Post by tuketu on Nov 2, 2022 12:57:05 GMT -4
Got a call from Nontypical Friday night ... Bear Down but unable to find him !
As the story goes , at very last light a respectable boar comes in from behind the barrels. Time was running out and after a long season of nocturnal bears it was now or never . As soon as the bear came out from behind the spruce to expose his vitals, NT squeezed the trigger on his 270 and the bear tore off through the blackening forest . The cloak of darkness quickly enveloped the blurred form as it raced recklessly through the trees. His exodus had left Nontypical questioning the bears' actual retreat. With no visible signs of a blood trail , Nontypical backed out.
Just after dark I had received the call ...Bear Down! We conversed over the recall of events, and with no rain in the forecast we decided to wait til first light to resume the search. At 5 am I was on the road to meet up with Nontypical at his place. As the sun came up we were enroute to the baitsite , rehashing the previous nights events and our game plan. Once at the site we quickly realized daylight had not provided us with any sign we needed for an easy blood trail. In fact we could find absolutely no sign of blood, hair or flesh. For 45 minutes I fanned out from the barrels on each trail and nothing. I put Nontypical back up in the stand and told him to direct me as to what he could recall about the bears actual line of travel .. As I scoured for sign , Nontypical began doing a perimeter search
along the trails . Again finding so blood sign I decided to join him, figuring two sets of eyes were better than one, and at this point it seemed to be our only remaining option.
After wondering methodically amongst the mixed woods, and bulling thru any thickets we crossed, we were beginning to lose hope, and to be honest I was doubting the accuracy of the rifle . "Maybe the scope got bumped" I said , but nontypical remained adamant that he made a good shot. Another hour had passed and at this point we were covering ground but looking more at the surroundings as future prospects as bait site set ups. Nontypical looked at me and resigned ..."It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack " ! "But the needle is still there", I retorted. He looked at me with a quizzical look and we both laughed ..."He's out here somewhere" was my attempt at a glass half full.
It was apparent that our hopes of recovering that bear were getting weak. We pushed out on a tote road, and followed it down to a small creek. We stopped and chatted for a bit and decided to try and make our way back to the barrels. Nontypical stated that he didn't know this area behind the bait site, so instead of going back over ground we had already covered, I figured well lets see what's here, and who knows maybe we'll come across that bear. We walked back up the incline to the thicker cover about 25' apart. I had to strip the dead branches off the tree with my arm to force my way back into the tree line , took one step and shouted ... Holy F@#k! ... There laying over a rock was our bear !
After some hoots and hollers and some friendly jesting we got down to the task of field dressing and lugging out Nontypical's "Needle in a Haystack". However I did have to eat a little crow and apologized profusely at doubting Nontypical's prowess with a rifle, but all was forgiven by my find !
If there's a lesson to be learned is to never give up !
tuk
As the story goes , at very last light a respectable boar comes in from behind the barrels. Time was running out and after a long season of nocturnal bears it was now or never . As soon as the bear came out from behind the spruce to expose his vitals, NT squeezed the trigger on his 270 and the bear tore off through the blackening forest . The cloak of darkness quickly enveloped the blurred form as it raced recklessly through the trees. His exodus had left Nontypical questioning the bears' actual retreat. With no visible signs of a blood trail , Nontypical backed out.
Just after dark I had received the call ...Bear Down! We conversed over the recall of events, and with no rain in the forecast we decided to wait til first light to resume the search. At 5 am I was on the road to meet up with Nontypical at his place. As the sun came up we were enroute to the baitsite , rehashing the previous nights events and our game plan. Once at the site we quickly realized daylight had not provided us with any sign we needed for an easy blood trail. In fact we could find absolutely no sign of blood, hair or flesh. For 45 minutes I fanned out from the barrels on each trail and nothing. I put Nontypical back up in the stand and told him to direct me as to what he could recall about the bears actual line of travel .. As I scoured for sign , Nontypical began doing a perimeter search
along the trails . Again finding so blood sign I decided to join him, figuring two sets of eyes were better than one, and at this point it seemed to be our only remaining option.
After wondering methodically amongst the mixed woods, and bulling thru any thickets we crossed, we were beginning to lose hope, and to be honest I was doubting the accuracy of the rifle . "Maybe the scope got bumped" I said , but nontypical remained adamant that he made a good shot. Another hour had passed and at this point we were covering ground but looking more at the surroundings as future prospects as bait site set ups. Nontypical looked at me and resigned ..."It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack " ! "But the needle is still there", I retorted. He looked at me with a quizzical look and we both laughed ..."He's out here somewhere" was my attempt at a glass half full.
It was apparent that our hopes of recovering that bear were getting weak. We pushed out on a tote road, and followed it down to a small creek. We stopped and chatted for a bit and decided to try and make our way back to the barrels. Nontypical stated that he didn't know this area behind the bait site, so instead of going back over ground we had already covered, I figured well lets see what's here, and who knows maybe we'll come across that bear. We walked back up the incline to the thicker cover about 25' apart. I had to strip the dead branches off the tree with my arm to force my way back into the tree line , took one step and shouted ... Holy F@#k! ... There laying over a rock was our bear !
After some hoots and hollers and some friendly jesting we got down to the task of field dressing and lugging out Nontypical's "Needle in a Haystack". However I did have to eat a little crow and apologized profusely at doubting Nontypical's prowess with a rifle, but all was forgiven by my find !
If there's a lesson to be learned is to never give up !
tuk
