bears". I'm just glad I didn't have to shoot that bear!
I had a medium bear come in at last light that I decided to pass last year. I figured he would move out as I put flash light on him. Wrong just made him mad started growling at me. I broke some branches around stand and threw sticks at him same thing just made him mad and growled more refused to leave. The more noise I made the more pissed he got. Each time I attempted to go down lader he came over to stand and made sure I went back up. Long story was I was treed for close to 2 hours til he left. Shooting time was 730ish I didn’t get down until after 930 and had a spooky half mile walk to get to my atv. Next day got a great bear 310lbs. Trail cam caught arrow impact.
Had this little guy try and join me in my ground blind . Not sure who jumped more, me or the bear . He tried to climb in the window and knocked me off my stool... gotta love bear hunting
