Where to begin? How about the beginning (by the way, this is a fairly short (for a preacher ) story.
By the way, I'm breaking in a brand new laptop & having a hard time getting used to the keyboard, so forgive the typos.
In my area in Alaska the black bear season never closes & we can get two a year. One before July 1, & one after. We can start baiting April 15 & that runs through June 15. I put bait out around April 20, & have been back at least twice a week since checking the station. Finally saw the 1st tracks in the area around the beginning of the second week in May. Maybe a week later than last year, but it's been a cold spring. My bait is about 60 yds off through an old closed temporary road that was put in several years ago so they could do some kind of testing. It's only a half mile long, & runs through a clear cut about 45 yds wide & as long as the road. It's just fine gravel & sand dunped over the hummocks & moss after they bladed out the spruce stumps, & it's blocked on the end it originates from, but because of it's makeup it holds tracks fairly well. My bait is .33 miles down this road. By law we have to be .25 miles off any maintained road, so I'm legal with a little fudge factor.
Well I had seen one set of tracks that passed my station on this road, but the bear passed on a night we had a wind blowing from an abnormal direction so he didn't hit the bait. I've seen lots of tracks within .20 miles of the place I park, but nothing on the bait end. I've been seeing the tracks of a single large black bear, & a brown bear sow with cubs regularly, but none near the bait & the bait hadn't been hit. Not too surprising because it didn't get hit until the 22 of May last year.
Soo...
This morning I'm heading out there & of course I'm squeezing checking the bait in between other stuff. I had planned on hunting the bait with my longbow, but I haven't been taking the bow to check the bait because I'm always on he run & don't have time to stump shoot. I do take a .44 mag loaded with 300gr hardcast bullets @ 1340 fps so I feel very well armed as far as protection goes with this thumper, & since I also handgun hunt I figure if I catch a bear on the bait while I'm checking it I'll take it from the ground with the pistol. I should add we can NOT kill brown bear in the spring!
So this morning about 1/2 way to the bait I see tracks come onto the road heading TOWARD the bait! I'm pumped. Maybe the bait will finally be hit. Gun in hand I'm quietly walking that way & checking out the tracks as I go. Single bear, nice size track, very large for a black bear around here, but not seeing any claw marks so I assume that's what it is. I get to where I turn off the closed sand road to the bait & I can see the bear did the same to follow my stinkum. I wait there for several minutes as I do every time I approach to listen. Nothing. Strange how those things we do regularly without them seeming to really matter seem to become kind of unimportant.... Kind of like fire drills in school. So I start sneaking in n my bait. It's only 60 yds, but this is fairly thick country where you often can't see 20. My stand tree is about 11 yds from my bait, & when I'm less than 15 yds from the stand tree I can finally look around it & see the tires that I stack as a bait barrel. They are scattered & he logs that were on top of them are gone. Good sign. All the way in since I left the road it's been 3 steps & stop & listen & scan the brush for a bear protecting it's food source. Now that I'm less than 25 yds from the bait I stand for a full minute or so. I should add that since I saw the tracks the Lord & I have been discussing this bear. I told Him, you know I'm running out of hunting time Lord. I've got a lot of commitments coming up fast, so I'd really like to drop a nice boar at the bait with the handgun this morning. One shot one kill... Well that' still going through my mind as I'm standing here looking under every bush & listening for any sign that the bear is still in the area. gun is in hand & half way up, ready for action. Something just doesn't feel right. I know I'm not alone. This is bear morning. I take a couple more steps that bring the bait into better view through the brush & reduce the range further, & all of the sudden there a sense of unseen movement (if that makes any sense) on the other side of the base of my stand tree. It's the only tree big enough for a stand here. Probably 18" dia., & surrounded by dead little swamp spruce at the base. I take another step, gun coming up, & there is a flurry of movement from the base of the tree less that 10 yds away. The gun is coming up & all I can see is brown heading straight toward the bait. The world slows down & the brain goes into hyper drive. In those illi seconds tht brain does amazing things. "Take one step left so you ahve a clearer field of fire. Is that a cinnamon black bear or is it a brown bear. Too big. Too blocky. No question. Brown bear & he' stopped between you & the bait to protect "his kill"." Well poop. This .44 mag feels like a pellet gun!. He' facing me & the wind is in my face so he's not sure what's going on. He's profiling himself to show me mis size (and he's GOT SOME) & woofing. I've got the dot in my red dot sight right on him & was very glad it wasn't my HH ongbow at the moment. I'm not moving & he's pacing between me & the bait & woofing. I take a step back & he steps behind the bait & keeps pacing & woofing. I'm backing up one step at a time & thinking that even I can smell the jelly type bait in my fanny pack. Then I remembered. There's also a digital camera in here. Now we're maybe 25 yds apart, so with one hand I bring the pack around to the front & did the camera out & turn it on. Perfect profile shot as he's pacing, but it's obvious he's getting torqued. Click the pic & the screen goes black. What? Turn the camera back on & the low batt. light cones on but the display stays up. Now he's turned and taken a step toward me, so I can only see his head looking straight at me from just over 20 yds. It looks a lot like the front of a Kenworth. I hit the button on the camera, the display goes black & I stick the camera back in he pack. He' starting to take a step at a time toward me, woofing, obviously no longer amused & still not able to get my wind. Both hands on the gun now, & backing away at a slow but regular pace. When about 30 yds separate us I loose him in the brush & he goes silent. I pick up the pace while watching over my shoulder. When about 10 yds of brush are separating me from he sand road in the clear cut he starts smashing something & woofing again & I'm in the open & facing the brush as fast as my short little legs can get me there. Stood there a minute to make sure he wasn't coming & never heard another sound. Hmmm... Headed for the truck at a fast walk keeping an eye on the brush on his side of the clearing & never saw him again.
Great way to start the day!!! I can drink decaf the rest of the afternoon!!!!!!!

