Moose Droppings

part 4 of My Maine Bear Hunt

Sep 11, 2008 @ 11:26 pm by Moose

This is the part 4 the conclusion of my Maine Bear Hunt. If you’re just joining the story you might want to check one of the early posts; Part One, Part Two, and Part Three.
Thursday I knew was the last time I was going to get to hunt with the schedule I had. I had much anticipation going into the final hunt, while it hadn’t been the best week for bear hunting there was no doubt that as the week went on things seemed to improve. Some guys in camp were tagged out and just about everyone had at least one bear encounter to talk about. Many of those were encounters with sows and cubs so they had past up shots others were animals not giving good opportunities for shot placement.
I got to the field where I parked my truck for the daily hike into the blind site. As I done each of the previous days I sprayed down good with Primos Scent killer and then sprayed on the special cover spray the guides make. I got into my blind around 2 and like all the other days I had to reconstruct the blind because the bears had torn it apart the night before.
I settled in and was entertained with the antic of the squirrels and the birds all around me. About 5 pm I caught the movement of a bear coming in and once again it was the small bear I’d been seeing all week. I watched him feed and hang out at the bait site for 15 minutes or so and then he left. Realizing this maybe the only bear I see this week I was still confident with almost 3 hours to go that something bigger would show up.

With just mere minutes to go in shooting light I heard something coming off to my left. The bear popped its head out just a few feet from the bait bucket. It was real quiet but the bear paused when I clicked the safety off. I was afraid I blew it and expected it to spin and run but it didn’t. After a few seconds it stepped out into the opening giving me a clear shot. I wasted no time in making my BAR 30/06 bark. The bear dropped in its tracks and didn’t move. I waited about 2 minutes then I started to step out of the blind and the bear jumped up and ran I got another shot off before it disappeared into the brush. I went back into the blind and sat down and listened. I waited 5 minutes and by now I couldn’t see. The woods were quiet so I walked up to the bait bucket and clicked on my flashlight to look. I heard the bear get up again and try to run but then I heard it crash. Not wanting to push it I backed out to get help.

We went in about 45 minutes latter and despite the lack of a blood trail we recovered the sow within 40 yards of the bait site. I had caught her a bit high but my bullet took out both her lungs. My second shot as she tried to run caught her in the back just missing her spine I owe a big thank you to Brian, Daniel, Russ, and Chip for the assistance of getting my bear out of the woods.