I measured his pads on the way out, & going by the "add an inch" method, he would have been an 8- 9' bear. 700-900#? I don't know.

Not trying to pat myself on the back, but we all wonder how we will perform when we find ourselves in that type of situation don't we? I was pleased. My pants were clean & dry, I didn't run & I didn't start spraying lead. I felt that I remained in control of the situation to the extent that I could.
By the way, the pictures didn’t turn out.
Now the question is, do I want to bother rebaiting with "him" there????

WOW!!! Vance that was definitely an exciting morning and i'm glad it went well for you and your pants !! man, i don't know if i would have had the courage to go for the camera. i think i'da kept on backin' out with the 44 between us ,and i know my shorts would have been soiled glad you got one on the bait, though. good luck gettin' him and keep us updated. sounds exciting.....never hunted anything that hunts back.

cool Vance, glad you didn't become bear bait, the Lord does seem to have a sense of humor at times dosn't he.

seems like a longbow would be a "death wish"or a major adrenaline rush,depending how you look at it!the story is amazing,having only hunted deer in va.it sounds very exciting...probably been like the ok coral if i had been there ...jim257

Great story Vance--Kept my attention. I could actually visualize every move the way you described the scenes as it happened. You definitately had another set of Footprints with you that day (besides the bear)

Great story Vance, what color did you say the Bear was? Brown? Or were describing the inside of your pants? You did mention "poop' in part of your story! Kidding aside, how long were the hairs on your back of your neck? Wow, I can only imagine the excitement!

Great story! I'm amazed the camera even crossed your mind with a bear that big acting so aggressive at 25 yards. I think I would let him have that bait site and start over somewhere else.

Vance great story!!

I’ve only see one black bear in the woods, sort of. Two years ago my son and I went up to camp in the Adirondacks. It was early in the season around September. We went up to check on the trailer and do a little “scouting”. It was really an excuse to ride my quad some. I don’t use it much in the summer. Anyway, there are about 10 camps around me all accessed by the same dirt road about 10 miles long through the mountains. I was teaching my son 14 at the time the proper way to ride. We came up a little hill that curved a little. When we cleared the top of the hill I saw what I first thought was a large black dog, like a chow.
At the time we were doing about 20 mph on the quad and catching up to it. It was running up the road and away from us on all fours. When it looked over its shoulder I saw a very distinct round head and short ears. I knew right away it was a bear cub about 75-100 lbs. I jumped on the foot break and got my son to stop the quad. As soon as I did the cub darted off the trail. It took about 10-20 seconds from the time I spotted the cub to the time I got the quad stopped so we “chased” the bear a short ways with out meaning to. When we stopped the quad my son asked, “was that a bear?” I said yes. Then he immediately said cool ok can we go!
Now by this time the only thing I was thinking was where is mamma!! I was really afraid that she turned off the trail when she heard us and the cub in confusion continued to run straight. That would have put us between mamma and cub. That’s not a place I’d wanted to be. This was before I owned my 44. So we sat there very quiet for about 5 min. to let the cub get safely off the trail. We never did see mamma but I’m sure she was close!! when the 5 min was up i told my son to drive as fast as he could and dont stop till we had gone far past where the bear went off the road. now i never go anywhere up there whitout something to defend myself with.

john

I'm glad you all enjoyed going on my morning adventure with me.
That's one of he great things about these forums. We can be in Colorado, Kentucky, Washington, Africa, Oregon, or Alaska all without leaving home.Bisleyfan44 you mentioned hoping that I get him, & the problem is I can't. Brown bear eason is closed.
And God definetly has a sense of humor & it was evident I wasn't walking alone. Thnings could have turned out much diferently. I think the camera was kind of a "thoughtless caught up in the moment bone-head" sort of move. So does my wife . Her comment, & maybe not to far off the mark was that she feels the Lord may have been protecting me with the camera being dead. Her question was "what would the bears reaction have been had the flash gone off?" Hmmm. Good question.
Life has been so hectic I haven't had a chance to go back out & rebait. If I do the hairs on the back of my neck are short, but they'll definetly be standing up!
The baiting season ends the 15th of June but I may try calling in a black bear with sow in heat calls after that (season is open year around, just not baiting) so it would be nice to have black bear working the area.

hopefully that brownie has "darker" friend that he'll tell about his new place to dine good luck!!

WOW Vance!! Some fun eh?? Now that's life as good as it can get!

Next time have the camera around your neck with the flash turned off and ready to go. Digital pics can be lightened quite a bit and not loose image.

Well done Vance. Way to stay cool. If less bears were killed in self-defense maybe there would be a season again.

Just don't get cocky with them things. Can never bet that the next one isn't having a bad day - toothache, etc.

I hope that there will be a fall hunt again someday - not sure if the same big brownie will still be there, but I have seen a monster a couple of times that I would like to have a chance to go after.

Hey Rob, great to hear from you!
A couple of local rifle hunters killed a 700#ish brownie @ 20 yds yesterday that charged them at a black bear bait.
Was going out last night to help a friend clean out his bait station. On the way in we were walking down a gas line cut. There is a 10 yd strip that separates this cut from a power line cut that parallels it. As we were walking along we caught a whiff of something smelling dead. Got the mod 29 out of the shoulder holster as we walked & my partner had his Blackhawk in .45. Just about then the brush erupted about 20 yds in front of us. I could make out a good size bear running away from us across the power line cut but through the brush couldn't ID it for sure as to black or brown. Walking about 10 more yds we saw a fairly fresh (less than 1/2 consumed adult moose carcass. No question what kind of bear it was then. Boy am I glad he chose to go he other way. I have no idea why he did. About 150 yds along we cut over to the power line clearing to see if we could spot him coming back to the kill. Just as we got into the power line cut we saw a black bear crossing from the side the brownie had run into. It was to brushy for a shot, so we tried to stalk him. Worked our way almost back to the kill & figured out he didn't go to the kill, he left the country. I think the brownie ran him out of the country. We decided we had pushed our luck enough & left the area. We went a different direction when we came out with the stand & bait barrel.

Vance if I were you I'd invest in a 4" 500S&W or my favorite the custom Blackhawk in 475 with 425WFNGC at about 1400, I got one you could borrow, it's got my name engraved on it so if you do get eaten at least I'll get my gun back. You seem to be a brown bear magnet this year.

Thanks for making me feel warm & fuzzy & like I'd be missed Rod I've been thinking that if I ever get rich I'd like to pick up a .480. Thanks for the offer on the loan, but I hate borrowing stuff. Hard enough taking care of my own without worrying about hurting someone else's stuff! And I wouldn't want bear slobber on one of your nice .475s
No hntrjohn, they don't usually hang out together although in our area we have lots of black bear & enough (in my opinion) brownies. The brownies won't tolerate a black bear at their kill sites, but the black bears sometimes chance it & hang back in the brush like vultures hoping for crumbs.
This does seem to be the year for me. I don't know if there's a signifigant increase in the brown bear population or if I'm just lucky!

Vance, here is how you take care of it next time LOL



>>A priest, a Pentecostal preacher, and a Rabbi all served as chaplains to
>> the students of the University of Montana in Missoula.
>>
>> They would get together two or three times a week for coffee and to talk
>> shop.
>>
>> One day, someone made the comment that preaching to people isn't really
>> all that hard. A real challenge would be to preach to a bear.
>>
>> One thing led to another and they decided to do an experiment. They
>> would all go out into the woods, find a bear, preach to it, and attempt
>> to convert it.
>>
>> Seven days later, they came together to discuss the experience.
>>
>> Father Flannery, who had his arm in a sling, was on crutches, and had
>> various bandages, spoke first. "Well," he said, "I went into the woods
>> to find me a bear. And when I found him I began to read to him from the
>> Catechism. Well, that bear wanted nothing to do with me and began to
>> slap me around. So I quickly grabbed my holy water, sprinkled him and,
>> Holy Mary Mother of God, he became as gentle a lamb. The bishop is
>> coming out next week to give him first communion and confirmation."
>>
>> Reverend Billy Bob went next. He had one arm and both legs in casts, and
>> an IV drip attached to his wheelchair. In his best fire and brimstone
>> oratory, he claimed, "WELL, brothers, you KNOW that we don't sprinkle! I
>> went out and I FOUND me a bear. And, then I began to read to my bear
>> from God's HOLY WORD! But, that bear wanted nothing to do with me. So, I
>> took HOLD of him and we began to wrestle. We wrestled down one hill, UP
>> another and DOWN another until we came to a creek. So, I quick-like
>> DUNKED him and BAPTIZED his hairy soul. And, just like you said, Father
>> Flannery, he became as gentle as a lamb. We spent the rest of the day
>> PRAISING Jesus."
>>
>> They both looked down at the rabbi, who was lying in a hospital bed. He
>> was in a body cast and traction and there were IV's running in and out
>> of him with multiple monitors beeping and glowing at his bedside. He was
>> in seriously bad shape.
>>
>> The rabbi slowly looked up and whispered, "Well, looking back on it,
>> circumcision may not have been the best way to start..."
>>